23 July 2021 - the world is not neutral ground

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Why does the soil matter? Because the seed is at risk. The world above ground is not friendly toward the seed, nor even neutral, but hostile.

the Evil One comes and steals away

what was sown in his heart.

We have only just escaped Egypt and slavery to idols, and Pharoah is not content to let us leave. If we want to escape successfully to the promised land we must be willing to listen to the guidance of God. Otherwise, when we find ourselves between a rock and a hard place we will have nowhere to turn. The Evil One will pursue the seed that is only superficial and it will have no means of escape. To avoid this we need to receive the word with understanding. It is not enough to be exposed to the word. We need to know it and make it our own. Then and only then will it give us guidance to keep us safe from the Enemy.

The seed sown on rocky ground

is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy.

But he has no root and lasts only for a time.

Especially if our lives haven't been pristine before receiving the word, if perhaps we were given over to idols in Egypt, we are the rocky ground that can make it difficult for the seed to mature. We should try be especially conscience of our need for roots that go deeper than our rocky past. These roots ought to reach down to our identity in God as sons and daughters. They grow deeper by the acquisition of virtue that happens when we are faithful to the commandments. As we keep the commandments by God's grace we push these roots deeper into the soil, making it less and less likely that some passing tribulation will uproot us.

The seed sown on rocky ground

is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy.

But he has no root and lasts only for a time.

If we are planted among the thorns, we need to grow in directions that allow us to breathe. Worldly riches make promises but weighs heavy upon us, making it difficult to breathe easily. Ideally, we'll just branch out in directions without thorns, but if the thorns are pressing in too hard, we need to press back to establish boundaries and find freedom. What sorts of things are stealing our peace from us? How can we move away from those things or to push them back if necessary?

But the seed sown on rich soil

is the one who hears the word and understands it,

who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.

The deeper we get in this soil the safer we are, the more likely it is that we will bear good fruit. We can't be content to be shallow or confined and attempt to grow. If that happens, we may stay alive, but without the fruit that God desires from us. Yet if we allow God to have his way, he himself will provide the means and the grace to use the means to surround ourselves with soil full of nutrients, to push forth leaves and branches toward the sun, and to bear much fruit.

For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, 

    inflicting punishment for their fathers’ wickedness 

    on the children of those who hate me, 

    down to the third and fourth generation; 

    but bestowing mercy down to the thousandth generation 

    on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Maranatha! Singers - I Will Delight

22 July 2021 - called by name

Christ Appearing to Mary by William Etty 1787–1849

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

Photo © Tate

 

Today's Readings

(Audio)

On the first day of the week,

Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning,

while it was still dark,

and saw the stone removed from the tomb.

Having been forgiven much, and freed of seven demons, Mary Magdalene loved much. She kept a vigil of love for the one who had given her freedom, who had become her friend, and who now, to all appearances, was gone forever. On the one hand, Mary could not help but believe Jesus to be dead.  On the other, she simply couldn't let him go, couldn't accept that he was gone forever.

Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping.

Her heart was still seeking Jesus, like the bride in the Song of Songs.

I sought him but I did not find him.

If she did not find him whom her heart loved she would not give up. If the watchman who had made their rounds hadn't seen him she would not give up. Yet to actually find him whom heart loved seemed to her impossible. She still knew Christ "according to the flesh" in some sense. She understood him to be the Messiah, no doubt. But she didn't know him enough to understand how their could still be hope even after such a trauma and a tragedy as was the cross.

When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there,

but did not know it was Jesus.

Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?

Whom are you looking for?”

She thought it was the gardener

She was still considering things according to the paradigm of the old creation. In this creation there was only the first Adam, doomed to die himself, to tend to the garden. There was no way she could imagine this person she encountered to be anyone else. However, the world was no longer circumscribed merely by the old creation. A new day was dawning.

even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh,

yet now we know him so no longer.

So whoever is in Christ is a new creation:

the old things have passed away;

behold, new things have come.

How did it come to pass that Mary discovered this new creation, when she even interpreted the sight of Jesus himself according to her old worldview? She assumed that it couldn't be Jesus, and there couldn't be hope, because it was after all still the old world with which she was all too familiar. No matter how much she loved him, he wasn't coming back, for death was no respecter of persons. She knew her susceptibility to grief. She knew the danger of getting her hopes up, or of mistaking some stranger as Jesus simply because she desired to see him. She would keep herself closed off, safe from deception, but also unable to move forward. Yet all of this dissolved in a single moment.

