29 February 2016 - in the ordinary

that mustache

[ Today's Readings ]

I thought that he would surely come out and stand there
to invoke the LORD his God,
and would move his hand over the spot,
and thus cure the leprosy.

LORD, you want to heal us. Help us to set aside our expectations. Our churches and are homes and our prayer lives have become your native place. What keeps you from healing here? It is our expectations that limit you.

Amen, I say to you,
no prophet is accepted in his own native place.

Things in this native place of yours are just too mundane. How could anything important or groundbreaking happen here? How could there be true progress or healing here?

“My father,” they said,
“if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary,
would you not have done it?
All the more now, since he said to you,
‘Wash and be clean,’ should you do as he said.”

Help us to look for your presence in our ordinary lives, Jesus. Teach us to find healing even in the sorts of things we have done a million times before. Maybe this mass or this prayer time is the time you offer us the breakthrough we desire. Don't let us miss it.

As the hind longs for the running waters,
so my soul longs for you, O God.

We thirst for you, LORD. But you are here. This is your native place. We want to behold your face. But you constantly send forth your light and your fidelity to us. We spend time regularly on your holy mountain. Help us not to forget this because we are so used to you. Help our expectations not to be set by what we ourselves see and understand. Set them instead by our faith and hope in you. Teach us to say and to believe, "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel."

Then will I go in to the altar of God,
the God of my gladness and joy;
Then will I give you thanks upon the harp,
O God, my God!

28 February 2016 - living water

[ Today's Readings: Scrutinies ]

“If you knew the gift of God
and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink, ‘
you would have asked him 
and he would have given you living water.”

Jesus, you want to give us living water today. Are we thirsty? Even regular water is easy to take for granted today. It's just sort of there. We are never really in danger of dying of thirst. We seldom have to go so long to find a drink that we are genuinely thirsty.

Yet in order to keep up this life of comfort we must return to the well each day. There is constant work necessary to sustain lives which are ultimately still subject to thirst. They are subject to the discomfort and even the pain of an imperfect world. Yet we must return to the well.

You lead us into the desert away from our comforts in order that we can understand this situation better.

Why did you ever make us leave Egypt?
Was it just to have us die here of thirst 
with our children and our livestock?”

We are all anesthetized by the comforts of life and forget how precarious this life can be. We forget that we, as much as anyone, must return to the well each day. We forget that their are no guarantees.

You let us realize our thirst. This is not so that we dig better wells or so that we store more water in advance. Those things might be prudential but they are beside the point. You let us realize the thirst that is inherent in this life so that we might ask you for living water. Help us not to harden our hearts.

Our hearts are not meant to be parched by the desert. You promise that springs of living water will pour forth from those who believe in you (see John 7:38). You say this about the Holy Spirit you give to us.

And hope does not disappoint, 
because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts 
through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Hope that disappoints is worldly hope. It is the well which leaves us thirsty. Your Spirit is hope which does not disappoint. He is the water which does not leave us thirsty. He wells up in us to eternal life.

So give us this water always, LORD. Help us to hear your call and to repent of the sinful ways we wrongly seek comfort and turn instead to the only place where true comfort is found. Pour your Spirit into our hearts so that we can give you the worship you desire.

But the hour is coming, and is now here, 
when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; 
and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.

Speak your words to us that we can really know who you are at the core of our beings. Knowing this we know a hope that is assured.

“We no longer believe because of your word; 
for we have heard for ourselves, 
and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”

27 February 2016 - open arms

[ Today's Readings ]

Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.

And yet we have no inheritance apart from you. But because we want to spend the good things you create and give on "a life of dissipation" and until we have "freely spent everything" we ask to take your blessings and run. In effect, we wish you dead.

But wait, we say. Not me. I'm a Christian.

Even so, don't we have parts of our lives that are unrelated to our faith? Don't we have pursuits and desires with no relation to the kingdom? And don't we want these things to go well and be blessed? We have these spheres of our lives which are "just ours" and so we don't bother to seek you in them. And perhaps these spheres become very large. And perhaps our "God sphere" becomes small by comparison. At such times your mercy allows us to experience our own lack of sufficiency.

When he had freely spent everything,
a severe famine struck that country,
and he found himself in dire need.

We run short on that which truly nourishes us because we are too busy pursuing the wrong things. Yet you only allow us to do so in order that we might realize it and return to you, the source of life.

I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him,
“Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
I no longer deserve to be called your son;
treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”’

We expect you to hold our mistakes against us. We expect you to treat us differently forever after. But we are surprised to discover the extent of your mercy.

Who is there like you, the God who removes guilt
and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance;
Who does not persist in anger forever,
but delights rather in clemency,
And will again have compassion on us,
treading underfoot our guilt?

We expect to find a master or a boss and instead return to the open arms of the Father.

While he was still a long way off,
his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion.
He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.

