30 November 2020 - at once they left their nets

Today's Readings

(Audio)

He said to them,

“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

John the Baptist prepared Andrew for the call of Jesus when he told his disciples that Jesus was the lamb of God. Andrew was among those intrigued enough to follow after him. Like most of us he didn't fully understand what those words of John the Baptist about Jesus meant. Lamb of God? That didn't sound like the Messiah for whom they were waiting. Nor does a lamb immediately sound like one we're looking for to help us with our own problems. But even without fully understanding Andrew followed. There was something about Jesus himself that seemed different from other men. And hadn't John said there would be? As to what that something was, Jesus invited him to this deepening understanding little by little. He did not require that he first be perfect and then come after. 

And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” (see John 1:38-39)

We have a lot more information about Jesus than did John the Baptist or Andrew. Their messianic expectation contained only broad lines, and it was not at all clear how those lines overlapped with the arrival on the scene of this "lamb of God". But it is one thing to have information, another thing to have relationship. Our information, vast though it is, seems to motivate us much less than the presence of Jesus motivates those whom he calls.

At once they left their nets and followed him.

Jesus invites us to follow him as well. He tells us, just as Andrew, "Come and you will see." It is only through lived experience as his disciples that the information in our heads about who he is can connect with our hearts in the way it clearly did for those first disciples. Information is important. But how that information intersects with our own brokenness, doubts, needs, and desires is not something that can be worked out all at once. Information can be part of the invitation. But what we need is an encounter that leads us to follow him, even if that means setting aside some of the certainties that a purely abstract conception of the Messiah used to provide.

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 can know and say that Jesus is Lord. But then again, no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit (see First Corinthians 12:3). We can know that God is one, but even the demons know that and tremble (see James 2:19). We are called to a faith that is not content with intellectual content, but reaches out to the object of the content in hope and in love (see Galatians 5:6).

Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.

- Deus Caritas Est 1 by Pope Benedict XVI

A genuine encounter with Jesus transforms us from bystanders into witnesses. Just as Andrew immediately shared the One he found with his brother Peter we too will want to make him known.

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!

Matt Maher - The Spirit and the Bride

Curtis Stephan - Go Out, Go Out

29 November 2020 - on the watch

Today's Readings

(Audio)

He leaves home and places his servants in charge,

each with his own work

Jesus ascended and left his servants in charge. We are these servants, a people anointed by his Spirit to be priests, prophets, and kings. His purpose for us is to perform "good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (see Ephesians 2:10). He gave us a mission, not just as an institution performing good deeds, but as individuals, finding the places where our unique gifts can meet the world's greatest needs.

Yet we have not always been good stewards of the gifts and graces with which God entrusted to us. We often forget about the plan God has for our lives and fall back to making our own plans. We can tell this has happened when we are no longer "on the watch", when the horizon of our lives has narrowed to a limited, timebound perspective, forgetful of eternity, without reference to the return of the Lord of the house.

If we have fallen asleep we need the Lord to awaken us. The visions of dreams we see while sleeping only serve to reinforce a transient and ephemeral version of reality. We may have a sense that these dreams lack substance. They lack the concreteness of deep and lasting truth. Yet we cannot avoid slumber without the aid of the Spirit and it is only the Lord the can rouse us from sleep.

Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways,

and harden our hearts so that we fear you not?

Hardened hearts and hearts that slumber share this in common: that they are unresponsive to God, unable to direct their will based on what the Lord desires, unable, to possess the wisdom that only comes from fear of him.

Return for the sake of your servants,

the tribes of your heritage.

We would seem to have a conundrum. We need the Lord to come and wake us up but we don't want to be found asleep at his coming. If we want to go "to meet your Christ with righteous deeds", as the Collect of the mass prays, we cannot rely on our own efforts. The good news is that we don't have to. When the Lord placed his servants in charge he anointed us with his Spirit and thereby gave us what we need to fulfill our task.

I give thanks to my God always on your account

for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus,

that in him you were enriched in every way,

with all discourse and all knowledge,

as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you,

so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift

as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Spirit himself is the supernatural stimulant who helps us to stay awake, who beckons us when we do lapse into unconsciousness, and who guides and strengthens us to be ready for the coming of our King. The Spirit calls out to God for what we need and creates the space in our hearts to receive it. 

we are the clay and you the potter:

we are all the work of your hands.

Our God is not a tyrant, nor finally a thief, nor even primarily he a master. He has made himself our Father. He desires us to desire his coming, not to fear. He wants us to stay awake from excitement and anticipation, not from intimidation.  And so he has given us hearts that can do so, by the power of his Spirit.

O shepherd of Israel, hearken,

from your throne upon the cherubim, shine forth.

Rouse your power,

and come to save us.

