29 February 2024 - at our door

Today's Readings

(Audio)

"There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen

and dined sumptuously each day.

And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores,

who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps

that fell from the rich man's table.

We have more in common with the affluence of the rich man than the adversity of poor Lazarus. One thing which we must refuse to share with the rich man is his indifference to the needy on his doorstep. Like the Good Samaritan we must be alert to those along our path whom we might help. We must not closes our eyes or are hearts to the needy even if their appearance is less wholesome or picturesque than we might desire. We probably have some criteria for when and when and how we will give assistance to others. And to some degree we must. But Jesus is inviting us to consider whether any of this criteria is self-serving, designed only to protect our comfort, and whether it might be broadened. Is there anyone over whom we step on our daily path, to whom we might be a benefit? Are we crossing the street on our journey to avoid situations where we might otherwise do some good? Far from a call to go to Africa or Calcutta to save the world the initial invitation is most often to see what we can do in the places we have been planted.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,

whose hope is the LORD.

He is like a tree planted beside the waters

that stretches out its roots to the stream:

It fears not the heat when it comes,

its leaves stay green;

In the year of drought it shows no distress,

but still bears fruit.

When our own lives are connected rooted in Jesus we will find ourselves able to give fruit and shade without fear. We won't need to worry about the condition which will eventually befall "the man who trusts in human beings", as did the rich man who eventually found himself "suffering torment in these flames". 

Abraham replied, 'My child,

remember that you received what was good during your lifetime

while Lazarus likewise received what was bad;

but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.

Closing in on ourselves in attempt to satisfy our desires has the unintended consequence of cutting us off from the source of life, which is always found outside, beyond the bounds of our selfish ego. This is why Jesus reminds us, "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).

The entirety of the Scriptures expresses God's love for the poor and marginalized. This ought not to catch us by surprise. May the privilege in which we have been blessed to live avail, not simply for fine dining and fancy robes, but for those for whom God has particular loving concern. Then we will find ourselves with something better than material wealth. We will be filled from the well of deep spiritual life flowing from the heart of Jesus himself.

Maranatha! Music - I Will Delight (In The Law Of The Lord)

28 February 2024 - be careful what you wish for

Today's Readings

(Audio)

She answered him,

"Command that these two sons of mine sit,

one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom."

The ego, the part of us that is unable to recognize or understand what Jesus means to do for us by his Passion and death, will always try to scrape together for itself some sort of payment or a consolation prize for the difficulties it must endure. 

Jesus said in reply,

"You do not know what you are asking.

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

Because we misconstrue what Jesus wants to do in our hearts we also do not ask for the right things. If we can't have fancy robes or honorific titles maybe we can have positions of honor. Maybe we can see ourselves elevated over other disciples and legislate from that position how the others ought to live and conduct themselves. But authority, honor, and glory in the Kingdom are not what our egos misunderstand them to be. Jesus is glorified precisely in giving his life as a ransom for many. It this cup, not the one that the sons of Zebedee imagine they want, that Jesus desires to share. 

My chalice you will indeed drink,

but to sit at my right and at my left,

this is not mine to give

but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.

Fortunately, Jesus did not countenance their request by giving them the places right and left of his enthronement on the cross. The Father had other and different ways planned for the sons of Zebedee to share Christ's chalice. From this episode we learn the vanity of all of our attempts to control the future to ensure results we consider optimal. Even when our aspirations are partly spiritual we still find worldly ambition mixed it. It is only because the Father leads us even in spite of us not knowing what we ask, guiding us by hidden ways, that we may hope to eventual arrive at the places prepared for us in his Kingdom. But we can make things somewhat easier on ourselves by disabusing ourselves of false notions of the Kingdom. It is not merely a spiritual substitute for worldly benefits. It is something more sublime and beautiful than that. It is not reigning as prideful tyrants, but on a spiritual level. It is rather in giving ourselves in servant leadership that we most closely approach the Son of Man who "did not come to be served but to serve".

David Crowder Band - Here Is Our King

27 February 2024 - bad examples

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The scribes and the Pharisees

have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.

Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you,

but do not follow their example.

It may sometimes be necessary to be obedient to authority even when the moral character of that authority leaves something to be desired. If those in authority teach the truth than it is true regardless of their own hypocrisy. If what they command is in accord with the divine law it holds no matter whether or not they themselves act uprightly. But it is important to not allow any flaws in their character to rub off on us. It is all too easy to excuse our own behavior when we see it reflected by those in authority. It is tempting to think we must sink to the lowest common denominator to compete on the terms of the world. But this will ensure that progress away from that which we despise is slow or nonexistent.

For they preach but they do not practice.

They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry

and lay them on people's shoulders,

but they will not lift a finger to move them.

Christians ought to be aware of the fact that we all preach without practicing to some degree. This is because we strive for holiness which always remains at least partially aspirational during our mortal lives. But we ought not to have comfortably settled in to hypocrisy as a matter of course. We must not become those who are ready to tell others how to live a life of righteousness while being indifferent to our own. It is only when we recognize our own struggle adequately that we will be moved to help with other people's burdens.

