29 January 2024 - swine of the times

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea,

to the territory of the Gerasenes.

Jesus entered Gentile territory for the first time in his mission. There he encountered a place where death and impurity had an even greater foothold than in Jewish territories, represented by tombs and herds of swine. But Jesus entered into regions of darkness of death in order to bring light, life, and salvation. 

at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him.

The man had been dwelling among the tombs,

Do we not recognize that many in our own day are still dwelling among the tombs? It is considered normal to indulge in death directed desires, spending our spiritual inheritance on things which cannot last, motivated ultimately by a desperate fear of death. In our society anything is permitted, more or less, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else. Similarly, the only goal of the people in the territory of the Gerasenes was to restrain the possessed man. After all, there was nothing they could do to address the deeper underlying issue of his soul.

In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains,

but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed,

and no one was strong enough to subdue him.

They would have preferred to silence him since his condition was frightening. But failing that they resorted to avoiding him, leaving him to his tendency toward self-harm, rather than put themselves at risk. They weren't strong enough to bind the strong man, the devil, who was, in truth, the one holding this possessed man in his power. 

In our own society we are surrounded by people pursuing paths that harm themselves, but are often told to mind our own business. Perhaps this strategy of nonintervention stems from a learned helpless resulting from our lack of strength our ability to do much to help. But Jesus refused to ignore the condition of this man among the tombs. He desired to bring him back from the bleak half-light of a life dominated by death and to restore him to his right mind. And he was strong enough to bind the forces of the devil and accomplish that goal.

"Send us into the swine. Let us enter them."

And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine.

The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea,

where they were drowned.

By the word of Jesus the man was set free. But the restoration of light and holiness was not without economic cost to the surrounding area. No doubt this bothered the people who came to see what had happened. But it seemed that what caused them even greater fear was seeing the formerly possessed man in his right mind. They were unsettled by the disruption of the status quo, afraid of what else Jesus might upset if he remained among them.

As they approached Jesus,

they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion,

sitting there clothed and in his right mind.

And they were seized with fear.

Those who witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened

to the possessed man and to the swine.

Then they began to beg him to leave their district.

The formerly possessed man thought he had the vocation to be a disciple who followed Jesus directly. But instead Jesus told him that he was meant to return to the his family and his home and to proclaim all that the Lord had done for him. By remaining with them he was to help the people in that region to understand the true value in what Jesus had done, so that their initial repulsion and request for him to leave might be replaced by a longing that he would return and manifest more of his healing power.

But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead,

"Go home to your family and announce to them

all that the Lord in his pity has done for you."

Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis

what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.

Our lives too can be evidence of the goodness of Jesus, proof of his love, demonstrated by what he has done for us. We live in what often seems to be the modern equivalent of Gentile territory marked by life among the tombs. Many around us are afraid of what might happen if Jesus gets too close. But simply by living lives as Christians among them we can give witness to what happens when Jesus draws near, which is always more than we can ask or imagine.

Hillsong Worship - Stronger

28 January 2024 - driving back the darkness

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The people were astonished at his teaching,

for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.

The people were used to others who had to reference the authority of tradition in everything. The expertise of these others was built on what still others had said because anything original would be extraneous. They didn't have the authority to add or subtract from God's revelation. They were eager to avoid the Lord's command that a prophet not presume to speak in his name an oracle that he had not commanded. No doubt they were quick to provide the citations for the points they made, noting, for example what Moses said about a variety of topics.

Jesus was different. He was the prophet like Moses whom God promise to raise from among his kin. Because his mouth would be filled with God's own words it was appropriate to listen to him in whatever he said, not only when he was quoting a figure from history. But Jesus was greater even than Moses. Moses received the law from angels (see Acts 7:53) and conveyed it to the people. But Jesus had God's own words in his mouth. Even Moses deferred to the words he had received. But the words of Jesus were more his own than were those of Moses, because he himself was the word of God. But his incarnation served to make that word understandable and sympathetic. No longer a voice of thunder or a great fire such as the people at Horeb begged never to hear or sea again, but instead, a Jewish rabbi with a face like our own and a voice filled with compassion spoke God's words directly and without mediation. He was the word of God, but also a "from among their kin". The people were used to authority being constrained to static written texts. But now they were face to face with the same person who spoke in those sacred writings. It was shocking to say the least. Only such a voice could refer to the writings of Moses by saying, "You have heard it said" and then continuing, "But I say to you", as he did in the Sermon on the Mount.

