29 February 2020 - threshold of mercy

Today's Readings

(Audio)

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.”

It is not to the perfect that Jesus came. It is sinners who need God's mercy. Those who thought themselves to be perfect weren't open to healing that Jesus desired to give. We sometimes slip into believing that we have more or less achieved some basic level of stable perfection. We may still imagine that we need Jesus for some optional spiritual path we choose to pursue as a hobby. But we forget that even as simple men and women called to love we are quite broken and desperate without him. The path to sanctification involves an ever greater awareness of our need for God. We see our own brokenness more clearly. But it does not discourage us because we also see the abundance of God's mercy, not only its existence, but especially its possibility for us.

"Oh, how happy I am to see myself imperfect and to have such need of God’s mercyat the moment of my death." - St Therese of Lisieux 

Only when we allow ourselves to see the parts of ourselves where we need God's healing can we be transformed. And this is the only way that the world itself can be changed. We ourselves must be the first recipients of any healing that we desire for the world. We must be the change we wish to see. But this means that we must first admit that we needed the change. Apart from God's mercy this is quite a frightening thing to believe. But when seen in the light of God it actually entitles us great intimacy with him. This is what Paul was expressing when he wrote, "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost" (see First Timothy 1:15).

If you remove from your midst oppression,
false accusation and malicious speech;
If you bestow your bread on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
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.

The implication is that the reason that there is oppression, false accusation, and malicious speech, and hungry and afflicted people is because these things exist incipiently within our own hearts. This is what the heavy quote from the Brothers Karamazov is meant to express.

"When he realizes that he is not only worse than others, but that he is responsible to all men for all and everything, for all human sins, national and individual, only then the aim of our seclusion is attained. For know, dear ones, that every one of us is undoubtedly responsible for all men and everything on earth, not merely through the general sinfulness of creation, but each one personally for all mankind and every individual man."

He goes on in a way that shows the great hope that underlies such a claim.

"Only through that knowledge, our heart grows soft with infinite, universal, inexhaustible love. Then every one of you will have the power to win over the whole world by love and to wash away the sins of the world with your tears."
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky

When we recognize the great need of mercy in which we all stand it is not only we ourselves that are on the threshold of being transformed, but the entire world.

The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake,
and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up;
“Repairer of the breach,” they shall call you,
“Restorer of ruined homesteads.”

With the psalmist we are moved to pray, "Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth."

28 February 2020 - Godly sorrow

Today's Readings

(Audio)

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?

When we fast the point isn't simply that we feel bad about ourselves.

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death (see Second Corinthians 7:10).

Fasting is rather supposed to be choosing to put God first. Sorrow is useful insofar as it can provide impetus for genuine transformation. But it not the point itself. Transformation is the point.

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;
Sharing your bread with the hungry,
sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own.

We value some things in our lives more than they deserve. Fasting teaches us to set those things aside to make room for the love of God and neighbor.

The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

We fast to make room for the return of the bridegroom. We typically live trying to fell the emptiness by other means. We have a God shaped hole within us that won't be fully filled until we are one with him forever. But we try to fill it with all sorts of temporary earthly pleasures. It is worthwhile to notice this sorrow. It arises from the fact that we are not yet in heaven. It is this sorrow that can help motivate us to open ourselves to transformation that it is otherwise far too easy to put off indefinitely.

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

The sorrow that works repentance is not something we can stir up within ourselves. It is not guilt for all the ways which we have failed. We may have these feelings but we need not dwell on them. God suggests, in fact, that we direct our focus elsewhere, to loving others, and to loving him above all.

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.

27 February 2020 - dying to live

Today's Readings

(Audio)

I have set before you life and death,
the blessing and the curse.

We are called to choose life. But it is a higher life than simply a good life on this world.

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

Here we have a paradox. God does want us to find life. But he wants us to find true life, not simply life consisting in the passing things of this world.

What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?

The path to true life is the way of the cross. It is no wonder, then, that we must be told to prefer it. It is not the sort of thing we pursue instinctually or out of self interest. And yet it is more truly and genuinely life than anything else to which we might give that name. The cross as a choice seems like a negation. It seems like choosing against many things. But God is telling us that choosing to follow Jesus with our crosses means life for us, just as it did for him. He is giving us the recipe to make sense of ever suffering we endure or encounter. We can do more than simply grit our teeth and endure stoically. In every hardship we can decide to consciously prefer the eternal life of the Kingdom of God.

If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God,
which I enjoin on you today,
loving him, and walking in his ways,
and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees,
you will live and grow numerous,
and the LORD, your God,
will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.

Every commandment in its own way teaches us not to set too much stake in fading treasures of earth. Each one is finally about loving and preferring God and his ways, but not arbitrarily. We do this because this is why we were made. In it is the only permanence that can be found, the only stability that can be sought. It is this choice of life alone that can fulfill the human heart.

