7 Oct 2014 - rosary colored glasses

“Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? 

A lot of us feel this way, don't we? We are out in the vineyard doing our part for the kingdom. Eventually it starts feeling like work. Eventually it becomes drudgery. It becomes tedious and unrewarding. Then we see those privileged few who seem to be blessed with all of the grace, peace, and joy they can handle. They don't seem to do anything in particular to cause it. Instead, whenever they get near to Jesus it just flows into them. But with us, even when we get near to Jesus, we still find ourselves working. We still find ourselves doing. We find ourselves unable to just sit at his feet.

Martha's approach of how she relates to Jesus is emphatically not wrong. It is just partial. First, her attentiveness to others is no doubt why she is the one who "welcomed him" when he entered her village. Would Mary ever get to know Jesus if not for that? We can't say. But her approach is partial. She misses out on "the better part" because she can't sit still long enough to experience it. But that is not to say that the part she does receive is not also good.

Mary and Martha both choose how they respond to Jesus when he visits them. It is certain that Mary's life also contains a lot about which she could be anxious and worried. But she sets it aside to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen. Martha no doubt has a lot going on. There is no doubt much that really does need her attention. Even to have Jesus as a guest does entail some work. Every priest that has ever managed the finances of his parish knows this. In spite of that, the implication is clear. She allows that take precedence when she should take advantage of a specific opportunity.  She should take the time out to sit and listen.

We're secretly worried that Jesus will hold it against us if we take this time. Yet it is essential. And things will still get done even if we do set them aside for a moment. God doesn't need us to keep the universe running. He knits us together in the womb. He loves us long before we can do anything to deserve it.

We are all set apart from the womb and called through grace to know the Son, just as Paul as. And yes, we are called to proclaim him and build his kingdom. But our priority is always Jesus himself. With Paul, we don't need to immediately consult flesh and blood or go up to Jerusalem. There will be time for all that. We need to be content with who we are in Jesus, just as Paul is. We don't have anything to prove. We need to know that we are loved before we do a single thing. We will then allow ourselves to rest at his feet. This is better for us. And it is better for the kingdom, too.

So they glorified God because of me.

6 Oct 2014 - cafeteria closed

Cafeteria closed

We don't get to pick and choose the parts of the Gospel of Christ which we accept. This isn't a cafeteria line where we take the good stuff and leave the rest. If we find ourselves in such a line we are probably forsaking the one who called us by the grace of Christ for a different gospel.

Why would do this? We're hungry for the Gospel and we ought to fill our plates. All of us are malnourished to some degree and ought not be choosey. Yet some of the options seem so unappealing that we are willing to pass them by on the opposite side of the street. The gospel sometimes calls us to forego our preferences and our prejudices for something more important. It calls us to love even when we don't feel like it. It calls us to offer mercy even we think we have the wrong personality type to get involved.

Jesus himself shows us the way. When we are his enemies he still dies for us (cf. Rom. 5:8). When we can't afford our care he pays for everything.

Take care of him.
If you spend more than what I have given you,
I shall repay you on my way back.

We don't deserve his love. It isn't as though Jesus is in a cafeteria line and we are somehow the dessert course. In fact, it is more like we're the raw materials which he himself makes into a pleasing meal. He does delight in us, but not necessarily because we're doing everything he wants us to do right now. He is the chef that enjoys the challenge of, shall we say, unusual ingredients as he makes us into masterpieces.

He has sent deliverance to his people;
he has ratified his covenant forever;
holy and awesome is his name.
His praise endures forever.

Let us learn from the one for whom mercy takes precedent over preference. Let our taste never stop our love lest we ultimately miss out on the fulfillment of a wonderful banquet.

The Gospel we receive "is not of human origin" and we do not "receive it from a human being". Flesh and blood cannot reveal it to us. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the one who makes it known through his Spirit at work in the Church. It is not just some human words. It is the word of God. Let us be sure to embrace it in its entirety. If some part of it seems off-putting to us let us pay even closer attention. Most likely, it is our palette that is at fault.