The authorities in the time of Jesus colluded to tie up the heavy burden of the cross and to force Jesus to carry it, utterly indifferent to the suffering they caused. Jesus, however, refused to inflict any burden without helping. He carried the cross for us all when we were too weak to do so. And about every other burden he said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (see Matthew 11:28). He would have our only burden be the one which he himself helps us to carry. This is the starting place where we find the leverage to be similarly sympathetic and compassionate ourselves. Then we can obey the command of Paul to the Galatians, "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (see Galatians 6:2).

Jesus wants to teach us to have love and mercy be our main motivations. We can do this when we first allow his own love to touch our hearts and respond with thanks. The alternative is to try to live righteous lives on our own without his help. But if we do this we will try to scrape together some sort of payment in order to justify the project to our egos. It may be something as vain as religious attire or professional sounding salutations. It will, of course, leave our ego wanting more. But if we leave it to run free it will take at least what it can get. Let us consider instead the truth of our position, living humbly and thankfully as servants privileged to share the burden of Christ.

Call no one on earth your father;

you have but one Father in heaven.

Do not be called 'Master';

you have but one master, the Christ.

The greatest among you must be your servant.

Elevation Worship - O Come To The Altar

26 February 2024 - just judge not

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus said to his disciples:

"Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

If we want to be perfect is the Father is perfect we will do this best by imitating his mercy. As weak and fallen creatures we will never walk completely without fault in perfect holiness during our mortal lives. But this should sensitize us to our own constant need for mercy which we can in turn make our own as an attitude toward others. All the good things we have, not least of which is the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, we have not in virtue of any good deeds we have done, but because of God's mercy. We are called to be similarly generous toward others. We can do this first and foremost by not paying attention to what we imagine others to deserve and by forgiving others as God as first forgiven us. In this way we remove our mental barriers that would limit our love and allow us to love more like the Good Samaritan commended to us by Jesus himself.

Stop judging and you will not be judged.

Judging others is often at best a distraction and at worst a profound deception. We judge because it distracts us from the log in our own eye or even because we seem to see in others what is actually something we hate within ourselves. Oftentimes what we seem to see as worthy of judgment in others says more about us than about them. We often pretend our judgments issue from the moral high ground. But they are often issued more for our own entertainment than for any good they might do for anyone else. The delicate art of helping a brother or sister remove the splinter from his or her own eye ought only by attempted after the Lord has so filled us with mercy that we no longer see ourselves as exalted and others in need of our help. Then we will have the appropriate compassion and even holy fear to attempt to aid in the guidance of others if we feel called to do so. We can see this attitude in the heart of Daniel and in the way he identified with the sinful people on behalf of whom he interceded with God.

We have sinned, been wicked and done evil;

we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws.

When, instead of judgment, we give mercy, we will find that God is never outdone in generosity. However much we manage to give we will find ourselves the beneficiaries of still more. It is by giving that we open ourselves to be filled. But the return is far in excess of what we measure out. This because when we measure with our limited attempts at mercy God responds by measuring back with his own perfect mercy, with grace beyond measure.

Give and gifts will be given to you;

a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,

will be poured into your lap.

Vineyard - Help Us Our God

25 February 2024 - preview of things to come

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus took Peter, James, and John

and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.

And he was transfigured before them,

and his clothes became dazzling white,

such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.

For a few precious moments the disciples were allowed to see Jesus more truly as he was, radiant with glorious light. They witnessed the Law (Moses) and the Prophets (Elijah) bear witness to him (see Romans 3:21). It was so powerful of a scene as to overwhelm them and leave them at a loss for words.

Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,

"Rabbi, it is good that we are here!

Let us make three tents:

one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

With a consolation so great it was only natural that Peter would want to try to capture it and prolong it indefinitely. But that is not the way of consolations. The Transfiguration was given to them to help them come to a deeper faith in Jesus himself, faith to which they could hold even when he didn't radiate glory, which could strengthen them even during the dark hour of his Passion. It planted and seed of hope in their hearts so that even after all was apparently lost they might dare to hope again.

Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them;

This was the cloud which had accompanied Israel through the dessert on their Exodus journey, which came to rest on the tent of meeting in the dessert, and finally on the temple built by Solomon. It was this same cloud of glory that overshadowed Mary to bring about the birth of Jesus within her. It implied that Jesus himself was now the place of God's permanent and abiding presence among his people.

"This is my beloved Son. Listen to him."

Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone

but Jesus alone with them.

Everything that the Father had to say was spoken to us through the person of his Son. There was nothing left unsaid that the Father would need to add or clarify, everything had been made known through Jesus who revealed the Father, since "[w]hoever has seen me has seen the Father" (see John 14:9). We see in the Letter to Hebrews this same sense that Jesus is the fullness and final form of divine revelation.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world (see Hebrews 1:1-2).

The full meaning of the Transfiguration would not be evident until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. What they were seeing was a preview of the glory of the risen Lord. But apart from the full context of his suffering and death it only revealed part of the story. We too have been given the light of faith but the full path of our own story is not yet clear. We will ourselves likely face times of darkness in our own lives as we take up our crosses to follow after Jesus. It probably won't be as extreme as the darkness which Abraham must have experienced when he was called to not spare his own son but hand him over. But Abraham, without understanding, was able to trust. Although he probably didn't reason it this explicitly, "[h]e considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back" (see Hebrews 11:9). We, who have been given a greater light of certainty about the resurrection can therefore remain firm in faith even in the darkest of times. This is the certainty of Paul when he says, "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him?" This confidence is meant to be God's gift to us. Let us open our hearts to receive it.