Jesus said to her, “Mary!”

She turned and said to him in Hebrew,

“Rabbouni,” which means Teacher.

The voice of Jesus cut through the protections with which Mary had barricaded her heart. His appearance was new to her, for he was inaugurating a new creation. She wasn't moved to hope simply by seeing it. There was still the freedom to see things either way. But his voice! His voice was undeniable. It was still utterly familiar. It still knew her entirely. The voice comprehended all the grief she had endured with the most profound sympathy. It was the voice that had once set her free. And now, by calling her name, it did so once more. This could have no other effect than to make her a witness, an apostle to the apostles.

“I have seen the Lord,”

and then reported what he told her.

We too encounter tragedies in our own lives. Our limited perspectives often cause us to interpret them according to old paradigms, and to therefore assume them hopeless. But Jesus wants to call our names so that we can recognize his presence in our midst and to come to see the new creation all around us, already beginning to restore life and hope.

Matt Maher - Christ Is Risen

Matt Maher - You Know Who I Am

21 July 2021 - blooming in adversity

Today's Readings

(Audio)

A sower went out to sow.

The sower sowed generously. There was no lack of seed, no reason to be precious with it and only place it where it seemed most likely to grow. This meant the fruit bearing plants could potentially grow even in unlikely places. 

And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,

and birds came and ate it up.

What if some of the seed that fell on the path wasn't wasted, but was rather covered with dirt and worked deeper by weather and passersby? Maybe the very challenge that made some of the seed vulnerable, being exposed and vulnerable, was in some cases able to make the seed flourish.

Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.

It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep

What if some of the seed that fell on the rocky soil was patient, resisted the urge to seek immediate gratification, and did not spring up at once? What if it waited patiently while it's roots sought to penetrate past the rocks into the deeper soil. Such plants would then, perhaps, be stronger against the wind and rain, less able to be easily uprooted because of the very thing that initially threatened their survival.

Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.

It is certainly possible that these adverse conditions did not tell the whole story, that the initial challenges resulted in stronger long term growth. This would be consistent the Christian message, that our past does not determine our future, that there is always reason to hope, and that the very struggles we face can make us growth in faith and virtue if we persevere in the initial seed of grace we have been given.

But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit,

a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.

Insofar as our own lives are soil and our efforts are seeds we do want to seek the best soil. We do not want to leave things to chance or to force ourselves to make the best of soil. We want to sow efforts in the deep places of our hearts, with time and attention, not in places of passing fancy, not in places at risk because of the mood of the crowds. The circumstances that aren't up to us can always work for our good. But if we don't take advantage of the opportunities God gives us with the seeds that he himself provides we risk limiting how much fruit we are able to offer him in return.

“I have heard the grumbling of the children of Israel.

Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh,

and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread,

so that you may know that I, the LORD, am your God.”

Maybe we're in the desert. Maybe we're hungry with desire for which we cannot find satisfaction. It could be that these circumstances were not of our own making. Certainly desert soil doesn't always make for fruit. But we can choose how we respond. We can grumble, which does no good, and bears no fruit. Or we can patiently turn to the Lord who himself is able to make the desert bloom.

the desert will bloom with flowers.

It will be very glad and shout for joy.

The glorious beauty of Lebanon will be given to it.

It will be as beautiful as the rich lands

of Carmel and Sharon.

Everyone will see the glory of the Lord.

They will see the beauty of our God.

(see Isaiah 35:2)

Psalms In His Presence - The Lord Gave Them Bread

John Michael Talbot - I Am the Bread of Life

20 July 2021 - sea it through

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Who is my mother?  Who are my brothers?

Jesus had told his disciples that they must not prefer their own fathers and mothers to him (see Matthew 10:37). He was, then, practicing what he preached, demonstrating that the obligations to blood relations must take second place to the obligations to new spiritual family Jesus was establishing in his Kingdom.

“Here are my mother and my brothers.