He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season

26 February 2020 - turn back to me

Today's Readings

(Audio)

For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin,
so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Lent is so easy to do poorly. We are all too ready to beat ourselves up and make ourselves feel bad. We often begin in the flesh, attempting or planning to attempt so many lofty-sounding goals. Jesus is inviting us to something else. He is inviting us to allow ourselves to be stripped of those things which we do or possess apart from him so that we can live more fully our identity as sons and daughters united to him. Lent is not ultimately about incremental change of habits. It is about becoming more and more the righteousness of God in Christ.

Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the LORD, your God.

The prophet Joel makes it sound as though we are supposed to beat ourselves up. But this may not be what he intends. The fasting, the weeping, and the mourning, none of these are things we work up in ourselves. They are a consequence of the grace of repentance. We turn back to our first love. We do so by foregoing the things which distract us. The sorrow is sorrow that we have kept our beloved waiting so long with so little to show for it. The sorrow may be part of the path of these forty days but it is not the destination.

For gracious and merciful is he,
slow to anger, rich in kindness,
and relenting in punishment.
Perhaps he will again relent
and leave behind him a blessing,
Offerings and libations
for the LORD, your God.

We must be very careful in our approach to Lent that we are being led by the Spirit and not by our sense of how others will see us. Even when we don't tell them our penances we still often imagine how they would think of us if they knew. We still imagine what we do more from a human perspective of pride than from God's perspective.

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

To the degree possible, let us approach Lent relying on the Spirit and not on our own understanding (see Proverbs 3:5). The degree to which we are able to let God work silently and secretly within us (we know not how!) is the degree to which we finally receive our reward. We do begin Lent with concrete choices made to place the LORD first in our lives. But we must live Lent by allowing the LORD to work within these choices. If we try to stick to them rigidly as blueprints whereby we gauge our own success and merit we'll miss great opportunities for grace.

Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.

25 February 2020 - ask rightly

Today's Readings

(Audio)

You covet but do not possess.
You kill and envy but you cannot obtain;
you fight and wage war.

We have disordered passions within ourselves. We do not want the right things for the right reasons. The large and obvious symptoms of this are the wars and vast systemic inequality in the world. But even in our own lives there is discord introduced by desires which are not God given. Jesus invites us to be poor in spirit. He warns that it is hard for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God. We resist this invitation, desiring things which God does not intend us to have, which will not give us joy. Jesus invites us to delight ourselves in him so that he can satisfy us (see Psalm 34:4). He calls us to seek first the Kingdom so that the other things that our Father knows that we need can be added unto us (see Matthew 6:33).

You do not possess because you do not ask.
You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly,
to spend it on your passions.

Jesus does want to bless us with good things. Our Father knows the things we need. He even knows those things which will give us delight if we receive them as gifts from him. He does give such gifts and we in turn are thankful. James is not saying that we must only ever have the bare minimum in our lives. Instead, we are called to avoid the desires that stem from pride, jealousy, or entitlement. Anything for which we would be ashamed to offer thanksgiving to God should be avoided.

But they remained silent.
For they had been discussing among themselves on the way
who was the greatest.

If we are ashamed to tell Jesus that we were arguing about being the greatest it is because there was something wrong with our desire. Maybe it stemmed from fear about the place of the Cross in the life of Jesus and our own lives. Maybe it stemmed from a sense of entitlement about what we felt was our due as Christians.

Let us stop asking wrongly, to spend it on our passions. Let us start asking for gifts that we can offer back to God.

Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them,
“If anyone wishes to be first,   
he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”

Jesus calls us to a humility which we need if we really want to put the Kingdom above all else. If we really want to be able to love even the least of his people with nothing to offer our passions will not provide us motivation. We need to learn from the one who came not to be served but to serve. He will give us the grace to follow in the way he leads us.

Cast your care upon the LORD,
and he will support you;
never will he permit the just man to be disturbed.

24 February 2020 - heal my unbelief

Today's Readings

(Audio)

I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable to do so.

The attempt of the disciples lacked faith and it lacked genuine prayer. From the sound of the result it also lacked humility.

As Jesus came down from the mountain with Peter, James, John
and approached the other disciples,
they saw a large crowd around them and scribes arguing with them.

They were in a posture of defensiveness. They had something to prove. Maybe it was something about their own worth and power. But perhaps it wasn't anything that obviously self-centered. Perhaps what they wanted to prove was about who Jesus was. Yet it was not by faith or pray that they sought about proving this. They were still too reliant on themselves.

But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
Jesus said to him,
“‘If you can!’ Everything is possible to one who has faith.”

