15 August 2018 - firstfruits

Today's Readings (Audio)

Christ the firstfruits;
then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ;
then comes the end,
when he hands over the Kingdom to his God and Father,
when he has destroyed every sovereignty
and every authority and power.

It is fitting that Christ rose first. He is the resurrection and the life. He himself is the way, the truth, and the life. He shows us the way which we ourselves will tread. Since he is the new Adam it is similarly fitting that the new Eve, Mary the mother of God, should precede us into the life of the blessed in heaven. We ourselves cannot immediately follow. We are still tainted by impurity and sin. But Mary is always held out to be an example of the best possible response of a creature to God.

Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

She does not exult herself. Rather she is herself humble and ever singing God's praise.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

Mary shows us the way in her own life. As creatures ourselves we look to Mary our mother, also a creature, to see all that we can hope to be and how. She reveals the great hope in store for all of us. 

God's temple in heaven was opened,
and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple.

Because Mary is the ark of the New Convenant it is not fitting that anything impure touch her, just as with the old ark (see Second Samuel 6:1-7). If Uzzah is struck down for accidentally touching the old ark how can we imagine that God would allow corruption to touch Mary?

A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

Jesus chooses his mother in advance to be a blessing for all humanity. Mary is in heaven now, body and soul. She intercedes for us that where she is we also might be just as where her Son first goes she new is as well.

The queen stands at your right hand, arrayed in gold.

14 August 2018 - at table

Today's Readings (Audio)

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

We are called to become like little children. This is not an endorsement of our present condition of immaturity if that be the case. It is rather a call to a fresh appreciate of our relationship to God. God is our Father and we can depend on him. He is strong and we can rely on him. 

As a Father he feeds his family.

Son of man, he then said to me,
feed your belly and fill your stomach
with this scroll I am giving you.

He gives us his word to eat. We need to receive what is set before us. In this sense we must be good children who don't only want dessert. We need to be willing to receive meat as well as milk. We need to be mature in this sense. But we need to be childlike in relying in God and trusting him. 

We see that God feeds his family by his word and by his own body and blood. It is precisely in gathering around his table that we are most truly his family. This means we can't simply accumulate the doctrine we like and ignore the teachings that don't agree with our political ideology. Nor can we choose immorality along with the Eucharist. We need to eat what God sets before us and ignore completely the table with which the world tries to tempt us. "You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons" (see First Corinthians 10:21).

We sometimes get lost. Life throws us and we can't easily find our way back to the family table. At such times we can count on our Father to seek us out. At such times we are fearful that we won't find our way back to the blessings we once knew. But though we are trying to find our way home the Father is even more so looking for us and trying to bring us back.

If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray,
will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills
and go in search of the stray?

Even when things seem confusing and we don't know the next step to take we need not despair. It is not hopeless. God will find us. And in finding us he will rejoice.

As God's children we want to become like our Father. We too want to have hearts that want to seek and to save the lost. 

In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father
that one of these little ones be lost.

God's table sometimes includes medicine which tastes bitter to us. But this bitterness is temporary. It is an aid to growth. It leads more and more to the bread which contains all sweetness within it. May the LORD help us to desire, to appreciate, and to depend on being gathered at his table.

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

13 August 2018 - cease your insist

Today's Readings (Audio)

Then the subjects are exempt.
But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook,
and take the first fish that comes up. 

Jesus sets an example of not insisting on his own rights. The Son of God he is not a foreigner to the King of Kings. As his Son he is exempt from the temple tax. But rather than insist on his rights Jesus pays the tax to avoid giving offense. Why was he eager to avoid giving offense? He certainly insisted on other teachings of his in a way that did offend. Here, apparently, it wouldn't help. No one would learn. It would only cause problems. Yet we often choose to give offense rather than forego our rights. We do it not because we need the money that the temple tax costs but because our pride requires that we insist on our own way. Perhaps, at least occasionally, we can intentionally follow Jesus in this regard in our that we might learn humility.

Jesus seldom insisted on his own way. He didn't break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick (see Matthew 12:20). He is equal to God but never grasped at equality with God. He is innocent but allows himself to be put to death for us.

The Son of Man is to be handed over to men,
and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day."
And they were overwhelmed with grief.

We are free to decide how to respond to Jesus now. But one day every knee will bow before him. This desire to not give offense is actually a willingness to patiently wait in mercy. He himself gives the example now of how we can lay down our own pride and surrender or own will to him. For Jesus it is a free gift to us. He longs for us to return it in freedom. Let us do it now in freedom while his patience and mercy allow. When he reveals his glory on the last day every knee will bow. To the willing, to those who follow in the footsteps of Jesus, it will be a great delight and joy.

Upon it was seated, up above, one who had the appearance of a man.
Upward from what resembled his waist I saw what gleamed like electrum;
downward from what resembled his waist I saw what looked like fire;
he was surrounded with splendor.
Like the bow which appears in the clouds on a rainy day
was the splendor that surrounded him.
Such was the vision of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.

May the vision of the glory of God wash over us today. Let us not insist on any pride or self will in the face of that glory. Let us surrender completely and cry out, 'Maranatha!'

Praise the name of the LORD,
for his name alone is exalted; 
His majesty is above earth and heaven.

12 August 2018 - heavenly bread

Today's Readings (Audio)

"This is enough, O LORD! 
Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers." 

To one degree or another we probably all experience this exhaustion at times. We feel like we've been trying and putting in effort for so long with nothing to show for it. We may have had successes in the past as Elijah did but none of that seems to matter in light of the darkness of our present circumstances. We let bitterness and anger creep into our behavior in small ways. Whereas before we could have responded to criticism with patience now we are tempted to let our smart remark fly. We have a greater need to shout and insist on our own way. This is not surprising. But we are called to more.

