7 March 2016 - focal point

Jesus said to him,
“Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”

Make our hearts quicker to listen to you. Help us to believe at your word. Gives us ears to hear and hearts that believe. But when we cannot, you are willing to offer the signs we need.

The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him,
“Your son will live,”
and he and his whole household came to believe.
Now this was the second sign Jesus did
when he came to Galilee from Judea.

The father is so invested in his son that he cannot believe without a sign. He can't look in any direction except the sign he needs. Yet in your goodness Jesus, you stand before him. He hopes in you. He believes that you have power to do what he asks. But you shift the focus, LORD. He does not get to see the healing happen. Instead he is with you while you heal at a distance. Rather than the miracle it is you who are before his eyes.

They told him,
“The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon.”
The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him,
“Your son will live,”

The sign that the father seeks is given. But it isn't seen or delivered as expected. Instead it is transformed. It is not just new health which will one day fail again. It is now belief in you.

and he and his whole household came to believe.

You change mourning into dancing, Jesus. But you are not content to let us settle for short lived rejoicing in temporal things. You raise our gaze and lift our eyes to the joy which endures. We don't even have to remember the former things. The healing of a doctor and of science still reminds us of the frailty of human flesh. It reminds us that nothing here below lasts. But with your healings our memory is no longer held captive by the things of the past.

Lo, I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
The things of the past shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness
in what I create;
For I create Jerusalem to be a joy
and its people to be a delight;
I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and exult in my people.

Because you are the center we have a hope beyond this age. The sound of weeping and crying need not dominate our lives any more.

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil nd deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery (see Hebrews 2:14-15).

We still experience nightfall. We still experience weeping. But we look toward a dawn of rejoicing which never ends.

And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts (see Second Peter 1:19).

6 March 2016 - nothing wanting

[ Today's Readings: Scrutinies ] 

Not as man sees does God see, 
because man sees the appearance 
but the LORD looks into the heart.

The way that you see is so different, LORD, that by comparison we are blind. We see appearances and and therefore we actually see almost nothing.

I came into this world for judgment, 
so that those who do not see might see, 
and those who do see might become blind.

The first thing we need to do is to recognize the blindness in our own lives. These are the areas of our lives where we do not live as children of the light and do not try to learn what is pleasing to the LORD. These of the fruitless works of darkness that we do. We can't get let go of them but we are unwilling to look at them directly and confront them. They keep their power over us because they remain only semi-conscious.

As long as we remain blind and in darkness we cannot find the one the LORD wants to anoint. We cannot find the place where he longs to pour out his Spirit. We judge by appearances. We begrudge healings done just because they are done on the Sabbath. We can't recognize the healing hand of God at work. We aren't even really interested. We're too self-involved to even really look.

Fortunately, Jesus, you want to open our eyes as well.

Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will give you light.

You want to address the dark parts of our hearts and help us to see. You want to reveal yourself to us so that you can heal us and pour out your Spirit upon us. If we just recognize our blindness we can accept your healing.

When he had said this, he spat on the ground
and made clay with the saliva,
and smeared the clay on his eyes,
and said to him, 
“Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” —which means Sent—.
So he went and washed, and came back able to see.

It isn't exactly understanding that you give us when you cure our blindness. It is something more immediate and existential than that.

If he is a sinner, I do not know.
One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.

But this sight that you give is enough, Jesus is enough. It is enough to show us who you are.

Jesus said to him,
“You have seen him, and
the one speaking with you is he.”
He said,
“I do believe, Lord,” and he worshiped him.

Our eyes are opened to discover the Good Shepherd, the Son of David, who inherits the throne of his Father forever. We discover the place where the Spirit is poured out. We partake of the banquet and share in the anointing.

You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

Now that you have opened our eyes and we know you, Jesus there is nothing we shall want.

5 March 2016 - be merciful to me, a sinner

[ Today's Readings ]

Jesus addressed this parable
to those who were convinced of their own righteousness
and despised everyone else.

Are we too convinced of our own righteousness?

Well, do we fast and pay tithes and refrain from sin? These are good things, right? If we're doing the works we should be does this convince us of our righteousness? In some ways its hard to avoid. We really run the risk of believing that we have something others don't which puts even God in our debt. We begin to believe that you owe us salvation, Jesus. And we begin to "despise" and look down on those who don't do as many things as we do.

Jesus, we ask you to heal us of these dangerous illusions, these delusions of self-sufficiency.

Come, let us return to the LORD,
it is he who has rent, but he will heal us;
he has struck us, but he will bind our wounds.
He will revive us after two days;
on the third day he will raise us up,

When we don't rely on you let us experience the poverty that we have apart from you. Help us to see that all riches are in you  (see Philippians 4:19)  and that apart from you we can do nothing (see John 15:5). Help us to return to you, to seek you in love first before sacrifice, and to truly come to know you.

Let us know, let us strive to know the LORD;
as certain as the dawn is his coming,
and his judgment shines forth like the light of day!
He will come to us like the rain,
like spring rain that waters the earth

Teach to approach you in humility and poverty of spirit so that we can receive your unfailing help.

‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’
I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former;
for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,
and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

4 March 2016 - he makes us the change we want to be in the world

[ Today's Readings ]

Thus says the LORD:
Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God;
you have collapsed through your guilt.

Help us to return to you LORD. We have collapsed due to our guilt. We're so distant that we really don't even know what to say. We need forgiveness but we don't even know how to ask. We try to make it up to you by what we do. We keep trying to just get things right. But we can't get any of the doing right until you fix our being. Teach us the words we need in order to return to you. 

Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity,
and receive what is good, that we may render
as offerings the bullocks from our stalls.