Matt Maher - O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Chris Tomlin - Even So Come

28 November 2020 - awake, my soul

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy

It was not about drowsy bodies or even drowsy minds that the Lord warned his disciple. It was about drowsy hearts. The heart is the place of moral decision making. Our heart is where we are alone with the voice of our conscience. The body may naturally get tired. The mind might wander even when one really tries to keep attention constant. But it is the heart that must be protected at all costs from becoming drowsy.

from carousing and drunkenness

Carousing and drunkenness make our hearts heavy and slow, more and more susceptible to facsimiles to the good for which we were made. They make us less able to care about the things that actually matter. They diminish our ability to love God and neighbor. They make us more likely to continue placing our own pleasure above the good of others.

and the anxieties of daily life,

If we try to bear the anxieties of daily life on our own without help from Jesus these anxieties will wear us down. Their quantity and our powerlessness in the face of them cannot help but dull our hearts eventually. Even if we start off as idealistic crusaders for causes which are genuinely good the uncaring world we encounter, our own ability to succeed perfectly and permanently, will eventually wear us down.

Be vigilant at all times

and pray that you have the strength

We must protect our hearts from anything that will diminish our ability to love. Yet we live in a world that seems designed to wear down our freedom to love. We must not try to find the strength we need on our own. If we try to simply steel ourselves, to double down on our resolve to do the right and seek the good, we will find our strength less and less sufficient as the days go by. Instead we must pray for the strength.

the strength

to escape the tribulations that are imminent

We need strength, not just to face trials head on, but even to escape from those trials which are not meant for us. For a heart, running away can be a matter of indifference and self-protection. This kind of running is the mark of a heart that is drowsy. But running away from tribulations can sometimes be motivated by a desire to keep our hearts free and unchained, able to respond to Jesus in the specific ways he invites each of us as individuals to live lives of love. As long as our means are chosen appropriately for this end our hearts will be in good shape.

and to stand before the Son of Man.

When our hearts are awake it is more than simply moral freedom that we possess. It is more than an ability to follow the right rules at the right time, though this is included and indeed only possible to hearts that are awake. Awakened hearts are able to respond to the presence, not only of this or that good, but of Goodness Himself when he reveals himself to us in our own lives.

“Behold, I am coming soon.”

The Lord himself is the source of light and endless day. He is the one from whom life-giving waters flow. Only in him can hearts be healed so as to be made strong. Only around his throne will we have a light so pure and perfect that we no longer have any desire to sleep or turn away. Let us fix our hearts on the promise of that place.

Night will be no more, nor will they need light from lamp or sun,

for the Lord God shall give them light,

and they shall reign forever and ever.

Matt Maher - Awake My Soul (A Thousand Tongues)

Chris Tomlin - Awake My Soul (different song)

Matt Maher - Alive Again

27 November 2020 - signs of new life

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away

until all these things have taken place.

There was a specific way this was true for the original audience of Jesus. But there is a way in which it is true for each subsequent generation, including our own, and on to the final generation. 

"These things" once referred to the fall and destruction of Jerusalem by items enemies in the first century. But to what do they refer for us? Perhaps that we ourselves will not be permitted to live in an earthly utopia, and that our vain hopes for complete fulfillment in the earthly city will not be countenanced. Even the best elected officials and policies will inevitably fall short of creating a paradise here on earth. Things that dismay, perplex, and frighten us will continue. The very powers of the heavens will be shaken as to remind us that we have here no lasting home.

“Consider the fig tree and all the other trees.

When their buds burst open,

you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near;

This season is meant to be one in which we bear fruit, for summer is drawing near. 

But well is the kingdom of God compared to summer; for then the clouds of our sorrow flee away, and the days of life brighten up under the clear light of the Eternal Sun.

- Saint Gregory

The "Kingdom of God is near" us. It is already in our midst in a mystical fashion in the Body of Jesus, the Church. The saints already live and reign "with Christ for a thousand years." The enemy, while clearly not gone entirely, is massively restrained (no matter how it may seem to us). This invisible reign is Christ is meant to prepare the way for his visible coming in glory. 

The Kingdom is already a seed within each one of us. We are meant to be trees that bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit rather than trees which merely show their leaves, promising fruit, but bearing none (see Mark 11:12-14). It is this fruit which will be the criteria of our judgment when summer finally arrives. Are we trees that are fit for paradise, or are we instead withered and fruitless, having chosen to rely on ourselves rather than remaining connected to Christ?

I am the vine; you are the branches. 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).

Jesus is trying to remind us to look to those things which will not pass away, and to show us how to remain rooted and grounded in those realities.

Heaven and earth will pass away, 

but my words will not pass away.

Let us allow the tumult of our own age to reveal to us the urgency, not so much of fixing this age, but of transforming it by bearing fruit fit for an endless summer.

Blessed they who dwell in your house!

continually they praise you.