TobyMac featuring Hollyn - Lights Shine Bright

24 February 2024 - pray for those who persecute you

Today's Readings

(Audio)

You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

In the world we hear plenty of voices suggesting that if we don't hate our enemies we are putting ourselves at risk. There is much clamor to take preemptive steps of self-protection and to build up our particular in groups by tearing down any competing out groups in the vicinity. Loving these competitors and enemies may seem unrealistic. But if that seems too unrealistic to us, imagine the idea that Jesus would call his Jewish audience not only to not hate but to love the Roman occupying force that had subjugated them. Unrealistic? Absolutely. Impossible? Humanly speaking, yes. But not so for children of our heavenly Father. The God who loved us while we were his enemies (see Romans 5:10) can give us the grace to love others as he first loved us.

But I say to you, love your enemies,

and pray for those who persecute you

After all, this is the kind of love that Jesus himself demonstrated during his Passion. He told Peter to sheath his sword and did not summon a legion of angels to liberate himself. He prayed for the very ones responsible for his suffering and death, saying "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (see Luke 23:34). Jesus gave us not only an example to imitate but the grace of his own lived experience to empower us to do so. This is proven by the fact that he has again and again reproduced this aspect of his own life in the lives of those saints dedicated to him. We saw such love in, for instance, Saint John Paul the Great forgiving the person who attempted to kill him. Such forgiveness often brings poignant and powerful proof of the love of God that opens the door to the conversion of even the most hardened of sinners.

For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?

It is easy to love those from whom we stand to gain by doing so. But is this sort of market based give and take really worthy of the name love? Jesus calls us to more, to love those in our little slice of the world whether or not doing so provides us with any sort of reward, emotional, material, or otherwise. Instead of thinking about what we can get or what will feel the most rewarding we can think about the cold and dark places where our sun shining could make a difference. We can look for the dry and arid places where our rain failing might help the seeds of new life to grow. We can ask our heavenly Father how he desires to love those around us through us, no matter who they might be.

And if you greet your brothers and sisters only,

what is unusual about that?

Do not the pagans do the same?

It isn't necessarily the case that we are called immediately to grand works that change the world. It may in fact be necessary to start small, by, for example, greeting those whom we had previously ignored or overlooked. This, no doubt is a necessary step to ensure that we no longer walk past Lazarus on our doorstep without noticing or caring.

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

Our lives are meant to be directed toward the love of God as to a goal. This is illuminated by the fact that the word for perfect has the same root as our word for teleological. An acorn is teleologically ordered to becoming a tree. Humans however reach their perfection, not merely as adults, but as vessels of the love of God. The parallel passage in Luke gives additional color and character to this call when we hear Jesus call us to be "merciful, even as your Father is merciful" (see Luke 6:36). The sort of love and mercy can never begin with us. Such perfection is not possible through grit and determination. It is only possible because the light of God is already shining upon us and his Spirit never ceases to fall like rain when we open our hearts to him.

Maranatha! Music - Shine Jesus Shine

23 February 2024 - not fooling anyone

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus said to his disciples:

"I tell you,

unless your righteousness surpasses that

of the scribes and Pharisees,

you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.

The scribes and Pharisees appeared to others to be righteous. This was, after all, their goal. They performed their works to be seen and publicly presented themselves as holy men. But Jesus revealed that these exterior works masked corrupt interior intentions. He taught that it was not enough to merely avoid the sins that the commandments forbade if one cherished those sins in his heart. 

You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,

You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.

But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother

will be liable to judgment,

and whoever says to his brother, Raqa,

will be answerable to the Sanhedrin,

and whoever says, 'You fool,' will be liable to fiery Gehenna.

We typically exonerate ourselves from any charges of murder on the basis of the fact that most of us are not frequently given to physical violence of any sort. Yet Jesus sees through this merely external and performative obedience to the motives of our hearts. By how we treat and talk about others we sometimes act as though we wished that they were out of the way, in effect, that we could murder them. Of course we don't go so far as to intend murder, but sometimes only because it is forbidden. If we could find a legally acceptable way to silence our foes perhaps we would happily do so. 

Where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from? Is it not from your passions that make war within your members? (see James 4:1).

We must take steps to prevent any animosity against others from taken root in us, and this at the earliest possible opportunity. That is why we must never allow a rift to form between our brothers and ourselves. It is so urgent that, "if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift". We must seek reconciliation right away regardless of whether it is their problem with us or ours with them. The risk otherwise is that our anger will fester overnight.

Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun set on your anger,

and do not leave room for the devil (see Ephesians 4:26-27).

We are taught by Jesus to nip problems in the bud, to stop them while they are still small and before they take deeper and more intractable roots within us. It isn't impossible to correct even the most hardened faults. But it is definitely a harder and more painful process than it is work things out earlier.

Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court.

Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge,

and the judge will hand you over to the guard,

and you will be thrown into prison.

Jesus reveals the tendency of our hearts toward sin and what to do about it, not because he desires the punishment or the death of the sinner, but rather so that we could turn to him to find life. He unmasks the illusions we hold of progress and holiness not to leave us empty, but rather, so that he himself can fill us.