We discovery "the sound of music and dancing" and that the fattened calf is slaughtered for the feast. We discover that our inheritance is truly here with the Father. We need never go off to seek joy elsewhere. We pursuits which were formerly "just ours" can now be part of our "God sphere" instead. Jesus, you can be the center of our whole lives, not just our work in the fields.

My son, you are here with me always;
everything I have is yours.

Jesus, don't let us become so myopic about working in the field that we forget to involve you in all that we do. And when this does happen despite our best intentions welcome us back again with your great mercy. Give us life anew.

But now we must celebrate and rejoice,
because your brother was dead and has come to life again;
he was lost and has been found.

Bring us back, LORD, who on this day have strayed from the care of the shepherd who loves us. As in days of old "show us wonderful signs" of your love for us.

For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.

26 February 2016 - the best gift of the father

[ Today's Readings ]

The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?

Jesus, teach us not to reject the cornerstone. Help us to accept your plans. Help us to welcome you.

Jesus, you are the beloved son of the Father. But we would often prefer to have your blessings without you around. It seems to our darkened minds that your presence limits our enjoyment of wealth and blessings we have.

‘They will respect my son.’
But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another,
‘This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’

Needing you to receive blessings can make us jealous. We don't like to admit it, even to ourselves, but we'd rather not need anyone. We'd rather be self-sufficient.

When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons,
they hated him so much that they would not even greet him.

Jesus, somehow we feel diminished by the unique love the Father has for you. It seems as if, somewhere deep within each of our hearts, we want to be God ourselves, to the exclusion of all others. We hear the Father say, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him" (see Matthew 17:5) and rather than feeling blessed we feel obliged and burdened.

But you love us anyway LORD. You recognize the sinfulness that controls the hearts of humankind. And just as you disguise yourself to attend the Feast of Tabernacles in secret (see John 7:10) you disguise your glory with humility in order to come among us.

though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men (see Philippians 2:6-7).

Just as Joseph is sold into slavery so that the blessings he has can ultimately be an advantage and salvation for his family and indeed entire nations so too do you take the form of a slave, Jesus.

The king sent and released him,
the ruler of the peoples set him free.
He made him lord of his house
and ruler of all his possessions.

Teach us not to reject you. All the vineyards of the world are yours. Truly there is no inheritance apart from you. This isn't selfishness on your part. You yourself are the best gift of the Father for us. Let us relinquish our own control over our vineyards into your hands.

Therefore, I say to you,
the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you
and given to a people that will produce its fruit.

You are the cornerstone. We do not reject you, Jesus! We marvel at you. We wonder at the things the Lord has done! Help us to let go of our pride so that we can bear fruit for you.

25 February 2016 - law of love

[ Today's Readings ]

‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be persuaded
if someone should rise from the dead.’

Jesus, you have risen from the dead. But do you persuade us? Do we dine sumptuously each dear and dress in fine linen but ignore the poor man at our door?

LORD, help us to listen to Moses and the prophets. Help us to be like the man who "delights in the law of the LORD and meditates on his law day and night."

When it comes down to it, your law is calling us to love. We'd rather hear about things which are abstract and spiritual. Love intrudes into our comfortable lives. Love calls us to prefer others to our linen and our feasts.

If we are honest with ourselves our hearts long for the comforts of the rich man.

More tortuous than all else is the human heart,
beyond remedy; who can understand it?

But the comforts of the rich man do not satisfy. Teach us, LORD, where true joy is found.

I, the LORD, alone probe the mind
and test the heart,
To reward everyone according to his ways,
according to the merit of his deeds.

Even your resurrection won't make sense to us if we reject the call to love.

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them (see Matthew 5:17).

Rather than setting aside these demands the law makes on us you give us the power to fulfill them.

Jesus brings God's commandments to fulfilment, particularly the commandment of love of neighbour, by interiorizing their demands and by bringing out their fullest meaning. Love of neighbour springs from a loving heart which, precisely because it loves, is ready to live out the loftiest challenges. Jesus shows that the commandments must not be understood as a minimum limit not to be gone beyond, but rather as a path involving a moral and spiritual journey towards perfection, at the heart of which is love

(see Veritatis Splendor 15 by St. John Paul II)

Jesus, we can't ignore the law and the prophets. There is no happiness that way. Nor can we find fulfillment pursuing those laws under our own strength. They can't just be exterior demands based on guilt or duty. They must be nourished by the water of life that you give (see John 4:10). Selfish motives cannot give us the strength to live selflessly. Only your Spirit in us can do so.

He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.

24 February 2016 - chalice of life

[ Today's Readings ]

Jesus, you remind us of your cross.

Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem,
and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests
and the scribes,
and they will condemn him to death,
and hand him over to the Gentiles
to be mocked and scourged and crucified,
and he will be raised on the third day.

But the first thing we can think of is what we can get out of it.

He said to her, “What do you wish?”
She answered him,
“Command that these two sons of mine sit,
one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom.”

LORD, we often attempt to use our faith for the wrong things. W ask for a variety of things which range from indifferent to harmful.

Jesus said in reply,
“You do not know what you are asking.

