Jesus is the redemption and glorification of the original promise.
In the first reading we see the creation of man and woman, the first husband and wife. Out of all of creation there is no one who is a suitable partner for man but woman, and together they are more than just partners, they are one flesh. “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife.” The original promise of marriage, the mystery of the union, is the promise of finding what is lacking in each other and binding the incomplete halves together so tightly that one would think no more of separating from their spouse than they would their body.
We’ve lost that in time since. By the time of Moses, Paradise had fallen and divorce was already necessary because of sin. With sin, the original promise of Eden is lost and impossible to find. But Jesus is our redemption and our salvation. Because “for a time he became little lower than the angels” and gave himself for our sins, Jesus has made perfection possible again. The grace that lives inside of us because of Christ Jesus makes the impossible possible.
This is the redemption of the promise that Christ makes possible again, that we do not need divorce because of Christ’s grace. But Christ has also transformed everything under the law and made it better. He said “I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it,” and he has done no less with marriage. We see this in the Church; no longer are we just man and woman, but we are also brothers and sisters in Christ. The consecrated religious do not find a suitable partner among men and women, but give their hearts and lives to God and the Church. What is lacking in ourselves we have found in Christ, and we leave our mothers and fathers to cling to the Rock our savior.
The Psalmist tells us “Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the recesses of your home; your children like olive plants around your table.” Christ is the fruitful vine, and the converts we bring into the church are our children. This is how Paul addresses the churches in his letters, and how the new spiritual family is born. Priests minister to their congregations like a father to sons and daughters, and all of us lay people disciple each other.
We are no longer bound by ordinary flesh and blood. The body Christ gave for the world has superseded the rib that Adam sacrificed for Eve. In Heaven there will be no giving and taking in marriage, because everything that we lack we will find in God. On earth Christ has redeemed ordinary marriage because of his grace, but the consecrated religious show us the marriage of Heaven, the redemption and glorification of the original promise in Paradise.
Showing posts with label ordinary time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ordinary time. Show all posts
Monday, October 8, 2012
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Link to Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/073111.shtml
Jesus satisfies!
This is the message to take away from Scripture today. When we speak to other people about the wonder of Christ, we usually start with salvation and the forgiveness of sins. Which is good, but it’s very theological and can sometimes sound empty if we forget why we salvation is good, why we want to be forgiven. It’s because Jesus satisfies us completely, in a way that nothing else does.
Like the first reading says, we are thirsty, and we come to the water. We are poor, but receive grain and eat. We pay no price, but eat rich food and drink wine and milk. These are metaphors, but they tell us that what is lacking in us in found in Jesus Christ. The best reason for getting to know Jesus, is that life is better with Him.
The second reading is powerful, and deserves to be read multiple times. Because what will separate us from the love of Christ? Not anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or death, or life, or present things, or future things; none of these can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, and that is a powerful statement.
When we struggle with temptation, what is it that we believe in that moment? We know that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, and this is a love that satisfies, which gives us everything we need. Do we believe that? Or when we are tempted, do we believe that temptation is more powerful? This is the lie we tell ourselves, to convince ourselves to fail. Because Christ’s love is powerful and allows to conquer overwhelmingly the things which stand in our way.
Do we remember all that times that Jesus satisfies us? It is easy to forget, when there is always a new problem or a new worry. But let us take time right now to remember the good things that God has brought us, and how He has always been with us. Because God is good all the time, and all the time He will satisfy us if we will take and eat.
When Jesus feeds the five thousand, He is given five loaves and two fish. But He blesses that food, and when all is finished there is twelve baskets of food left over. What we have to give, is not enough for God’s work in the world; but with Jesus, everything we have is taken and multiplied until not only is there enough, but there is more than enough to satisfy.
When Jesus fed the five thousand, there were twelve baskets of food left over. What should be done with those twelve baskets? God satisfies us with more than we need, so the next logical thing is to bring the extra to those who are still unsatisfied. We have been given more of God’s love than we can hold, and so we must share it!
This is the good news, that we can be satisfied! And not by spending enough money, or dieting enough, or having enough sex or attention; we will be satisfied by the love of Jesus, if we only take and eat of it.
Jesus satisfies!
This is the message to take away from Scripture today. When we speak to other people about the wonder of Christ, we usually start with salvation and the forgiveness of sins. Which is good, but it’s very theological and can sometimes sound empty if we forget why we salvation is good, why we want to be forgiven. It’s because Jesus satisfies us completely, in a way that nothing else does.