How do we respond when our faith is weak? Do we press in with our own efforts or run away in despair? Both of those choices lead only to cycles of ever deepening doubt and despair. Instead we must learn from the father of this possessed child. He made no assumptions about himself or his own abilities. He was jaded by years of seeing his son suffer. But he did not give up.

Then the boy’s father cried out, “I do believe, help my unbelief!”

The faith we have can grow if it is faith on which we rely. If we offer the seed of our faith to Jesus he himself will water it and make it grow.

“Mute and deaf spirit, I command you:
come out of him and never enter him again!”

We must be careful not to confuse faith with desires stemming from jealousy or selfish ambition. The result of faith is never greatness for ourselves but rather for God, that he might be glorified.

Let him show his works by a good life   
in the humility that comes from wisdom.

Humility is the essence of the prayer that can work wonders. It is a humility that is able to ask for the LORD's Kingdom to come rather than our own. It is content to see him exulted and requests only daily bread and mercy for ourselves.

He said to them, “This kind can only come out through prayer.”

Let us cultivate peace. Peace is stability for genuine humility. Peace is the ground for sincere prayer.

And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace
for those who cultivate peace.

We believe, LORD, heal our unbelief!

23 February 2020 - as your heavenly Father is perfect

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Do you not know that you are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

In baptism the Spirit of God comes to live in us. His presence within us is strengthened in confirmation. The fact of his dwelling within both calls us to holiness and gives us the grace we need to walk in holiness.

“Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them:
Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy.

Those without faith cannot please God (see Hebrews 11:6) because it is by faith working in love that the Holy Spirits manifests his fruits in our lives. Faith makes it possible to learn from God how to love our enemies. The perfection to which he guides us is no arbitrary thing. It is a call to perfect union with himself, the source of holiness.

So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

The LORD is asking us to approach his call to be us to be perfect with faith. The presence of God within is the place from which we begin. It is the identity we already have but which we must live out to fulfill God's plan for our lives. Often we forget who we are in Christ and try to figure things out from the perspective of our own wisdom. But this is not recommended. On our own we fail and fall short.

God catches the wise in their own ruses,
and again:
The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise,
that they are vain.

Teach us that we are so united to you, LORD Jesus, that we can love even those who challenge us, who don't appeal to us, who are set against us, just as you first loved us.

As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.

22 February 2020 - the chair, man

Today's Readings

(Audio)

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

If we try to answer this question using our own wisdom we'll get it wrong just the crowds do. We'll say that he is John the Baptist or Elijah. We'll say that he was one more good person proclaiming a path to God, no different from any other religious founder. Our own wisdom tries to fit Jesus into our existing categories and frameworks for the world. This won't work because there has never been anyone like him before. He bursts our limited categories like so many old wineskins.

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

People say that faith is arbitrary. They tell us that it is something like a guess or a gamble that we choose in spite of the lack of evidence. This is wrong in many ways. But in particular it is wrong because Jesus is someone we would never have guessed or expected. The faith to which we are invited is precisely not the sort of thing which we or the world would imagine on our own.

Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.

The Father has revealed his Son to us. He wants to do so more and more. He wants us to know, to grasp, to believe, and to cling to the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son anointed by God, sharing his own Spirit. Nothing matters more than that we believe this and that we let our belief change our lives.

It is because faith is so important that Jesus gives the keys of the Kingdom to Peter, and that he builds his Church on him as a rock. Peter is the first to proclaim this revelation of the identity of Jesus. Jesus in turn ensures that he and his successors will always be present in history to propose this truth and invite people to believe. He allows others to believe safely within the boundaries delimited by the belief of Peter. The one revelation of the Father to Peter is ever present and ever fresh in the Church, guaranteed by the keys he is given. This is not to say it is always proclaimed with the same dynamism or even fidelity. It is not to say the Church even always speaks clearly or as often as it should. But it cannot defect from the truth it poses.

Peter learned from Jesus to watch over his people with the love of a shepherd. Just as Jesus gave his people repose in green pastures and fed them at his table so too did Peter, learning from the example he saw in Jesus, the example illuminated by the revelation the Father gave him. We too are meant to learn this love from Peter and from Jesus. It is meant, as we read yesterday, to be the natural consequence of our faith.

Do not lord it over those assigned to you,
but be examples to the flock.

Our flocks are thankfully smaller than that of Peter. That in itself is a good reminder to pray for his successor, Pope Francis. But we too do have flocks in our care, however small they may be. Let us follow Jesus and Peter in tending to them.

And when the chief Shepherd is revealed,
you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

21 February 2020 - faith that saves

Today's Readings

(Audio)

So also faith of itself,
if it does not have works, is dead.

We don't earn salvation by our works. Our works are meant to be a fruit of the gift of faith that is given to us. That is why love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithful, and self-control are called fruits of the Spirit. The seed and the growth is given to those who are willing to make of themselves fields of rich soil to be cultivated by God.

Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake
and that of the Gospel will save it.

It may seem like Jesus is telling us that we need to grit our teeth and expand maximal effort in this act of love which he asks of us. But it is quite the opposite. We are being called to learn just how little we can do on our own, to die to our need to be in control and the need to block out suffering by our efforts. He is asking us to let him work in us even when it seems like there will be nothing left of us or his promise after the fact. Taking up our crosses is a call, not simply to struggle with them on our own, but rather to cling to him and thereby allow the death of our old sinful selves.

Was not Abraham our father justified by works
when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar?

Abraham's faith was working in love for God when he offered Isaac. It is not something he would have or should have done on his own. It was not something he could even consider apart from a faith that transcended his need even to understand fully that to which he was being called. His works were made possible because by faith he could see beyond the limitations of that moment to a God who could give life even to the dead. Nothing, in the end, can hinder God's promise for anyone who chooses to place their trust in him, in both belief and in deed.

“Amen, I say to you,
there are some standing here who will not taste death
until they see that the Kingdom of God has come in power.”

By faith we too see the Kingdom of God coming in power, especially in the mass. If this is so, if we are truly living in the Kingdom here and now, then what of our excuses? Great things are possible in the Kingdom of so great a King!

Light shines through the darkness for the upright;
he is gracious and merciful and just.

20 February 2020 - who do you say I am?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

And he asked them,
“But who do you say that I am?”

We are ready to brush past this, mouthing the answer of Peter. We've heard it. We know that Jesus confirms it. But is it really our own answer? On this particular day in each of our lives, who is Jesus to us? Is it not often the case that he is something closer to an ideal or a story? Do we really realize that he is the Christ, the one anointed to deliver and lead us in our own particular circumstances?

Peter said to him in reply,
“You are the Christ.”

Confessing that Jesus is the Christ means more than acknowledging that the historical account of Christianity is true, although it means that as well. It means confessing that he is still present with the same saving power he showed in history. If this sounds right, why does it seem so easy to forget it? Why is it that even though we may agree while we read about it in the morning that by the middle of our day it is almost forgotten?

He began to teach them
that the Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed, and rise after three days.

We, like Peter, fear the circumstances of life. We fear the inescapable facts of suffering and temptation. Importantly, we can't square these with the power of Jesus. We can't hold the reality of the power of Jesus and the fact of the fallenness of the world in tension and so we look only to the pressing issue of suffering. We start thinking as human beings do rather than from the initial revelation of the heavenly Father that inspired Peter's declaration.

The call of Jesus today is not to run away from suffering but rather to run toward Jesus himself. Jesus assures us that we will suffer and face challenges in life. But he promises an anointing that makes us victorious even in the midst of whatever we might face. We are made more than conquerors in him (see Romans 8:37). Jesus is both truly anointed for victory and eternal life and yet truly suffers. He is the model for us. Saying he is the Christ is no less meaningful because he suffers. In the end, it is more meaningful because of it. So too for the circumstances of our lives.

We need to start thinking as God thinks, not as human beings do. We have been given the mind of Christ (see First Corinthians 2:16). Before we made distinctions and became judges with evil designs. We thought according to the flesh and showed partiality. Jesus is inviting us to return our thinking to the essential starting place: his identity. He is Christ, the Son of the Living God.

Glorify the LORD with me,
let us together extol his name.

19 February 2020 - that we might see

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Sometimes we receive our sight all at once like Paul. The scales fall from our eyes and we're good to go. Other times healing comes more gradually.

Putting spittle on his eyes he laid his hands on the man and asked,
“Do you see anything?”
Looking up the man replied, “I see people looking like trees and walking.”

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer,
he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror.
He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets
what he looked like.

We recognize that we have not been fully healed when we see vaguely or fleetingly. We know the shapes don't match reality. We remember knowing what we looked like, the true shape of our identity and purpose, but can't remember now. If we set out on the road in this condition we will be a danger to others and especially to ourselves. These partial healings mean that we need to invite the LORD deeper into our hearts. We need to welcome him with ever greater humility.

Therefore, put away all filth and evil excess
and humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you
and is able to save your souls.

The word can truly open our eyes to the vision that God has for us and for the world. But it is not something that we can just hear and then forget. It must shape our identities so much that when we look into the mirror it is the truth of the word about us that we see. It must so shape our understanding of life in the world that we can't imagine navigating that life without it.

Then he laid hands on the man’s eyes a second time and he saw clearly;
his sight was restored and he could see everything distinctly.

Jesus doesn't want us to be satisfied with partial sight. He asks us, like the man he healed, what we see. He asks us this because he wants to break through any resistance on our parts to truly open the eyes of our hearts. He keeps asking until we either run from him or allow him to open our eyes. His word makes our hearts pure. It is the pure of heart who see God.