We often don't know what we are asking. Even when we ask for good things the proportion is usually wrong. We usually ask for them from selfish motives.

Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?

Everything that the LORD has to give us begins with drinking the chalice. We're quick to say that we can drink it without really thinking about it.

Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?”
They said to him, “We can.”

And that keeps us headed in the right direction. The chalice purifies the things we ask of you, LORD. It helps us to really appreciate the meaning of your cross in our own lives.

Moving toward our desires we drink the chalice. And drinking from the chalice our desires our purified. We learn what they truly mean. For example, we learn the true meaning of leadership, honor, and position.

Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.

We drink the chalice and sacrifice our need to be first and our need to be served. But the chalice of which we drink is precisely the chalice which you drink first, Jesus.

Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?

It isn't something different which you demand of us. It is only the trail which you first blaze.

Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Only if we drink this chalice can we love the way we are called to love, the way you yourself first love us LORD Jesus. This is the love that enables Jeremiah to stand on behalf of a people who want him dead to plead for them to God.

Must good be repaid with evil
that they should dig a pit to take my life?
Remember that I stood before you
to speak in their behalf,
to turn away your wrath from them.

In this chalice we find safety. It is not safety for our pride or our sinfulness or even our life in the flesh. But it is safety for our souls. It is the only sort of safety that gives us true peace.

You will free me from the snare they set for me,
for you are my refuge.
Into your hands I commend my spirit;
you will redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God.

So draw us to drink your chalice, Jesus. May the precious blood you shed for us transform us. May it makes into servants. May it help us to love without counting the cost. May your blood in us make us more like you.

23 February 2016 - whiter than snow

[ Today's Readings ]

Come now, let us set things right,
says the LORD

This is not a heavy burden which is hard to carry.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (see Matthew 11:30).

You do more than lift a finger to help.

Although you say to us, "let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (see Matthew 16:24) we can only carry the cross because you carry it first. Apart from you we aren't strong enough.

Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (see John 15:5).

Your "divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness" (see Second Peter 1:3).

On our own the best we can manage is works that are performed to be seen. We want to look like good people. We want people to think we're nice and loving. We feel happy to be regarded this way by others. But when it comes down to it, this is not enough. We may be called to make hard choices about which no one else ever learns. We can't rely on external motivations but only the motivation that comes from having hearts joined to your heart, Jesus.

It is for this reason that we, truly, have one teacher, one master, and one Father. There is only one source of the help we need. There is only one who is good, God alone (see Mark 10:18). Other teachers, masters, and fathers are only such to the degree that they partake of the source and help others to share in the source.

So Jesus, help us to bow our knees "before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named" (see Ephesians 3:14-15).

You don't call us to bow because of pride. You call us to genuine humility before you because in it we find the fulfillment of all that we are meant to be.

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled;
but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Fulfillment in humility? Jesus, it runs counter to our expectations. Our pride rebels. Calm our spirits, LORD, and show us the beauty of your plans for us.

Though your sins be like scarlet,
they may become white as snow;
Though they be crimson red,
they may become white as wool.
If you are willing, and obey,
you shall eat the good things of the land;

Show us, Jesus, the saving power of God. Teach us to love the discipline you give us, not just to profess it with our mouths. Teach us to love it because it is a gift of love from you for us. Wash us clean, O LORD!

22 Chair 2016 - not bored of the chair

[ Today's Readings ]

And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.

In a special way, our heavenly Father reveals truth to Peter and to his successors. It isn't just cleverness and intelligence. Especially with Peter we see that it is more than what flesh and blood reveal. It is the guidance of the Holy Spirit that enables Peter to proclaim, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." That same Spirit fills every person who succeeds him on the Chair of Peter. It is that Chair which we celebrate today.

The Chair of Moses had authority enough that the obedience of the people was required.

The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do (see Matthew 23:2-3).

How much more than, should we be thankful for the Chair of Peter which assures us of the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We will always have a voice to point us to Christ and to unmask pretenders and liars.

Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son (see First John 2:22).

We are given the Chair of Peter as a great gift. It is not meant to be an imposition. In fact it is meant to give clarity to truths which we discover within our own hearts. It is meant to point to the common purpose and destiny that we share as humans. It is the greatest safeguard against failing to find this fulfillment.

That is why we regard the one who sits on the chair not as so much as a king, much less a tyrant, but rather as a shepherd and a servant.

Tend the flock of God in your midst,
overseeing not by constraint but willingly,
as God would have it, not for shameful profit but eagerly.

Jesus, help us to learn to rely more and more on the shepherds you give to your Church. Through them you want to spread a table before us, filled with the banquet of the Eucharist. Through them you want to anoint us with the oil of gladness who is the Holy Spirit. Through them you keep us safe from error and show us the path to eternal life with you.

Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.

Makes us docile, LORD! But do not only make us docile. We have great resources for growth and life in the teachings of our shepherds. Help us to put it all to good use.

