14 August 2014 - exile liberation

Using the normal readings and also at the Franciscan Lectionary:

1 John 3:13-18
Psalms 116:10-13, 16-17
John 15:12-17

When he began the accounting,
a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.

We owe so much to our God.  Even before we factor in the passion of Jesus we owe him more than we can fathom.  He creates everything from nothing.  Nothing exists because it deserves to exist.  It exists because God loves it into existence.  So we see the debt we owe to him is already insurmountable.  But for somehow, with incomprehensible love, Jesus takes on flesh so that he can suffer and die for us.  We owe him more than we can ever fully appreciate let alone repay.

But when we do begin to appreciate how much we are loved we are empowered to love others with the same love which we receive.  When we realize how much we have been forgiven we won't hold back forgiveness from our brothers and sisters.

His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant!
I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?’

Are we as gratefully as we ought to be?  Clearly not.  Yet many of us mitigate the words of Jesus at first.  We think we haven't done anything 'that bad.'  We haven't killed anybody, OK?  We're no Hitler or Stalin.  We've been forgiven, what, little white lies?  Is that, then, all we can muster ourselves to forgive in others?  Or when we forgive others greater faults do we think ourselves superior?  We are perhaps failing to be thankful for the mercy which keeps us from sin when we do choose the good.  We are possibly also not realizing the deep-seated idolatry in our own hearts that chooses self over others.  Let us rejoice in mercy even as another who never did anything 'that bad' rejoices.  Therese of Lisieux sets a great example: "Make it clear, Mother, that if I had committed all possible crimes, I would still have the same confidence. I would feel that this multitude of offenses would be like a drop of water cast into a blazing fire".

If we truly appreciate this mercy we won't hold it back from others.  If we truly value what we have from God we will have the grace to even offer our very lives for others as Maximilian Kolbe does.  He loves others even as Jesus loves him.  He lays down his life for his friends (cf. Joh. 15:13-14).  He is not one who can see his brother in need and yet close his heart against him. He loves not just "in word or speech but in deed and in truth" (cf. 1 Joh. 3:17-18).

Then we can be signs of God's love for the world.  Just as Ezekiel is made to be a sign of the coming exile...

I am a sign for you: 
as I have done, so shall it be done to them;
as captives they shall go into exile.

...so we become a sign of the return from the even more profound exile.  We reveal that on the far side of the exile of death is the paradise of the New Eden, heaven itself.  We do this when we reveal in our own lives that there really is a love stronger than death.

The main lesson? "Do not forget the works of the Lord!"  If we remember them we are empowered!  This is how we forgive, not just "in word or speech" but from the heart. Sharing in this love we prove to the world that our exile does not have to be forever.  One day we can hope to say:

O LORD, I am thy servant; I am thy servant, the son of thy handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bonds.

13 August 2014 - act accordingly

13 August 2014 - act accordingly

Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth
about anything for which they are to pray,
it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.

Jesus wants us to be united.  He wants us to be like the the disciples who pray in one accord at the coming of the Holy Spirit.  We are not meant to act in isolation.  We aren't splinter cells, planted in enemy territory with on ourselves on whom we can rely.  God himself "is not solitude, but perfect communion" as then Pope Benedict XVI reminds us.  No wonder then that we are exhorted to make "every effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (cf. Eph. 4:3).  Love urges us outward.  Love is not content to stay within itself.  And prayer is meant to manifest our love. The main thing is a union of intention.  But it is even better when we can actually be with one another and pray vocally together.  We manifest this unity in a more profound and visible way.

For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.”

Idolatry has the opposite effect.  It turns us toward things which are less than human, things incapable of relationship, and in doing so make us something less than human as well.

Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
They have mouths but do not speak,
eyes but do not see.
They have ears but do not hear,
noses but do not smell.
They have hands but do not feel,
feet but do not walk;
they produce no sound from their throats.
Their makers will be like them,
and anyone who trusts in them (cf. Psa. 115:4-8).

