31 October 2023 - starting small

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus said, "What is the Kingdom of God like?

To what can I compare it?

It is interesting that his go to descriptions were not drawn from a political or military sphere. People who were expecting liberation from Rome and the restoration of the Davidic monarchy must have been initially perplexed by the imagery upon which Jesus drew.

It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden.

When it was fully grown, it became a large bush

and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches."

The Kingdom of God does not start life as a mighty tree, but begins in a small, humble, and hidden way. We see this contrast realized in the difference between Jesus and his followers and those like Pilate and Herod who held worldly power. Just as Mary proclaimed, God truly "lifted up the lowly" (see Luke 1:52) in bringing this Kingdom into the world. According to Ezekiel, it would begin as a "tender shoot" but would go on to "put forth branches and bear fruit and become a majestic cedar" (see Ezekiel 17:22) where:

Every small bird will nest under it,

all kinds of winged birds will dwell

in the shade of its branches (Ezekiel 17:23).

It would have been hard for the disciples to grasp the truly world changing power in the seeds that were being planted in those early days. No doubt their efforts seemed to them to be insubstantial and finally insufficient in the face of the forces in the world who opposed them. We too are tempted to think such things about our own efforts. What difference does it make to touch only one heart when other hearts remain out of our range, unreachable? But we should not write off our efforts because of doubts like these. Every heart is a potential seed, and the ways in which the world will be transformed by such seeds is not immediately apparent. The disciples could never have envisioned the Church as it is now, with so many dwelling in its branches. We in turn are called to sow seeds in hope, one which does not immediately see the full flowering of the results. Therefore, "if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance". 

Again he said, "To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God?

It is like yeast that a woman took

and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour

until the whole batch of dough was leavened."

The leaven of the Pharisees, their hidden bad motives and inner depravity, exerted a corrupting influence on those around them. But the Kingdom is also capable of exerting a hidden influence in the world. It is not hidden out of secret hypocrisy, but rather concealed by smallness and humility. Yet this smallness does not prevent it from exerting a disproportionate transformative influence on the world. The leaven of the Kingdom has the power to mix into the culture and give life and nourishment that would otherwise be absent. We often feel that our efforts toward the culture are like a glass of water poured into a toxic ocean. But this is because we are too greedy in our expectation to see immediate results, which in turn stems from the desire to be responsible and praiseworthy for those results. Rather, if we give our efforts in the world and the culture over to God, not expecting to see anything immediately ourselves, "we wait with endurance".

• Gadenz, Pablo T.. The Gospel of Luke (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture): (A Catholic Bible Commentary on the New Testament by Trusted Catholic Biblical Scholars - CCSS) (p. 254). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

Newsboys - Secret Kingdom

30 October 2023 - all the rest

Today's Readings

(Audio)

But the leader of the synagogue,

indignant that Jesus had cured on the sabbath,

said to the crowd in reply,

"There are six days when work should be done.

Come on those days to be cured, not on the sabbath day."

This healing performed by Jesus was disruptive to business as usual for the leader of the synagogue. This woman was no doubt a marginalized and unseemly character. Although she had been suffering for eighteen years the only thing that mattered to this leader was that she not make a scene. He wasn't even moved by the miraculous healing, but only offended by a perceived violation of rules. 

The Lord said to him in reply, "Hypocrites!

Does not each one of you on the sabbath

untie his ox or his ass from the manger

and lead it out for watering?

Those who complained about Jesus healing on the sabbath would have set free their ox or his ass from the manger and lead it out for watering. Of course, such animals could provide benefit to them as opposed to this woman who had nothing to offer. But this nevertheless revealed that their supposed concern about work being done on the sabbath wasn't their real motivation. Work might be done, provided it benefited them. But the scope of their sympathy and compassion was too narrow to recognize the need of the woman or to celebrate with her when she was healed.

This daughter of Abraham,

whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now,

ought she not to have been set free on the sabbath day

from this bondage?

By insisting that the woman stay bound the leader was implicitly casting his lot with Satan who was the one who ultimately held her. He was acting to prolong not only the eighteen years of her suffering but the fallen state of the world itself. He did not recognize that the sabbath was meant to be much more than a mere obedient act in which work was avoided. As the ox or ass was unbound to drink, even on the sabbath, how much more right and just was it that this woman be unbound to drink the living waters of the Spirit. This was actually even more fitting on the sabbath which was meant to crown the work of creation, and to be a day of fellowship between God and man. Jesus therefore addressed her as "Woman", a new Eve. Her healing was thus the first stage of the realization of a new creation which they could now celebrate in fellowship together, with or without the leader of the synagogue.

God's desire for the restoration of mankind is not merely something he fits in when his rules can accommodate it. He has ordered all of creation toward this renewal. The sabbath was placed it the end of the week not so much as an obligation, but as a promise.

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his (see Hebrews 4:9-10).

The woman who had been crippled for eighteen years was finally able to taste the true promise of sabbath rest together with Jesus. The synagogue leader was the one whose work of fastidiously enforcing the rules as he understood them was actually preventing him from experiencing the joy of this promise. May we, like this woman, find the healing we need in the merciful hands of Jesus, so that we too may enter his rest.

For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,

but you received a spirit of adoption,

through which we cry, "Abba, Father!"