21 February 2016 - fired up

[ Today's Readings ]

“I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans 

to give you this land as a possession.”
“O Lord GOD,” he asked, 
“how am I to know that I shall possess it?”

LORD, you want to reveal yourself to us and strengthen our faith. 

You promise amazing things. You promise the land of the Chaldeans and numerous offspring to Abraham. Through Jesus you promise still greater things.

And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah, 
who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus 
that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.

Just as Moses leads Israel through the desert so does Jesus lead us through sin and death to everlasting life. But this pilgrimage is only through the cross.

God calls Abraham to leave his comfort zone. Israel is led by Moses from slavery in Egypt. But in Egypt there is at least security. They too must leave certainty behind in favor of a greater freedom.

Jesus, you call us to take up our crosses and follow you. We can't cling to comfort or to the things to which we are accustomed. You lead us on this ultimate exodus which finds fulfillment only in heaven.

The desert between here and there isn't always fun. The cross is by definition a place of suffering. It is hard to even watch you endure it, Jesus, let alone to endure it ourselves.

Even when the sky is dark and the cross seems like the final word we need to realize that there is a deeper truth.

While he was praying his face changed in appearance 
and his clothing became dazzling white.

This is just a hint of what lies on the far side of the cross. But it is enough. It reminds us that sufferings of this present time aren't even worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed (see Romans 8:18). Faith in Jesus roots our lives in a deeper reality than this passing age.

Their minds are occupied with earthly things.
But our citizenship is in heaven, 
and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus, you want to help us to know this more deeply today so that we can persevere fearlessly on the exodus on which you lead us.

Just as fire passed through Abraham's sacrifice to help him to trust you, so too make fire to pass through the sacrifice of the Eucharist, to fill us, and to transform us with the sure knowledge of your love. Enable us to say with the psalmist:

The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
The LORD is my life’s refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?

20 February 2016 - inside out

[ Today's Readings ]

And today the LORD is making this agreement with you:
you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you;

What should be peculiar about us?

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (see John 13:35)

It isn't just love for those who love us. It isn't just greeting those who greet us. It is in loving our enemies and praying for our persecutors that we stand out. Our love isn't mercenary love. It does not demand love in return. Rather, it is like the love of Jesus who died for us while we were still enemies (see Romans 5:8).

But I say to you, love your enemies,
and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father,
for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.

The commandments are designed to point us in this direction. But commandments themselves are limited. They are external impositions with external consequences. For something to truly be love, it must come from the freedom of a changed heart. If it does not, there is still something mercenary about it. It is still in order to gain this blessing or to avoid that punishment.

I will give you thanks with an upright heart,
when I have learned your just ordinances.

The commandments are the lines in the coloring book of life that help us to know where to color. They show us when we are in or out of bounds. But love must well up from within us. 

Jesus, give us new hearts so that we can love sincerely and without counting the cost.

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith (see First Timothy 1:5).

Jesus without your Holy Spirit we fall back on the commandments as our motivation rather than merely as guidance. Send your Spirit into our hearts to transform us and make us children of our Father in heaven. This is the blessing which you offer us today. You offer the transformation which will enable us to love even our enemies. You empower us to offer our talents in the service of all, whatever their disposition may be.

for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.

19 February 2016 - initiative of mercy

[ Today's Readings ]

Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar,
and there recall that your brother
has anything against you,
leave your gift there at the altar,
go first and be reconciled with your brother,

LORD help us to take the initiative of mercy. We can't wait for problems to solve themselves and just go on living as if nothing is wrong. Not only that, we can't act as though we aren't guilty. We are all angry with our brother at times. It impacts the way we speak to them. Occasionally we let slip words like Raqa or 'You fool'. But even if it is not so obvious our angry hearts skew our actions in subtle ways that harm our relationships. Even when we haven't done anything obviously sinful we have likely omitted all sorts of opportunities to love.

We need to change. Jesus, this sort of renewal and restoration, this sort of mercy and forgiveness, can only begin from the heart. Change our hearts, O LORD, to be more like your heart. Help us have hearts that choose to love rather than indulge in anger. Help us to be able to say "Father, forgive them" (see Luke 23:34) even when we suffer the pains of the cross.

None of us are pure as you, O Jesus, are pure. But you first give us the offer of mercy, before we ask, while we are yet sinners (see. Romans 5:8). Help us to receive that offer. Allow your mercy to change our hearts so that we in turn can bring your mercy to all the brothers we have hurt.

If you, O LORD, mark iniquities,
LORD, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness,
that you may be revered. 

You rejoice to see us transformed by mercy. You do not take any pleasure when we insist on unforgiveness for ourselves. But we know that the condition of having our trespasses forgiven is that we in turn forgive others. The condition for having our unpayable debt waived is that we in turn don't hold the debts of others against them.

Do I indeed derive any pleasure from the death of the wicked?
says the Lord GOD. 
Do I not rather rejoice when he turns from his evil way
that he may live?

Unforgiveness is a prison for ourselves and for others.

Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge,
and the judge will hand you over to the guard,
and you will be thrown into prison.
Amen, I say to you,
you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.

Jesus, break the bars. Shatter the walls of this prison. Where we could once see only dirt let your mercy fill the skies!

I trust in the LORD;
my soul trusts in his word.
My soul waits for the LORD
more than sentinels wait for the dawn.
Let Israel wait for the LORD.

A setting of the psalm..

18 February 2016 - on the day i called

[ Today's Readings ]

Help me, who am alone and have no help but you,
for I am taking my life in my hand.

Teach us to call out to you when we're in trouble. Help us to entrust our intentions to you.

As a child I used to hear from the books of my forefathers
that you, O LORD, always free those who are pleasing to you.
Now help me, who am alone and have no one but you,
O LORD, my God.

We hear of all the good you do for those who pray to you LORD. We hear of the mighty deeds done for those who call on your name. But this seems disconnected from our own lives. There are the stories and then there is real life.

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.

Jesus, is the problem that we do not ask? Your word says, "Keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking". Do we?

You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions (see James. 4:2-3).

We often insist on the wrong things. It is precisely because the Father is so good that he won't give us bad things even when we try to insist on them.

If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your heavenly Father give good things
to those who ask him.

So let us try to ask for the good things, things that come from the Holy Spirit.

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (see Luke 11:13).

We can identify these sort of prayers because they involve the fruit of the Spirit.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law (see Galatians 5:22-23).

When these things are the hallmarks of our prayers we can have great confidence that they are in accord with the Father's will for us. We should bring such prayers fervently and persistently before the LORD.

Queen Esther's prayer is like this:

Save us from the hand of our enemies;
turn our mourning into gladness
and our sorrows into wholeness.

She prays for gladness and wholeness, which ultimately only the Holy Spirit can give. But let's learn from her. Even though these are fruits of the Spirit they are not abstract for her. She prays for a very real need in the face of a very real enemy.

The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (see Philippians 4:5-7).

Jesus, help us to pray as your Spirit directs us. The Father's love wants to turn what may just be past stories for us into present realities. He wants us to be able to say with the psalmist, "Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me."

17 February 2016 - signing on

[ Today's Readings ]

This generation is an evil generation;
it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah. 

Jesus, help us to see and accept the sign that is given us, the sign of Jonah.

We might prefer to see signs that help to establish the city of Nineveh and to make it prosper. Yet what if the sign we are given says that the city is at risk, that it might be destroyed? What if it is calling us to hold God as more important to us than the earthly city? Will we still accept that sign?

"Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,"
when the people of Nineveh believed God;
they proclaimed a fast
and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.

The sign you give, Jesus, calls us to seek first the kingdom of heaven. It says that nothing earthly can be valued over and against that kingdom. Anything we try to value that way will be stripped from us for our own good. This is a hard sign. But it is a sign we need to see.

It is a sign to which we must respond. Externalities are not enough. Jesus, you want our hearts. Help us to extricate them from the cares of the world so that you can reign in them.

A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

We would prefer any sign but one which calls us to repent. Yet that is the sign we are given. We've given too much allegiance to the earthly city. We need to put the kingdom first. 

Help us to recognize this wisdom, Jesus.

there is something greater than Solomon here. 

You reveal the wisdom of this sign if we let you. You yourself create for us the heart which you wish us to have.

A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.

16 February 2016 - (no) power of babble

[ Today's Readings ] 

“In praying, do not babble like the pagans,
who think that they will be heard because of their many words.

Prayer is not about production. It isn't about what we do. Jesus, help us to approach prayer for the sake of relationship.

Our Father who art in heaven

We are spending time with family. This isn't a check box to check off the list. Silence can be OK with family. Or perhaps we do have a lot to say. That's OK, too. But let's not become so fixated on what we have to say. Let's not spend so much time speaking that no one else can interject. Help us to leave room for you, for your Father, and for the Holy Spirit. Show us how to ask for what is on our hearts and then to leave it in your hands. The simple act of repeating it isn't going to bully you into answering anyway, like the pagans seemed to think.

It isn't about the one asking. It is about the one who answers. Let us approach you with that poverty.

When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.

We're still worried about how we should pray. Even knowing that it is a time with family doesn't completely let us of the hook. We don't want to neglect anything which love would have us include or to include anything selfish and at odds with love. Fortunately, you teach us how to pray. You teach us to put the kingdom first but to ask for our daily needs. You remind us how important it is to walk in forgiveness. You show us that genuine need for spiritual warfare against temptation and evil. If we ignore these things we do so at our peril.

When we use your own plans for prayer, your own words, we know that they have power.

So shall my word be
that goes forth from my mouth;
It shall not return to me void,
but shall do my will,
achieving the end for which I sent it.

So help us, Jesus, to pray the words you teach with sincerity and attention so that we can experience the joy of your saving help.

Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.

15 February 2016 - the least of these

[ Today's Readings ]

Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy.