He who walks blamelessly and does justice;
who thinks the truth in his heart
and slanders not with his tongue.

18 February 2020 - every good and perfect gift

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
and the leaven of Herod.”
They concluded among themselves that
it was because they had no bread.

The disciples had forgotten to bring bread into the boat. They were so distracted by this that they thought Jesus must have been referring to it when he spoke of the leaven of the Pharisees. Perhaps their own failing would make them more subject to the temptation of the leaven of the Pharisees. Lacking enough bread, perhaps they would turn to the Pharisees for their leaven. Maybe this was the temptation about which Jesus was warning them. But they were mistaken.

17 February 2020 - de-signed

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with Jesus,
seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him.

They were not seeking a sign because they had any interest in believing him.

“Why does this generation seek a sign?
Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”

They were denied a sign because a sign wouldn't have given them faith. Instead, they wanted to control Jesus by dictating what he did. They wanted to be the authority to whom he had to prove himself. Jesus did perform signs to prove his identity and authority.

If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works (see John 10:37-38)

Moreover, as the sign of Jonah, Jesus himself was to be the ultimate sign. His death, three days in the earth, and resurrection proved every claim he made about himself. We see that Jesus showed the truth about himself in a way very different from the way in which we usually argue for truth. We see in him someone with nothing to prove, so convinced of his own identity in the Father that he didn't need to engage every argument. He did only what he needed to do so that people who were open to faith could believe. Even so, he didn't abandon even those who wanted to test him. The sign of Jonah was one that was designed to convert even the hardened hearts of sinners.

And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.” (see John 19:37).

What should we do if we feel that we need stronger faith? Let us start from the cross, looking upon the one whom are sins have pierced. From there we receive the humility necessary to approach God not as his judge but rather as those who desire to receive wisdom.

But if any of you lacks wisdom,
he should ask God who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly,
and he will be given it.

We can ask in faith, not doubting, because we are beginning from the faith that the cross inspires, from the truth that we are loved by God. This is the source of our faith and it is only from this source that it can be deepened. Otherwise, our doubts will overwhelm us.

But he should ask in faith, not doubting,
for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea
that is driven and tossed about by the wind.

We can ask in faith, not doubting. It is the love of Jesus for us that inspires this confidence. Let us turn to him today and ask, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (see Mark 9:24).

Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I hold to your promise.

16 February 2020 - the wonders of your law

Today's Readings

(Audio)

If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you;
if you trust in God, you too shall live;
he has set before you fire and water
to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand.

Commandments don't typically good press. Christianity, in turn, represented as a religion of rules, seems archaic and unhelpful. And yet there is life hidden in the laws of God. There is immense wisdom in following his ways. Yet it is possible to look at the laws and miss this wisdom.

Rather, we speak God’s wisdom, mysterious, hidden,
which God predetermined before the ages for our glory,
and which none of the rulers of this age knew;
for, if they had known it,
they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

If the laws only speak of an external transformation and go no further, if, that is to say, they are merely arbitrary rules, then they cannot contain great wisdom. The cannot address the deep issues of the human predicament. If that were the case we would then conform our external behaviors to the laws. Yet compliance and conformity could do nothing about the longings of our hearts.

We are tempted to regard only the external significance of the laws. 'Do this, not that' is an easy concept to understand. Ultimately it is not that demanding, something we can achieve, something in which we can take pride. But to follow the logic of the laws to their inner significance requires that our hearts be changed. 

whoever is angry with his brother
will be liable to judgment;

To experience this inner change requires the grace of God. Any other approach only yields frustration and failure.

everyone who looks at a woman with lust
has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

We are so tempted to want things to be in our control. That is why have such a hard time letting our 'Yes' mean 'Yes' and our 'No' mean 'No.' We want to be able to guarantee that which we can only receive in humility.

Jesus tells us that he has not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. We need him to teach us the wisdom that the law is a constant invitation to inner transformation. The invitation is given by the Spirit. The same Spirit is the one who delights to work that transformation in us.

What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard,
and what has not entered the human heart,
what God has prepared for those who love him,
this God has revealed to us through the Spirit.

15 February 2020 - bread that satisfies

Today's Readings

(Audio)

My heart is moved with pity for the crowd,
because they have been with me now for three days
and have nothing to eat.

Normal food satisfies our hunger only for a time. We have a deeper hunger for a food which satisfies. This is the bread that only Jesus can give. He sees how hungry we are. He looks on us with compassion. He himself desires to be the one who satisfies us for all eternity. 

Are we willing to stay with Jesus for three days even though we are hungry? The crowds spent three days with him before they were able to receive the miraculous bread. Many of us would choose to leave him and try to provide for ourselves before that long. We would try, but not succeed.