Brian Doerksen - Refiner's Fire

22 February 2024 - key takeaways

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,

still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

The answers other people give can only go so far in helping us to understand the identity of Jesus. Others often give answers that, while not entirely wrong, miss the central point. Jesus was indeed a prophet like John, Elijah, or Jeremiah. But he was also more.

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

Our response to the question of who Jesus is matters. It isn't mere trivial errata, as though we were recognizing an actor in a movie. For this reason it is a question that we must ultimately answer for ourselves. Jesus wants us to know and come to faith in the full truth of his identity. But in our hearts we must genuinely hear the question and open ourselves to receive the answer by revelation. The focal point of faith is believing that Jesus is the Son of the living God. When the Father reveals this truth to our hearts we are empowered to believe the other truths of our faith as corollaries. Accepting Jesus as the one who reveals the Father is in effect accepting the whole is the Christian revelation. Refusal to accept the revelation of Jesus isn't just a choice to ignore him. It is rather to reject the offer of salvation which is not primarily a doctrine, but rather a person: Jesus himself.

And so I say to you, you are Peter,

and upon this rock I will build my Church,

and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.

Peter was to be the foundation of the Church Jesus came to establish. But this Church was not to be a substitute for individual relationship with Jesus, but a place where such relationship could be nourished and protected. It wasn't as though because Peter correctly identified Jesus now we need not do so. It was rather that Peter's correct identification of Jesus would be guaranteed as always present and available within the Church. Sometimes, it is true, this message has been made obscure and opaque. But the promise has not been broken. The netherworld has never prevailed.

I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.

Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;

and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

In giving his royal authority to Peter as a steward of the Kingdom on earth Jesus did not intend to establish a tyranny, but rather an authority that was at the service of the members, a shepherd who lived for his sheep. This is in fact the attitude with which Peter did guide the Church, as we can see from our first reading.

Do not lord it over those assigned to you,

but be examples to the flock.

And when the chief Shepherd is revealed,

you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

Today's feast calls us to gratitude that Jesus has sent shepherds to care for us, in order to help us all receive the invitation to come to believe ever more deeply in who he is and all that he has done. Within the Church, protected by the authority of the Chair of Saint Peter, may we open ourselves more and more to the Father revealing Jesus to us.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

In verdant pastures he gives me repose;

Beside restful waters he leads me;

he refreshes my soul.

Matt Maher - The End And The Beginning

21 February 2024 - Nineveh business

Today's Readings

(Audio)

While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them,

“This generation is an evil generation;

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

except the sign of Jonah.

Jesus warned that generation that he hadn't come to entertain or to impress them. He desired to show them the way to the true promised land of the Kingdom but they were like the evil generation that wandered for forty years in the desert because they refused to trust God. Despite God providing for them on that journey they grumbled and always seemed to want something other than what he gave them, no matter how good or miraculous the gift. Similarly, the generation who heard Jesus were all but impossible to satisfy. They thought John the Baptist was crazy for his life of asceticism. And they couldn't accept the fact that Jesus was friends with tax collectors and sinners, and enjoyed eating and drinking in their company. Even those who heard Jesus with sympathy often remained indecisive, unable to follow him. He told them, in effect, how they were to seize the promised land. They, in response, offered every reason why for them it was impossible. They would ultimately prefer to remain in place, asking Jesus to bless their current situation instead of leading them forth to freedom.

Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,

so will the Son of Man be to this generation.

The message of Jonah to the Ninevites was that their current path was one that led toward destruction. God sent Jonah to that people because he did not desire that outcome. Jonah himself didn't bother to indicate that any other possibility might exist. He, after all, did not wish for them to repent. And yet his very presence there as a warning did inspire a great conversion of heart from the least to the greatest. How much more, then, ought the people have converted at the preaching of Jesus, who came to seek and to save the lost, whose heart was motivated constantly by mercy and compassion?

she came from the ends of the earth

to hear the wisdom of Solomon,

and there is something greater than Solomon here.

Solomon was, of course, the wisest man to ever live because God himself filled him with the gift of wisdom. But Jesus was, in person,  "the power of God and the wisdom of God" (see First Corinthians 1:24). If the Queen of the South was convinced because of how well ordered Solomon's kingdom was, and how he seemed to have an answer to every question and riddle, how much more ought the generation of Jesus to have recognized the wisdom with which he spoke? Indeed, his wisdom eventually silenced his opposition, such that "they no longer dared to ask him any question" (see Luke 20:40). Yet even then they did not turn and repent, but only hardened their hearts all the more.

With Jonah and with the Queen of the South it was by Gentiles that the truth of the word was received. God always had a plan to bless all the nations through Israel, and we can see hints of that intention in those instances. So too with Jesus. Although a majority of his own generation refused to accept him, that rejection would redound to the salvation of the Gentiles, including most of us. But the salvation of the Gentiles was not meant to exclude the Jewish people but rather, "in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them" (see Romans 11:14). Because, in the end, God desires all to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth (see First Timothy 2:4). But the only path to this promised land and to salvation is found in Jesus, a greater king than Solomon, a greater prophet than Jonah.

Perhaps we've been waiting for a sign, but insincerely, and only as an excuse for inaction. Hasn't the word of God already persuaded us by the wisdom of his words, having spoken as no one else had ever done (see John 7:46)? If so, then what are we waiting for? Let us, with our whole hearts, follow Jesus.