Robin Mark - Days of Elijah

Songs In His Presence - Like a Son of Man

26 November 2020 - for He is good

Readings for Thanksgiving in the US

(Audio)

And one of them, realizing he had been healed

We are meant to realize what Jesus has done for us. He placed the seed of a new life in our hearts. He gave grace to transform us from slaves to sin into free sons and daughters of God. We can never be thankful enough for such gifts. Nor is it enough to simply say thank you and move on. As we grow in his grace, as our lives are opened to more and more of his promises, we see the seed he planted bearing fruit. There is more treasure in the gifts he already gave than we have yet realized. There is power for healing that is yet untapped. We are meant to realize these things in our lives and then be thankful.

so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift

We have been given every spiritual blessing under heaven (see Ephesians 1:3) but we have not yet fully realized this, save some saints with better things to do than read this blog. Such ones would be in a state of constant thanksgiving at all God did for them. For us, we must first realize more deeply what God has done and continues to do in our lives. We must then prioritize thanksgiving.

And one of them, realizing he had been healed,

returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;

and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.

The secret isn't so much a self-directed introspection about all of the good things done by God in our lives. This is not wrong. But more important is an openness for God himself to reveal what he did and continues to do. It isn't simply an understanding of our blessings that we seek. It is one thing to know that sheer existence and life is given to us as a gift. It is something else again to realize it, to know that each sunrise, each blade of grace, each breath we draw is itself a gift we could never earn, one to which the constant repetition of time tends to make us dull, but which can again be realized as the new and fresh gifts they are so that we can return and give thanks.

Where did the other nine lepers go? Were they so caught up in living with the new blessings they received that they never thought to be thankful? Or were they so wrapped up in a negative mindset that they failed to even really realize what Jesus had done? In either case, may we not be like them. May we keep the space open in our hearts to realize what we have received and to be thankful.

And now, bless the God of all,

who has done wondrous things on earth;

Who fosters people’s growth from their mother’s womb,

and fashions them according to his will!

Let us give thanks with Paul for the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus. Let us realize more and more all of the ways in which we have been enriched: with all knowledge and discourse, with all spiritual gifts. Of course this sounds overstated for us. It sounds like a description that would only apply to the saints. But that is only because we haven't fully realized it yet. But that does not mean that isn't true. It just remains for our faith to take hold of it, to realize it, and to give thanks.

Then he said to him, “Stand up and go;

your faith has saved you.”

May our lives become taken up into the offering of the Eucharist, which is an offering of thanksgiving. May what our realization of and thanksgiving for what God has done deepen and become more continual. The more we embody this, the more we become a people of thanksgiving, the less fear will have a place in us and the more free we will be to trust in the one gives more than we could ever ask or imagine (see Ephesians 3:20).

Every day will I bless you,

and I will praise your name forever and ever.

Great is the LORD and highly to be praised;

his greatness is unsearchable.

Matt Redman - Everything That Has Breath

Craig Musseau - Good To Me

25 November 2020 - the test in testimony

Saint Catherine of Alexandria, martyr.

Today's Readings

(Audio)

It will lead to your giving testimony.

When we encounter the mild forms of persecution that are currently socially acceptable in our culture to what do they lead? To giving testimony? How can it be that the world is now so clever in its assault on the faith that by threats much less than persecution and prison that we are now much more willing to be silent, much more afraid to give testimony?

and they will have you led before kings and governors

because of my name.

What if we're led before family, friends, and coworkers who reject the teaching of Jesus as hostile or hateful? Are we so afraid to protect these earthly relationships that we are afraid to give testimony?

You will even be handed over by parents,

brothers, relatives, and friends,

and they will put some of you to death.

Is it ultimately our relationships that we're protecting? It may seem like others would cut themselves off from us if we spoke up about things we feel are important to the heart of Jesus. But would they? Maybe, but perhaps more often than we'd guess we could come to live in a new, less close, perhaps, but more authentic relationship with them. It seems likely that more of the time when we feel prompted to speak but refuse to do so it is from a desire to protect our ego. It is pride that doesn't want others to dislike us. It is putting desire to be people pleasers above our commitment to the truth.

Once people were willing to be martyrs for the truth. Now we are reluctant to get our feelings hurt for it. This is not to say that we are called to always immediately shout the hard truths and calls to repentance in the presence of those we believe are unlikely to receive them.

Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,

for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking

that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.

We must not plan beforehand, one way or the other, what we will say. We must be willing to remain silent if it is the Lord that is guiding us to do so. If he is the one telling us that this isn't the moment for a truth to be spoken we must be ready to let it go. This is in stark contrast to the way we often treat our political opinions, which are difficult for us to keep within, whether or not they are helpful. But it is perhaps even more the case that we must be ready to speak when the Lord calls us to speak. This may not happen when we plan. The moment may not seem, humanly speaking, to be the right moment. But if we do sense the Lord prompting us, a voice deep within, resonant with our own conscience, we must not avoid doing so out of fear. It is one thing for a dispassionate calculation about what would be helpful determining our speech. It is another when fear does so. In fact, fear might be a sign that what we are considering is something that needs to be said.