The works of his hands are faithful and just;
sure are all his precepts,
Reliable forever and ever,
wrought in truth and equity

LORD, may we embrace all that you have for us this morning for you have first embraced us.

Please receive the soul of Fr. Benedict Groeschel into your tender embrace.

5 Oct 2014 - grape faithfulness

The purpose of the vineyard is fruit. The LORD desires that his vineyard will bear fruit that will remain. He wants fruit so much that there is nothing which could be done for the vineyard to ensure the growth of fruit which he doesn't do.

What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I had not done?

We become anxious when we hear that he wants fruit so much that he doesn't leave a defective vineyard in place for long. The watchtower comes down and the hedge is taken away. If the grapes choose to grow wild he will allow them to live in the wild, beyond his protection. These wild grapes are people that choose bloodshed instead of judgement and justice. The spirit of rebellion and disobedience is opposed to a harmonious and well ordered life in community. It is the sort of attitude which finds the watchtowers and hedges to be intrusions. It rejects any peace which it cannot create itself.

Yet once they are in the wild, wild grapes do realize that they have chosen a hard life. When we chose to do something on our own apart from God we do have the opportunity to realize our mistakes. Life outside of the vineyard only ever works partially. Nourishment, peace, and success only come in fits and starts. There is never enough. We do well to cry out:

Once again, O LORD of hosts,
look down from heaven, and see;
take care of this vine,
and protect what your right hand has planted
the son of man whom you yourself made strong.
Then we will no more withdraw from you;
give us new life, and we will call upon your name.

We can imagine, then, why Jesus is hard on the tenants of the vineyard. The grapes are trying to grow but they are being used and abused. They are not given over to their true purpose, but hoarded for selfish ends.  The landowner cares so much for this fruit. He wants it to fulfill its purpose so much that he sends his son to ensure that happens. Yet the son himself is slain by the selfish impulses that horde the fruit. The impulse is the most destructive in those given charge of the vineyard. But it exists in all of us. We express it when we treat people selfishly, using them for our purposes rather than treating them as ends in themselves.

The LORD really cares that we bear fruit. We need to see our own lives from this perspective. The fruit he wants is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, including love, peace, and joy. He does everything necessary to ensure that we can bear fruit. He pours out his Spirit in abundance. We need to see the lives of others in the same way. We need to desire them to bear fruit as well. To the degree that they don't they are living as wild grapes, rejecting the protection God offers. That isn't the life they are meant to have.

Ultimately Jesus comes to find a system incapable of bearing fruit. It is too trapped by it's own selfishness. He offers us a new system with a better foundation, a foundation built on rock.

The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?

At first we hear that we have to bear fruit and we have anxiety about everything. But as we learn that fruit is God's desire before it is ours our anxiety begins to subside. As we learn how good the fruit is it fades still more. We aren't afraid to fail because we know that he wants it even more than we do. He does everything necessary to make it happen. We are able "by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving" to make our requests known to God. As we do "the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

4 Oct 2014 - fools for jesus

But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

What does it mean to be crucified to the world?

Saint Francis shows us. It means not letting things that aren't God take precedence over God himself. Francis is born into wealth and privilege. He abandons them all so that he can follow Jesus without distraction or compromise. Are we called to give away all that we have? Perhaps not. But God is calling many of his people to a greater simplicity. He is calling most of us to be less of the world even as we engage it more fully. We're like an army marching to battle that focuses more on movie nights or traveling entertainers than to the mission. We put a lot of people at risk when we live like this.

We have a hard time seeing ourselves as anything remotely resembling on army on the march.  Understandably, we have a hard time imagining ourselves giving up everything like Francis does even as we admire him for doing it. What is his secret? For one thing, he sees the cost of war. He sees the church of San Damiano falling into ruin. The crucifix within should be a place where the love of heaven is revealed on earth. But instead it is neglected and abandoned. Francis starts by being attentive to this revelation himself. Because he is attentive he is able to hear the LORD speak.

'Francis, go and repair my house which, as you see, is falling into ruin.'

The Church is where God wants to make manifest his love for us. Yet, compared to the graces offered, it is abandoned and falling into ruin. Francis cannot remain idle in a situation like this. But even seeing hearing this call on his life he knows that he is not yet committed enough to do what is asked of him.

So he continues listening. He hears the gospel story about the followers of Christ called to proclaim the kingdom without taking any provisions with them. And rather than just hearing it as an interesting story he experiences profound transformation. Scripture gives him the power to devote himself to his mission.

"He considered how to save his people from ruin, and fortified the city to withstand a seige" but cannot find the answer on his own. He has to realize what his mission is. He does this by listening, by willingness to hear God speak, willingness to see the signs set before him. Even having realized it, he still has to wait and listen for the LORD to show him the way.

Thou dost show me the path of life; in thy presence there is fulness of joy, in thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.

And, to our surprise, Francis lives a life marked by profound joy. We imagine that when we give things up for the kingdom we are surrendering pieces of our happiness. Yet Francis reveals the truth of what the psalmist sings.

The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; thou holdest my lot.

Let us seek first the kingdom, fueled by the Holy Spirit. Let us drink deeply of him in the word which calls us onward.

3 Oct 2014 - don't be all talk

Chorazin, probably

Behold, I am of little account; what can I answer you?
I put my hand over my mouth.

It's time to stop talking and start listening. 

It is true that God does want us to talk to him. He wants us to pour out our hearts before him (cf. Psa. 62:8). He wants us to make our requests known to him by prayer and supplication (cf. Phi. 4:6).

And yet the posture of talking is not as appropriate before the LORD of all the earth as is that of listening. He has already probed us and knows us, when we sit and when we stand. He already understands our thoughts, our journeys, and our ways.

Acknowledging this we are able to let God be God while realizing that we are not. There is a little bit of self-elevation in every act of speaking. We determine something for ourselves, that things should be a certain way. It isn't that there should be no speaking. Job might be getting carried away here.

Though I have spoken once, I will not do so again;
though twice, I will do so no more.

It is just that listening must come first. Listening to God is synonymous with surrender. Speaking to him should arise from this place of stillness where we truly know and experience that he is the LORD.

If this post is written with the priority on my speaking and not on my listening it will not be anointed. It will not have power. Readers will forget it within hours. But if I truly listen then I allow the word of God to have it's full power (cf. 1 The. 2:13) and not devolve into my own words. It remains living, active, and sharp (cf. Heb. 4:12).

When listening is first our supplications and prayers have true power. We affirm the will of God rather than exulting our own will.

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures (cf. Jam. 4:3).

So let's not be like Tyre and Sidon or Chorazin and Bethsaida. The LORD does mighty deeds before us. He seeks us out. He takes the initiative. We don't have to chase him. He speaks to us through his Church, through the people anointed with his Spirit.

Whoever listens to you listens to me.
Whoever rejects you rejects me. 
And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

Let us not reject him because we're too busy speaking to hear him.  Instead, let us pray: "Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way."

I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made; 
wonderful are your works.

2 Oct 2014 - faux greater glory

Readings for the Memorial of the Guardian Angels

Exodus 23:30-23, Psalm 91:1-6, 10-11, Matthew 18:1-5, 10

We tend to become smug when we hear the disciples say, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" We think that we're doing well, past immature faith like that. But when we think that way we might be skipping a step. Think about the question. It implies that the disciples know that greatness in the kingdom is different from greatness in the world. It implies that they have some understanding of the centrality of mission. They want kingdom greatness not the greatness of the world. May the LORD give all of us such desire. May we all want to be great in the kingdom and for the kingdom. May we desire to be bold and to risk greatness for the sake of our LORD.