BCBP - Enter In

Newsboys - I Am Free (Who The Son Sets Free)

29 October 2023 - back for seconds

Today's Readings

(Audio)

"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"

This was a relatively straightforward question, a test, perhaps, but not obviously a trap. And the answer given by Jesus did not seem groundbreaking at a glance. It wasn't like the beatitudes with their pairings of  "You have heard it said" with "But I say to you". And yet there more to this answer than may first have been apparent.

He said to him,

"You shall love the Lord, your God,

with all your heart,

with all your soul,

and with all your mind.

Note how he delivers this. Not so much said as reference to a commandment given and recorded as it was spoken as if he himself were delivering it directly to the man. He, the word of God himself, delivered the commandment to the man with all the freshness of the first time it was given, in all of its overwhelming comprehensiveness. There was thus nowhere to hide from the obligation of giving one's whole self to God, not past or future, nor any part of one's inner world. God was speaking directly to the man there and then, requiring of him all that he was and could be.

This is the greatest and the first commandment.

The second is like it:

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

It is not altogether immediately obvious precisely how the second commandment is like the first. In fact it seemed to be very much the dissimilitude that often made people stumble, dividing the two and opposing them. We see such reasoning constantly from the Pharisees who sometimes seemed to use love of God precisely as an excuse to avoid love of neighbor. 

In our own lives too love of God and love of neighbor seem quite distinct. We take too easy of an answer if we say that they are similar because the love with which we love them is the same love, and that the end toward which we love them, the glory of God, is the same for both. This is a partial answer. It's partiality is revealed when we try to decide between one action, which we perceive to be for our neighbor, and another which we perceive to be for God. Suddenly the Pharisees' contention about the Sabbath doesn't seem quite so malicious and unreasonable as it first appeared.

There can be no satisfactory answer to this likeness between commandments that is merely an explanation of abstract relationship between the two. It can only be found finally in Jesus himself, who is both God and neighbor. It is him whom we love in our liturgies, prayers, and other forms of divine worship. And it is him whom we love when we love the lowest and the least.

And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ (see Matthew 25:40).

Only the centrality of Jesus makes sense of what he said about being the Lord of the Sabbath, which was seemingly putting the needs of creatures above commandments ordered to divine worship. Only the centrality of Jesus made sense of the woman who used costly aromatic oil to anoint his body, rather than selling it and giving the money to the poor.

Why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me (see Mark 14:4-7).

We can see from how deeply the disciples of Jesus internalized this likeness from the fact that they recognized something more than an abstract analogy in the relationship between God and neighbor. They were somehow part of a mystical whole.

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen (see First John 4:20).

Knowing that these two commandments are united in this way does not necessarily immediately yield practical consequences in discerning how to act. Only by drawing near to Jesus will we acquire the prudence to discern what is best in a given situation, and what response he himself will receive as the most loving one is something we can only learn by trying to grow in love of him. This is why the priority is on the love of God first. Because without that nothing will make sense and everything will seem divided and opposed. We can see this well understood by Mother Teresa who is probably the most famous for her love of neighbor, particularly in this quote attributed to her:

"Unless we believe and see Jesus in the appearance of bread on the altar, we will not be able to see him in the distressing disguise of the poor."

- Saint Teresa of Calcutta

God's love is our source, it is our destination, and it is the way we go to reach that destination. God desires to change hardened hearts to make the merciful and compassionate as he himself is merciful and compassionate. Let us receive this "word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit" so that we too can become a model for others, and so that from us too the word of the Lord may sound forth.

Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,

and I am safe from my enemies.

Bob Fitts - One God

28 October 2023 - the last mile problem

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Brothers and sisters:

You are no longer strangers and sojourners,

Our modern world has the tendency to make us feel isolated and alone, as though we are strangers to one another, each making his way on a different journey to and different, ambiguous, and probably unknowable end. But really, we are not, because:

you are fellow citizens with the holy ones

and members of the household of God

What is the foundation of this claim? What is the source of this stability, the solid ground of this unity? It is:

built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets,

with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.

And so in our Gospel we can understand why the calling of the Twelve was so important that Jesus spent the preceding night in prayer to God. He was initiating the reuniting of the twelve tribes of Israel, but not for themselves alone, but to be a blessing to all nations just as God promised Abraham.

When day came, he called his disciples to himself,

and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles

The Church is founded on the Apostles Jesus himself chose and called. After he ascended into heaven they went to the ends of the earth to spread his message, fulfilling the words of the Psalm:

Their message goes out through all the earth.

In choosing the Twelve Jesus was also choosing those who would accept their teaching, saying, "The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me" (see Luke 10:16). 

There was a moral component to the message of the teaching of Jesus, and what we might call a social justice component, but to view these things in isolation was to miss the main point, which was "Jesus himself as the capstone". The main point of the message was and remains Jesus himself, "the same yesterday and today and forever" (see Hebrews 13:8). Without Jesus even efforts toward good things fall apart and dissipate back into nothingness. But in him the "whole structure is held together". Apart from Jesus we experience the inevitable futility of every human effort, tending toward entropy and death. But everyone who is in Christ Jesus "grows into a temple sacred in the Lord".

Do we feel alone and isolated? Then let us hear again that we are chosen by Jesus himself, and by the Father "who chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight" (see Ephesians 1:4). The world would have us unite around political parties, sports teams, and other shared interests. But the truest unity is found when we allow God himself to do the joining, building us "together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit".