As if the Lord said to His disciples, “Be not afraid, go forward to the battle, it is I that fight; you utter the words, I am He that speaketh.”

- Saint Gregory

The reading from Revelation today shows us the song of victory which we hope to one day sing. Wouldn't it be lessened if those from whom we now shrink from sharing the Gospel out of fear were not there with us to join the song?

They were holding God’s harps,

and they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God,

and the song of the Lamb:

The Lord has words that can speak to even the most difficult cases, even the most recalcitrant sinners. After all, he had words for us. Let whatever we do, in word or deed, be motivated by love (see Colossians 3:17 and First Corinthians 16:14) Let is never hold back our love on the basis of fear. We have a great hope set before us (see Hebrews 12:2). It can help us to solidify our wills so that the assaults of fear cannot turn us from our course, from running our race with endurance, from the perseverance to which Jesus calls us.

Let the sea and what fills it resound,

the world and those who dwell in it;

Let the rivers clap their hands,

the mountains shout with them for joy.

Newsboys -Step Up To The Microphone

DC Talk - Fearless

Nichole Nordeman - Brave

24 November 2020 - heavenly allegiance

 St Andrew Dung-Lac and Companion Martyrs | photo by Lawrence OP | flickr

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus wants to free us from our dependence on even the best of temporary things.

Jesus said, “All that you see here–

the days will come when there will not be left

a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.”

He wants us to be able to see beyond even the most difficult of circumstances.

When you hear of wars and insurrections,

do not be terrified; for such things must happen first,

but it will not immediately be the end.

He refuses to let his name be co-opted by anyone whose agenda is merely historical and temporary.

for many will come in my name, saying,

‘I am he,’ and ‘The time has come.’ 

Do not follow them! 

All sorts of difficult things have occurred in history and doubtless will again before the end. Christians must not be so invested in such things as to believe that all is lost if those circumstances are not salvaged. 

Christians survived all the changes of civilization between the time of Jesus and today. In the rare occurrence that they both had power and influence and were actually trying to live their faith they did attempt to make the earthly kingdom more like the heavenly one. Yet it was often the case that the civil rulers did not have an agenda that was especially friendly to devout Christians. These Christians, like the Vietnamese martyrs celebrated today, found ways to endure and witness in spite of these circumstances. They were not so desperate for the coming of an earthly kingdom as to forsake their heavenly allegiance. This is the kind of people Jesus wants us to be as we face the challenging circumstances of our own day. 

Jesus tells us both not to be deceived and not to be terrified. If we know and remain in the truth, the truth of who Jesus is and the truth of in what his victory consists, the truth will keep us free from terror (see John 8:32). Are we sometimes terrified when we look at thew news? Humanly, this is understandable. But as Christians, it is proof we have been deceived.

We are called to live with reference to the broader horizon of judgment and the coming of the heavenly Kingdom which will utterly relativize all earthly power and authority.

“Use your sickle and reap the harvest,

for the time to reap has come,

because the earth’s harvest is fully ripe.”

The Lord will gather the harvest of those who are in Christ, but crush the rebels in the wine press of his fury. It is vital to keep our gaze fixed on heaven so we do not lose sight of this truth. It may seem terrifying in its own way. But for Christians it can be freeing, for we know that God's judgment will set right all injustice. God himself is merciful, and is allowing amply time for mercy for all peoples before this harvest comes. May our own lives be marked by the sharing of this mercy with others will time still remains.

for he comes to rule the earth.

He shall rule the world with justice 

and the peoples with his constancy.

Bob Dufford - All the Ends of the Earth

Paul Wilbur - Days of Elijah Kadosh

23 November 2020 - a new song of freedom

Today's Readings

(Audio)

and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins.

The woman could only have made this offering is she first overcame the temptation to hold something back from the Lord. There would have been all sorts of plausible reasons to do so. She might have told herself that it was too little to make a difference for anyone else. She might have justifiably felt the need to hold onto the money to provide for herself.

I tell you truly,

this poor widow put in more than all the rest;

For the widow, giving the gift would have seemed in a immense thing to do and yet it would have seemed less than what the others were giving and therefore insignificant in the grand scheme of things. But the Kingdom is all about reversals of this sort. It is about the power of things that are small and hidden to make a difference and change the world. Yet the widow shows us that what is small still feels small when we give it. It feels small even though it may feel hugely difficult, even though we may have no more beyond it to offer.

but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.