Yet we do need a paradigm shift. The disciples are still thinking of a concept of worldly greatness and transposing that to the kingdom. And we do the same. We think in terms of size, number, power, and fame. Jesus has the antidote.

Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

We must become like children.  If we don't we will not only fail to achieve kingdom greatness we won't even make it through the gates. To be like children means to become small and trusting. It means to give up imagined self-sufficiency and to trust in Jesus. Our weakness no longer frightens us. The strength of him who is in the world no longer frightens us. The one who is in us is stronger. His love, his humility, and his childlike trust in the Father allow him to be delivered from the worst the world can throw at him. In him is our hope.

He protects us with his angels. If we were in charge of their deployment we probably wouldn't bother assigning strong and wise angels to each weak and sinful human. We would imagine some more strategic use for our resources than that. But God doesn't love us because we are strong or useful. He doesn't bless us because we deserve it. He has a plan for each of us from the moment he forms us in the womb. And that plan is so important to him that he gives an angel charge over us to guard us in all of our ways.

I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.

We can take advantage of this grace even more if we are conscious of it and open to it.

Give heed to him and hearken to his voice, do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression; for my name is in him. But if you hearken attentively to his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

There is a lot of grace to be had here. Let us become like children, like Therese of Lisieux teaches. Then we will know the tender care that God pours out through on us through our guardian angels. We ourselves stop looking for greatness as the world defines it. We become open to receive the other little ones in the world in the name of Jesus. The closer we come to God the more simple we become. Our angels help us when this transformation seems impossible. When the world's strength seems insurmountable they give us hope. The behold the face of the Father. They want to share that vision with us.

1 Oct 2014 - he alone

Follow Jesus, proclaim the Kingdom of God, and don't look back.

We get caught up in the day to day grind. The things that life requires of us take up a vast majority of our attention. We only have leftovers for God. We feel the need to spend our firstfruits on subsistence.

We still remember God. But now we relate to through the lens of this daily grind. We remember him because we need something from him. We ask him to bless the lives we have now, to take away our suffering, and to make us as comfortable as he will.

Daily I call upon you, O LORD;
to you I stretch out my hands.

It is good that we stay engaged with God. It is good that we remember him even if it is a little bit selfish. But we need to discover along with Job that God is bigger than our problems.

He alone stretches out the heavens
and treads upon the crests of the sea.

Because of this surpassing greatness we should have the same sense that Job has:

How much less shall I give him any answer,
or choose out arguments against him!
Even though I were right, I could not answer him,
but should rather beg for what was due me.

Our problems, even though we still have them, now seem small next to the greatness of God. Even so he does answer us. He is not aloof. He does come to help us with our problems. But we now concede to him the freedom to work the way he wants to work. It isn't about our plan anymore. Yet it is also not about an indifferent God. We are now open to the blessings he desires to pour out. He does pour them out and we respond with an ever new surprise and thanksgiving.

If I appealed to him and he answered my call,
I could not believe that he would hearken to my words.

Jesus is building his kingdom and all the blessings he bestows are directed toward that end just as every action he himself takes is so directed. We won't necessarily have a place to lay our heads. But in the kingdom we receive a hundred times as much (cf. Mat. 19:29).  He may call us to leave without even burying family members. Even Elisha was allowed to do this by Elijah. But Jesus, unlike anyone else, has a right to this allegiance.

Yet we remember that what the LORD offers is greater than anything that is left behind. It is the pearl of great price and the treasure in the field. It is worth selling all that we have and are to possess. Let the greatness of God and the greatness of the kingdom he offers fill our minds. Let it be the background in our awareness at each moment, coloring each choice, and shaping each decision. Let us seek first the kingdom. When we do we have all that we need.

Follow Jesus, proclaim the Kingdom of God, and don't look back.