Like the first reading says, we are thirsty, and we come to the water. We are poor, but receive grain and eat. We pay no price, but eat rich food and drink wine and milk. These are metaphors, but they tell us that what is lacking in us in found in Jesus Christ. The best reason for getting to know Jesus, is that life is better with Him.
The second reading is powerful, and deserves to be read multiple times. Because what will separate us from the love of Christ? Not anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or death, or life, or present things, or future things; none of these can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, and that is a powerful statement.
When we struggle with temptation, what is it that we believe in that moment? We know that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, and this is a love that satisfies, which gives us everything we need. Do we believe that? Or when we are tempted, do we believe that temptation is more powerful? This is the lie we tell ourselves, to convince ourselves to fail. Because Christ’s love is powerful and allows to conquer overwhelmingly the things which stand in our way.
Do we remember all that times that Jesus satisfies us? It is easy to forget, when there is always a new problem or a new worry. But let us take time right now to remember the good things that God has brought us, and how He has always been with us. Because God is good all the time, and all the time He will satisfy us if we will take and eat.
When Jesus feeds the five thousand, He is given five loaves and two fish. But He blesses that food, and when all is finished there is twelve baskets of food left over. What we have to give, is not enough for God’s work in the world; but with Jesus, everything we have is taken and multiplied until not only is there enough, but there is more than enough to satisfy.
When Jesus fed the five thousand, there were twelve baskets of food left over. What should be done with those twelve baskets? God satisfies us with more than we need, so the next logical thing is to bring the extra to those who are still unsatisfied. We have been given more of God’s love than we can hold, and so we must share it!
This is the good news, that we can be satisfied! And not by spending enough money, or dieting enough, or having enough sex or attention; we will be satisfied by the love of Jesus, if we only take and eat of it.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Link to Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/072411.shtml
“Lord, I love your commands.”
That’s really the trick, isn’t it? If the story of Solomon teaches us anything, it’s that it’s not enough to know what is right. We can be as wise and as understanding as God, but if we don’t want to do what’s right we won’t. We will end up resenting the right thing to do, and hate ourselves. With good reason; I wouldn’t like someone either who forced themselves to do one thing, while being jealous of everyone else doing another and having way more fun doing it.
It’s not enough to do good because it is good. Actions alone do not merit Heaven, we have to change our desires as well. To be holy is to be free to do whatever you want, because everything you want is good to do. When our hearts conform to God’s will, we will be satisfied.
God encourages us in this, and “all things work for good for those who love God.” But learning to love God is the hard part, because God’s commands are often opposite to what we learn is satisfying. For those who want to be chaste, they may want to follow God but they also want be sexually active like the people around them. For those who want to be merciful, it’s hard when what you really want is to get revenge.
This is why Jesus describes the kingdom of Heaven in different ways, because each way gives a new meaning as to why we want it.
First, the kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure. We may or may not be looking for it, but when we find it we know it is better than anything else we have. And it is worth giving up everything to have it.
Second, the kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant. The kingdom is also looking for us, and God will do everything to bring us to Him. While the kingdom is a treasure without equal, to God, so are we.
Third, the kingdom of Heaven is like a fishing net. The people who are not worthy of it will not inherit it. It is a prize, and so, so good, but it will not be forced upon us. We who do not choose it will not receive it.
Why would we love God’s commands? Because in the kingdom of Heaven means free love, in the true sense of that phrase. Hate and sin bind us, bind us in jealousy, discontent, anger, despair, and every other chain. But God’s commands are not weights around our feet, but the sturdy bones of the Body of Christ. They hold us steady when we try to follow God, and when we are weak we lean on them. God’s commands are the first step on our road away from sin, and we love because they lead us to God. And when we know God, we love them because the commands are good.
It’s hard to describe the kingdom without sounding cutesy. When we are building the kingdom of Heaven on earth, we are loving others and they love us. What we want most of all is to be loved, just for who we are. When we are in the kingdom, we tear down the walls in ourselves and between us and others that keeps us from that love. But that openness does not come natural to us, and so God’s commands are our first teachers in love.
“Lord, I love your commands.”