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
with which you were sealed for the day of redemption. 

We can't give in to spiritual exhaustion. Moreover, there is a better choice. We become exhausted, ultimately, by relying on ourselves and not receiving strength from God each week, each day, and each moment. We rely on the food which leaves us hungry rather than the food God gives that makes us strong.

"Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!" 
He got up, ate, and drank;
then strengthened by that food,
he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.

We need to taste and see God's goodness. When we do we find strength for the journey. When we eat the bread Jesus gives we receive an eternal life that cannot be conquered by worldly circumstance.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.

So let us allow God to teach us. Let us allow the Father to draw us. The angels stand ready to feed us with food that will make us strong. We will be so strong that even when we are called to make of our lives a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma we will be undaunted.

The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.

11 August 2018 - clarity of faith

Altarpiece of St Clare

Today's Readings (Audio)

Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said,
"Why could we not drive it out?"
He said to them, "Because of your little faith.

Why are we powerless before the mountains of life? There is sickness. There is corruption. There is hardheartedness. These things exist in ourselves and others. We see the way our nation is going and lament it. But we lament it as though we are powerless. And, in our present condition, we are powerless. But we are not meant to be.

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."

The situation into which Jesus and his apostles after him brought there message had nothing to recommend it as an ideal time for world changing. The corruption of the world and of individuals was on full display. The world tried to speak the final word when it put Jesus to death. But that didn't work. He rose again. The world tried again, by putting most of the apostles to death. But that didn't work either. Their blood is the seed of the Church. We see in their example faith lived out. It is this sort of faith that moves mountains. It is faith that doesn't count the cost for oneself. It puts others first. It longs to see the whole world healed, physically and spiritually.

Faith is not an abstract positive thinking principle. Our faith has an object: God. It can only be used to further his Kingdom. This emphatically does not mean that he only wants to heal us spiritually and has no care for the physical. The main reason we lack physical healings in the world is not because God doesn't desire them but because we don't believe for them. And when we think we are believing for them it is often entirely disconnected from the Kingdom. If we received a healing like that everything would revert to business as usual with our hearts no closer to God. In fact, we'd be further from him than ever.

So let us learn true faith. If we perceive that God is looking on the faithless in silence we need to wait in faith like Habakkuk. Like him, we need to put our request in the perspective of the Kingdom which we know God wants to establish among us.

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.

If we wait and faith we will receive an answer.

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 can trust in the one who does not forsake those who seek him. He is a stronghold for us. We need to ask and keep asking, as Scripture says, to knock and keep knocking. We tend to have faith for a moment until we encounter some brief resistance in terms of what seems to actually be happening around us. We need to set our minds and keep them set on the Kingdom.

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.

10 August 2018 - deeds well done

Today's Readings (Audio)

Whoever loves his life loses it,
and whoever hates his life in this world
will preserve it for eternal life.

We need to learn to follow Jesus all the way to the cross. We must hate our lives in this world the way he did. By that we understand that we must prefer God's will and life eternal to this life. It isn't about being miserable. It isn't that the harder we work and the worse we feel the happier God is. Quite the contrary.

Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion,
for God loves a cheerful giver.

We plant the seed not because we long to see the seed destroyed by the soil but because we love the plant which grows from it. We delight in the fruit of that plant.

Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains just a grain of wheat;
but if it dies, it produces much fruit.

We are called to go cheerfully to the cross. Saint Lawrence proves that even this is possible by grace. After he suffered a long time on a gridiron over coals he said, "It is well done. Turn me over!"

The next time the LORD calls us to plant our seed for the sake of the kingdom let us not complain. Let us ask for the grace to be cheerful givers. We obviously can't do this on our own. We can't give away the smallest thing or the least amount of time without seeming to ourselves to be the most pitiable of men. Only grace makes the yoke easy. Only God's strength makes the burden light.

Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you,
so that in all things, always having all you need,
you may have an abundance for every good work.

God wants to make every grace abundance for us. If we don't feel that we have an abundance for every good work this is the grace that the LORD offers us today.

An evil report he shall not fear;
his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD.
His heart is steadfast; he shall not fear
till he looks down upon his foes.
Lavishly he gives to the poor, 
his generosity shall endure forever;

9 August 2018 - key framing

Today's Readings (Audio)

But this is the covenant that I will make 
with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD.
I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; 
I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

The promise of God to us is that he will be personally involved with every person. He himself will be within us and will guide us. Our approach to the law changes from one of flesh to one of Spirit. The written letter remains but our hearts are changed. It is no longer simply an unattainable external standard. More and more it becomes our internal motivation and desire.

No longer will they have need to teach their friends and relatives
how to know the LORD.

To know the LORD used to be quite an external thing. It was a matter of correct observance. But here the paradigm shifts. It isn't typically that people become aware of the LORD or enter into relationship with him without guidance. But it is no longer a matter of explaining a set of behaviors, rules, or ways or worship. We invite people to meet Jesus knowing he is there to be met. We are all meant to know Christ the way the Father reveals him to Peter:

"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.

Jesus wants us to know that this revelation is fundamental. Yet he still gives us the Church to safeguard us from our own ability to misunderstand. Just because we come to know the LORD personally does not qualify us to expound every aspect of dogma. If this were true there would be no dissension in the Church. Nor is this to the point of the relationship he desires to have with normal everyday Christians. He gives us the Church so that we can trust and be confident in every aspect of what we believe.

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

We could, for instance, know Jesus, but still try to talk him out of the cross. Perhaps we do in fact do this at times. But Jesus is there, in his Church, to remind us of the truth again and again, to show us why it is necessary and why it is good.

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples
that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly
from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.