Our role in the Church of the Apostles is not the same as the Apostles or their successors (as probably there are no bishops reading this). But nevertheless we too are 'sent ones', perhaps not sent to the ends of the earth, but to the far corners of our lives, corners that would otherwise perhaps not be reached. We see electric scooters and other such things described as solving the 'last mile problem' of public transportation, reaching the otherwise unreachable peripheries. This is absolutely what we must become for the project of the evangelization of the world. We must solve the last mile problem of the Church, reaching those who will never have any contact with the clergy or the class of professional missionaries. But our leverage to do this and be effective requires being united to the Church, and to Christ, who is its head.

Through all the earth their voice resounds,

and to the ends of the world, their message.

Songs In His Presence - The House Of God

27 October 2023 - in the forecast

 

Today's Readings

(Audio)

When you see a cloud rising in the west

you say immediately that it is going to rain–and so it does;

and when you notice that the wind is blowing from the south

you say that it is going to be hot–and so it is.

Many of us spend a lot of time and effort trying to accurately predict the future. The idea is  that we presumably do this so that we can be prepared for what is to come. We are rewarded by the fact that our heuristics often help us take practical steps to plan for future contingencies. But all such efforts, however practical they may be, are shortsighted when compared to God's interpretation of the present time.

You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky;

why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

Why plan for a heatwave or a storm that may or may not come and that, in any case, will have consequences that are only short-lived, while ignoring the matter of God's impending judgment on the entire human race? The later is certain, and its consequences cannot be overstated.

If you are to go with your opponent before a magistrate,

make an effort to settle the matter on the way;

We are meant to interpret the present time in the light of the coming of Jesus to see what is truly urgent and what is less so. But we prefer to distract ourselves by fixating on matters that seem to be more predictable and therefore controllable. But this fixation tends to function as a distraction from things that are more important but harder for us to control. Jesus desires to show mercy while we are still on the way, to forgive us and transform us and make us holy. 

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance (see Second Peter 3:9).

Jesus goes on to describe the parable of the fig tree where he himself is the gardener who pleads for more time in order to fertilize it and help it to grow (See Luke 13:6-9). It is this same desire that is on display on his insistence that settling with the magistrate on the way is of such paramount importance. 

How then do we settle the matter on the way? We are like the debtor who owed such a large sum that he could never hope to pay it back. But Jesus himself is like the master in that parable, ready to forgive the debt to any who ask sincerely (See Matthew 18:21-35). Jesus desires to do precisely this, announcing the year of jubilee when debts are remitted. But we must actually turn to him to receive this forgiveness. And we must do this not just once, but every time we see what Paul experienced happening in us, "in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members". Whether Paul was speaking of his life before Jesus or not we realize that we still experience our old self tries to influence our behavior even after we become Christians. And it sometimes succeeds. Transformation is possible, but it cannot be found in the weather forecasts, or any other matters of practical planning. It was as though Paul considered every possible solution and found only one:

Miserable one that I am!

Who will deliver me from this mortal body?

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Our solution, our help, and our salvation is in Jesus. And this, not just once, but always, daily, moment to moment until the last steps of our journey and beyond. We may not reach perfection here and now in this present life but we nevertheless, "Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord" (see Hebrews 12:14). Provided we placed our trust in Jesus and put our lives in his hands he himself we make sure that transformation is finally accomplished. Paying that last penny in purgatory ought not to be our goal however. Let us realize the urgency of what the Lord wants to do in us here and now, not least because the more he has his way in us the more he can use us to reach others.

Let your compassion come to me that I may live,

for your law is my delight.

Kutless - I Lift My Eyes

26 October 2023 - fire and water

Today's Readings

(Audio)

I have come to set the earth on fire,

and how I wish it were already blazing!

There is a baptism with which I must be baptized,

and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!

There was a close connection between fire and baptism, about which John the Baptist said of Jesus, "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire" (see Luke 3:16).

We also know that Jesus considered his own impending death to be a sort of baptism, having asked James and John, "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?" (see Mark 10:38). There were a way in which the cross was an immersion into the very depths and to which the Holy Spirit and resurrection was, for Jesus, an inevitable response. Just as at his own baptism the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove so at his cross did the Spirit flow out of him as water from his pierced side.

Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?

No, I tell you, but rather division.

It seems that what Jesus was anxious to do was to share this fiery fruit of his resurrected life with those who would believe in him. He knew that this offer would be a cause of deep division even among families. But he had hope that it would eventually give rise to a deeper unity, the unity of the "Holy Spirit in the bond of peace" (see Ephesians 4:3). He knew that his offer of life made division inevitable, but also that it need only be temporary. He was eager to move through the unavoidable difficult times, which he himself did not desire for their own sake, for the good things that awaited.  

We see in his mention of division a reference to the prophet Micah:

For a son dishonors his father,

a daughter rises up against her mother,

a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—

a man’s enemies are the members of his own household (see Micah 7:6).

The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture mentions that this passage comes just before Micah goes on to describe the "regathering and restoration (Mic 7:12–15)" of Israel. It was likely this eventuality for which Jesus hoped with eagerness, and for which he labored in anguish until it was accomplished. We live in an era of already/not yet, the age of the Church in which the Spirit himself has been poured out like fire on all of the faithful. Yet we live in an age when Jesus is still divisive. But we must not avoid divisiveness simply because it is unpleasant. We must take our cue from Jesus pushed through the unavoidable negative for the sake of something better on the far side.