That’s really the trick, isn’t it? If the story of Solomon teaches us anything, it’s that it’s not enough to know what is right. We can be as wise and as understanding as God, but if we don’t want to do what’s right we won’t. We will end up resenting the right thing to do, and hate ourselves. With good reason; I wouldn’t like someone either who forced themselves to do one thing, while being jealous of everyone else doing another and having way more fun doing it.
It’s not enough to do good because it is good. Actions alone do not merit Heaven, we have to change our desires as well. To be holy is to be free to do whatever you want, because everything you want is good to do. When our hearts conform to God’s will, we will be satisfied.
God encourages us in this, and “all things work for good for those who love God.” But learning to love God is the hard part, because God’s commands are often opposite to what we learn is satisfying. For those who want to be chaste, they may want to follow God but they also want be sexually active like the people around them. For those who want to be merciful, it’s hard when what you really want is to get revenge.
This is why Jesus describes the kingdom of Heaven in different ways, because each way gives a new meaning as to why we want it.
First, the kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure. We may or may not be looking for it, but when we find it we know it is better than anything else we have. And it is worth giving up everything to have it.
Second, the kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant. The kingdom is also looking for us, and God will do everything to bring us to Him. While the kingdom is a treasure without equal, to God, so are we.
Third, the kingdom of Heaven is like a fishing net. The people who are not worthy of it will not inherit it. It is a prize, and so, so good, but it will not be forced upon us. We who do not choose it will not receive it.
Why would we love God’s commands? Because in the kingdom of Heaven means free love, in the true sense of that phrase. Hate and sin bind us, bind us in jealousy, discontent, anger, despair, and every other chain. But God’s commands are not weights around our feet, but the sturdy bones of the Body of Christ. They hold us steady when we try to follow God, and when we are weak we lean on them. God’s commands are the first step on our road away from sin, and we love because they lead us to God. And when we know God, we love them because the commands are good.
It’s hard to describe the kingdom without sounding cutesy. When we are building the kingdom of Heaven on earth, we are loving others and they love us. What we want most of all is to be loved, just for who we are. When we are in the kingdom, we tear down the walls in ourselves and between us and others that keeps us from that love. But that openness does not come natural to us, and so God’s commands are our first teachers in love.
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Link to Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/071711.shtml
What is our hope?
In this week’s Gospel, Jesus lays out the kingdom of Heaven in clear black and white. He tells us that there are children of the kingdom, and children of the evil one; the children of the evil one are those who cause others to sin and all evildoers. These are the ones who will be condemned to hell.
The readings last week and this week emphasize that there are only two choices in life; we are either of God or against Him. If we do not listen to the message of salvation and act on it, we will suffer for our evil because our God is a God of justice.
It’s not a comforting image of God. If this is all we had, God would not be our hope but our fear. And while Scripture says that “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” it is just the beginning. Read these words of the First Reading again:
“But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency, and with much lenience you govern us; for power, whenever you will, attends you. And you taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind; and you gave your children good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins.”
Who of us could hope to be spared, if everyone who sins and causes others to sin will be condemned? But our God is NOT just the God of justice, but also of mercy; “You, O Lord, are good and forgiving,/ abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.” His strength is not that of the tyrant, who must punish all trespassers because he is fearful of rebellion. The strength of our God is complete in its confidence, and is strong enough not to fear sinners, but to love and pity them. This is what we hear in the Psalm, and they are not just empty words.
Sometimes, it is easy to think that God judges us like the worst kind of gym teacher. We think that God sets impossible standards, and then punishes us when we fall short. But God isn’t like that, God is like the yeast that makes bread rise. Alone, the bread remains flat and when it bakes it will be hard. But with yeast, the bread rises and becomes soft and fluffy. Yeast makes bread better; God makes us better, lifts us when we cannot lift ourselves.
We are not as we should be. We are weak, and sometimes we deny God because we want to be better liked. Sometimes we sin because it’s harder not to. Sometimes we hate goodness, and we hurt ourselves or others simply because it is bad. But God, in infinite power, does not immediately punish us but comes to the aid of our weakness. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us, and is there even when we would reject Him. God does not give up on us.
The kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed. Though it may start out small and weak within us, it can grow larger than we can imagine, and we can a shelter for all those looking for Christ.
Our hope is the strength of God, because the God of justice taught us the just must be kind. His strength, though it starts out small within us, can grow until we have the strength to follow Him. His strength gives us power against sin, and courage against despair. Our hope is the strength of God, that is strong enough to show mercy.