The authority in the voice of Jesus was different from presumptuous and prideful individuals who assume that what they say is true. There was a reason that the teaching structure of Israel leaned heavily on Scripture and Tradition, and that those facets gave it solidity and trustworthiness. There must have been something so compelling about the very person of Jesus and of the content of his words, a credibility arising from the fact that whatever the voice of truth said would of necessity by true, that inspired the people to be drawn to rather than repulsed by his way of teaching.

Jesus rebuked him and said,

"Quiet! Come out of him!"

The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.

It was not only in his teaching that Jesus demonstrated his authority. It was also consistent with the works he performed. He spoke. Things happened. We understand that Jesus was not the only one in that time who attempted exorcisms. But Jesus did not need a long litany of prayers. Nor even, if we look at this text, a prayer at all. He commanded and the demons fled at the sound of his voice.

The rebuke of Jesus was the same rebuke that drove back the waters of chaos at the beginning of creation (see Psalm 104:7). It was the same rebuke by which the Red Sea was dried up, allowing the people to pass through, and saving them from their Egyptian pursuers (see Psalm 106:9). With this same authority Jesus would later rebuke a storm on the Sea of Galilee (see Mark 4:39). Why all this rebuking, and not a more neutral language? It's because the demon who feared that Jesus had come to destroy him was right on the money.

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil (see First John 3:8).

What does all of this mean for us? Is this just meant to get us excited and inspire us to cheer from the sidelines? Excitement and cheering is certainly valid, but there is more. The psalmist captures what this entails when he says that "[i]f today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts". For the voice of Jesus is not relegated to the past in the way that the voice of Moses was. The Holy Spirit continues to bring his words to us, in a vibrantly living and dynamic fashion. The authority of these words means that we do well to listen. And when we bring our lives under the auspices of this authority we too partake of it in a smaller way. We too begin to learn rebuke the chaos in our lives and in the world in order that order, light, and beauty, may supplant them. This is only possible with "adherence to the Lord without distraction" which is no easier than it sounds. It is the practice of a lifetime. But it begins in the moment, every moment, when the Lord speaks, and we offer him hearts of flesh, ready to listen.

Randy Rothwell - For This Purpose

27 January 2024 - asleep in the boat

Today's Readings

(Audio)

"Let us cross to the other side."

Sometimes following Jesus not only does not avoid the storms of life but leads to them. He asks us to cross to the other side of the sea of life, which, much like Galilee, is prone to sudden and unpredictable storms. He calls us out from the apparent safety of the shore because only by traversing the waters will we reach our destination. 

A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat,

so that it was already filling up.

We tend to blame the one who gave us the directions to get in the boat in the first place, as though he gave them specifically to antagonize or even to destroy us. When we go to him in our boat and he seems asleep we become even more upset, more convinced of his indifference. 

Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.

They woke him and said to him,

"Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"

But if Jesus were really out to get us by sending us headlong into a storm would he really be with us in our boat? He was present with the disciples, sharing their fate, but not their fear. His sleep, which they mistook for indifference, had its source in the deep peace he had within his soul. How else could one rest amidst such chaos? The very thing that made his disciples doubt him ought to have given them comfort. They could have said, 'If he is sleeping, there is nothing to worry about'. But instead they conveyed the lack of trust that has afflicted the human race since Adam "let his trust in his Creator die in his heart" (see CCC 397), and said what we so often echo, "do you not care"? The Lord seemed inactivate, even insensible to the difficulties of steering a ship, or even staying afloat in a fearsome storm. Instead of asking him for help, they accused him. They blamed him for leading them to that point but failed to trust that he could deliver them from it. If it seemed to them necessary to wake Jesus they might simply have done so with a confident faith and asked him, 'Save us, for we are perishing'. After all, what Jesus criticized was not that they cut short his nap, but rather their fear and their lack of faith.

Then he asked them, "Why are you terrified?