For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father

is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

Even in the case of the Mother of God, her natural prerogatives were necessarily subordinated to the priorities of the Kingdom. It is true that her motherhood extended beyond beyond that natural sense. Above all others, she opened herself completely to the will of the heavenly Father, saying, "May it be done unto me according to your word" (see Luke 1:38). Because of this Jesus could trust her to understand that what he was telling the crowds was intended as no slight to her, not from he who himself gave the commandment to honor father and mother. Yet though she understood as a disciple, it was probably still difficult for her as a mother. Even she, perhaps, had to learn to let go of what would otherwise be normal expectations of a mother for her son, so that her son would be available and free to bring his Kingdom to the world, even unto the cross.

Mary's preeminence in the Catholic faith was not based merely on the relationship of nature that she shared with her son. It was rather based on a supernatural reality that preceded, underlied, and sustained that relationship. Had she been the sort of person who insisted on her own rights, had she fought to keep her son to herself, had she herself turned away from following him even to the cross, she would not be the woman we celebrate today. In Mary we celebrate a profound work of the grace of God that made it possible for her, overshadowing her by God's own Spirit, to be the perfect example of true spiritual motherhood. This is the motherhood that does not merely raise children who do their best, self-actualize, get what they want, and then die. It is motherhood which raises children and mothers them unto life in the Kingdom, even in spite of the difficulty for both mother and child. It is a supernatural reality which only grace makes possible. We share in this reality, ourselves mothering the image of Jesus in others.

Our natural bonds and normal expectations tend to pursue us like the Egyptians pursued the Israelites once they were free. But the grace of our baptism has the power to drown our pursuers, to give us such complete victory that we never see them again. Like Mary we just need to trust in the grace of God and not turn back.

    I will sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant;

        horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.

Bethel Music - Raise a Hallelujah

19 July 2021 - the sign of Jonah

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus,

“Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”

Their motivation for seeking the sign was the problem. They weren't really interested in the possibility that Jesus was who he said he was. There had, in fact, already been an abundance of signs for them to witness. But the Pharisees were interested in sacrifice, not in mercy, so they were not open to see the signs that were before their eyes. Jesus had only just recently cured a demoniac who was blind and mute, but all the Pharisees could say was, "This man drives out demons only by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons" (see Matthew 12:24). What sort of sign can you show to someone whose heart is in that place?

An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign,

but no sign will be given it

except the sign of Jonah the prophet.

Jesus had not given up on the Pharisees, even if they were evil and unfaithful. He would not play their games, offering his miraculous powers up to their judgment and critique. He would do something more, something which could potentially draw the Pharisees out of their passively disinterested sense of superiority. 

Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, 

so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth

three days and three nights.

Jesus took upon himself the Pharisees' own hatred, and all of the violence they held in their hearts toward him. He did so, not grudgingly, but for their sakes, in order to bring them back to God and open to them the way of salvation. It was his hope that this sign would expose the violence in the hearts of the Pharisees, and indeed in all of us, to exhaust it, and potentially to allow us all to move beyond it and repent. He allowed us to have the very thing we thought we wanted the most, to definitively silence Jesus, in order to reveal to us how broken and hollow a desire it was. He did not then leave to ourselves, with no alternative but despair. Instead, he emerged from the heart of the earth, not preaching condemnation, but peace and forgiveness.

The people of Nineveh and the queen of the south were able to recognize the signs they had been given, the preaching of Jonah, and the wisdom of Solomon respectively. What did they have in common that allowed them to receive these signs that the Pharisees lacked? It must have been humility, humility that allowed the whole people of Nineveh to repent in sackcloth and ashes at the words of a foreigner, and humility that drew the queen of the south from her own kingdom to seek a wisdom that she could only find in Solomon.

For us too, the Lord willing works signs for those who stand to benefit. But these signs are inseparable from his wisdom of his words, which are signs par excellence. If we refuse the message we will also refuse the signs, because they are bound up together. If our hearts are more interested in sacrifice than mercy, in condemnation than forgiveness, we will leave Jesus little recourse, nothing left to persuade us except, hopefully for the sign of his Passion. His Passion can absorb the hardness of our own hearts, our lack of humility, and still emerge with the offer of life-giving love for us. But let us not remain in attitudes deserving of condemnation. Let us recognize the one who is greater than Jonah and greater than Solomon and open ourselves to the signs he has already shown us.