What is our hope?
In this week’s Gospel, Jesus lays out the kingdom of Heaven in clear black and white. He tells us that there are children of the kingdom, and children of the evil one; the children of the evil one are those who cause others to sin and all evildoers. These are the ones who will be condemned to hell.
The readings last week and this week emphasize that there are only two choices in life; we are either of God or against Him. If we do not listen to the message of salvation and act on it, we will suffer for our evil because our God is a God of justice.
It’s not a comforting image of God. If this is all we had, God would not be our hope but our fear. And while Scripture says that “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” it is just the beginning. Read these words of the First Reading again:
“But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency, and with much lenience you govern us; for power, whenever you will, attends you. And you taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind; and you gave your children good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins.”
Who of us could hope to be spared, if everyone who sins and causes others to sin will be condemned? But our God is NOT just the God of justice, but also of mercy; “You, O Lord, are good and forgiving,/ abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.” His strength is not that of the tyrant, who must punish all trespassers because he is fearful of rebellion. The strength of our God is complete in its confidence, and is strong enough not to fear sinners, but to love and pity them. This is what we hear in the Psalm, and they are not just empty words.
Sometimes, it is easy to think that God judges us like the worst kind of gym teacher. We think that God sets impossible standards, and then punishes us when we fall short. But God isn’t like that, God is like the yeast that makes bread rise. Alone, the bread remains flat and when it bakes it will be hard. But with yeast, the bread rises and becomes soft and fluffy. Yeast makes bread better; God makes us better, lifts us when we cannot lift ourselves.
We are not as we should be. We are weak, and sometimes we deny God because we want to be better liked. Sometimes we sin because it’s harder not to. Sometimes we hate goodness, and we hurt ourselves or others simply because it is bad. But God, in infinite power, does not immediately punish us but comes to the aid of our weakness. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us, and is there even when we would reject Him. God does not give up on us.
The kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed. Though it may start out small and weak within us, it can grow larger than we can imagine, and we can a shelter for all those looking for Christ.
Our hope is the strength of God, because the God of justice taught us the just must be kind. His strength, though it starts out small within us, can grow until we have the strength to follow Him. His strength gives us power against sin, and courage against despair. Our hope is the strength of God, that is strong enough to show mercy.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Link to Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/070311.shtml
“For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
Life isn’t easy. This isn’t a surprise to anyone, not if you’ve ever played sports, or been hurt by someone you love. It’s not easy when we lose our jobs and can’t find work, and it’s not easy when we’re sick and can’t do anything about it. There doesn’t even have to be anything terribly wrong in life for it to be hard; we suffer when we’re lonely, when we don’t know what to do, or make a mistake that hurts someone else. And every day we stumble in sin.
Life isn’t easy for people with addictions, who struggle every day to master themselves. Life isn’t easy for those who are trying to stay chaste. And in a thousand different ways we can keep going with a laundry list of things that make life hard, and we are all Christians. So when Jesus says “my yoke is easy, and my burden light,” it is one of the most frustrating things we can hear. What does it mean?
It means we are different if Christ is in our lives, and we live by the Spirit. Even though the Spirit of God lives in us, we still cling to the life of the flesh. And Paul doesn’t mean physical flesh, but everything the world embraces. When celebrities encourage us to act like them, that is life according to flesh; when we think success means wealth, or fame, or recognition, that is life according to the flesh. When we try to do things without God, that is life according the flesh.
We have been given the Spirit of God inside of us. We believe that all things are possible with Christ who strengthens us. This is not something the people who are successful in the world can teach us. This is something that people who are weak, the “little ones” who relied on Christ can teach us.
We are not strong enough. We are not strong enough to overcome addiction, to take care of our families, to serve God without God.
Sometimes it feels like a cliché to talk about relying on God. But it’s amazing; when we start praying more, not just once a day but throughout our day; when we start asking Jesus for help things do become easier. Sadness lightens up a little bit, and we can endure.
But this is when we put ourselves under His yoke. When we try to do things outside of what God wants for us, things feel more like we are swimming upstream. Following God means following God, and sometimes that means going where we are afraid to go. Sometimes we are afraid to tithe, to follow God’s call to marriage or the religious life. Sometimes we are afraid to forgive people who have hurt us, and sometimes we are afraid to reach out to someone who needs our help.