If I send them away hungry to their homes,
they will collapse on the way,
and some of them have come a great distance.

Only by choosing to stay with Jesus even when we are experiencing the deepest hungers and longings of our lives will we experience the miraculous and providential care of having him feed us. If he simply sated the desires as they came to our attention we would be at risk of caring more about those things than Jesus. The way Jesus leads us apart and has us wait on him helps us to acknowledge his centrality in our lives.

Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them,
and gave them to his disciples to distribute,
and they distributed them to the crowd.

Jesus alone is enough to fulfill the deepest longings of our hearts. We need to stop acting like Jeroboam who set up easier alternatives to the ways of the LORD. He was more attached to his own power than to the truth. He refused to wait on the LORD for satisfaction but attempted to satisfy himself instead.

You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough.
Here is your God, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.

May we not fall for the false promises of Jeroboam which tell us that there is an easier way than the LORD's way. It may be that the LORD's way does not seem easy. But certainly and emphatically it is the only way that actually reaches the goal, the only way possible. Other ways may seem easier, but they never arrive. They end in disaster.

Let us turn instead to the LORD who longs to satisfy us. He often chooses to do so through the disciples who distribute his bread to us. And we in turn help to bring others to this sacred feast.

He said the blessing over them
and ordered them distributed also.
They ate and were satisfied.
They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets.

With the psalmist, we pray, "Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people."

14 February 2020 - away from the crowd

Today's Readings

(Audio)

He took him off by himself away from the crowd.

Healing is often a very intimate and personal thing. It resists the broad publicity crowds afford. It is a tender act of love between one and another. Jesus often does heal in the site of others. Perhaps these are analogous to the healing services in our own day where we see miracles in the presence of vast crowd. But there are many times when we see Jesus cast out all but a select few before he heals someone. 

He put his finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”)

We do need to have our ears opened as well. We do not hear as well as we should. The crowds fill us with noise that gives rise to fear and uncertainty. We need to let Jesus lead us off by ourselves away from the crowd so that we can be entirely absorbed in his presence. He is healing our ability to put him first, to listen to him more than the clamor of all other voices. We may be used to the crowd. We may have managed their safely for many years. But it is much better to come away with Jesus. With Jesus we become who we are meant to be. We no longer merely survive, but begin to thrive.

Solomon began well, apart with God. But he allowed other voices to drown out that voice of his first love. The LORD was forced to discipline him in such a way that many voices that previously captivated him would again yield to the one voice that mattered.

I will tear away the kingdom from Solomon’s grasp
and will give you ten of the tribes.

May we not force the LORD to drastic measures like Solomon. May we rather follow the deaf man as he follows Jesus away from the crowd. Jesus is waiting to open our ears today. There is a degree to which every one of us needs this healing. May we all receive it.

“If only my people would hear me,
and Israel walk in my ways,
Quickly would I humble their enemies;
against their foes I would turn my hand.”

13 February 2020 - dog food

Today's Readings

(Audio)

He said to her, “Let the children be fed first.
For it is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs.”

How do we handle it when we meet resistance in our spiritual lives? Often we turn aside to such pleasures as the world can afford, from the more licit to the less so.

When Solomon was old his wives had turned his heart to strange gods,
and his heart was not entirely with the LORD, his God,
as the heart of his father David had been.

When God isn't first the only alternative is idolatry at least of an implicit sort. We believe, like Solomon that wives can give us the joy we seek. We see in Solomon the close connection between preferring them to the LORD and preferring their God's to him. When we are more concerned about entertainment, or the news, or our work, or indeed even our own families than the LORD they become idols that ensnare us.

What should we do, then, when we are trying to press in to the LORD but receive the apparent rejection of the Syrophoenician woman? We need to do what she did. We need to listen more closely and press in. The LORD never rejects us. Any apparent rejection is really an invitation to greater faith.

She replied and said to him,
“Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.”

Jesus had said that the children should be fed first, not that only they should be fed. The woman recognized that was still an opportunity there if she could embrace the humility of a puppy seeking after the scrapes. She did so without hesitation.

Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go.
The demon has gone out of your daughter.”
When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed
and the demon gone.

Where has the LORD seemed slow to answer? Are there places in our lives where we have all but stopped pursuing him? Let us learn from the example of the Syrophoenician woman. Rather than insisting on our request in a prideful way let us find a way to cling to it and press in with faith and humility.

Remember us, O LORD, as you favor your people;
visit us with your saving help.

12 February 2020 - the mouth of the just murmurs wisdom

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The mouth of the just man tells of wisdom
and his tongue utters what is right.
The law of his God is in his heart,
and his steps do not falter.

What is the source of the wisdom that Solomon has to offer the queen of Sheba?