Sr. Stacy Whitfield - How Lovely

20 February 2024 - teach us to pray

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus said to his disciples:

“In praying, do not babble like the pagans,

who think that they will be heard because of their many words.

Do not be like them.

Jesus tells his disciples not to expect their words to be magic spells by which God is manipulated or exploited for their intentions. In other places he commends persistence in prayer, with images that suggest that our effort would eventually change the mind of an unjust judge. But here we are reminded that we do not pray to change God's mind. Our repetition of prayers and litanies do not put him in our debt, nor do they eventually annoy him into doing something he would not have otherwise done. Rather we are called to pray with a posture of trust, addressing a Father who knows what we need yet still desires that we would ask. When we begin from this attitude of trust we can allow prayer to transform us, as it is meant to do, along the way to bringing about its eventual results in the world.

Our Father who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name

Our God is not a disinterested and remote deity, not a clockmaker that wound up the world and left it to run on its own. He is a Father who becomes our own Father because Jesus desired to allow us to become adopted children in him. But as adopted children we may not always hold the divine name in the proper regard. We may, as does our culture, treat it too casually or even as a curse. But we may also relegate it to a shelf of things to holy to handle. And in this way we will miss a genuine treasure. For the name above every name is meant to give us direction and be a focal point of praise. As we hallow it in our hearts we discover more and more who is the God that this name signifies. Of course we want this not only for ourselves but for the entire world. If this first petition was truly granted for everyone, all the rest would be included and fulfilled.

thy Kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

The Kingdom of God is present wherever God reigns and his will is done. This is perfectly the case in heaven where the angels and saints worship and adore. But God desires this Kingdom to be unleashed on earth as well, through the lives of Christians. And this can only happen by grace, as we saw most perfectly when Mary herself was totally surrendered to the divine will in her fiat. It was precisely at that moment when the divine will was most perfectly accomplished on earth as it is in heaven, because at that moment the word became flesh in the womb of Mary. But we too are called to surrender our own will to the God's divine plan, which is better than anything we could ask or imagine. We too, to the degree that we surrender to God's will, can bring a little piece of heaven to earth. And this is how the Kingdom is meant to come: through willing hearts that long for it.

Give us this day our daily bread

We rely on God for everything, and it does us good to remember that. We are meant to trust him for our daily needs to the degree that we don't need to be overly anxious about the future. We know this and yet we often fail to find ourselves so thoroughly reassured. This is why we must ask this of God in prayer, so as to not take it for granted. Better still, he answers not only with material needs, but spiritual as well. In his words he gives us bread that feeds the hunger of our minds and hearts. And he gives us his own body to be our daily bread, feeding us not just for today, but unto eternity.

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us;

We ask for help in being free from the debt of sin ourselves and in forgiving others of their trespasses against us. This helps to clean the slate for a jubilee year of celebration. Unforgiven sin can act as a barricade to the full outpouring of divine grace God intends. He desires us to be fully open to the joy and freedom of his presence and it is for this reason he desires to forgive us and to see us share that mercy in turn with others.

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

There are many temptations that we face. False kingdoms and false promises of bread are abundant. We ask instead to be led by God into the true promise of an eternal jubilee in his Kingdom. He is more than able to keep us safe from all the powers of evil. But we must depend on him for this and not grow arrogant as though we would be fine without his help. From beginning to end the Our Father expresses our dependence on God. But this is not burdensome, for he loves us. And it does not detract from our own call to grow and mature as his children. Indeed it is the only path by which to do so.

Matt Maher - The Lord's Prayer

19 February 2024 - getting our goat

Today's Readings

(Audio)

When the Son of Man comes in his glory,

and all the angels with him,

he will sit upon his glorious throne,

and all the nations will be assembled before him.

We confess in the creed that Jesus will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. But aside from Sundays and solemnities when we say the creed we don't tend to think too much about judgment on the last day. This is not to say we have no concern to follow Jesus or to pursue holiness. We may even manage to make regular examinations of conscience and frequently make use of the sacrament of confession without thinking about the reality of the coming judgment. But it seemed that Jesus wanted his disciples to keep the last judgment in mind as a horizon against which they lived their lives day to day. Why would he reveal the criteria of the last judgment if not because he wanted us to be numbered among the sheep on his right hand?

Then the king will say to those on his right,

‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father.

Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

The last day will make manifest the way we have lived our lives. If we have lived in love then we will be recognized by Jesus and will recognize him. By our treatment of the least of his brothers we will have already demonstrated the degree of love we have for Jesus himself. As John wrote, "he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen" (see First John 4:20). Since there is nothing that God needs from us and nothing that we can do that will accrue benefit to him he has chosen to associate with the lowest and the least so that we can demonstrate our love for him in a way that has meaning and impact in the world. 

For I was hungry and you gave me food,

I was thirsty and you gave me drink,

a stranger and you welcomed me,

naked and you clothed me,

ill and you cared for me,

in prison and you visited me.’

If it were really Jesus who crossed our path and not those on the peripheries of our society and the outcasts of our day it seems certain to us that the magnitude of our response would be much greater. If we saw Jesus hungry and thirsty we would certainly do everything in our power to feed him and quench his thirst. But he has told us where he may be found. Yet we are slow to believe him, preoccupied with our own splendor, like the rich man who ignored Lazarus at his doorstep. It is true that the problem of poverty is so overwhelming as to be intractable. But we are not called to solve all of the problems of the world. Rather, we are called to make a difference in the lives of individuals by using the blessings given to us by God for their sake.