We should seek the fire of the Holy Spirit for ourselves and for others here and now, because it is in this way alone that we can be transformed and perfected before God. If we resist and withstand this offer long enough the only fire that will remain is that of judgment. Jesus himself was so eager to work while it was still time to work precisely to save as many as would come to him. And we are meant to share his heart. Paul did, which we can see from the fact that he was so eager to share what he himself had discovered with those who would hear his words.

For the wages of sin is death,

but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Gadenz, Pablo T.. The Gospel of Luke (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture) (p. 248). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. "

Dan Purkapile - Come Holy Spirit

25 October 2023 - a long expected party?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Be sure of this:

if the master of the house had known the hour

when the thief was coming,

he would not have let his house be broken into.

The selfish ego is a part of us that will never be prepared for the coming of the thief. This is the part of us that hoards possession, benefits, and blessings for ourselves alone and that refuses to share them with others or let them be used in the service of God. This part of us would certainly find the intrusion of the thief unbearable and do all that we could to stop it. Yet the thief demonstrates that the control of our ego over our lives is not so all-encompassing as we might like to believe. And so there is something inherently not only unpredictable but also unsettling about the coming of the thief. But if this thief is to be identified with Jesus it must be that what he takes from us was something that was actually his own to begin with, as with the landowner who wanted the produce from his vineyard. And if this is true then his taking anything from us will ultimately be revealed to be for our own good as well as those of others. We should resolve in advance to welcome this intrusion of grace into our lives as Jesus accomplishes things in us that we could not on our own because of the lockdown with which our ego had heretofore governed our hearts.

You also must be prepared,

for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.

Being prepared to surrender to Jesus when he comes to us in the midst of daily life is perhaps the only good preparation to be ready to surrender to him when he comes for us at the end of our lives and at the end of time. If we don't make a habit of handing ourselves over to him now it is possible that our resolve to do so at the hour of our death might be more imagined than real.

Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward

whom the master will put in charge of his servants

to distribute the food allowance at the proper time?

Though we are not the clergy who distribute the Eucharist at the proper time we nevertheless are meant to be faithful and prudent stewards with the gifts the Lord has given to us, including, fundamentally, the gift of our very selves. When we use the good things he has given us as he would have us use them we become more like him and he is able to trust us and do increasingly more through us.

Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so.

Truly, I say to you, he will put him

in charge of all his property.

A singularly dangerous thought for a Christian is, "My master is delayed in coming". It is this imagined distance from the Lord that makes us forget we are stewards, and causes us to squander his gifts on short-term pleasures and selfish ambition. Against this temptation we are meant to keep in mind the reality of the master's coming at an unknown hour. He is, we must remind ourselves, closer than we realize. This will help us to remain accountable to the stewardship we owe to him. His coming need only be fearful insofar as we have been unfaithful. But to the degree that we have been faithful it will always be an occasion of joy.

Much will be required of the person entrusted with much,

and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.

The Lord asks us to respond in proportion to what he has entrusted to us. If we are in his Church and receive his Sacraments then that amount is quite substantial. But this need not be a cause for fear, but for encouragement. Let us allow the Jesus to take full possession of our hearts so that we may offer back to him all that we are.

Todd Agnew - Romans 12:1

24 October 2023 - the way to wait

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Gird your loins and light your lamps

In the first letter of Saint Peter he expounds on what it means to gird our loins, saying "gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (see First Peter 1:13). It a posture of mind that is sober, steadfast, and rooted in hope. It becomes "an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain" (see Hebrews 6:19). Only in this way will we "not be alarmed" when we "hear of wars and rumors of wars" (see Mark 13:7). We note that Jesus speaks this as a command of something which we must do, not something that will simply happen to us passively. We must be vigilant and continue to draw our minds back to this expectant hope when we find ourselves assailed by doubt.

In his second letter Saint Peter helps explain how we can keep our lamps lit, which is by paying attention to the word of God, "as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts" (see Second Peter 1:19). It does little good to keep our minds vigilantly if they are only directed to darkness. But when we focus on the word of God, God's own perspective on reality can become ours as well. When that happens we will experience trust and peace even in the midst of turmoil and difficulty.

and be like servants who await their master's return from a wedding,

ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.

After the marriage feast between Christ the Bridegroom and his Church the Bride he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. And we must be prepared for that coming. It could happen today. But even if it does not happen in our lifetimes there are other ways, no less real, in which Christ comes to us. And these we miss to our detriment.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me (see Revelation 3:20).

Mass is a perfect place to practice girding our minds and lighting our lamps. For the in the mass the bridegroom comes to us in his word and in his body and blood. If we have our eyes of faith open we will see that even now he will "have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them". This feast, with which Jesus himself serves us, is the celebration feast of the wedding of heaven and earth, man and God, which Jesus brought about in himself by his death and resurrection. It looks forward to a final culmination, perhaps in the second or the third watch, when he comes again, and can be even now a foretaste of that final and unending joy. A little disciplined attention is not too much to ask for such a treasure.

how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace

and the gift of justification

come to reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.

Amy Grant - Thy Word

23 October 2023 - a divine appointment

Today's Readings

(Audio)

"Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me."

Rather than get into the details of the dispute Jesus addressed the root cause of the problem. It was a cause of division between these brothers not because of the nuance of specific claims, but rather because greed caused them to focus on riches and possessions rather than one another.

Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?