Your call, LORD, is anything but arbitrary. You call us to be good because you are goodness itself. You call us to choose holiness. You do not force it on us because you yourself freely choose to love us and you want us to love in freedom. All other things that we know of in the order of creation, save the angels, are driven toward their destiny by the laws of nature or by instinct. But you call us to know and embrace the plan you have for us. 

In choosing to act justly and honestly toward our neighbors we are embracing your own love for them as our own. You have made them for yourself. We choose to act in ways that help and do not hinder that end.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
I am the LORD.

Because you made them for yourself you take the good and the evil we do to them very personally.

He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you,
what you did not do for one of these least ones,
you did not do for me.’

You are so united to them that you feel all slights as if they are done to you.

And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting (see Acts 9:5).

You call us to embrace your own holiness. You call us to make our own the plan you have for creation. You call us, therefore, to embrace our neighbors good as are own. When we embrace it this way, we feel slights to our neighbor just as you do. Loving them becomes as necessary as loving ourselves. We are truly united to them in love.

Amen, I say to you, whatever you did
for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’

We sometimes think of the commandments as arbitrary. But nothing could be less true.

Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.

The commandments, freely embraced, become a basis which unites us both to you, LORD, and to your people.

The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul.

Here's a song to help us embrace the call to holiness:

"All Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity" (see Lumen Gentium, paragraph 40, from Vatican II)

14 February 2016 - tested testimony

[ Today's Readings ]

 Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble.

LORD, we don't respond to temptation as well as we should. You go into the desert filled with the Holy Spirit so that we can be filled with the Holy Spirit in our own deserts of temptation. You are victorious in temptation so that we can share in your victory.

 We have heard in the gospel how the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. Certainly Christ was tempted by the devil. In Christ you were tempted, for Christ received his flesh from your nature, but by his own power gained life for you; he suffered insults in your nature, but by his own power gained glory for you; therefore, he suffered temptation in your nature, but by his own power gained victory for you. - From a commentary on the psalms by Saint Augustine, bishop

Jesus, the devil tries to twist things we know to be good and trick us into pursuing them instead of greater goods. He can even quote Scriptures to this end. But you are unshaken. You know the Scriptures better than him because you yourself are the word. You overcome the devil precisely by quoting Scripture and giving context to the partial truths he tells. 

Jesus answered him, 
“It is written, One does not live on bread alone.”

...

Jesus said to him in reply,
“It also says,
You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”“It is written:
You shall worship the Lord, your God,
and him alone shall you serve.”

...

“It also says,
You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”

But what about us? We don't know Scripture anywhere near that well. You assure us that we know it well enough.

What does Scripture say?
The word is near you,
in your mouth and in your heart
—that is, the word of faith that we preach—, 
for, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord 
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, 
you will be saved.

We know that we need to rely on you and put you first. When we do this temptations are unmasked for what they really are. They are challenges to your position in the center of our lives. There is nothing wrong with bread in itself but it can't be more important to us than the words that come forth from the mouth of God. This word is simple and ready at hand. To temptations we can simply say, "Jesus is LORD", and watch them flee from us.

You do allow us to be tested LORD. We have testimonies because we are tested and because you yourself deliver us (otherwise, as they say, we just have the moanies). We must look to you for help and to acknowledge your help with thanks.

He brought us out of Egypt
with his strong hand and outstretched arm,
with terrifying power, with signs and wonders;
and bringing us into this country,
he gave us this land flowing with milk and honey.
Therefore, I have now brought you the firstfruits
of the products of the soil 
which you, O LORD, have given me.’

This is how we grow in faith and in trust in you, LORD. You orchestrate the circumstances and provide the power and wisdom to navigate them. No matter how dire they are we need not fear with you protecting us.

Upon their hands they shall bear you up,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.
You shall tread upon the asp and the viper;
you shall trample down the lion and the dragon.

Your word, Jesus, is close. Let us cling to that word today.

Because he clings to me, I will deliver him;
I will set him on high because he acknowledges my name.

13 February 2016 - no more turning away

[ Today's Readings ]

If you hold back your foot on the sabbath
from following your own pursuits on my holy day;

LORD, teach us to hold back from our own pursuits. We're just not very good at this. We know Sunday should be yours. Yet we give it little more than lip service. It isn't enough to spend an hour with you. If we can only learn to place you at the center we will see our day transformed. And when our day is transformed our week will follow. If we hold back even Sunday from you the rest of the week won't be different.

Teach us to leave our selfishness aside. Teach us concern for others. There is so much that seems necessary in our lives. We become so busy that we have no sense of the needs of others. It's all we can do to stay afloat. Even when our lives intersect with those in need, even when the things we do actually are helpful, our hearts are not engaged because we are trapped within ourselves.

We fail to notice the injustice in our midst. We even fail to notice the injustice in ourselves. We're just so busy and preoccupied. We speak falsely and horde more than we truly need. We ourselves are part of the problem. And we do these things without really noticing. After all, we're just barely getting by. How can we be expected to do more? But the problems of the world are largely the sum of individuals who won't notice what is wrong near them and in their hearts. In order to be the change we want to see in the world we must first see that we are the very brokenness that we want to change.