Make no mistake, following God isn’t always easy, and there are plenty of saints who have suffered. But knowing Jesus means not being alone; it means having someone who loves you to suffer with you, and support you. Trust in God and the things you need will come.
Faith is hard, because we struggle so much with giving up control. But for all of us who struggle and are overburdened, giving up control is exactly what we need to do. Fighting against God will wear us out and leave us unsatisfied. But in Jesus Christ there is rest, and balm in Gilead. “For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
“For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
Life isn’t easy. This isn’t a surprise to anyone, not if you’ve ever played sports, or been hurt by someone you love. It’s not easy when we lose our jobs and can’t find work, and it’s not easy when we’re sick and can’t do anything about it. There doesn’t even have to be anything terribly wrong in life for it to be hard; we suffer when we’re lonely, when we don’t know what to do, or make a mistake that hurts someone else. And every day we stumble in sin.
Life isn’t easy for people with addictions, who struggle every day to master themselves. Life isn’t easy for those who are trying to stay chaste. And in a thousand different ways we can keep going with a laundry list of things that make life hard, and we are all Christians. So when Jesus says “my yoke is easy, and my burden light,” it is one of the most frustrating things we can hear. What does it mean?
It means we are different if Christ is in our lives, and we live by the Spirit. Even though the Spirit of God lives in us, we still cling to the life of the flesh. And Paul doesn’t mean physical flesh, but everything the world embraces. When celebrities encourage us to act like them, that is life according to flesh; when we think success means wealth, or fame, or recognition, that is life according to the flesh. When we try to do things without God, that is life according the flesh.
We have been given the Spirit of God inside of us. We believe that all things are possible with Christ who strengthens us. This is not something the people who are successful in the world can teach us. This is something that people who are weak, the “little ones” who relied on Christ can teach us.
We are not strong enough. We are not strong enough to overcome addiction, to take care of our families, to serve God without God.
Sometimes it feels like a cliché to talk about relying on God. But it’s amazing; when we start praying more, not just once a day but throughout our day; when we start asking Jesus for help things do become easier. Sadness lightens up a little bit, and we can endure.
But this is when we put ourselves under His yoke. When we try to do things outside of what God wants for us, things feel more like we are swimming upstream. Following God means following God, and sometimes that means going where we are afraid to go. Sometimes we are afraid to tithe, to follow God’s call to marriage or the religious life. Sometimes we are afraid to forgive people who have hurt us, and sometimes we are afraid to reach out to someone who needs our help.
Make no mistake, following God isn’t always easy, and there are plenty of saints who have suffered. But knowing Jesus means not being alone; it means having someone who loves you to suffer with you, and support you. Trust in God and the things you need will come.
Faith is hard, because we struggle so much with giving up control. But for all of us who struggle and are overburdened, giving up control is exactly what we need to do. Fighting against God will wear us out and leave us unsatisfied. But in Jesus Christ there is rest, and balm in Gilead. “For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Link to Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/030611.shtml
“I set before you here, this day, a blessing and a curse.”
These past few weeks Scripture has been emphasizing, over and again that we have two choices: God or destruction. Today continues this theme, but also questions what it means to make the choice for God. We as Christians say we have faith, but what does it mean to believe in Jesus as our Savior?
This is what we believe: that we are sinners, and therefore not righteous. God is righteous, and even though following the Law would make us righteous, no one could do it perfectly. But Jesus died for our redemption, and we are justified as righteous by His grace. Because of Jesus, we can be like God.
Paul tells us: “For we consider that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” This means we cannot become righteous by our own merits following the do’s and don’ts of the law; we can only become righteous through Jesus, whose grace is available for all who believe. For we consider that a person is justified by faith.
But faith is more than believing Jesus exists. Even Jesus said “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” The Church becomes so divided between people saying that we are saved through faith, or saved through faith and works, but it is a pointless debate because there should be no distinction. There is no faith separate from works of our hands, and likewise there should be no work separate from our faith if we are God’s people.
But what kind of works? Even if we do miracles and great things in the name of Jesus, we are told that isn’t enough for Heaven. It is only those who do the will of God who will enter the kingdom of Heaven. This then is faith: to acknowledge Jesus as our Savior from sin, and follow the will of God in every action of our life.
The psalmist know what it means to live a life for God: “Be my rock of refuge,/ a stronghold to give me safety. / You are my rock and my fortress;/ for your name’s sake you will lead and guide me.” It is not enough for us to be churchgoers; Jesus did not come to establish churches, He came to make disciples. Disciples follow their master closely, believing every word as truth and doing everything he says. How faithful are we?