Then he will say to those on his left,

‘Depart from me, you accursed,

into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.

For I was hungry and you gave me no food,

I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,

a stranger and you gave me no welcome,

naked and you gave me no clothing,

ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’

The sins that damned the goats were sins of omission. That is, they were given the opportunity to perform these deeds of love, people in need came across their paths, and they chose to do nothing, to prefer themselves, and to harden their hearts. The Lord did not necessarily ask them to travel to distant lands or to reform the political order. More often, he asked them to respond where he planted them using the graces he himself provided. There is a fearful prospect here, that without an examination of conscience we might be like these goats and be unaware of the failure of our response. We are called to keep this judgment before our eyes to ensure that we are never the ones that say, "Lord, when did we see you", as an excuse for our inaction.

The Lord desires to make us fit for heaven by teaching us to live lives of love. The life of heaven is nothing other than the love between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. By responding to this parable we can signal whether or not that is really what we desire for all eternity. May we love our neighbor as ourselves so that on the last day we too may hear, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world".

Songs In His Presence - Psalm 19

Newsboys - Love One Another

18 February 2024 - just desert?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert,

and he remained in the desert for forty days,

tempted by Satan.

Jesus went out into the desert as the faithful representative of mankind. He was a new Adam who was tempted by Satan but who was, unlike Adam, steadfast in his obedience to God. Adam wickedly stretched out his hand to take the forbidden fruit. But Jesus rejected the temptation to turn rocks into bread, since man shall not live by bread alone. He was tested like ancient Israel while Moses spent forty days on the mountain with God. But unlike Israel he refused to bow down and worship that which was not God. His forty days were like the forty years Israel spent in the desert. But unlike the journey of the Exodus, Jesus did not grumble or disobey. He did not demand more than was allotted, and was satisfied with that which God himself provided. He was thus fed by angels, like Elijah. But unlike Elijah he never despaired. Rather he did that which he would later call his followers to imitate: He was not anxious about what he would eat or drink because he realized that his Father knew that he needed those things. He sought first the Kingdom, knowing that all else would be provided. 

After John had been arrested,

Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God:

"This is the time of fulfillment.

The kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent, and believe in the gospel."

Lent is a call to repent, to take on a new and spiritual way of thinking, a mind renewed by the truth of Scripture and the power of the Holy Spirit. It is therefore also a call to turn aside from merely worldly ways of thinking and from belief in false promises of this world that cannot satisfy. We often consider only the negative aspects of Lent, those practices and penances we undertake, the things we forego, and the pleasures from which we abstain. But the point of all of our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving is not meant to be merely a negation. The point of Lent is that it is "the time of fulfillment". It is therefore the time to stop putting up with what can only promise fulfillment falsely and, by grace, to insist on that which alone can satisfy. Jesus is for us both the way, teaching us how to navigate the desert journey, and the goal, who alone can give rest to our souls.

Maranatha! Music - Great Is Thy Faithfulness

17 February 2024 - good company?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

He said to him, “Follow me.”

And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.

Levi made a complete break with his past and his old life. He was like a man who set his hand to a plow and didn't look back at what was left behind. And this was true despite the fact that he maintained possession of some of his property, as evidenced by the great banquet he held for Jesus. But the possessions that were still his he no longer regarded as his own. Even those things which he still possessed he had in some sense left behind. He was like Paul, "forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead", (see Philippians 3:13) and like him could say, "whatever gain I had, I counted as loss" (see Philippians 3:7). He had the poverty of spirit that Jesus called blessed even as he still put to good use the things of this world. And what better use of worldly resources than to provide a great banquet for Jesus, giving him the opportunity to influence other tax collectors who might be open to his message?

The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying,

“Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

The Pharisees assumed that if Jesus was truly concerned with holiness he would have been more selective about the company he kept. In their minds proximity to a holy man would first need to be earned by arduously seeking holiness oneself. But this idea of first becoming holy and then coming to Jesus was illusory. The issue wasn't a matter of priority and could not be addressed by a self-improvement project. It was an illness that required the healing that only a physician could provide. One would not normally feel the need to first overcome the fever in order to spend time with the doctor. Indeed to attempt to do so would be foolish. 

Jesus said to them in reply,

“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.

I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”

Jesus came to call sinners, that is, all of humanity. But in order to hear this call one would need at least the willingness and humility to recognize the disease of sin within oneself. Without recognizing the bad news of the disease it was impossible to fully appreciate the good news of the divine physician and his cure. And to cure this disease was in fact his intention. He didn't desire to leave us in sin, perhaps by giving it some other label, or calling it harmless, but desired to give us the medicine of repentance. But this was a goal toward which he could only lead those who would see themselves as sinners in need of salvation. Such self-knowledge does not naturally come to anyone. It is something that God will reveal to us a little at a time, so as to not overwhelm us. We can be Pharisees who shut our ears and refuse to hear it. Or we can be like Levi and allow Jesus to turn our whole world upside down.

Then light shall rise for you in the darkness,

and the gloom shall become for you like midday;

Then the LORD will guide you always

and give you plenty even on the parched land.

