9 January 2019 - beyond fear

Today's Readings

(Audio)

There is no fear in love,
but perfect love drives out fear

When we are tossed about by the waves we usually feel fear. Even if Jesus comes to us walking on the sea we can choose to see him in the context of the storm rather than to see the storm in the context of his presence. In our stormy circumstances we only have room for ourselves and the ghosts that are out to get us. But Jesus wants to cast this fear from our hearts.

It is not just subjective comfort experienced by us that casts out fear. It is rather the love of Jesus working in us that has the power to transcend our circumstances.

Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us,
and his love is brought to perfection in us.

Jesus reveals himself in us by the Spirit he pours into our hearts. This Spirit cries 'Abba, Father!' He bears the fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in our lives.

What if we can't find evidence of the fruits of the Spirit in us? What if we still feel fear? Should we feel condemned? No. The point is not to think of ourselves differently but to think less of ourselves and to care more about love.

"Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less."

- CS Lewis

Yet there is a feeling of confidence that God wants us to have. It is the confidence that only his presence can inspire. It is the confidence that allowed Peter to briefly walk upon the waves of a different storm. It is the confidence that Jesus is the master of the wind and the waves.

"Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!" 
He got into the boat with them and the wind died down. 

We need to make room for Jesus in our boats. We must do this even when the storms that surround us make it seem hugely impractical. Then more than ever we need him.

For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out,
and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.

8 January 2019 - enough for the hungry

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Beloved, let us love one another,
because love is of God;
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.

We love because God loved us first. Our hearts are meant to be like the heart of the shepherd, the heart that "was moved with pity" for the vast crowd because "they were like sheep without a shepherd".

We must love as Jesus loves. We must not leave the crowds without the voice of the shepherd's teaching, nor the nourishing bread the shepherd provides. Jesus nourishes the spirits of his flock but also their bodies.

They all ate and were satisfied. 

In the way Jesus fulfills the physical needs of the crowd is a hidden lesson for us. Even in this supposed corporeal work of mercy we see a deeper spiritual reality at work. For the disciples, there is the required trust in the supernatural. The Church always moves through the her pilgrimage on earth with seemingly insufficient resources. But when she trusts in Jesus she always has enough, even for practical considerations. For the crowd, even though physical bread is what is being given, nevertheless they are invited to hunger for true food that Jesus will give in his own flesh.

They all ate and were satisfied. 

Do we want to eat and be satisfied? Is this not what we want for those who worship with us, and indeed for the whole world? Then we need to have hearts like that of Jesus. We need to trust him to meet all of our needs. We respond better to the plans of Jesus if we ourselves learn to long for the true food and true drink he wants to give.

They all ate and were satisfied. 

Our role in satisfying the crowds is a role that Jesus gives to us out of love, both for us, and for the crowds. He allows us to be made into vessels of the gift which he himself is.

In this is love:
not that we have loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.

The psalmist knows that when the crowds eat and are satisfied their hearts are moved to adoration. The hunger that has afflicted humanity since the fall is being healed. The new creation is being brought forth.

Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

7 January 2019 - enlightenment's source

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The light of the star that the magi followed was only a hint or a sign that beneath its radiance the true light of the world was dawning on earth.

Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles,
the people who sit in darkness
have seen a great light,
on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death
light has arisen.

The fulfillment of the prophecy was not merely the star shining for a brief period in a specific place. But it was rather the everlasting light to which that star pointed. The spiritualists of the world always knew that light was an important truth about the nature of things. The hopeful among them might have been so bold as to assert that it was superior to darkness rather than simply balanced against it. Most didn't venture as much. But to all it was a distant reality, impossible for the average individual to approach. No longer. The light which shone in the darkness in the beginning with the Father came close enough to touch in Jesus.

From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say,
"Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand."

This light continues to be close to mankind because Jesus makes us lights of the world as well. He makes his own light to shine through his Kingdom, the Church. This is why the Church continues to heal and teach as Jesus did. This is why the Church is the called the mystical body of Christ.

He went around all of Galilee,
teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness among the people.