This week the Church begins Lent, a time when we strip away the things that cover our eyes against God. So often we hear God’s voice, but we are scared or too comfortable to listen. In Lent, in the desert, there is less to stop us from listening to God. This is why the poor are blessed, because all they possess is the Lord.
Let us be faithful. God is our savior, and there is none like Him. This Lent, let us listen when He speaks to us, and not turn away from the way He has ordained for us.
“I set before you here, this day, a blessing and a curse.”
These past few weeks Scripture has been emphasizing, over and again that we have two choices: God or destruction. Today continues this theme, but also questions what it means to make the choice for God. We as Christians say we have faith, but what does it mean to believe in Jesus as our Savior?
This is what we believe: that we are sinners, and therefore not righteous. God is righteous, and even though following the Law would make us righteous, no one could do it perfectly. But Jesus died for our redemption, and we are justified as righteous by His grace. Because of Jesus, we can be like God.
Paul tells us: “For we consider that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” This means we cannot become righteous by our own merits following the do’s and don’ts of the law; we can only become righteous through Jesus, whose grace is available for all who believe. For we consider that a person is justified by faith.
But faith is more than believing Jesus exists. Even Jesus said “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” The Church becomes so divided between people saying that we are saved through faith, or saved through faith and works, but it is a pointless debate because there should be no distinction. There is no faith separate from works of our hands, and likewise there should be no work separate from our faith if we are God’s people.
But what kind of works? Even if we do miracles and great things in the name of Jesus, we are told that isn’t enough for Heaven. It is only those who do the will of God who will enter the kingdom of Heaven. This then is faith: to acknowledge Jesus as our Savior from sin, and follow the will of God in every action of our life.
The psalmist know what it means to live a life for God: “Be my rock of refuge,/ a stronghold to give me safety. / You are my rock and my fortress;/ for your name’s sake you will lead and guide me.” It is not enough for us to be churchgoers; Jesus did not come to establish churches, He came to make disciples. Disciples follow their master closely, believing every word as truth and doing everything he says. How faithful are we?
This week the Church begins Lent, a time when we strip away the things that cover our eyes against God. So often we hear God’s voice, but we are scared or too comfortable to listen. In Lent, in the desert, there is less to stop us from listening to God. This is why the poor are blessed, because all they possess is the Lord.
Let us be faithful. God is our savior, and there is none like Him. This Lent, let us listen when He speaks to us, and not turn away from the way He has ordained for us.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Link to Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/022711.shtml
There are few things more comforting, or more scary, than God watching over us at every moment.
The first reading reminds us that God’s love is stronger and more enduring than anything else we know. Even compared to the love of a mother for her child, God’s love for us is stronger than that. He will never forget us, and cannot possibly forsake us. He and us are connected more strongly than that, and His spirit dwells within us. Not a hair on our head goes uncounted, and every tear and smile He notices.
This is why Jesus tells us not to worry. Because of God, we are transformed. Life is now about more than food or clothes, money or respect. In fact, Paul tells us he holds the judgments of others as no account. God is mighty, and if we hold to our faith God will see us through. We will suffer sometimes. But even in our loneliest hour God wraps His arms around us, and we are never alone. “Even should a mother forget her child, I will never forget you.”
But if He is always with us in our suffering, He is also always with us in our prosperity. When things are going well, and we judge or shun others, He notices. When we choose not to serve God, even in the smallest moments He is watching over us, loving us, but also grieving at our choices. Because Paul reminds us that no one judges us but the Lord, but the Lord will judge us at the appointed time. “He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will manifest the motives of our hearts.”
The Lord is our rock and our salvation, steadfast and everlasting. But it is faithfulness which is required to cling to that rock. Today is the second week in a row where Jesus compares the children of God to the pagans. It is the pagans this week who constantly worry about what they will drink, what they will eat; last week we read that even the pagans are good to their friends. But because we know Jesus our lives should be different than if we didn’t.
Our loyalty should be visible; “faith is proof of what is hoped for, and evidence of things unseen.” If we have faith in God, then our faith is our assurance that God will provide for us. Our faith is evidence of God’s loyalty and love to us. God knows what we need, and we need not worry about what is lacking in our lives. Not that we should stop working and lie on the ground, trusting God to put food in our mouths. But that if we trust God He will take charge of our lives and they will be good. They will be holy.