Jesus said to them in reply,
“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”

Jesus, we do need a physician! We do! Please, visit us with your healing. Call us and make us to listen! Reveal the parts of our lives where we ignore your call. Show us where we pretend to be well but are in fact direly ill.

Then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
and the gloom shall become for you like midday;
Then the LORD will guide you always
and give you plenty even on the parched land.
He will renew your strength,
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring whose water never fails.

LORD, we want to follow you. We desire your promise. Teach us to lift our souls to you so that we do not fool ourselves. We need not fear to do so, for you are rich in mercy.

For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call upon you

12 February 2015 - better, stronger fasting

[ Today's Readings ]

Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits,
and drive all your laborers.

It isn't enough to look like we're fasting.

Is this the manner of fasting I wish,
of keeping a day of penance:
That a man bow his head like a reed
and lie in sackcloth and ashes?

It isn't enough to just do the thing. It has to come from the heart.

My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

It needs to be a genuine solidarity with the world in it's suffering.

Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast.”

LORD Jesus, you yourself weep with those who weep. Here is the model for the attitude with which we ought to fast.

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept (see John 11:33-45).

Jesus, don't let us use our Lent as an opportunity to turn inward and ignore the world. You tell us that we fast when you are taken from us. Yet you are with us always, so what do you mean? If you are truly so present how shall we ever fast? But you are taken from us by your death, which we remember until you come again, and the sin that makes it necessary. This death encompasses all of the sorrow of all of history. If we try to embrace this sorrow on our own we are overwhelmed. But when we embrace it by embracing your cross it is transformed. Our fasting is transformed. It is not and cannot be only focused within.

This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;

This is wonderful. When fasting is a practice that is mostly vanity we just end up miserable anyway.

Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting,
striking with wicked claw.

This fasting, united to your own suffering, embracing in love the sorrow of the world, actually does something.

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!

We know that, although you are taken from us, the third day is coming. Your resurrection is what gives us power. Fasting is made meaningful by Easter. We break every yoke, we set the oppressed free, we clothe the naked and share our bread with the hungry. We don't turn our backs on suffering but unite it with power of your cross so that it can be overcome by the power of your resurrection.

A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

11 February 2016 - firmly planted i'll be

[ Today's Readings ]

Choose life, then,
that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God,
heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.

Jesus, you want us to choose life. You allow us to opt for death and doom if we want them. But you don't want them for us. You take no delight in the death of the sinner (see Ezekiel 18:23). We tend to think you're out to get us. We often believe you're looking for an excuse to judge us. Rather it is that you're out to save us and looking for an excuse to show us mercy.

Help us to delight in your law, Jesus. Help us to meditate on it as much as we can. The way to true life is not the obvious way which the world presents to us.

If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

Yet when we deny ourselves and take up our crosses daily to follow you Jesus we do find life. We find life that is more true and lasting than the life the world offers.

He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.

The world can't offer life like this. It is a desert that can't quench our thirst. It promises fruit but reveals mostly famine. All of its promises fade.

The way to true life is hard to see from this perspective of our selfishness and pride. How can death lead to life?

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit (see John 12:24).

Death leads to life only because in it we are most fully united with you, Jesus. So don't just let us charge off toward self-hatred. Instead, let us charge off toward self-sacrifice for your sake.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me (see John 15:4).

When we abide in you, Jesus, the grain of our lives falls into the earth and dies, but united to you and your resurrection it bears much fruit. The things truly done in pursuit of this path always prosper.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law (see Galatians 5:22-23).

To help us own our desire to delight in his law, let's sing:

10 February 2016 - from the ashes

[ Today's Readings ]

We implore you on behalf of Christ,
be reconciled to God.

LORD you call us to return to you with our whole heart, "with fasting, and weeping, and mourning".

The first step for us is to acknowledge our offense.

For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
“Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight.”

We generally think of ourselves as "good people." We're "nice." LORD, help us to realize that we really do need to repent. Help us to realize all of the ulterior motives for the good things we do. Jesus, you tell us how to recognize and thwart these motives.

But when you give alms,
do not let your left hand know what your right is doing,
so that your almsgiving may be secret.

You help us to remove the worldly reward. You show us that we should only care about the "Father who sees in secret".

But when you pray, go to your inner room,
close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.

Help us also to realize all the good things we fail to do. And do not let us minimize the sins we commit. Only to the degree that we acknowledge our offenses can you thoroughly wash us from our guilt. If we only present you the surface then in one sense only the surface is cleaned. And we need a deep cleaning. In fact, we need a new heart.

A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.

It's true that this seems overwhelming LORD. But you are the one who heals us. You assure us that there is no better day to begin than today.

Behold, now is a very acceptable time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.

You assure us, too, that though it may be a painful process, it is worth it.

Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.