This is true not only of those things which we naturally think of when we think of idols.  It isn't just statues in the "image of mortal man or of birds or of four-legged animals or of snakes."  It is anything we choose at the expense of love.  Entertainment is an obvious and common idol of our modern era.  But there are others. Any time we don't treat others for the own sake we are making idols.  Think of the times when we are more involved in what is going on in our head than in what someone is saying.  This sort of idolatry can be hard to avoid.  It might even be frightening to us to think of such things as idols.  But today we see the blueprint for avoiding idolatry of all kinds.  The "unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" is the antidote.  Praying with one accord is the key.  By our own power we can try to have fellowship but we may just find ourselves alone together.  We experience ourselves as "strangers and sojourners" (cf. Eph. 2:19). But when we pray Jesus comes into our midst and breaks down these barriers.  His Spirit unites us as "fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God."

Now we don't need to fear.  The temple in Ezekiel's time is overrun with idolatry.  The LORD's presence does not and cannot remain.  After all, "What accord has Christ with Beliar?" (cf. 2 Cor. 6:15).

Then the glory of the LORD left the threshold of the temple
and rested upon the cherubim.

But even when the glory of the LORD rises from the earth it is only to reveal his transcendence over idols.  This vision of his glory reveals him as utterly unique.

Who is like the LORD, our God, who is enthroned on high,
and looks upon the heavens and the earth below?

Unlike idols, the LORD has no physical eyes and yet looks upon us even from the heavens.  He wants us to understand that he is unique, that he cannot be one among many, and that he is not a force that can be subverted to human purposes.  When we understand that he is unique we seek him with one accord.  Then we find ourselves united with one another as well.  We find our foreheads marked with his sign, the "Thau" of his cross.

12 August 2014 - food in due season

12 August 2014 - food in due season

As for you, son of man, obey me when I speak to you:
be not rebellious like this house of rebellion,
but open your mouth and eat what I shall give you.

We need to receive God's words because of from whom they come rather than because the content measures up to our evaluation.  If we insist on being arbiters of the Word of God ourselves we risk becoming people who "will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths" (cf. 2 Tim. 4:3-4).

The only distinction that matters is that it is not a human word.  We need to open our mouths and eat it so that we can receive it as "it truly is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe" (cf. 1 The. 2:13).

We're self-styled sophisticates.  We are so protective of our ability to choose what we consume.  It has been a long time since we simply receive what is set before us.

“Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,
you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Whoever becomes humble like this child
is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.

This is just one way in which Jesus means children to be an example to us.  Children trust their parents to provide for them.  They receive simply and rely utterly on the nourishment their parents provide.  Which is not to say they always enjoy it.  It is not that they aren't given bitter vegetables which they don't want.  But even so, children don't hold back from family meals in favor of their own plans.  They aren't going to go to their own pantry and prepare something.  They aren't able to get to a restaurant on their own.  They rely on their parents.  For them it is that or going hungry.  

"If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (cf Mat. 7:11)

Indeed, when we receive what we are given it not only feeds our bellies and fills our stomachs it is "as sweet as honey" in our mouths.  God truly does give good gifts to those who ask him.  He teaches his disciples to eat what is set before them, even on a human level, to help them to understand this.  "When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you" (cf. Luk. 10:8).

He wants us to rely on him.  He wants us to come to believe what the psalmist proclaims.

How sweet to my palate are your promises,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!

We need to learn to trust what the LORD provides and not hold back from the banquet he sets before us in the sight of our enemies.  Even if the food is a scroll proclaiming "Lamentation and wailing and woe" if the Father serves it then we must eat it.  Even words like these are meant to guide us away from the perils of sin and selfishness to the bread from heaven which has within it all sweetness.  

This sweetness is not just for us.  It is for all of the lost sheep.  It only grows in sweetness as it is shared.  So let us be little ones ourselves.  Let us find all of the little ones who need to hear this and not despise them. Let us follow our shepherd who comes to seek and to save the lost.

How sweet to my taste is your promise!

11 August 2016 - a little clare-ification

Readings from the Franciscan Lectionary

2 Corinthians 4:6-10, 16-18
Psalms 45:11-12, 14-16
John 15:4-10

Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison

Today Clare wants to help us to worry less about our outer nature.  She wants to teach us to look to the things that are unseen instead of the things that are seen.  The things that are seen are transient.  The afflictions we face are momentary.  They waste away our outer nature.