It was as though Jesus was saying that this man was treating him like a normal political appointee rather than recognizing the deeper origin of his authority as judge and arbitrator. If he had recognized precisely who it was that had appointed Jesus for this role he wouldn't have so casually asked him to sanction his greedy desires. 

"Take care to guard against all greed,

for though one may be rich,

one's life does not consist of possessions."

The temptation to think of our lives as consisting of possessions must be much greater now than it was then. There is simply so much more that we can possess. And much of it really does provide some measure of security against various possibilities of future danger. If we can offset some risk by having a little we tend to assume that by having enough we can shield ourselves from all risk. We implicitly start spending as though we can buy life without end.

There I shall store all my grain and other goods

and I shall say to myself, "Now as for you,

you have so many good things stored up for many years,

rest, eat, drink, be merry!"'

This rich man assumed that he could alleviate the existential terror of his own mortality by sufficient provisions against possible future famine. He wanted to eat, drink, and be merry, forgetting that fact that it all must end eventually. His pleasures were not the modest pleasures of one who knows life is temporary but rather anxious attempts to anesthetize his mind and conscience. They seemed to have the effect of making him like the man to whom Jesus addressed this parable, isolated within the walls of a self-centered ego.

'You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;

and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?'

This is why we ask God to teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart. Without heeding Saint Benedict to "Keep death daily before your eyes" we become foolish, and start building houses of sand, while expecting them to last forever.

When we are stripped of this imagined possibility of insulating our future from any interference from unpleasant realities we tend to feel exposed and vulnerable. But the point is not that we should leave ourselves empty in this way, but that we should instead choose to fill our emptiness with "what matters to God". This is only possible when we look at life with the eyes of faith as did our father Abraham.

Abraham did not doubt God's promise in unbelief;

rather, he was empowered by faith and gave glory to God

and was fully convinced that what God had promised

he was also able to do.

Steffany Gretzinger - More Precious Than Silver

22 October 2023 - repay to Caesar

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man

and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.

And you are not concerned with anyone's opinion,

for you do not regard a person's status.

Jesus was becoming famous for his frankness and freedom in speaking. He didn't hesitate to say what he wanted to say no matter who was listening, no matter who might take offense, whether Jewish or Roman leaders or militia. Clearly the Pharisees were upset by this, since they themselves did not ever speak with clear sincerity what they were thinking. They spoke to mask their hypocrisy, and with all of their words carefully calibrated for political effect. They seemed to regard the way that Jesus spoke as immature and naive, something which could be provoked in order to push him into their trap.

Tell us, then, what is your opinion:

Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?

The Pharisees expected that Jesus did not have any good options for how a response. If he spoke freely in favor of the tax he would have alienated his Jewish audience who suffered daily under the oppression of the occupation by Rome. If he spoke against it the Herodians would have quickly brought word of it to the Roman authorities branding Jesus as a political dissident and potentially dangerous revolutionary. And if he didn't say either of these things they probably thought his only option would be an unsatisfactory compromise, one was an obvious retreat from his normal freedom in speaking, showing him to be really no better, more truthful and forthright, than anyone else.

"Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?

Show me the coin that pays the census tax."

Then they handed him the Roman coin.

Even before giving his response to their question Jesus already exposed the Pharisees as hypocrites. They postured themselves as opposed to the tax, as though they would express shock and dismay if Jesus said it was to be paid. Yet the fact that they produced this coin immediately revealed they were nevertheless participants in the Roman economic system, and doubtless paid the tax just as everyone did. 

He said to them, "Whose image is this and whose inscription?"

They replied, "Caesar's."

On a certain level Caesar was entitled to support for what he provided. The infrastructure of society and economy required support in order to be sustainable. And there were genuine common goods which only such systems could provide. 

At that he said to them,

"Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar

and to God what belongs to God."

We sometimes misunderstand this statement to mean that there are two separate worlds, the economic/political and the religious, which are meant to remain separate and govern different aspects of our life. In this situation politics would be free and unencumbered by religious influence to pursue whatever ends seemed most expedient. Religion would by relegated to a mostly subjective matter, where private worship was really the only thing that fell under its auspices. It would be presumed that it had nothing practical or concrete to say in the real world of politics. But this take on the separation of Church and state is decidedly not what Jesus was advocating.

Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar

and to God what belongs to God.

What, after all, does Caesar have that is entirely his own? Everything in the sphere of politics is properly viewed as a stewardship of God's own prerogatives. We see this in clearly in God's relation to King Cyrus in the first reading.

I have called you by your name,

giving you a title, though you knew me not.

Whatever must be repaid to Caesar is still ultimately not his own. For all that Caesar has and is, since he too is made in the image of God, must finally be repaid to God who is in fact the source of all things. Caesar might have given orders for the coins to be made in his image. But he did not create the metal nor the people who executed these commands. He was not self-created but already indebted to God just by virtue of his very being before he could achieve or merit anything himself.

When we repay to Caesar what is temporarily his we are meant to do so with a view to God's ultimate ownership of all things. And this makes us realize that politics is not an entirely secular affair, that the public square is not meant to exist without the guiding influence of religion. Practically speaking it does mean that we must sometimes support regimes that are not entirely good, just as the Roman regime was at best a mixed bag. But it means that our own political involvement should not pretend to be without reference to God. Politically, we must begin where we are, take what we have, and work and pray to guide it more closely into line with God's law and design. This doesn't require working toward a theocracy so much as creating a world where mercy and justice can flourish, and where the natural moral law is the source of the civil and political order. Man truly alive and flourishing in this way is the repayment desired by God since there is nothing else he himself could stand to gain.