Fear not! Stand your ground,

and you will see the victory the LORD will win for you today.

These Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again.

The LORD himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still.

The Passion of Our Lord is powerful. It leaves sin, sickness, and death behind, unable to ever enslave us again. It is the beginning of our journey to the land of promise. And, in the resurrection, it is the consummation of that promise.

And you, lift up your staff and, with hand outstretched over the sea,

split the sea in two,

that the children of Israel may pass through it on dry land.

Newsboys - Belly of the Whale

Songs In His Presence - Exodus 15: Let Us Sing to the Lord

18 July 2021 - shepherds after his own heart

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” 

Rest is a genuine good. It is important to have an appropriate level of self-care if we want to be able to care for others. Yet when the crowds continued to follow after Jesus even to this deserted place he did not leave them a second time to insist on the rest he had planned.

Jesus wanted to reveal his own heart to his disciples so that when they encountered similar situations they would be able to respond in the same way. Yes, they should try to rest and recharge when they could. But there would be times when the sheep we so desperately in need of a shepherd that rest would have to wait.

When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,

his heart was moved with pity for them,

for they were like sheep without a shepherd;

The shepherd is free to rest when the sheep are comfortably in his care. But when even one of the ninety-nine is missing there is work for the shepherd that takes priority. Otherwise, if the sheep are still "scattered" and "driven" away by a lack of care, they are at risk. Sheep apart from their shepherd are not smart or cunning creatures. They cannot escape from the predator or the poacher.

Jesus wanted his disciples to have a heart for his people committed enough that the crowd would not need to feel troubled or abandoned, to have a strong enough concern for them that they would not be scattered or driven away. Yes, they ought to rest when they could. But they were meant to be like Jesus who placed the well being of the sheep before his own, who freely laid down his life for his sheep.

Jesus wasn't trying to guilt his disciples into this frame of mind that privileged sheep care over self care. He wasn't trying to force them into it by obligation. Rather, he saw, and he wanted them to see the crowds with sympathy deep enough to make up even for lack of food and rest in the short term. He wanted his disciples hearts to be open to his people just as his own heart was open.

I myself will gather the remnant of my flock

from all the lands to which I have driven them

and bring them back to their meadow;

there they shall increase and multiply. 

How did Jesus respond to the desires of the crowd? How did he respond to their distress and desire?

and he began to teach them many things.

Sheep did not need, and could not use, an academic solution. Jesus did not simply present a step-by-step process on how to be a good, isolated, individual sheep. Rather his teaching was a teaching that had the power of a shepherd within it. It had the power to guide the sheep away from danger. It was the shepherd's voice speaking, which the sheep could hear, and draw and remain near it on the meadows of the Church.

I myself will gather the remnant of my flock

from all the lands to which I have driven them

and bring them back to their meadow;

there they shall increase and multiply. 

The teaching of the Good Shepherd allows us to remain in a union with him that is active and dynamic, responsive to the changing situations in which we find ourselves, allowing us to be led into new and more fruitful pastures. But his teaching does not unite us to him alone. It also powerfully overcomes the barriers between sheep, allowing a vast diversity to exist in one flock. His purpose is to unite in himself every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.

For he is our peace, he who made both one

and broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his flesh,

abolishing the law with its commandments and legal claims,

that he might create in himself one new person in place of the two,

thus establishing peace

There are two aspects of this theme against which we can measure ourselves. How do we privilege the care of those sheep entrusted to us, in whatever way? There are different ways in which we shepherd our children, our friends, our co-workers, and acquaintances. But God wants us to have a heart for all of them that is compassionate enough to motivate us to give of ourselves for their sake. If we do not have this heart we can ask Jesus to help us see in the crowd what he saw, the same thing that moved his own heart. 

The second aspect we should consider is how we allow the teaching  voice of Jesus to shepherd us, when we encounter it in our own prayer, through others, and especially in the Magisterium. Are we docile enough to let this voice lead us? If so, we will find ourselves venturing to pastures where we would perhaps never have gone. We will find ourselves uniting with others with whom we would have had almost nothing in common in a natural sense. 