Our inner nature is a different story.  If we look to things that are unseen, things that are eternal, we see God shining in our hearts "to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."  This is the glory of Christ risen from the grave.  This is the vision which changes us from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor. 3:18).  Jesus gives new color to the temporary circumstances we face. His paschal mystery gives them new context.  Now, though afflicted, we can be "always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies."  Now we are invincible.

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

Now, far from wasting us away, our afflictions prepare us for the coming kingdom.

For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison 

Everything is put in its proper perspective.  It is seen in its proper proportion.  All this as long as we look to the things that are unseen rather than the things that are seen.  All this because we fix our gaze on Jesus.

Clare can help us with this because she embodies it.  She is very literally like the woman in the psalm who forgets her people and her father's house for the sake of the king who desires her.  She knows that she is an earthen vessel and doesn't worry about what she will eat or what she will wear (cf. Mat. 6:25).  Instead of earthly clothing she is clothed with the "many colored robes" of righteousness that prepare her to come before the king "with her virgin companions", the women of her order.  She does so with "joy and gladness".

We are called to abide in Jesus as branches on the vine.  This means being rooted in the eternal and unseen.  Yet the fruit we bear is not hidden.  It is amidst the world transient and temporary that we bear much fruit.  And by "this my Father is glorified".  We fix our gaze on Jesus.  We stay connected to the vine.  When we do his Spirit fills us, gives us his risen life, and makes us bear fruit for kingdom.

If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you (cf. Rom. 8:11).

10 August 2014 - blessed be your name

10 August 2014 - blessed be your name

This morning we learn about recognizing the presence of God.

We are often surrounded by wind and waves in our leaky little boats.  We are surrounded, but not abandoned.  Circumstances can be chaotic.  But the LORD comes to us amid the circumstances.  He speaks quietly but he wants to be heard.  He does not want to be mistaken for a ghost.

Nor does he want to be mistaken for the circumstances themselves.  Wind, earthquakes, fire, and storms are powerful manifestations.  Sometimes they are helpful.  Sometimes the mountains which the heavy wind rends are mountains we want to see fall.  Sometimes our circumstances are stagnant and need earthquakes and fire to shake them up and renew them.  It is tempting to make a one to one association between these manifestations and the God who causes or allows them.  Then we praise God when things are good and begrudge and curse him when things are bad.

Job is right to say "The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD!" But how can we really mean that?  It is one thing to say it or sing it.  It is something else again to mean it.

We have to recognize this separation between the LORD and our circumstances.  

but the LORD was not in the wind. 

but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 

but the LORD was not in the fire.

We must wait for the "tiny whispering sound."  We must wait for a figure so unassuming and unimposing that we might mistake him for a ghost.  If we listen we will hear him say,  “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”

We are so worried that the winds are punishments we deserve.  We are afraid that a lack of the things we want is because God doesn't love us.  But that isn't how God wants us to understand him.  He is present to us in good circumstances and bad.  He comes to us amid the storms and the sunshine.  He wants to be our fixed point of reference.  He wants to be our source of peace.  But he does not give peace as the world does (cf. Joh. 14:27).  He will show us that he is all we need, if we let him.  Even while the storms continue, he changes our relationship to them.  Not only does he give us peace, but he gives us courage.  Sometimes the courage he gives us inspires us to risk new and great things.

“Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 
He said, “Come.” 
Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. 

Jesus wants to inspire us with courage, too.  He wants to invite us to come closer to him even if it means stepping out of our boats and onto the waves. But when we do turn back to the circumstances and take our eyes off of him he does not abandon us.  He let's us see his kindness and grants us his salvation.

Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught Peter,
and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Our circumstances press in, but he is not far away!

Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.

He wants to convince us of who he is and what that means for us.

Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying,
“Truly, you are the Son of God.”

He wants us to be so convinced that the desire to share it burns within our very bones.  Paul experiences this feeling for his fellow Israelites.

I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie;
my conscience joins with the Holy Spirit in bearing me witness
that I have great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart. 
For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ
for the sake of my own people,
my kindred according to the flesh. 

He knows that Jesus is the Son of God and he can't stand the fact that these people whom he loves don't.  He sees the difference it can make, the peace it can bring, and he will do all he can to share it.  He won't stop until all know "Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen."  May we follow this example.