He will renew your strength,

and you shall be like a watered garden,

like a spring whose water never fails.

Craig Musseau - Good To Me

16 February 2024 - wedding guests

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,

“Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,

but your disciples do not fast?”

In this question we see one way in which practices that are meant to be spiritual can be a snare. Rather than producing righteousness, their fasting seems to have left them unsatisfied and even envious of the disciples of Jesus. They did not, it seems, look to the heavenly Father to reward them for their fasting and so they instead sought to reward themselves by prideful comparison to others. Fasting most likely seemed to them to be their own effort, and this a mark of distinction, making them better than others. But this temptation was by no means limited to groups who only exist in the pages of history. If we set ourselves to fast as a work of purely human exertion and effort, if it lacks sufficient connection to Jesus, if we do not look to the Father for our reward, then we too will find the temptation to seek our own recompense to be all but irresistible.

Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn

as long as the bridegroom is with them?

Jesus presented himself as the bridegroom of Israel, an Old Testament image of God himself. If Jesus was the bridegroom then his coming marked a great wedding feast. In himself he united God and humankind. This called, not for fasting, but for great celebration. But though many were invited to the wedding, most responded with excuses and failed to attend, but instead "they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them" (see Matthew 22:5-6).

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

In what way would the bridegroom be taken away? It could not refer to the Ascension, since it was at that time specifically that he promised to be always present to his Church. Instead, it could only refer to his holy Passion. And although the historical reality of the Passion is in the past, the spiritual reality is the foundation of our faith, and re-presented each day in the Eucharist. We proclaim his death until he comes again. And in particular, we do this liturgically each year on Good Friday. It is in preparation to commemorate liturgically our Lord being taken away that calls for us to fast, in order that we might be made ready to enter fully into the commemoration of his death and therefore also to celebrate his resurrection.

When we do choose to enter into the reality of the Passion of Jesus by setting aside our own pursuits and fasting according to the mind of God the doors are opened for great graces to be unleashed in our lives and upon the world.

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,

and your wound shall quickly be healed;

Your vindication shall go before you,

and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,

you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!

Newsboys - Lead Me To The Cross

15 February 2024 - life savers

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus said to his disciples:

“The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected

by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,

and be killed and on the third day be raised.”

In order for the plan of God for the salvation of humankind to be realized the Son of Man had to suffer and die, giving his life as an offering for sin, so that we might have life. 

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand (see Isaiah 53:10).

Jesus did not take up his own cross by accident, because the mission failed. It was always the plan of the Father. And yet, even he, the God man, found it necessary to steel himself for this by his prayer to the Father in the garden of Gethsemane. To take up his cross was not easy or trivial simply because of his divine nature. Because of that it was possible, not easy. Jesus had no excess of worldly desire drawing him to riches or other vices. But there were many natural goods which he had to relinquish in order to give his life for us. Had he chosen to prefer his own life in the world he would not have saved our lives.

Then he said to all,

“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself

and take up his cross daily and follow me.

We are not called simply to sit and admire what Jesus did for us on the cross. We are called rather to come after Jesus and to become like him. As Jesus' life was constant obedience to the Father and unwavering love of neighbor so too should our lives become. It is his cross that makes it possible for us to take up our own cross, to die to selfish desire, and to live for God and for others.

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,

but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

When we hear about taking up our cross we are immediately tempted to investigate every possible alternative. How can we achieve meaning and fulfillment without the need to die to self? The world offers many deceptive promises in this regard but "the present form of this world is passing away" (see First Corinthians 7:31). We must not live our lives for the sake of those things that are temporary. And this means letting go of our grasp on anything to which we are clinging too tightly. If we want to live forever we must be willing to leave the sinking ship.

What profit is there for one to gain the whole world

yet lose or forfeit himself?

Jesus does not tell us to die to self as an end in itself as though the negation of the world was the end of the story. Rather, he tells us that we must die to that which is lesser for the sake of the greater and the perfect. Jesus himself embraced the cross, not for its own sake, but for the sake of the joy set before him. The author of Hebrews presents this as an example for all of us to follow, writing that we should look "to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God" (see Hebrews 12:2).

The call to take up our cross and to call of Moses to choose life are fundamentally the same call. The call to life, in our fallen world, necessarily goes by way of the cross. But life, true life, better than anything the world could ever promise is nevertheless the goal.

Matt Maher - Lay It Down

14 February 2024 - in order that people may see?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Take care not to perform righteous deeds

in order that people may see them;

otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.

In our righteous deeds we must avoid the temptation to seek reward by drawing attention to ourselves. This doesn't sound so difficult at a distance yet we often find that when we do something good it is hard not to talk about it. There is sometimes the sensation that their is a strange pressure building within us and the only valve to lessen it is to share it with others. This temptation is different from trying to present ourselves as an example to others or letting our light shine for the glory of God because, unlike those situations, it is all about us. Our egos desire some recognition or recompense for the righteous deeds in question, and are not capable of looking to our heavenly Father to receive it.

But when you give alms,

do not let your left hand know what your right is doing,

so that your almsgiving may be secret.