Do not worry about tomorrow, sufficient for today is its own evil. Trust God and His judgments, and distrust your own. We are not called to be wise, but to be faithful. We are God’s people, and the only judgment we should be concerned with is God’s.
God’s love is ever faithful, and always watching over us.
There are few things more comforting, or more scary, than God watching over us at every moment.
The first reading reminds us that God’s love is stronger and more enduring than anything else we know. Even compared to the love of a mother for her child, God’s love for us is stronger than that. He will never forget us, and cannot possibly forsake us. He and us are connected more strongly than that, and His spirit dwells within us. Not a hair on our head goes uncounted, and every tear and smile He notices.
This is why Jesus tells us not to worry. Because of God, we are transformed. Life is now about more than food or clothes, money or respect. In fact, Paul tells us he holds the judgments of others as no account. God is mighty, and if we hold to our faith God will see us through. We will suffer sometimes. But even in our loneliest hour God wraps His arms around us, and we are never alone. “Even should a mother forget her child, I will never forget you.”
But if He is always with us in our suffering, He is also always with us in our prosperity. When things are going well, and we judge or shun others, He notices. When we choose not to serve God, even in the smallest moments He is watching over us, loving us, but also grieving at our choices. Because Paul reminds us that no one judges us but the Lord, but the Lord will judge us at the appointed time. “He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will manifest the motives of our hearts.”
The Lord is our rock and our salvation, steadfast and everlasting. But it is faithfulness which is required to cling to that rock. Today is the second week in a row where Jesus compares the children of God to the pagans. It is the pagans this week who constantly worry about what they will drink, what they will eat; last week we read that even the pagans are good to their friends. But because we know Jesus our lives should be different than if we didn’t.
Our loyalty should be visible; “faith is proof of what is hoped for, and evidence of things unseen.” If we have faith in God, then our faith is our assurance that God will provide for us. Our faith is evidence of God’s loyalty and love to us. God knows what we need, and we need not worry about what is lacking in our lives. Not that we should stop working and lie on the ground, trusting God to put food in our mouths. But that if we trust God He will take charge of our lives and they will be good. They will be holy.
Do not worry about tomorrow, sufficient for today is its own evil. Trust God and His judgments, and distrust your own. We are not called to be wise, but to be faithful. We are God’s people, and the only judgment we should be concerned with is God’s.
God’s love is ever faithful, and always watching over us.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Link to Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/022011.shtml
Don’t be afraid to be holy.
The phrase “Don’t be afraid” is occurs more time in Scripture than any other. This is because the Lord our God is with us, and He is mighty in power. Today, the readings tell us not to be afraid to be holy. In fact, be reckless with your goodness. Last week the readings emphasized what is at stake when we sin; we either choose God or Hell. This week continues that theme; because the stakes are so high, we should be overly cautious and err far on the side of God. We should not be careful to act too foolishly in our goodness, because the alternative is to not act good enough. And if we make that choice, we condemn ourselves. Much better to be foolish, ridiculous, and contemptible for how holy we carry ourselves.
So if someone hits us, we should not get angry, or get even. We should offer our other cheek to make sure we commit no sin that would condemn us. This is what we are told in the first reading “You shall not bear hatred for your brother or sister in your heart. Though you may have to reprove your fellow citizen, do not incur sin because of him.”
This isn’t wisdom. We all know that it isn’t smart to give someone our coat because they demand our shirt. It’s not just, it’s not fair, nobody is getting what they deserve. But this isn’t about that. Our God is the God of the just, and the wicked who take advantage of our foolishness will meet justice here or at their judgment. The idea is that holiness is too precious to give up.
Jesus ends the Gospel with the phrase “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” It is not just by being cautious in holiness that we will be like God, but by being reckless as well. We should love our enemies against all reason, and forgive the people who have hurt us past all sense. As Christians, we are concerned with Heaven and with nothing else. Do not be afraid to be taken advantage of, or be hurt. God is with us.
Does this mean we should not work for justice, that we should not fight for people who are wronged? No. It means that we should be cautious, that in fighting for justice we do not swerve into revenge. We should stand up for the truth, and reprove our neighbor. But we should not if we can’t do it without sinning. This is where Jesus warns us to take the log out of our own eye before we take a speck of wood out of another’s. But with our caution against sinning, God let us be foolish in love. Let us go two miles with the man who demands we go one. Let us love even the people who insult us, that we hate because of how they make us feel. It is not smart or wise, but God knows the thoughts of us who want to be smart, and knows that they are selfish and vain.