The secret to this life being manifest and visible on earth is for his people to keep his commandments in order to "remain in him, and he in them" and not, as we imagine, for their own sakes. When we remain in one another his Spirit can fill us and assure us of his presence. The vital thing is to believe in the name of the Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the basic foundational principle of discernment that allows his people to remain in the light rather than wandering of into the darkness of error. This is not vague, abstract, or intellectual. It is instead the most practical of teachings.

Beloved, do not trust every spirit
but test the spirits to see whether they belong to God,
because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
This is how you can know the Spirit of God:
every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh
belongs to God,
and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus
does not belong to God.

It isn't just a matter of coherence of doctrine, although that is certainly implied. It is rather that spirits themselves must state their position on Jesus when asked. If they cannot say that Jesus is LORD or that he has come in the flesh then they are trying to deceive us.

Let us join John's audience as conquerors of the one who is in the world. When he sends lies to us let us expose them, taking every thought captive to Christ. If we don't feel up to it that is the first lie to unmask. We say, 'I can't control my thoughts.' But Jesus says, 'Because I came in the flesh and am LORD I have shared my own mind with you, giving you the power to control your thoughts. The Spirit of self-control gives you this power.' Well then, amen.

I will give you all the nations for an inheritance.

6 January 2019 - star men

Today's Readings

(Audio)

It was not made known to people in other generations 
as it has now been revealed
to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: 
that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body,
and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

The promise given to Abraham was that all the nations on earth would find blessing in him. The psalmist sang, "every nation on earth will adore you." But only with the star rising over the manger did the fulfillment of these promises and prophecies begin.

[B]ehold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 
"Where is the newborn king of the Jews?
We saw his star at its rising
and have come to do him homage.

The magi were representatives of the Gentile nations, finally welcomed into the full worship of the God of Israel. No longer were they required to remain in the outer courts of the temple. Rather, Mary, the new sanctuary, invited them in. They worshipped God directly, face to face.

They prostrated themselves and did him homage.
Then they opened their treasures 
and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

We must walk the path of the magi, into the presence of Mary and Joseph, in order to offer the gifts we have been given back to Jesus, the King of kings, who first gave them to us.  What drew the Magi to make such a journey? They longed for the light shining in the darkness.

Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem!  Your light has come,
the glory of the Lord shines upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth,
and thick clouds cover the peoples;
but upon you the LORD shines,
and over you appears his glory.

The magi were wise. They were wise enough to recognize the limits of their own wisdom and to seek the source of light itself. Finding it, they offered all that they were. We should long for the time when all of the nations walk by his light, as Isaiah foretold. We do our part to bring about that time of fulfillment when we allow our encounter with Jesus to change us. We don't simply add Jesus to our previous systems of philosophy and religion. No, we allow ourselves to be re-centered on him. We, like the magi, must return by another way.

And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, 
they departed for their country by another way.

5 January 2019 - where love and charity are found

Saint John Neumann

Today's Readings

(Audio)

We know that we have passed from death to life
because we love our brothers.

Do we love our brothers? Do we love them in deed and truth or is it just a matter of words or speech? Jesus came to empower us to love. If we are not living lives of love, expressed in real and concrete actions we are not to that extent allowing Jesus to live in our lives as he desires.

The way we came to know love
was that he laid down his life for us;
so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

Jesus is the model to follow. By his resurrection he fills us with the power that we need to love as he loves. In his death Jesus fully enters into our poverty precisely so that he can raise us to life. This is why John writes that loving the brothers means we have passed from death to life. This is no idle metaphor. The seed of life in us is something we would not have without the resurrection. Now that we do have it we need to nourish it and let it grow.

We may wonder if anything truly and unequivocally good can come from our hearts. We have to admit that all of us have at least partially selfish motives for even the good things we do. Even our acts of love tend to be half done for our own vanity and pride, or out of fear at failing at duty, or for any other number of reasons that don't sound like new resurrection life.

But Nathanael said to him,
"Can anything good come from Nazareth?" 
Philip said to him, "Come and see." 

We need to step beyond our perception of what is possible. When we come to and follow Jesus he gives us that hope that genuine love is possible. He does this first by giving us a new place to begin.

Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" 
Jesus answered and said to him,
"Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree." 