9 August 2014 - hooked on cacophony

9 August 2014 - hooked on cacophony

Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you will say to this mountain,
‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.
Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Here is a passage which is meant to challenge us.  We are being called out.  We run up against mountains all the time and yet they don't move.  Plenty seems impossible for us.  The mustard seed is the smallest and yet it becomes a massive plant capable of supporting not only itself but others.  But we don't even have a mustard seed, apparently.

So where do we begin?  Paul has the answer, "Thus faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ."  We need to grow in listening to and hearing the word of Christ.

We don't need to feel guilty that we aren't good at this yet.  Even though they've already been following Jesus for a while now his disciples still have to hear that their inability to exorcise the demon this morning is because of their little faith.  Both us and the disciples get our faith from the same place.  We get it from the word of Christ.  We need to spend time listening.  We need to trust the promise Jesus gives us that "the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice" (cf. Joh 10:4).  Sheep, though, are stupid.  We have to be exposed to the voice again and again to learn to distinguish it from the cacophony of the world.  His word is meant to be a lamp unto our path and a light unto our feet.  We need to receive it like the Thessalonians, who received it not as "a human word but, as it truly is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe."

Let us follow Habakkuk to our guard posts to watch and listen for what God wants to say.

I will stand at my guard post,
and station myself upon the rampart,
And keep watch to see what he will say to me,
and what answer he will give to my complaint.

We need the integrity to wait even if we don't hear anything right away.  This will bring us to the faith that can actually give life to ourselves and those around us.

If it delays, wait for it,
it will surely come, it will not be late.
The rash man has no integrity;
but the just man, because of his faith, shall live.

We come to believe more and more the words of the psalmist.

You forsake not those who seek you, O Lord.

Now we hear him.  Now nothing is impossible for us because nothing is impossible for the one whom we hear.  Now we experience the life he which he comes to the world to give in abundance (cf. Joh. 10:10).

Sing praise to the LORD enthroned in Zion;
proclaim among the nations his deeds;
For the avenger of blood has remembered;
he has not forgotten the cry of the poor.

8 August 2014 - total dominic nation

Readings (Dominican Calendar):  2 Tim 4: 1-8; Ps 96: 1-2a, 2b-3, 7-8a; Mt 5: 13-19 

preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season

On the one hand, the word is always "in season" because "now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (cf. 2 Cor 6:2).

On the other hand, we certainly recognize our own era in Paul's words about the coming time "when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings."  We see the world around us embracing spirituality that says "follow your bliss" and equates personal comfort with spiritual progress.  This even has an expression within Christianity, stereotyped as the health and wealth gospel.

Yet do we not also accumulate teachings suited to our own preferences?  Do we really give time to the teachers who challenge us?  It is a little tricky.  We can't just go searching for that which we don't want to hear.  We won't find the Good News if we do that.  We'll find the world's bad news.  But even the Good News has hard things to say to us.  And it that can be hard to recognize in ourselves on our own.  There are a few things we can do to address these blind spots.  The first is to be deep in Scripture and have a Catechism close at hand.  If we aren't purposefully ignoring or discenting from the parts we don't like these will go a long way to reveal the areas within ourselves that need progress.  

In addition, spiritual direction can be invaluable, if only we can find good spiritual directors. Sadly, that isn't easy.  They are few and they are in demand.  But a close second is friends with whom we can discuss our spiritual lives with whom we can be mutually accountable.  Our friends have a way of seeing the faults in us that we ourselves miss.  And when this is on a spiritual level it is transformed from a nuisance to a blessing.

Only when we address our blind spots will we be able to "be steady, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist" and fulfill the ministries with which every one of us have been entrusted.  We are supposed to be the salt of the earth, but if we our overwhelmed by our blindspots we will be sidetracked from our true purpose.  We will seek pleasure first and hope the kingdom is added unto us.  That doesn't work.  Jesus wants us to be the light of the world which doesn't happen when we put ourselves first.  Our ego is the bushel that covers our lamps.  Jesus is offering to lift it from us today.  When he does so we can, first see into our own shadowy parts, and then shine for to illuminate the world!

This is the new song about which the psalmist writes.  Let us sing it with all that we are.

Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all the earth.