And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

When we perform actions that aren't intrinsically rewarding at the level of sensation or emotion there is a part of us that tends to feel cheated and tries to make up for it, feeling as that it has earned something and now deserves praise and reward. And this part of ourselves is very clever in the ideas it can construct to wring some sort of reward from our acts. But if we allow it to have its way, perhaps by broadcasting an image of ourselves to others as righteous or pious, we deprive ourselves of a better reward that only God can give.

But when you pray, go to your inner room,

close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.

And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

We can choose to ignore the ego within us struggling to find some reward for ourselves and instead choose to receive a better and more spiritual reward from our heavenly Father. If we allow ourselves to be content with the passing praise of men we will close ourselves to a reward that is more subtle and gentle, but also more lasting, and ultimately more satisfying. It is as though we can await a well made meal around the family table but often ruin our appetite with candy that briefly stimulates but eventually leaves us with a sour stomach.

When you fast,

do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.

We should not fast in order to win pity from those around us. No matter what our egos insist, in fasting we are meant to forego earthly satisfaction in order to allow God to feed our hearts. But there is only room in us for one reward. We can find treasure on earth, and find out in turn how quickly such treasure fades. Or we can instead find lasting treasure in heaven.

Behold, now is a very acceptable time;

behold, now is the day of salvation.

As we begin this Lent we can be confident that, although our ego tends to resist our progress, we do not have to rely on ourselves alone. We have the grace of God performing its work within us, transforming us, little by little, into the righteousness of God.

Then the LORD was stirred to concern for his land

and took pity on his people.

Matt Maher - Forty Days

13 February 2024 - check the recipe

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus enjoined them, "Watch out,

guard against the leaven of the Pharisees

and the leaven of Herod."

One must be on guard when adding ingredients, because a "little leaven leavens the whole lump" (see Galatians 5:8). This means there is the potential for a little bit added in the beginning to corrupt an entire project. Of this sort of leaven Paul wrote, "[c]leanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (see First Corinthians 5:7-8). But the Kingdom could also act as leaven in the sense of having disproportionately large impact compared to the initial apparently meager investment, hence the parable of Jesus that "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened" (see Matthew 13:33).

Leaven seems to be trivial and insignificant at first but later on down the road the impact can be surprising. That means we must guard against even the beginnings of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees of the corrupt self-indulgence of Herod. An innocuously small bit of these ingredients added into the mix early on can eventually result in an unsavory loaf. 

They concluded among themselves that

it was because they had no bread.

When Jesus cuts to our motives in a way that is potentially uncomfortable may try to distract ourselves with external and apparently more concrete realities. If we had only remembered that bread! But it was not the omission of preparations at a human level that Jesus was criticizing. Clearly he himself was sufficient preparation against a lack of physical bread, having fed the five thousand and the four thousand. But his physical presence was no guarantee that the disciples wouldn't reproduce the faults of the Pharisees and the Herodians. Only relying on him, and on the leaven of the Kingdom, would ensure there was no temptation to attempt to make the project grow in other ways. The only ingredients worth adding to the mixture that would grow and impact the world, as bread to be broken and shared, were the gifts that come from God.

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters:

all good giving and every perfect gift is from above,

Seed, Scattered, and Sown

12 February 2024 - no signal

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with Jesus,

seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him.

The Pharisees put the Lord to the test just as the exodus generation had put God to the test in the wilderness. Having witnessed one miracle after another they proved impossible to satisfy, demanding some even greater sign which they could not possibly deny. Maybe if the sign was sufficiently cosmic and overwhelming even they would deign to consider believing in Jesus. They would not consider coming to Jesus through free will and faith but asked him to force them to recognize him if he could. 

He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said,

"Why does this generation seek a sign?

Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation."

Jesus wanted to bringing healing and freedom, and desired to lead those willing to trust him to ever deeper levels of faith. But the Pharisees were like the rebellious generation of Israelites during their desert pilgrimage. They weren't interested in trusting in God. They wanted what they wanted and would only play along with God with they thought it might help them to attain it. If a sign could have brought them to faith Jesus doubtlessly would have given them one. But giving anything to the Pharisees in their condition would have only led to the further hardening of their hearts. And yet there was a sign that might still avail for some of them, the sign of Jonah, his death and resurrection. He left them for the other shore, but he did not give up on them. He did not give them what they thought they wanted. He didn't even stick around to indulge them with continued controversy. He left them to themselves to reflect. Hopefully later, after he was put to death, they would hear that he had refused to stay in the tomb. Maybe that would finally plant a seed of faith and hope within their hearts.

But if any of you lacks wisdom,

he should ask God who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly,

and he will be given it.

As we have seen, Jesus himself was tested during his earthly life. So too does God allow us to be tested so that our faith may produce perseverance and be made perfect. Things that may seem to be to our detriment and harm can be seen in the larger perspective of God's divine plan as helping us to grow. But to see them this way we will need wisdom. It is easy to imagine we have this wisdom until the trials themselves actually come. Then the truth is revealed. At such times we tend to waver back and forth between a half-hearted desire to trust God's perspective and any other option we can conceive. But God's wisdom will only sustain us in peace if we go all in for it. So let us not be "of two minds, unstable in all" our ways. Let us instead trust in the Lord with all of our hearts, knowing that he does not allow us to be tested beyond our strength (see First Corinthians 10:13).

It is good for me that I have been afflicted,

that I may learn your statutes.

Graham Kendrick - We Believe