King Solomon explained everything she asked about,
and there remained nothing hidden from him
that he could not explain to her.

King Solomon was not wise in the wisdom that comes from the world. He was wise because his heart sought God first and not the things of the world. The law of God was in his heart, and, for a time, his steps did not falter. The queen of Sheba sensed that it was not simply the cleverness of Solomon that made him able to answer her questions. She could tell that his wisdom had a higher source than himself.

Blessed be the LORD, your God,
whom it has pleased to place you on the throne of Israel.
In his enduring love for Israel,
the LORD has made you king to carry out judgment and justice.

We too are called to be wise. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit (see Isaiah 11:2). But we are not called to the wisdom of this world. God has made such wisdom foolish (see First Corinthians 1:20). We are not called to a wisdom that merely makes us seem smart or clever, or wisdom that could just as easily be used for evil as it could for good. The cleverness needed to rob a bank is not wisdom. Even the cleverness needed to create a peace around false pretenses still misses the mark of genuine wisdom. True wisdom is directed to God's law. When the wisdom comes from God it is evident that he is behind it.

In order to manifest the wisdom of the Spirit we need clean hearts. Worldly wisdom can be external, requiring no change or repentance on our part. But the wisdom Jesus wants to teach us begins within hearts that he himself makes new. This is why he warns against the bad fruit that comes from hearts that have not been renewed.

But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him.

11 February 2020 - better is one day

Today's Readings

(Audio)

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 temptation to retreat into mere externalities is ever present. The reason is that it is to manage them under our own control. To observe ceremonial washings requires no great virtue. No change of heart is needed. Yet just by the fact of their being things that we can do they make us feel religious. They give us a sense of accomplishment. They result in the dangerous illusion that we are more dedicated to God than our hearts truly are. Even the greatest Catholic devotions can become merely external if we don't engage them with the heart.

Yet you say,
‘If someone says to father or mother,
“Any support you might have had from me is qorban”’

The risk we face is that we use the excuse of religion to seal us off from the genuine challenges that love sets before us in the world. Do we go to adoration just so that we are less available to others? Or do we rather go to adoration to find the strength to love others? These are hugely different motives and they make all the difference.

Solomon built the temple. But the temple itself, he knew, would be meaningless without the LORD dwelling in it and watching over it. So too any works of religion we perform.

May your eyes watch night and day over this temple,
the place where you have decreed you shall be honored;
may you heed the prayer which I, your servant, offer in this place.

Let us seek the LORD from the heart, not for our image of ourselves as religious people, but out of love.

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.

10 Feburary 2020 - temple of the Spirit

Today's Readings

(Audio)

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.

The presence of Jesus is unique among humankind in all of history. 

THE REDEEMER OF MAN, Jesus Christ, is the centre of the universe and of history.

- Rdemptor Hominis 1, Saint John Paul the Great

Certainly there were other healers. But in the case of Jesus, his presence itself is healing. It isn't a technique or a prayer of his so much as his very person that conveys healing. The hemorrhaging woman learned this when she touched him and was healed. Those who touched only the tassel on his cloak in today's Gospel reading learned the same thing.

Jesus is anointed with the Holy Spirit. We see this in his baptism, when he declares that the Spirit of the LORD is upon him in the synagogue, in the Transfiguration, and throughout his mission. Jesus is the revelation of the Father as he tells Philip (see John 14:9). In short, the entire Trinity is present and abides in union with the person of Jesus. In truth, it is the same cloud of glory that filled the temple of Solomon that is now present in the human nature of Jesus.

When the priests left the holy place,
the cloud filled the temple of the LORD
so that the priests could no longer minister because of the cloud,
since the LORD’s glory had filled the temple of the LORD.

Direct access to the glory of God in the Old Testament was a death sentence. It was more than any sinful human could bear. Jesus, by uniting humanity and divinity in his person, makes that glory accessible to us. We behold it more and more the more we open ourselves to Jesus in faith, hope, and love. Great and amazing as this is, it gets better. We ourselves are made temples of the Holy Spirit.

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? (see First Corinthians 3:16)

Fair enough, we think. But our tassels still aren't going to bring about healings. Or are they?

And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them (see Acts 19:11-12).

We are temples of the Holy Spirit. We are united to Jesus and to the Father. It is time to stop putting limits on what that might mean. It is time to stop hiding the light we are given. Let us recognize the greatness of the gift of God's presence within us and be thankful. This will prepare us to let ourselves be used in the circumstances God chooses.

Advance, O LORD, to your resting place,
you and the ark of your majesty.
May your priests be clothed with justice;
let your faithful ones shout merrily for joy.

9 February 2020 - you are the light

Today's Readings

(Audio)

You are the light of the world.
A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.