It is I who arm you, though you know me not,

so that toward the rising and the setting of the sun

people may know that there is none besides me.

I am the LORD, there is no other.

David Crowder Band - Here Is Our King

21 October 2023 - our deny ability

Today's Readings

(Audio)

I tell you,

everyone who acknowledges me before others

the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God.

Jesus won't force us to associate with him. And if we want to associate with him at all it can't be an uncomfortable secret that we try to conceal from others. It can't be a friendship that is only one way. Jesus already demonstrated his love for us on the cross. To fully receive that love, our friendship with him must make us willing to speak of him before others, willing to have it known that he is our friend.

But whoever denies me before others

will be denied before the angels of God.

Jesus is not being stubborn or prideful in insisting that we acknowledge him. What he really wants from us is a friendship so strong that we don't shrink from acknowledging him just as he did not shrink from taking up the cross for us. We are free to deny him before others.  But if we choose to do so, he will honor that denial. However, if we acknowledge him the benefits that accrue to us are disproportionately great. He will then speak of us as his own before all of the hosts of heaven.

Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven

It is possible, like Peter, to deny Jesus but to later regret it, and to then seek and receive forgiveness. Peter honored the impulse of the Holy Spirit that told him that his failure was not the final word in his story, that there was still hope for him. 

Judas, like Peter, denied the Son of Man. But Judas, it seemed, also refused to listen to the Holy Spirit speaking the possibility of forgiveness and hope. He went so far as to make this refusal permanent by taking his own life. Refusing to repent to the very end, denying even the possibility of hope, is the only sin that cannot be forgiven. Because, as we saw at the start, Jesus won't force his friendship on us, no matter how much, from his side, he desires it.

When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities,

do not worry about how or what your defense will be

or about what you are to say.

For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.

We don't necessarily need to know how to acknowledge Jesus, we just need sufficient willingness to do so. If we are willing and if our hearts are open his Spirit will teach us even how to acknowledge him. Nothing asked of us ultimately devolves back only upon our own efforts. Everything asked is an invitation, an offer of the grace necessary to respond. This is important to know because one thing that certainly can and often does paralyze us and prevent us from acknowledging Jesus is fear. But it is typically a fear about what ifs and future contingents. It draws us out of the moment where God is present with us and showing us the way. Let us remember, when fear tries to silence us, to listen instead for the still small voice of the Spirit.

Even when things seem impossible from a human perspective our faith teaches us that there is still a good ground for hope.

He believed, hoping against hope,

that he would become the father of many nations,

according to what was said, Thus shall your descendants be.

Our God is one who "calls into being what does not exist", just as he did in the creation of the universe ex nihilo. But he is no less able to do this in our own lives and circumstances. Our part is simple. We must believe, we must hope, and we must let our belief and hope take shape in acknowledging Jesus in how we live and speak.

Jesus Culture - Holy Spirit

20 October 2023 - whom to fear

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Beware of the leaven–that is, the hypocrisy–of the Pharisees.

The Pharisees had secret inner lives and desired that these would remain concealed. Yet although they hid the true sinful nature of their aspirations, their pride, envy, jealousy, and greed, these were nevertheless a corrupting influence on those around them. By being concealed they were able to continue to exert this influence that might have been mitigated by being exposed.

There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed,

nor secret that will not be known.

It is better to work toward a consistency between our inner life and how we present ourselves here and now rather than continuing to hide in the shadows. This is a twofold effort. We must work to allow God's light to shine within us so that our motives will be purified and our sinful tendencies healed. But we must also allow the seed of the word of God within us to work its way out to full expression in our actions. The word of God grows in the darkness of our hearts. But it is meant to break through the soil and be seen. We are not meant to be embarrassed by it or keep it hidden out of a misplaced desire to protect ourselves. We may not actually shout it from the housetops in fact. But we should having the willingness to do even that if God made it clear that it would be productive.

I tell you, my friends,

do not be afraid of those who kill the body

but after that can do no more.

When we fear bodily death above all else we tend to continue to conceal our sinfulness rather than come out into the healing light of God. And at the same time the word of God is stifled and remains hidden within us so that we can avoid the potential ramifications of being identified with Christ.

Be afraid of the one who after killing

has the power to cast into Gehenna;

yes, I tell you, be afraid of that one.

When we fear God above all else we find that we are able to properly order our lives and live as we are meant to live. Fearing him does not limit our flourishing in any way. It only makes us cautious not to offend him or to take his love for granted. It makes us careful to live in the way that God knows is best for us, and helps us to recognize that he desires even more for us than we do for ourselves. This fear, which is not a servile fear, actually gives us great depths of peace. 

Do not be afraid.

You are worth more than many sparrows.

We don't fully appreciate our own worth. The only way to value ourselves as God does is to fear him enough to trust his perspective. Then his love can cast out all of the our lesser worldly fears, allowing us to become all we are meant to be.

Maranatha! Praise Band - I Cast All My Cares

DC Talk - Fearless

19 October 2023 - monument men

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Woe to you who build the memorials of the prophets

whom your fathers killed.

They thought that by building memorials to the prophets they would share in the honor of the prophets by expressing solidarity with them. But Jesus told them that they were actually in solidarity with those who killed the prophets. The building of these memorials did not mean that they lived their lives in accord with the messages given by those prophets. In fact, memorials were a safe option because they reflected the fact that the prophets could no longer speak their words of judgment. Implicitly they celebrated the silence of the prophets and were thus in the line of those who killed them.