Our Shepherd and King is still present among his people, teaching and guiding us, ruling over us in his abundant compassion so that together, as one flock with one shepherd (see John 10:16), we may be united around the banquet of his table, there to dwell and flourish forever more.

Jon Foreman - The House of God Forever

Peter Furler - Psalm 23

17 July 2021 - to invite, not to fight

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus knew that the Pharisees were planning to kill and so he withdrew from them. It was not yet the appointed time or the appointed place for the Messiah to to die. 

for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem (see Luke 13:33).

My time has not yet come (see John 7:6).

Jesus knew and understood himself to be the chosen and beloved of the Father, in whom he took delight. Because Jesus was absolutely secure in this identity he didn't need to contend with the apparently important classes of individuals in his day to seek their validation. The validation of his Father was the only approval which he ever sought or desired.

Behold, my servant whom I have chosen,

my beloved in whom I delight;

By not engaging the Pharisees directly and immediately he gave them time and space to repent. They were bruised reeds that he did not break. Giving them more evidence of who he was would have only resulted in greater condemnation, for them whose hearts were closed to him. It would have broken the bruised reed, rather than leaving it in hope that it would not in all cases be lost. Or at least, if it was to be broken, it wouldn't be by his provocation.

He avoided the Pharisees, not out of fear, but out of mercy.  For the same reason he did choose to bring his mercy to Gentiles. It was because Jesus was entirely filled and animated by the Spirit of the Father that he was able to love those whom his society saw as undeserving, and who could not offer him anything in return. By helping them, his own status was not improved, but if anything, popular opinion of him was tarnished. But he was able to transcend concerns about what others thought or about what others deserved because he saw in the Gentiles a smoldering wick which might yet ignite into flame.

A bruised reed he will not break,

a smoldering wick he will not quench

The Gentiles might have seemed to be a lost cause, so full were their traditions of falsehood and illusion and idolatry. But Jesus saw a spark within them, made in the image and likeness of God, with the natural law still in their hearts (see Romans 2:15), that might yet be set afire by his words and burst forth into a fire of holiness.

until he brings justice to victory.

And in his name the Gentiles will hope.

Jesus brought justice to victory, not by force of arms, but by the power of the Cross. It was by not contending or crying out, not by breaking his opposition or extinguishing those who were not his allies. Rather, by his entire life even unto his death on the cross he proclaimed the justice was to be found, not in men, not in violence, but only in the will of his Father. The resurrection was therefore the victory by which what Jesus demonstrated about the justice of God was vindicated.

In our own lives we probably sense that the victory of the justice of God is not immediately evident or obvious. We still see poverty, sickness, and death ravaging the world. We see the love of money and the fear of death motivating more people than the love of the Father's will. Perhaps we ourselves are more motivated by those things. Why, we wonder, isn't the Kingdom of God more aggressively enforced upon the world? Perhaps, in this age of the Church, God is still holding out hope for the smoldering wicks and bruised reeds. Just as he relied on Jesus, filled with the Spirit, to manifest the victory of the justice of God, not apart from the conditions of the world, but at the very epicenter of the worst of those conditions, so too does he use the followers of Jesus in our own day. He calls us to live lives marked by the justice and mercy of God. Like Jesus, we are called to invite, not to fight. We are called to see hope for those people whom the world has abandoned as hopeless. Our own lives can reveal the victory of the justice of God as we demonstrate definitively that worldly circumstances do not have the final say, that evil does not have the last word.

until he brings justice to victory.

And in his name the Gentiles will hope.

We should be eager to participate in this victory, for once his Kingdom fully comes, once he reveals himself completely on the last day, there will no longer be time for reeds to heal or sparks to catch fire. We are meant to regard such things as hopeful signs of life and do what we can to cultivate them while time remains.

We are on a pilgrimage very much like that of Israel leaving Egypt. We must give priority to the direction and destination rather than the lack of comfort or challenging circumstances that we encounter along the way. We must be content to sacrifice the niceties of Egypt for the promise that awaits us. But unlike those pilgrims, we have received the Spirit of God, and we have been told that we are the beloved children of the Father. Because of this we can trust in his promise and follow his direction with a supernatural fidelity, following in the path first walked by Jesus himself.

Chris Tomlin - Forever