40 Days - Matt Maher:

9 February 2016 - more than thousands elsewhere

[ Today's Readings ]

This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
In vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.

The Pharisees have various things they do which aren't bad in themselves. The various washings and purifications are fine in themselves. But the Pharisees use them to assert their superiority over others. They use them to build their own pride. They don't provide these practices as occasions of mercy for others but rather for judgment.

You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”
He went on to say,
“How well you have set aside the commandment of God
in order to uphold your tradition!

We can't be this fixated on our ideas and traditions. We need to place God's ideas and traditions first.

So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter (see. Second Thessalonians 2:15).

His traditions must be the origin of our own. His Word must be more to us than all other words. Before we speak we must listen.

And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers (see First Thessalonians 2:13)

If he does not have primacy and priority we will twist good things and use them to bad ends.

Yet you say,
‘If someone says to father or mother,
“Any support you might have had from me is qorban”’
(meaning, dedicated to God),
you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother.

We may even convince ourselves that such things are in the service of God rather than self. The risk is real. The only way to be sure we don't make this mistake is to allow him to be as present in our lives as he wants to be.

“Can it indeed be that God dwells on earth?
If the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain you,
how much less this temple which I have built! 

We have more access to the presence of God than does Solomon. Jesus is the presence of God. Jesus himself is the Word of the Father. He must come before any of our own words. His presence must fill our lives that much. If we welcome his presence in this way he will heed our prayers and petitions. He will listen from his heavenly dwelling and grant pardon. He will teach our hearts the truth which Solomon knows:

LORD, God of Israel,
there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below

Let's learn the value of coming into the presence of God today. Let's learn to give him the room to dwell in our hearts just as he dwell's in Solomon's temple.

I had rather one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I had rather lie at the threshold of the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

8 February 2016 - privilege of presence

[ Today's Readings ]

Advance, O LORD, to your resting place,
you and the ark of your majesty.

In Solomon's time the glory of the LORD is so great that when his cloud fills the temple the priests can no longer minister. This is the shekinah cloud of the presence of God's glory.

But there is a way in which this is problematic. God wants us to come into his presence. But with the glory turned up to 11 like this we are unable to do so. If we look at him directly we die.

"But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live." (see Exodus 33:20)

Yet he does want to be seen. He makes compromise for Moses.

And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen (see Exodus 33:21-23).

Moses is allowed to see God's back. He comes so close to God's shekinah cloud that his face glows when he comes down from the mountain. People can't even look at him directly and he has to cover his face (see Exodus 34:45).

God's glory is overwhelming when it is too direct. Yet he does not wish to withdraw from us. He doesn't wish to keep us from his presence. His solution? Jesus.

Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father (see John 14:9).

Jesus brings us the full presence of God without blinding us. His presence is powerful.

Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered,
they laid the sick in the marketplaces
and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak;
and as many as touched it were healed.

His human face might confuse us. We may not fully realize the privilege of his presence. The species of the Eucharist might confuse us. We may not grasp the glory of his presence in the Sacrament. Perhaps incense helps us perceive it a little more. But the thing is, his glory is even more present in his own person than it ever was in Solomon's temple. His human face and the appearance of bread and wine are mercies that allow us to encounter him. But if we do not participate consciously and actively that encounter will always elude us. He allows us to come just as close as we are willing to come. So let's come as close as we can. 

May your priests be clothed with justice;
let your faithful ones shout merrily for joy.

7 February 2016 - duc in altum

[ Today's Readings ]

Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed!
For I am a man of unclean lips,
living among a people of unclean lips;
yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

When we truly experience the presence and power of God we are overwhelmed. 

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
“Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

What before seemed like minor imperfections now seem tremendous in the presence of the All-Holy. He knows all and sees all and is utterly without flaw or imperfection of any sort. How can we pretend to stand before his piercing gaze?

Yet God makes us fit to stand in his presence.

Then one of the seraphim flew to me,
holding an ember that he had taken with tongs from the altar.

He touched my mouth with it, and said,
“See, now that this has touched your lips,
your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”

He has the power to make us clean. But why? Why does he even want us in his presence?

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
“Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”

Yes, there is a call. But why us? It isn't because we are especially worthy.

Last of all, as to one born abnormally,
he appeared to me.

And yet, out of love, he saves us. And out of love he calls us to share that salvation.

Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men.”
When they brought their boats to the shore,
they left everything and followed him.

He does not call the qualified, but qualifies the called. He burns away the sins from our hearts and longs to here us say, "Here I am, send me." He reveals himself to us so that we will follow him as fishers of men.

It begins in his presence.

In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.

We receive the purification he offers and then open our mouths to sing.

and they shall sing of the ways of the LORD:
“Great is the glory of the LORD.”

And singing we follow him, casting our nets to fish for men. He calls us out into the deep and by his own power makes us able to respond.

The world needs to hear the simple truth we know.

that Christ died for our sins
in accordance with the Scriptures;
that he was buried;
that he was raised on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures;