7 October 2017 - victorious trust

Today's Readings (Audio)

Fear not, my children; call out to God!
He who brought this upon you will remember you.
As your hearts have been disposed to stray from God,
turn now ten times the more to seek him;
For he who has brought disaster upon you 
will, in saving you, bring you back enduring joy.

Let us be childlike enough to turn back to God and to seek him in our times of need. Whether we are overwhelmed by the trials of life or whether we ourselves have made mistakes we now regret we need to have the childlike trust that God wants to restore us and make us new.

When we trust in Jesus nothing can harm us, neither serpent, nor scorpion, nor the full force of the enemy. Only children can have trust to this degree. Adults are too jaded. Trust like this, in spite of what we see, in spite of our own limitations, makes sense because of the victory of Jesus.

Jesus said, "I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. 

We can walk this way boldly, realizing that the enemy has no power over the most important thing in our lives.

Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you,
but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.

We are very poor when our own resources are measured. But "the LORD hears, the poor, and his own who are in bonds he spurns not."

Let us repent and trust God like little children trusting their parents. Let us walk boldly like children alongside their mother and father, knowing that no harm can come to us.

6 October 2017 - our own devices

Today's Readings (Audio)

For we did not heed the voice of the Lord, our God,
in all the words of the prophets whom he sent us,
but each one of us went off
after the devices of his own wicked heart,
served other gods,
and did evil in the sight of the Lord, our God.

This is us. It isn't a word spoken in condemnation. God does not delight in the death of the sinner. He rejoices when the sinner returns to him so he can give him life. He runs out to embrace the returning prodigal. We are called to recognize the idolatry in our lives so that we can turn from it. We are Chorazin. We are Bethsaida. Part of our problem is a willful ignorance is the depths of our need for God. But the more we grow in holiness the more we find that we stand in need of the grace of God.

How do we avoid the fate of Tyre and Side, Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum? When our idols seem to be working well we may feel like we're being exalted to heaven. But they are inconsistent. They ultimately fail. Even if things seem relatively good in our lives right now we must continue to listen, to hear, and to heed the voice of the LORD.

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

When we find idols in our hearts and sin in our lives let us not wallow there, bemoaning our weakness and imperfection. Let us instead turn to the LORD. Let us approach his throne of grace where we receive mercy in our time of need (see Hebrews 4:16).

He is ready and waiting to deliver us. He actually longs to set us free. He hates idols not because they harm him but because they harm us. If we cry out to him he will come quickly to help us.

Remember not against us the iniquities of the past;
may your compassion quickly come to us,
for we are brought very low.

5 October 2017 - life in the feast lane

Francis Xavier Seelos

Today's Readings (Audio)

'The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.'

All we need is the gospel. The good news is enough for any journey and any mission to which we are called.

Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals;
and greet no one along the way.

The absence of the word of God is a great tragedy such that we don't even fully realize or comprehend it. We get used to having access to the word. It is only in the eyes of converts that we sometimes glimpse something which we know that we ourselves should feel more deeply.

Today is holy to the LORD your God.
Do not be sad, and do not weep"–
for all the people were weeping as they heard the words of the law.

We see the effect the word of God can have when someone surrenders his life to Jesus. We see the ability of the word to cut to the heart. We see both tears and joy as people welcome and receive the word.

Then all the people went to eat and drink,
to distribute portions, and to celebrate with great joy,
for they understood the words that had been expounded to them.

We rightly wonder why our own hearts become so complacent. Let us remember how precious the word of God truly is.

The ordinances of the LORD are true,
all of them just.
They are more precious than gold,
than a heap of purest gold;
Sweeter also than syrup
or honey from the comb.

The word of God is precious. From this thought we can form a pattern of thinking. And from this pattern of think we can form a pattern of speech and action that truly is in conformity with belief that the word of God is this good. After all, if it is this good, how are we possibly content with so little of it? How can we be so reluctant to share it if it is really as good as this? The laborers are few! How can we fail to ask the master of the harvest for more?

4 October 2017 - heaven sweet home

Today's Readings (Audio)

And to another he said, "Follow me."
But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father."
But he answered him, "Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God."

Following Jesus means putting him first. It means putting him above the comforts of home. He must be more important to us than our most important family bonds. It isn't because such things are not valuable. It is rather that they cannot compare to our LORD Jesus Christ and his kingdom. Why does Jesus phrase things in such an extreme way? He does so because he knows our tendency to treat him as one priority among many. The degree to which we bristle at readings like these reveals how much this is the case for us. Someone who is truly all in for Jesus doesn't need to place any conditions on following him. Such a person does not say "let me go first" or "first let me". Such a one knows to seek first the kingdom and that whatever else is needed shall be added.

Following Jesus means embracing the fact that this entire world is exile and pilgrimage. Our true home is in heaven with the saints and angels around the throne. It means that we shouldn't expect a permanent place to lay our heads here below. We shouldn't work for that level of certainty and comfort amidst such temporary and passing things. We move toward a heavenly home, a new Jerusalem, the eternal sabbath rest of God. All that is  surrendered here and now will be made new and more perfect in that place.

"If it please the king,
and if your servant is deserving of your favor,
send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors' graves,
to rebuild it."

Some hearts become so tethered to this broken world that they have trouble desiring and moving toward that glorious place where every tear will be wiped away. We need to let go of all that lies behind and strain toward what lies ahead. We must learn to remember and place Zion and Jerusalem above all of our joy.

May my tongue cleave to my palate
if I remember you not,
If I place not Jerusalem
ahead of my joy.

No one embodies this more than Saint Francis. May he pray for us today.

3 October 2017 - long way round

Today's Readings

When the days for Jesus to be taken up were fulfilled,
he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem,
and he sent messengers ahead of him.

Was it this resolute determination that caused the disciples to respond with thoughts of violence?

When the disciples James and John saw this they asked,
"Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven
to consume them?"

Yet the resolution determination Jesus shows is not violent. It isn't even pushy. It is insistent. It refuses to turn aside. It is a determination that can encounter rejection and find another way. Isn't this the story of God's love for us? It encounters rejection after rejection and keeps trying and trying until it finds a way to win us back.

Time after time we reject this offer of love. Yet it is this love which we desire above all things. This love is the desire of nations. Even the very ones who reject Jesus must eventually realize that only in this love can there be true fulfillment.

Many peoples and strong nations shall come
to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem
and to implore the favor of the LORD.

Jesus does not wipe out the cities that reject his offer because the offer is made for their sake. His resolute determination is to find a way to show them his love in spite of them being closed to his invitation. He finally does so perfectly and completely on the cross. He is lifted high. His love draws all people to himself.

And all shall sing, in their festive dance:
"My home is within you."

2 October 2017 - my guardian dear

Today's Readings

Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,
you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.

We can depend on the Father. Adulting is an important skill in contemporary society, one which we are led to believe is becoming more and more rare. But there is such a thing as adulting too hard. That happens when we try to control more than we can really control. It happens when we refuse to depend even on God himself. We forget how to be little children in his care. Do we become anxious at the thought of becoming little children? Do we begin to think of all of the things that are at risk of neglect and falling by the wayside if we don't carefully orchestrate everything in our lives? This is a sign that we have forgotten how to be children in the care of a generous and merciful God.

Let us learn to trust in the care God has for us. He has set guardian angels to watch over us. We don't have to be perfectly in control of every circumstance. As with regular children, we need to obey our parents to fully avail ourselves of their protection. If they tells us not to run out into the street and we do we put ourselves at risk. But as long as we obey it isn't a matter of perfection on our part. It isn't about getting everything right. We are children and God will take care of us.

"See that you do not despise one of these little ones,
for I say to you that their angels in heaven
always look upon the face of my heavenly Father."

In order to be children we can't keep God our the guardians he gives us at a distance. We must let God be as close to us as he desires to be. 

I will return to Zion,
and I will dwell within Jerusalem;
Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city,
and the mountain of the LORD of hosts,
the holy mountain.

As children, we end up with a sort of Lord of the Flies scenario if we try to live apart from God. But when we remember to dwell in his presence there is nothing better. Things begin to work well.  Almost as if by magic, blessings are unleashed. He will not allow anyone or anything to keep his children from him. He "is intensely jealous for Zion, stirred to jealous wrath for her." Even if we've isolated ourselves from him through our own fault he is ready to rescue us. His guardian angels never cease to watch over us.

Lo, I will rescue my people from the land of the rising sun,
and from the land of the setting sun.
I will bring them back to dwell within Jerusalem.
They shall be my people, and I will be their God,
with faithfulness and justice.

1 Oct 2017 - mission field

Today's Readings

He said in reply, 'Yes, sir, 'but did not go.

Here is another gospel about the danger, among other things, of writing a blog about the gospels. There is always the danger that we say one thing and do another. The danger arises because our stake in this is more immediately about self-image than anything. How others see us is the most direct feedback many of us get about our Christian walk. It isn't so much that we're trying to be deceptive as that we begin to say what we wish were true. Instead we need to learn self-honesty. In this Jesus is the ultimate teacher. He is able to completely set aside how others see him for the sake of the mission.

Who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.

Setting aside self-image and pride may seem like a net loss. It may seem like one fewer positive reinforcement mechanism by which we can motivate ourselves. But it isn't. It's a net gain, because it doesn't really have to do with what we actually do. It only has to do with how we are seen. So it is bad motivation. Plus, it chains us to expectations, our own and those of others. We have told them that we won't go out into the field and so perhaps now we feel like we can't. But we can. These expectations need not hold us back.

He came to the first and said,
'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.'
He said in reply, 'I will not, '
but afterwards changed his mind and went.

So even if the world sees us one way, that need not imprison us. We can still turn at any time and follow the LORD. His ways are right and just and he welcomes us to turn more and more toward him. 

Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! (see Luke 6:22)

If we pursue God's will in spite of what people think, in spite, perhaps, of what we tell ourselves about who we are and of what we're capable, blessed are we.

But if he turns from the wickedness he has committed,
and does what is right and just,
he shall preserve his life;
since he has turned away from all the sins that he has committed,
he shall surely live, he shall not die.