Is Jesus really calling us to give everything away? Most likely not. We are called to take prudent care for our own futures and the futures of our families. It is true that he does call some to make this offering in more literally ways. Yet all of us can follow the widow in this: after giving away her two coins she had no choice but to rely on the providence of God to sustain her. We too are called to use the coins of love of God and love of neighbor in a fashion that is only possible if God is there to catch and sustain us.

These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes.

They have been ransomed as the first fruits

of the human race for God and the Lamb.

The widow was free to follow the Lamb. Her course was not dictated by the apparent necessities of the world. She trusted that to give her money to God meant more than anything else she could do with it. When the Lamb ransoms us it frees us from the control that created things have over us. Where human circumstances might have tempted us to moan and lament, this freedom that comes from the Lamb inspires instead a new hymn that the world cannot learn.

They were singing what seemed to be a new hymn before the throne,

before the four living creatures and the elders.

No one could learn this hymn except the hundred and forty-four thousand

who had been ransomed from the earth.

We are not called to live imprudently. But we are called to trust God recklessly. There is no tension here. And when we discover that we will find our lives already beginning to resonate with the new music of this song of victory.

Dan Schutte - Sing a New Song

Bob Marley - Redemption Song

22 November 2020 - when did we see you?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty

or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison,

and not minister to your needs?’

We sometimes miss the King because we look for him in the wrong places. We exonerate ourselves of responsibility, believing that if we had seen him we would in fact have ministered to his needs. But the temptation to neglect and ignore challenging people and situations can make us miss opportunities to minister to the King. As Jesus tells it, we may not even realize that these encounters were such opportunities until after the fact.

Lord, when did we see you

Jesus calls us to seek him and to serve him in the least of his brothers and sisters. We tend to imagine a Kingdom of "the sleek and the strong", of beautifully polished exteriors, were everything is working perfectly. But that is not the present reality of the Kingdom. It is not, in fact, a place where everyone has it all together. It is a place where sheep are still disoriented for having been so recently scattered when it was cloudy and dark. It is a place of the lost, the strayed, the injured, and the sick, more than it is a place of the sleek and strong. Jesus himself said that he came to seek and to save the lost (see Luke 19:10). He reminded us that those who are well do not need a doctor but the sick (see Mark 2:17). The Church is never going to be a community of perfect people on earth. So instead we must not hide from the fact that we are a community seeking healing and wholeness together.

Lord, when did we see you

Those within the walls of the Church and those outside the falls of the Church need the Good Shepherd to shepherd them (see John 10:11-18). There are many sheep that still wander in the cloudy and dark world outside of the green pastures of the Church. Those who have been found will stray again without the care of the shepherd. 

Lord, when did we see you

When we recognize that we ourselves are the lost in need of being found and the sick in need of a doctor we are able to let walls of defense down so that the Good Shepherd himself can look after and tend us. We ourselves are the least of these, with whom the Lord identifies. As we receive the blessing of his shepherding care, often through others among his followers, we see the way in which the Lord himself empowers others to join him in his mission to the lost sheep. 

Lord, when did we see you

Without experiencing the Lord seeking us out and saving us we ourselves will not be in a position to care about and seek after others. For it is only the Lord's power in us that can do this. We must first know this power and then we will be free to let it work. It will drive and motivate us enter into situations that would otherwise seem hopeless, to make a difference where we would otherwise be tempted to despair.

Jesus is the King of kings. But how different he is from those who hold worldly power. He uses his authority not to dominate the sheep for his own sake, but to lead them home. He took on a human nature, defeating all the enemies to his claim of kingship, even death itself. He used this great authority to unite all things in himself in being subjected to the Father. But again, this was not to dominate, but "so that God may be all in all." Finally the sheep will be united so closely to the shepherd that they can no longer stray.

The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

Jon Foreman - The House of God Forever

Peter Furler - Psalm 23

Britt Nicole - The Lost Get Found

21 November 2020 - the things that cannot be shaken

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The children of this age marry and remarry;

There are aspects of the world that we now know that will not last forever. Marriage itself is meant to be a living symbol that points toward the relationship between Christ and his Church (see Ephesians 5:32). This is one reason why even the love of our families must be subordinated to our love for Jesus (see Luke 14:26). When we love any person or thing over and against Christ our loves misses the mark. Love for creatures and created things is meant to draw us up into the love of the creator. When this does not happen we end up with confusion like that of the Sadducees.

Finally the woman also died.

Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be?

For all seven had been married to her.

The Sadducees couldn't imagine a resurrection because the scope of their imagination was limited by the world as they knew it. They could not imagine a world that was similar enough that their bodies would be raised, yet different enough an institutional as vital and universal as marriage would cease. The resurrected world would be the same in many respects, but better in every respect. And the way in which it was to better was something no eye had seen, no ear had heard (see First Corinthians 2:9), something more than anyone could ask or imagine (see Ephesians 3:20). It was, in fact, so good as to be unguessable. So we shouldn't hold it too much against the Sadducees that they did not guess it.