Jesus knows and loves us before we know and love him.  Because the initiative is his we don't have to depend on ourselves, on Nazareth, or on any earthly reality in our to hope that our love might become genuine. We love because he first loved us. Jesus becomes for us the place where true love can be found and then lived and given.

And he said to him, "Amen, amen, I say to you, 
you will see the sky opened and the angels of God 
ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Let us join Nathaniel in praising God who discovers in each of us sons and daughters who are capable of genuine love where we ourselves were in doubt or despair.

Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

4 January 2019 - all that and more

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Behold, the Lamb of God.

There is so much in this verse. There is the whole history of a people and the preparation God was doing in order to prepare for their deliverance. The disciples of John are much like us when they encounter Jesus. They knew they found something massively important, but couldn't explain even what they were looking for when they did. They didn't even really know what they ought to be seeking. They just knew they wanted more. They knew God had a plan to give it to them.

"What are you looking for?"
They said to him, "Rabbi" (which translated means Teacher)

Jesus is the teacher par excellence. These disciples sought a teacher. But they found him who is the truth itself. They found what they knew they needed but so much more as well. Not merely someone who could dispense wisdom, but one whose every word was living wisdom. Not one who merely understood Scripture or sacred traditions, but the one by whom those things were given.

The disciples of John knew that they had found the one whom they sought. Their restless hearts were beginning to rest. But they knew they needed more.

"where are you staying?"
He said to them, "Come, and you will see."

And so to must we follow Jesus. We have never fully compassed all that is contained in his being. There is always more to see and to learn. The more we do the more we are able to proclaim with these others that "We have found the Messiah".

It is the process of progress that gives us confidence. The reading from John might otherwise terrify us.

Whoever sins belongs to the Devil,
because the Devil has sinned from the beginning.

We are begotten by God in baptism. But this works itself out in our lives as we follow Jesus. Only gradually and by persistence do we reach the realms of light wherein no one can sin or even desires to sin.

No one who is begotten by God commits sin,
because God's seed remains in him;
he cannot sin because he is begotten by God. 

God makes us new from the inside out. Following him allows that seed of life to work its way to the surface from within. It is perhaps more than we bargained for. But it is everything we sought and more.

Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.

3 January 2019 - above all names

Today's Readings for the Most Holy Name of Jesus,

We rightly shy away from treating the name of Jesus as a magic word. There is no word we can say apart from understanding and intent that can solve the problems we face. And yet there is power in the name of Jesus.

Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name, 
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend, 
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, 
to the glory of God the Father.

In this passage Paul places the name Jesus where God refers to himself in Isaiah 45:23.

By myself I have sworn;
from my mouth has gone out in righteousness
a word that shall not return:
‘To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance.

It follows that Jesus' name is more exulted than the angels.

After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. (See Hebrews 1:3-4).

His name was "given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb." The name Jesus means God saves. It refers to his mission to seek and to save the lost. But it is more. It reveals God himself. The name Jesus makes the unpronounceable name of God pronounceable. Yeshua is a shortened version of Yehoshua (like Joshua in English bibles). The prefix of that name is an abbreviation of the sacred Tetragrammaton, God's name. This name was considered to be so sacred as to be unspeakable in most cases. But when the verb yasha, to deliver, save, or rescue was added humanity was given a name which it could speak (details here).

Although the name of Jesus is not magic, nevertheless, if we bear in mind the one to whom we refer and just how exulted is the name when we speak it, miracles are to be expected. We really can pray 'in Jesus' Name' with great faith. This is how we can understand the passage from Mark where Jesus says "Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me" (see Mark 9:39).

The name of Jesus is the only name given under heaven by which we can be saved (see Acts 4:12). It is because salvation entails precisely the self-revelation of God in Christ that this is so.

This brings us to the practical considerations. How do we treat the name of Jesus? Perhaps readers of this blog don't abuse it. Perhaps they even ask other people not to abuse it. But are we afraid to speak his name? We don't want to treat it lightly. But we mustn't allow such a great gift as the name of Jesus to lie dormant when the world desperately needs his power.

With trumpets and the sound of the horn
sing joyfully before the King, the LORD.