Jesus himself is the light of the world. In turn, we are all called to be light as well. Jesus warns us about the tendency we have to undervalue or hide our own light.

Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;
it is set on a lampstand,
where it gives light to all in the house.

Jesus tells us that the sort of light we are. We are like a city on a hill or a lamp on a lampstand. We can see from those images and those about that salt something essential about what this means for us. The salt and the light are not for their own sake. The salt is for the food that is seasons. The light is for the darkness it illuminates. If this is the sort of light that is within us than we too must do all we can to lift it up and let it shine.

Just so, your light must shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds
and glorify your heavenly Father.

When we hear that our good deeds are supposed to shine before others we tend to throw on the brakes. We are reminded of another verse that suggests that we should give only in secret so that even our right hand doesn't know what our left hand is doing. Indeed we are very much told not to sound the trumpet to call attention to ourselves. (see Matthew 6:2-4)

There is something different between letting our light shine and doing good deeds in a boastful and showy way. When we let the light shine we ourselves are not glorified for the deeds we do. Rather, the heavenly Father receives the glory. It is evident that he is the one at work in us because we are fully transparent to his action in us. We need only fear to be seen in good works as though we were the one doing them. When the grace of God is revealed at work this is the light that is meant to shine.

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!

If we want to do good deeds so as to let our light shine we should take as an example the way Paul brings the revelation of the Gospel to the Corinthians.

I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling,
and my message and my proclamation
were not with persuasive words of wisdom,
but with a demonstration of Spirit and power,
so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom
but on the power of God.

Let us set about good works which are actually demonstrations of the Spirit and the power of the Father at work in the world.

Light shines through the darkness for the upright;
he is gracious and merciful and just.

8 February 2020 - his heart was moved

Today's Readings

(Audio)

When Jesus disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them,
for they were like sheep without a shepherd;
and he began to teach them many things.

What are our priorities? To be sure there are times for coming away by ourselves with Jesus to a deserted place to rest. And certainly there is nothing inherently wrong with the riches or the long life or even the victory over enemies which were among the things Solomon might have requested from God but did not.

Solomon, at least at that point in his life, was more concerned about the sheep over whom he was anointed shepherd and king.

Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart
to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong.
For who is able to govern this vast people of yours?

Jesus also put the sheep first. He knew that those Apostles he was raising up to be shepherds did in fact need rest. But he knew that it was even more urgent that they be able to respond to the crowd with deep empathy for their needs.

Hearts that can ignore the crowds, shepherds that can ignore the abandoned sheep, are resting to no purpose. They are storing up riches for themselves rather than being rich in what matters to God.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (see Matthew 6:33).

Because Solomon sought the LORD's will first he did receive more besides.

In addition, I give you what you have not asked for,
such riches and glory that among kings there is not your like.

The Apostles too did find time to enjoy the presence of Jesus apart from the crowds and to grow in the special fruits of their unique relationship.

Perhaps this is a good way to start planning for our own time apart with Jesus this Lent. What sort of rest will help us to grow in our ability to be available and show love for those sheep that still feel lost and abandoned? We should want a Lent that makes us better, not just for ourselves, but especially for others. When this is our top priority we do find other riches besides because we find ourselves becoming who we were meant to be.

In the way of your decrees I rejoice,
as much as in all riches.

7 February 2020 - more than curious

Today's Readings

(Audio)

When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed,
yet he liked to listen to him.

Scripture reminds us that curiosity is not enough. If we allow ourselves to be sated simply because of novelty or accumulations of facts our hearts remain unchanged. When we need to act with courage that comes from faith we will instead find ourselves frozen. We will be like Herod, unable to stop himself from calling for the death of John the Baptist. We will be like Pilate, unable to prevent the death of Jesus even though he found no guilt in him.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves (see James 1:22).

How does James recommend we become doers of the word? He tells us to "receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls." We might think that listening and taking action are separate. Given the curiosity is not enough what is missing but our own effort? But this isn't quite right. What is missing is a deeper hearing of the word than curiosity affords. It is when the word is planted in this good soil that it bears fruit.

David was a hearer and a doer of the word. He secret was to rely on the Spirit who rushed upon him since he was anointed king. It was precisely when he placed his trust in God that his own rule was blessed.

Since he called upon the Most High God,
who gave strength to his right arm

David and Herod were very different sorts of kings. Herod delighted himself in the dances of women to the point where he was willing to give away his kingdom. David delighted himself in the LORD who in turn gave him the desires of his heart (see Psalm 37:4)

With his every deed he offered thanks
to God Most High, in words of praise.
With his whole being he loved his Maker
and daily had his praises sung;

From David we learn to receive deeply the word that the LORD speaks to us. We learn to make that word our delight. Rather than the cautionary tale of Herod we learn we true fulfillment and true joy is found.