That the dead will rise

even Moses made known in the passage about the bush,

when he called  ‘Lord’

the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;

and he is not God of the dead, but of the living,

for to him all are alive.

In the encounter at the burning bush the Lord revealed who he was. But before he revealed the precious truth of his name he first identified himself as the God of relationship, "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob". This truth contained within itself the inner necessity of the resurrection. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had already died. But God still considered his relationship with them as something by which he himself should be identified. They still mattered to him. And further, since he told Moses that his name was "I AM WHO AM" (see Exodus 3:14), every person who ever had being had it by a share in the one who alone truly has being. God's enduring relationship was not only with Patriarchs but with every woman and man who ever lived. All of these live to God. All will rise on the last day.

for to him all are alive.

Let us therefore give witness to the preeminence of the coming Kingdom over the kingdom of this world. Let us not get so caught up in life in the "great city" of "Sodom" and "Egypt" that we feel tormented by prophets of God preaching to remind us that there is nothing we can have and hold forever here below. It may seem at times that the world prevails over such witnesses, but not forever.

But after the three and a half days,

a breath of life from God entered them.

When they stood on their feet, great fear fell on those who saw them.

A simple question for us is what are we onto what are we holding that we know we must learn to set aside to be made fit for heaven? Obviously there are some temporary goods worth fighting for, such as marriage. But the question we should ask ourselves even about these is whether we are holding anything back in them from God or whether instead we are allowing them to fulfill the purpose for which God gave them. All things will be shaken. Let us direct our lives toward that which cannot be shaken.

This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain (see Hebrews 12:27).

Mercy Me - Shake

Jesus Culture - One Thing Remains

20 November 2020 - sacred space

Today's Readings

(Audio)

My house shall be a house of prayer,

but you have made it a den of thieves.

God has given us a place to be in his presence and to seek his face. With what do we fill it? Whether we are in a church building or in prayer in our homes, what sorts of thoughts do we allow to predominate? It is too easy to let worldly exchange steel the focus from God. In fact, without Jesus to drive out thoughts of this sort, we won't be victorious over them.

Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out

those who were selling things

While we can't prevent thoughts and distractions from coming unbidden to us, we have been given new minds empowered by grace to think intentionally in accord with the truth of God's word. We can take all thoughts, including distractions, captive to Christ (see Second Corinthians 10:5). We can do this because we have the mind of Christ himself (see First Corinthians 2:16).

There are two different but related ways that having the mind of Christ manifests (or ought to manifest) in our prayer life. The first is that we are empowered to be intentional about the content of our prayer. 

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things (see Philippians 4:8).

Without needing to script it out in advance, we are able to speak to our King, our Friend, our Beloved, without losing ourselves in circumstances, as happens when one thing reminds us of another, which makes us worry about another, until we are lost in anxiety, and have lost track of the presence of God. 

The second way the mind of Christ manifests in our prayer is that when distractions come we do not allow them to serve the world in leading us away from God. We capture them, responding to the implicit half-truths they contain with the full truth of the word of God, exposing their lies, and dissolving their power over us.

And every day he was teaching in the temple area.

Jesus himself is present within us, enabling a prayer life that is more than a script, more than a simple loss of ourselves in thought about the problems of our lives. Our prayer can truly become a place where we find ourselves "hanging on his words."

The mind of Christ is strengthened in us as we learn the truth contained in his word and make it our own. We must be like John and consume the word.

So I went up to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll.

He said to me, “Take and swallow it.

It will turn your stomach sour,

but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.”

As the word casts out lies from our lives it may be sour, but in itself it is always sweetness, and without it we assuredly starve. When the word is within us we can set our own desires and ambitions aside, and truly come together as a house of prayer for all peoples.

How sweet to my palate are your promises,

sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Trevor Thomson - Christ in Me Arise

Audrey Assad - Be Thou My Vision

 

19 November 2020 - faux peace

Today's Readings

(Audio)

If this day you only knew what makes for peace–

but now it is hidden from your eyes.

What makes for peace? Is it hidden from our eyes as well?

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid (see John 14:27).

Jerusalem only knew about peace that the world could give, and this, Jesus lamented, was not true peace. How does such faux peace work? When all circumstances line up perfectly so that we have everything we want and nothing we don't want we experience it. But this never happens perfectly. And even if it did, there would still be the lingering sense that we couldn't hold onto it. We cannot rest in the peace the world gives.

For he is our peace, who has made us both one (see Ephesians 2:14).