Therefore, the wisdom of God said,

'I will send to them prophets and Apostles;

some of them they will kill and persecute'

in order that this generation might be charged

with the blood of all the prophets

shed since the foundation of the world

All of the prophets were in fact preparing the way the coming of Jesus himself. Like the landowner in the parable about the vineyard God sent messengers one after the other who were unheeded until he finally sent his Son as a last resort (see Matthew 21:33-46). But God was not surprised by the inevitable result. It had been his plan all along to bring things to a culmination in the death of Jesus where sin and evil could be fully unmasked and revealed. 

The generation at the time of Jesus was largely unresponsive to the message of salvation he brought them. It should have been that the blood of Jesus spoke salvation for them. But for those who refused to turn to him it would indeed speak to their condemnation. There was not a neutral ground for those to whom Jesus had revealed himself. They could have sided with the prophets. But they sided with those who killed the prophets and followed in their footsteps. 

This sin and evil was not a unique condition of that generation or those that preceded it. We understand from Paul that "all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God".  We are meant to understand that we all bear the guilt for the death of Christ. Yet this blood guilt need not speak to our condemnation. It is meant to cover us for forgiveness and salvation. We could do nothing to earn that fact that Jesus gave himself to save us. But by faith we can receive it as a gift and allow it to change our lives.

Woe to you, scholars of the law!

You have taken away the key of knowledge.

You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter.

Even those well versed in the law of God were not situated to receive Jesus when he came, and had used their knowledge of the law to make it more difficult for others to recognize the messiah. It was not a problem with the law. It was a problem with the rebellious human heart that was desperate to maintain autonomy from God by all possibly means. The modern equivalent would be someone searching the Scriptures or the Catechism to justify behaviors and ideas to which they were already committed rather than truly being open to what was taught in the divine dispensation. This has been called cafeteria Catholicism and we rightly abhor it. Yet, probably, we are also in some measure guilty of it.

We need to approach God not out of self-righteousness, not in virtue of monuments that we build, but through faith. We need to approach him with the desire to listen rather than the desire to be reaffirmed in our preexisting biases. Only then will he be able to make the power of his Precious Blood do in us all that it can do and is meant to do.

If you, O LORD, mark iniquities,

Lord, who can stand?

But with you is forgiveness,

that you may be revered.

Leah Mari - Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus

18 October 2023 - what the world wants

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Go on your way;

behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.

He did not send them out as wolves to fight against wolves. His plan was not for his disciples to beat the world at its own game. And yet in our own day we often seem to see disciples who attempt to evangelize by becoming conspicuously wolflike. The world only seems to hear its own vitriolic discourse and so Christians not only often forget the call to gentleness and kindness but are among those who mock such characteristics as hopelessly naive. If the world will only shout, and only listen to shouting, Christians seem too ready to increase their own volume until they are heard. And such concession to the ways of the world does get us noticed, but not in a good way. Then what the world sees in us is only more of the same, only more proof that there really must not be any other way after all. Instead we ought to be the example of a more excellent way, one which is in imitation, not of the world, but of Jesus himself.

He will not quarrel or cry aloud,

nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets;

a bruised reed he will not break,

and a smoldering wick he will not quench,

until he brings justice to victory;

and in his name the Gentiles will hope (see Matthew 12:19-21).

We hear repeatedly that there is an ever increasing number of 'nones', individuals with no religious faith or commitment. But is this perhaps not so much an inevitable cultural sea change as it is a result of the lack of laborers for the harvest? And if the later, is this lack most likely because we haven't taken the command of Jesus to ask seriously enough? Perhaps we are meant to let this call more deeply into our hearts so that when we pray for laborers we mean something more than that someone else will handle the problem. We might instead ask that God mobilize whatever forces exist not only around us but also within us to be his witnesses in the world. Apart from his grace we tend to either adapt ourselves to the ways of the world or else to hide at home rather than embrace the mission.

Into whatever house you enter,

first say, 'Peace to this household.'

We gain this peace that we have to give by first learning to rely on Jesus ourselves. The mission is itself our training, calling us out from our places of comfort and separating us from the resources that give us a sense of protection. But once we taste the peace that the world cannot give we truly have something to offer the world, something that everyone desires, but which no one can truly find apart from Christ. We may not always walk in it perfectly ourselves. But knowing where it is found is a crucial difference, and all that is needed to make us persuasive as evangelists.

Do not move about from one house to another.

We are not meant to use our own criteria to decide who is worthy of the Gospel message. Our strategy must only be to go where we find welcome. The temptation will be to go where we can find comfort, where the dispositions of others is congenial to our own. But the Gospel is meant to break down barriers between peoples and nations. It can't do this at a global scale if it can't do it first in the hearts of individuals.

But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength,

so that through me the proclamation might be completed

and all the Gentiles might hear it.

Paul had the character of one who had learned all of these lessons. He finally needed no one but God in order to have peace and strength for mission. May we learn to rely on the Lord in this same way. And may we also become like Luke who supported Paul, by doing what we can for those others engaged actively in the mission of the Church.

Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.

Newsboys - Step Up To The Microphone

17 October 2023 - all washed up

Today's Readings

(Audio)

He entered and reclined at table to eat.

The Pharisee was amazed to see

that he did not observe the prescribed washing before the meal.