Do you not yet have faith?"

It is often fear and lack of faith that motivates our response to the storms of life. This sense of desperation deprives us of our rational agency and especially of our connection to the peace of Christ leading us to take actions which are not only unhelpful but potentially dangerous. Yet Jesus uses even such circumstances as these to reveal himself to us. 

They were filled with great awe and said to one another,

"Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?"

After seeing Jesus reveal his divine authority over the storm we ought to trust him more the next time he decides to sleep in our boat. If we must wake him, let us do so calmly, and with faith. And if he perhaps decides to sleep a little longer than we would prefer, and if we must endure more of the storm, let us learn from the attitude of Therese of Lisieux:

Jesus was sleeping as usual in my little boat; ah! I see very well how rarely souls allow Him to sleep peacefully within them. Jesus is so fatigued with always having to take the initiative and to attend to others that He hastens to take advantage of the repose I offer to Him. He will undoubtedly awaken before my great eternal retreat, but instead of being troubled about it, this only gives me extreme pleasure.

- Story of a Soul, Chapter 8 - Therese of Lisieux

Casting Crowns - Praise You In This Storm

 

26 January 2024 - starting small

Today's Readings

(Audio)

This is how it is with the Kingdom of God;

it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land

and would sleep and rise night and day

and the seed would sprout and grow,

he knows not how.

This is the imperishable seed, the living and abiding word of God about which Peter wrote (see First Peter 1:23). The farmer might, hopefully, prudently water and fertilize the ground, but ultimate the seed grows "[o]f its own accord", by a power contained within itself. This means that we ultimately play a secondary role in bringing about the harvest of the Kingdom in others and even in ourselves. Paul understood this, writing, "So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth" (see First Corinthians 3:7).

The fact that this seed has the power to grow and bear fruit can give us confidence even with nothing is happening visibly on the surface of our lives. We may "sleep and rise night and day" going about our lives, doing our best to encourage the seed, and for long periods of time see no results, or even any indication that things are different from soil without any seed at all. By simply remembering that the supernatural seed is present we can remain hopeful during seasons of our lives when evidence of progress seems elusive. Yes, we will want to keep watering, and keep fertilizing, but not because we think that these efforts will magically make a plant spring up from the soil. Rather, we will be sure that the seed is present and making good use of whatever we do to cooperate in preparing for it to grow.

It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground,

is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.

The Kingdom begins in our lives at such a small scale that it seems that it couldn't make a difference in us, let alone the world around us. But from small beginnings this seed is capable of disproportionately large results. It has humble beginnings, like a child in a manager in a small town in the middle of nowhere, but eventual worldwide ramifications. Its smallness and hiddenness at the beginning leads us to doubt its potential. To trust a seed this small we need humility and faith. Because, just as the Kingdom in Jesus' own live seemed too little in the face of his opposition, but ultimately conquered the world, so too can the Kingdom conquer in our lives and in our own world today. But never right at the beginning or all at once. Its beginnings are small and the process of growth all but invisible. But eventually the results are so great that the world can't help but take notice.

But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants

and puts forth large branches,

so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.

As a Church we are meant to become this massive plant that is capable of sheltering all of the world within its branches and beneath its shade. But we must allow the planted seed to have its time and to grow according to its own schedule. Sometimes this is even a generational thing, as with Timothy.

as I recall your sincere faith

that first lived in your grandmother Lois

and in your mother Eunice

and that I am confident lives also in you.

But that the seed might take so long to reveal its full potential did not cause Paul to remain idle or make him suggest that Timothy simply sit on his hands until something happened. Rather, Paul encouraged Timothy to put the gift he already had to good use. And this is an important reminder and invitation for us as well.

For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame

the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.

For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice

but rather of power and love and self-control.

Newsboys - Secret Kingdom

25 January 2024 - seeing the light

Today's Readings

(Audio)

At the feet of Gamaliel I was educated strictly in our ancestral law

and was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.

I persecuted this Way to death,

binding both men and women and delivering them to prison.