Jesus himself is our peace. This does not mean a merely spiritual or affective peace that has no consequence in the material world. He is rather the place where our hostilities toward one another can finally cease. He is the place where we can finally let go of our own need to be God, to surrender our need to make things happen, to give up on winning battles that are ultimately beyond us, trusting that the Lord himself will fight for us once we finally choose to be still (see Exodus 14:14).

Without Jesus the scroll of the good news remains sealed and unopenable. Yet this scroll contains the words that every human heart desires. Without this scroll sealed peace is unattainable. Instead the best we can hope for is cessation of hostilities, though such respites are always temporary.

I shed many tears because no one was found worthy

to open the scroll or to examine it.

Jesus did simply come and impose peace from above. Rather he earned it by his victory. The enemy did its worst to him. All of the peace hating forces of darkness allied against him and did everything they could to silence him. Therefore, in his victory, he reveals that the enemy does not have the last word, the peace that world cannot give is possible.

One of the elders said to me, “Do not weep.

The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed,

enabling him to open the scroll with its seven seals.”

The Lord is inviting us into a Kingdom of peace. He desires us to kings and priests for God who will reign on the earth, but not as earthly kings reign. The reign of earthly kings, the path to worldly peace, is an doomed endeavor. 

For the days are coming upon you

when your enemies will raise a palisade against you;

they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides.

But in Jesus, through the Spirit, true peace is not only possible, but immediately available to us if we but desire and ask. Let us be "eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (see Ephesians 4:3).

For the LORD loves his people,

and he adorns the lowly with victory.

Mosaic MSC - Tremble (Bring It All To Peace)

Robin Mark - The Lion of Judah

18 November 2020 - the time between

Today's Readings

(Audio)

they thought that the Kingdom of God

would appear there immediately.

Once we encounter Jesus, the King of the Kingdom, it might seem that we have arrived, that nothing more needs to be done on our part.

A nobleman went off to a distant country

to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return.

He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins

and told them, ‘Engage in trade with these until I return.’

But Jesus did not bring the Kingdom in fullness immediately. Rather, he went to the distant country of heaven to be crowned by his Father and told us to engage in trade until his return, using the gifts he gave us.

His fellow citizens, however, despised him

and sent a delegation after him to announce,

‘We do not want this man to be our king.’

Because Jesus did not immediately manifest his Kingdom in an overwhelming concrete and physical way and solve all of the worlds problems many were tempted to despise him. He didn't do what we would have done so we were tempted to believe that either he could not or that he would not. If he would not, it must be because he didn't care, or so the our darkened minds can't help but imagine.

Jesus could have done everything at once, but there was something so valuable in giving us time to make use of our gifts that it was was worth waiting. If this is so it is not a small matter. The coming of the Kingdom in its fullness is going to be a blessing that no eye has seen and no ear has heard (see First Corinthians 2:9). It is going to be great beyond imagining. Yet this time in between his comings is something he specifically chose because of how important it is for his plans for us.

‘Sir, your gold coin has earned ten additional ones.’

He replied, ‘Well done, good servant!

You have been faithful in this very small matter;

take charge of ten cities.’

In order to be ready for heaven, ready for life in the Kingdom, we must first be found faithful in small matters. There is no shortcut to this process. It can't just happen without involving us. We ourselves are given what we need by the nobleman. But we must decide how to invest. This is the time in which we now live. It is a time where we have been given great treasures by God and have a choice to make. We can despise him because we wouldn't have done things the way he did, we can receive his gifts but bury them out of fear, or we can let them do the work they are meant to do. 

He replied, ‘I tell you,

to everyone who has, more will be given,

but from the one who has not,

even what he has will be taken away.

By using our faith we grow in faith. By putting the graces God has given us to work we learn to trust in him more. Are we tempted to ask why all this is necessary? It's because he does not want to leave us as infants, but is raising us up to "take charge of ten cities", to reign with him. For this, we must have wills that are fixed in the faithfulness, tested in their fidelity.

When we are tempted to hold the Lord's apparent absence against him let us remember that he is not actually distant. He promised to be with us always, even unto the end of the age (see Matthew 28:20), to never abandon us or forsake us (see Deuteronomy 31:6). This is especially true at mass where we enter by faith into the Kingdom that we will one day behold by sight.

Day and night they do not stop exclaiming:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty,

who was, and who is, and who is to come.”

The antidote to fear and doubt is praise. If we feel like Jesus is not present, he lives in the praises of his people (see Psalm 22:3). If we are tempted to mistrust the gifts he has given praise will make us confident (see Psalm 18:3).

“Worthy are you, Lord our God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

for you created all things;

because of your will they came to be and were created.”