Jesus was intentional about his decision to not observe the prescribed washing. He knew about the practice. He could simply have gone along with it so that he would blend in. He knew that his Pharisee host would have a problem with it being omitted But Jesus was not interested in being bound by traditions of men (see Mark 7:7) for any of those reasons. 

Jesus knew that his baptism, although he didn't need it for repentance, was nevertheless fitting for all righteousness. But this business of all of the additional ritual purifications of the Pharisees seemed to function only to establish their self-righteousness. They were visible badges of honor, apparent proof that they were conscientiously doing everything right down to the smallest detail. The trouble was that such external acts did not involve them in their interiority, and did not touch their hearts.

The Lord said to him, "Oh you Pharisees!

Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish,

inside you are filled with plunder and evil.

You fools!

To be fair, dealing with the plunder and evil within was a much more difficult matter than cleansing the outside of the cup and the dish. The prescribed washing was something the Pharisees felt they could control. But their inner world, to the degree that they acknowledged it at all, must have seemed wild and untamable. Certainly it was never going to be cleansed by correct ritual performance. 

Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?

But as to what is within, give alms,

and behold, everything will be clean for you.

Alms begin, not as empty outer gestures, but from the heart. They are, in a fashion, a giving away of oneself. They reach into what the selfish ego has perhaps stockpiled and let it go in order that another might receive it. Alms are not gestures that can be performed in isolation, but must recognize and reach out to genuine need. They bring those isolated by pride back into the conversation of humanity. When they are genuine expressions of love they can cleanse even the polluted inner world of the Pharisees and of us. This is one reason it is said that "love covers a multitude of sins" (see First Peter 4:8). Almsgiving allows us to be refashioned from those who live for ourselves alone into those who live lives directed to others for God's sake. 

It is all too easy to become vain or our reasoning like the Gentiles whom Paul described in the first reading. It is too easy for our minds to be darkened, to believe our own propaganda. We need grace to start in faith and to remain in faith. Then we will be more interested in God's will and his understanding of our situation than our feeble pretenses. Then he himself will be able to guide us on the path toward genuine purity of heart, a path that leads, in the end, to the vision of his face.

For in it is revealed the righteousness of God from faith to faith;

as it is written, "The one who is righteous by faith will live."

Mark Schultz - Give Us Clean Hands

16 October 2023 - the sign of Jonah

Today's Readings

(Audio)

This generation is an evil generation;

Like the Israelites that wandered in the desert but did not enter the promised land Jesus called his own generation an evil generation. The Israelites in the desert grumbled against God and his providential care, saying they preferred slavery in Egypt because then at least they could have a greater variety of food and because the difficulty of the exodus made them forget how brutal were their lives as slaves under Pharoah. 

it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,

Just as God cared for Israel in the desert and provided for it but the people grumbled so too had Jesus made himself manifest in many signs, but never to the full satisfaction of his generation. They always seemed to want more, one more final proof to believe. Until, of course, they had it, when they would think of something else Jesus must do to prove himself. It was becoming obvious that no sign would suffice to overcome this hardness of heart.

except the sign of Jonah.

In response to their spiritual blindness Jesus tried to help his generation to recognize the sign they had already seen. If the Ninevites repented at the preaching of Jonah how much more ought the contemporaries of Jesus repent at his preaching. If the queen of the south was willing to travel far to hear the wisdom of Solomon how much more ought the contemporaries of Jesus have been willing to listen to what he taught.

there is something greater than Solomon here.

Solomon was filled with wisdom such that no one had been his equal. But Jesus was himself "the power of God and the wisdom of God"  (see First Corinthians 1:24). As for Jonah, he didn't even desire the salvation of Nineveh. He preached to them because God didn't leave him a choice. But Jesus came precisely because of his love for us, and preached because he desired all to be saved, none to be lost. The foreigners to whom Jonah came were so shaken by his preaching as to convert, from least to greatest. But the generation to whom Jesus came, by and large, did not receive him, in spite of his sincerity, in spite of his coming as one of them.

He came unto his own, and his own received him not (see John 1:11).

Sometimes demanding another sign is just delaying a response we already understand we ought to make. God has done more for us to reveal himself to us than he ever did for the exodus generation. They received the manna from heaven, but we, bread of angels, the flesh of our Lord. They received water from the rock, but we, the Holy Spirit poured into our hearts.

We have heard and bear witness to a greater teacher than Jonah or even Solomon, one whose wisdom upends and makes foolish all so-called human wisdom. He comes to us with such great love and sincerity that it surpasses all that for which we can ask or imagine, more than we had any right to hope. 

He continues to draw near to us because Jesus is always asking us to grow in our response to him. The immature yes of the beginner disciple must give way to a more comprehensive yes. We must transition from being among this crowd of spectators, who are never impressed enough to progress, to the closer circle of those who actually put their trust in Jesus, want to follow him, and allow him to change our lives. We need what Paul calls "the obedience of faith".

The sign of Jonah that Jesus provided was not limited to his teaching. It culminated when he spent three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Jonah was spit forth from the belly of the fish onto dry land. But Jesus was raised up in glory, "established as Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness through resurrection from the dead". This sign was sufficient to overcome any doubt, sufficient to transform the world and set it on fire. May we not take it for granted and thereby allow the fire in our own hearts grow dim. The risen Lord has given us all that we need to trust him. So let us trust him!

Chris Tomlin - Greater