You are calling us to a relationship of love. This takes precedence over all the "burnt offerings and sacrifices". It is your own love that makes us pleasing to you.

I will heal their defection, says the LORD,
I will love them freely;
for my wrath is turned away from them.
I will be like the dew for Israel:
he shall blossom like the lily;
He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar,
and put forth his shoots.

In your love you call us to first return to love of you.

Jesus replied, “The first is this:
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, 
with all your soul, 
with all your mind, 
and with all your strength.

This is love must then flow out from us. It is only in this way that we are healed. It is only from the basis of this relationship that we can act in a way which is pleasing to you.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.”

When we let your love transform us it is so worth it. Where we had once collapsed we now stand firm in your ways.

“If only my people would hear me,
and Israel walk in my ways,
I would feed them with the best of wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would fill them.”

3 March 2016 - listening soft

[ Today's Readings ]

Listen to my voice;
then I will be your God and you shall be my people.

Help us to hear your voice LORD. 

If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

You do speak to us. It is not a rare occurrence anymore.

See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven (see Hebrews 12:25).

Don't let us harden our hearts LORD. You are more present to us than you were to the people of Israel. In a way, we have more opportunities to listen. But the flip side is we have more opportunities to ignore.

In the old days you sent prophets to your people. Now you give us the Holy Spirit and make us prophets ourselves.

And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
even on my male servantsc and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy (see Acts 2:17-18).

So when you speak help us to listen. Help us to obey and pay head. Help us to listen to your voice and take correction.

You want to speak to us because you want to heal us.

Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute,
and when the demon had gone out,
the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed.

But if we are not listening your healing only feels like a threat.

Some of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons,
he drives out demons.”

It is a threat to our absolute rule of our own lives. But when we rule our lives we aren't stronger than the evil one. Our own rule of our lives is the same as being owned by the "strong man fully armed" who guards us as his possessions. Having you on the throne of our hearts is much better. You are better at being God than we are.

But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons,
then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.

So help us to listen when you come to set us free. Don't let us cling to these prisons where you don't reign.

But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him,
he takes away the armor on which he relied
and distributes the spoils.

Set us free LORD. Lead us out so that we can follow the guidance of the Good Shepherd who loves us.

Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.

And because all of Songs in His Presence is apparently on YouTube now..

2 March 2016 - he has proclaimed his word to jacob

[ Today's Readings ]

For what great nation is there
that has gods so close to it as the LORD, our God, is to us
whenever we call upon him?
Or what great nation has statutes and decrees
that are as just as this whole law
which I am setting before you today?

Help us to be grateful for the wisdom you give us in your law, LORD. Your law is not distance between you are your people. It is rather your closeness. Because we have your law we have a good thing which other people don't have.

He has not done thus for any other nation;
his ordinances he has not made known to them.

They might figure it out. Everyone desires happiness, after all. And your law tells us how we can achieve true happiness and lasting joy by choosing the good.

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law (see Romans 2:14).

The Gentiles also have access to the natural law. And all law is a response to the human desire for happiness. But we have more. We have the revealed law because otherwise truths like this "would only be known by a few, and that after a long time, and with the admixture of many errors" (see Summa Theologica Part 1 Question 1 by Saint Thomas Aquinas). God does not leave us to stumble in the darkness for the way to be happy. He responds to the desire he himself places in our hearts by giving us the law.

Yet we often treat it like an imposition. When it would be easier to just download something rather than pay for it, when it would be easier to tell a little white lie rather than the truth, when it would be easier to forget a promise we made, and at many other times the law begins to feel like more burden than blessing. But this is a mistake.

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world (see First John 5:3-4).

Yet the commandments of Moses are not enough. They reveal the way but do not give the strength to follow it. Without this strength we find ourselves constantly failing. The law at this stage can only reveal our faults.

So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith (see Galatians 3:24).

The commandments are not burdensome for us precisely because Jesus fulfills the law.

Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.

Jesus help us to turn to you so that we do not experience the law as a burden. 

And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (see First John 5:4-5).

Help us believe that you are the Son of God so that we can share in your victory.

Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion.

1 March 2016 - current conditions

[ Today's Readings ]

Do not let us be put to shame,
but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy.

Jesus, teach us to ask for mercy from our hearts. 

For we are reduced, O Lord, beyond any other nation,
brought low everywhere in the world this day
because of our sins.

We can see that we are not living in the apex of Christian history, LORD. There isn't much residual Christianity left in our culture.

We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader,
no burnt offering, sacrifice, oblation, or incense,
no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you.

The inertia from that culture can no longer carry us along like leaves in a stream. Indeed, we find that the only currents flow toward the gutters. We must swim. Nothing exterior to us is going to be sufficient. We have to begin from our hearts.

But with contrite heart and humble spirit
let us be received;

It isn't enough to be concerned about consequences for ourselves.

At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’

We need to be open to the transforming power of true mercy. Jesus it is your promise to us before it is anything else.

Do not take away your mercy from us,
for the sake of Abraham, your beloved,
Isaac your servant, and Israel your holy one,
To whom you promised to multiply their offspring
like the stars of heaven,
or the sand on the shore of the sea.

If we are to receive this promise we must be open to being transformed by it. We pray "Forgive us our trespasses" but only to the degree that we "forgive those who trespass against us."

The debtor forgiven by the king demands what he is owed from his fellow servant. This can only mean that he doesn't really realize what he himself is first given. If we know how much we need mercy and how we can do nothing to earn it we are grateful. That gratitude spills over, sharing the mercy we receive with others.

Help us to forgive our brothers from the heart, Jesus. Help us to have thankful hearts for the mercy we are first given. Teach us to share that mercy without limits.

Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
he teaches the humble his way.