Today we celebrate the conversion of Saint Paul. In his writings he constantly emphasized the primacy of grace over human effort or the law. We can see why this was so important to him and how he began to learn it from what we read about his own conversion. Before this conversion experience he had credentials, having been training "[a]t the feet of Gamaliel". He had zeal for God. But these facts not only did not lead him to support the early Christian movement but instead made him its most fierce opponent.

On that journey as I drew near to Damascus,

about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me.

We see again and again in Scriptures the surprising ways in which grace can break through unexpectedly into a human life. Another prominent example was the calling of Matthew by Jesus. In both cases the conversion was not really a result of individual preparation or the logical culmination of what they were actively seeking. Instead, grace broke in, unannounced and unexpected. This should give us a great deal of hope for those who currently seem distant from the Lord. It may well be that he is waiting for just the right moment to knock them down and shine his glorious light on them.

I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me,

'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?'

I replied, 'Who are you, sir?'

And he said to me,

'I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting.'

Saul thought he was persecuting a misguided Jewish sect. But it turned out he was persecuting Jesus himself, and that in persecuting any member of the body he was persecuting the body as a whole. No wonder, then, that the importance of the unity in diversity of the body of Christ became a favorite theme of his. During his conversion he began to learn that Jesus was not merely a figure of historical interest, but one still alive and active in the world, and in particular, through the members of his body. Jesus was more than a deceased prophet whom one might honor. He was the living Lord who could command.

The Lord answered me, 'Get up and go into Damascus,

and there you will be told about everything

appointed for you to do.'

An interesting aspect of the conversion of Saint Paul is how nothing from his previous life was apparently wasted. Even things which he would come to view is egregiously offensive sins, even that he persecuted the Church of God, only served to make him a a more convincing and persuasive witness. That he had faults but was overwhelmed by grace made him the perfect individual to testify about that grace to the world.

But Ananias replied,

"Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man,

what evil things he has done to your holy ones in Jerusalem.

And here he has authority from the chief priests

to imprison all who call upon your name."

Like Ananias we are often quick to tell the Lord why his plans are unworkable or dangerous. We'd happily substitute any safer alternatives we can construct. But sometimes the Lord wants us to take a risk to be a part of his plan for other people. It wasn't that Ananias needed to be convincing or persuasive. All that was needed from him was presence and compassion. But without him helping to open the eyes of Paul and guiding him to receive the Holy Spirit who knows how his conversion might have ended. Let us trust the Lord when he shows us how to cooperate with his plans. And let us never doubt that his grace might reach even the most hardened of sinners.

We are all meant, each in our own way, to a part of the same mission for which Paul was was a chosen instrument of the Lord. Paul himself would remind us that "In him we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will, so that we might exist for the praise of his glory, we who first hoped in Christ" (see Ephesians 1:11-14).

DC Talk - In The Light

24 January 2024 - sow important

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Hear this! A sower went out to sow.

The seed sown by the sower is precious. Peter wrote, "you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God" (see First Peter 1:22-24). John also liked the analogy of seed, writing, "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God" (see First John 3:9). They seem to agree with the parable of Jesus in that potential pitfalls of growth are not inherent in the seed itself but arise from the conditions of soil and growth that surround it. The seed itself is basically invincible. But if we want it to grow and bear fruit we will need to provide the appropriate environment.

These are the ones on the path where the word is sown.

As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once

and takes away the word sown in them.

A superficial encounter with the word of God is not sufficient to plant it deeply within our hearts where it can transform us. If we receive the word carelessly, with little attention, content to hear only brief snippets or soundbites, it will not be hard for Satan to steal it away from us. This he does by a variety of means including sowing doubt in its veracity, or in leading us to questioning its goodness or its fairness, or simply by making us to forget.

And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who,

when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy.

But they have no roots; they last only for a time.

Even if the word penetrates a little deeper than the path it might still encounter soil that is not conducive to growth. It might still encounter the hardness present in our hearts and find in them an obstacle to spreading its roots more deeply within us. Tribulation and persecution can become means whereby the rocks in our soil are destroyed and roots can grow. But it depends on how we respond at such times. We can cling to the word or we can prefer the comfort of leaving the soil of our hearts as is. The roots of the word can crumble to dust even the hardest of rocky soil, but only if we desire it, and don't give up when it no longer feels easy.

Those sown among thorns are another sort.