Matt Maher - As It Is In Heaven

 

Debbye Graafsma - To Him Who Sits On The Throne

17 November 2020 - to seek and to save the lost

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Now a man there named Zacchaeus,

who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, 

was seeking to see who Jesus was;

Jesus responds to our desire to see him. We may not seem to have the gifting that many of his followers seem to have. Jesus may seem surrounded by others who do nothing to help bring us closer to him. The crowds may emphasize how we are sinners and don't deserve the blessings of Jesus. Yet if anything is keeping us from Jesus let us look for a way to climb above it, to look on him from a perspective not obscured or dictated by the world. It isn't something which we can easily do or which will give us perfect clarity. But it is something to which Jesus, sensing our desire, will respond.

When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, 

“Zacchaeus, come down quickly,

for today I must stay at your house.” 

Jesus gave the impression that he would have passed through Jericho without stopping. But he was invited by the desire, not of the crowds surrounding him, but of the man short in stature who was not too proud to climb a tree to see him.

Zacchaeus probably felt lost in the crowd and embarrassed to have to climb a tree. But by doing so he found out that he was not at all lost in the crowd. Jesus knew him by name. And far from being humiliated in the eyes of Jesus, Jesus decided that Zacchaeus's house was now essential to his travel plans. Simply being near to Jesus as the crowds were didn't do sway the itinerary of Jesus. But the desire of Zacchaeus did.

Zacchaeus understood his need more than the crowds understood theirs. He had wealth, so he knew that wealth in itself wasn't the answer. He wondered, perhaps, if there was more to life than the wealthy but alienated path of chief tax-collector. He was willing to do what he needed to do to see Jesus. But then he was surprised to discover that it was not so much him seeking Jesus as Jesus seeking him. He did not have to shout to Jesus or tell him his name. Yet Jesus stopped at the tree as if he had always planned to do so and called him by name. He called him to take part in his mission in a way Zacchaeus never would have expected. Zacchaeus found his desires and longings answered without even speaking them aloud.

Jesus came to seek and save what was lost. Zacchaeus knew that he was lost and sensed that Jesus might be the answer. The desire of Zacchaeus mattered. But it was a desire that Jesus himself had placed within him, and for this reason no crowd could obscure it.

Zacchaeus was wealthy but he did not say, 'I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything'. He was living, but he did not have true life. But because he was not lukewarm the Lord responded to him. Jesus stood beneath the tree, but he knocked on the door of Zacchaeus's heart. Let us learn from Zacchaeus to open the door.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,

then I will enter his house and dine with him,

and he with me.

I will give the victor the right to sit with me on my throne,

as I myself first won the victory

and sit with my Father on his throne.

Kutless - Sea of Faces

Marty Nystrom - Forever Grateful

16 November 2020 - Jesus is passing by

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Yesterday we were reminded that we are "are children of the light and children of the day." But this is not are default state. We are not born into the light, as would have been the case if Adam and Eve had not sinned. They would have been able to bequeath the gift of light they were given to all of their offspring. But instead we were born in darkness, as surely as this blind beggar was in darkness.

a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging,

Spiritual blindness is in fact a greater blindness than the physical blindness of the eyes. Physical blindness impairs our ability to navigate and appreciate the physical world. But spiritual blindness prevents us from recognizing and pursuing that which is for our greatest good. The ways in which we stumble spiritually have much greater gravity than any physical fall. Physically we use sight to set the direction journeys we undertake. But spiritually we set the direction for our soul. And without the light how can we hope to arrive safely at our eternal destiny?

They told him,

“Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”

We were not born with the knowledge of Jesus. We had to be told to recognize when he was passing by in our own lives. Thank God for the followers of Jesus who tell others when he is passing by.

He shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!”

This is what we will shout every time he passes as long as we realize that we are still afflicted by blindness to one degree or another. We still chase after the wrong things, as if they were light, when they are in fact darkness. The more we can identify with this blind beggar, the more powerfully we can entreat the Lord for healing.

The people walking in front rebuked him,

telling him to be silent,

The world has all sorts of reasons to silence us when we ask Jesus for help. They tend to think he should be concerned with bigger problems than ours, whether the Roman occupation or global warming or whatever else. But we are meant to sense in Jesus a hope that is not first for those issues, though they do matter, but for us, for our hearts. When he passes by do we dare to hope that he cares about us enough to heal us? 

“What do you want me to do for you?”

He replied, “Lord, please let me see.”

Jesus passing by is an invitation to faith. It is always an invitation to move from darkness into light. Let us imitate the faith of this blind beggar today.

Jesus told him, “Have sight; your faith has saved you.”

If we have "lost the love" we "had at first" this can only be because we have squandered the light that Jesus shone on us. We did not make good use of the enlightenment that our baptism brought to our souls. But if this is so, no matter, Jesus is passing by! He can open our eyes again. And looking on him, our love will be rekindled.

Newsboys - Entertaining Angels (Lyric Video)

Dan Schutte - Beyond the Moon and Stars