They are the people who hear the word,

but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches,

and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word,

and it bears no fruit.

The word wants to grow using the vital energy of the soil of our lives. But that soil is readily exhausted when spent in other ways, whether on anxiety, the lure of riches, or cravings. These things are dangerous not just because they choke the word but because the resulting symptom isn't lack of life or even necessarily lack of growth but rather lack of fruit. For those of us who have been Christians for a while this seems to be the greatest risk we face. The seed hasn't been stolen. We haven't turned aside because of persecution of trial. But how is our fruit? Is it possible that we are leaking at least some of our vital energy to causes less deserving than the word of God?

But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it

and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.

Jesus does not rely on possible negative outcomes for the seed in order to persuade his hearers. He reminds us of the great good that accrues when the seed grows as it is meant to grow. He promises not just some fruit, but an abundance. Whatever else we might think to do with our soil, there is nothing so good and fulfilling as to bear this fruit that we are meant to bear. This is part of what Jesus meant when he promised, "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (see John 10:10).

The LORD also reveals to you that he will establish a house for you.

And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors,

I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins,

and I will make his Kingdom firm.

The seed will do what it is meant to do if we receive it in the correct way and give it the space it needs. It isn't so much about our efforts as it is about getting ourselves out of the way so that the seed may grow. It isn't we who architect and design the growing plant. God himself is the gardener, the source of grace and growth. David thought his task was to do something for God, to build a house for him. But in the end it turned out that God was the one who would build the house for the heir of David. So too with us. Even our good plans, if stubbornly held, can get in the way of the grace of growth. Let us hear the Lord and give the seed the space and soil it needs.

John B. Miller - Speak Lord I'm Listening (by Gary Ault)

23 January 2024 - dancing with abandon

Today's Readings

(Audio)

"Who are my mother and my brothers?"

And looking around at those seated in the circle he said,

"Here are my mother and my brothers.

For whoever does the will of God

is my brother and sister and mother."

Jesus would ask his followers to love him more than their own blood relations. But we can see that he, in some way, reciprocated this love, prioritizing his relationship with his disciples and the building of the Kingdom above the natural obligations stemming from natural kinship. To us this probably has the feeling of a slight to the mother of Jesus. And it is probably a real part of the sword that Simeon said would pierce her heart. She was not just a porcelain figure but had the real and genuine emotions of a woman and a mother, one who would have delighted to share a normal life with her son. But we know that Mary was like Jesus in that she was entirely committed to God's plan. And to that end she wanted what her son wanted more than what her natural desires might have preferred. We can be confident that once she knew that it was what Jesus wanted she would have given her wholehearted assent. And knowing that she was on board would certainly have made it easier for Jesus to issue this invitation to others. Mary's humility thus opened the way for us to share her own close connection to her son. Not that she was left out or excluded on account of that. For she was the only person aside from Jesus to ever perfectly carry out the will of God in her life. She was the only one who was fully and completely a spiritual mother to Jesus, in addition to her role in giving him birth. 

"Here are my mother and my brothers.

For whoever does the will of God

is my brother and sister and mother."

Jesus was forming a new kind of family around himself, one united by faithful obedience to his Father. He did not, we note, offer that anyone could be his Father, for there was no other who could claim that title but his Father in heaven. Yet the level of intimacy Jesus offered was no small thing. It was more, not less, than natural human relationships. And Mary wanted us to share in it as well. 

Mary delights that Jesus offered that we might, however imperfectly, share her role. She will show us how it is done, by the example of her own humility which always and in everything magnifies the Lord. Therefore she becomes our own mother as well, as we learn from her how to bring Jesus to birth in our lives and in our world.

Then David, girt with a linen apron,

came dancing before the LORD with abandon,

as he and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORD

with shouts of joy and to the sound of the horn.

If David could dance with abandon before an ark that was only a symbol of Mary, the true ark of the new covenant, then how much joy ought we to have in her presence? We too become arks, in a lesser way, when we receive Jesus in the Eucharist. And so this is we can and should look to Mary to learn. Then we too can be a cause of joy for others, and an invitation to join the family of Jesus.

Damascus Worship featuring Seph Schlueter - Hail O Queen