Do not be afraid to be hurt. Be both cautious and foolish, slow to reprove and hasty to embrace.
Don’t be afraid to be holy.
The phrase “Don’t be afraid” is occurs more time in Scripture than any other. This is because the Lord our God is with us, and He is mighty in power. Today, the readings tell us not to be afraid to be holy. In fact, be reckless with your goodness. Last week the readings emphasized what is at stake when we sin; we either choose God or Hell. This week continues that theme; because the stakes are so high, we should be overly cautious and err far on the side of God. We should not be careful to act too foolishly in our goodness, because the alternative is to not act good enough. And if we make that choice, we condemn ourselves. Much better to be foolish, ridiculous, and contemptible for how holy we carry ourselves.
So if someone hits us, we should not get angry, or get even. We should offer our other cheek to make sure we commit no sin that would condemn us. This is what we are told in the first reading “You shall not bear hatred for your brother or sister in your heart. Though you may have to reprove your fellow citizen, do not incur sin because of him.”
This isn’t wisdom. We all know that it isn’t smart to give someone our coat because they demand our shirt. It’s not just, it’s not fair, nobody is getting what they deserve. But this isn’t about that. Our God is the God of the just, and the wicked who take advantage of our foolishness will meet justice here or at their judgment. The idea is that holiness is too precious to give up.
Jesus ends the Gospel with the phrase “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” It is not just by being cautious in holiness that we will be like God, but by being reckless as well. We should love our enemies against all reason, and forgive the people who have hurt us past all sense. As Christians, we are concerned with Heaven and with nothing else. Do not be afraid to be taken advantage of, or be hurt. God is with us.
Does this mean we should not work for justice, that we should not fight for people who are wronged? No. It means that we should be cautious, that in fighting for justice we do not swerve into revenge. We should stand up for the truth, and reprove our neighbor. But we should not if we can’t do it without sinning. This is where Jesus warns us to take the log out of our own eye before we take a speck of wood out of another’s. But with our caution against sinning, God let us be foolish in love. Let us go two miles with the man who demands we go one. Let us love even the people who insult us, that we hate because of how they make us feel. It is not smart or wise, but God knows the thoughts of us who want to be smart, and knows that they are selfish and vain.
Do not be afraid to be hurt. Be both cautious and foolish, slow to reprove and hasty to embrace.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Link to Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/021311.shtml
How much?
How much do we have to give God, how closely do we have to follow His commandments? How much will be asked of us to be holy, how much will we have to sacrifice? Everything, all of them, everything, all of it.
This is the message today: there is no halfway to Heaven. We have before us fire and water, Heaven or Gehenna. Gehenna was the place in Jerusalem where people came to throw away their trash. It was a huge pit, that burned day and night. This is what Jesus puts before us, to be members of the kingdom of Heaven, or trash to be burned away.
We read the Gospel and immediately want to soften it. “He can’t mean literally cut out your eye, Jesus just wants us to do everything we can to avoid sin.” “He can’t mean that looking at a woman with lust is the same as adultery, He’s just over exaggerating to make His point.”
But this is the point, that Jesus sees clearly He cannot overemphasize. The stakes are too high; if you cannot keep from looking at a woman in lust, if everything fails before your desire, absolutely cut it out. You must do whatever you have to, to avoid the fire. Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. We are now not only bound by the letter, but by the spirit as well.
It’s easy to think that this kind of absolute holiness is only meant for a select few. In the Church, we have priests and monks and nuns who we expect to be holy, but we don’t hold ourselves to the same standard. Because we are not consecrated to God, we feel that the bar is set lower for us. We only have to be mostly good, because only a few people can be Mother Teresas.
That is a lie. “No one does he command to act unjustly,/ to none does he give license to sin.” We are a holy kingdom, and by our Confirmation we are made a royal priesthood. We are all ministers of God, and clergy are only supposed to be ministers to members of the Church. Perfection is demanded of all of us, however sinful we may feel.
And that’s the issue. No one feels good enough to be perfect. Too much of the time, it’s hard enough to just be ok. We are asked to be pure water in a brackish pond, and it’s hard to separate ourselves from the muck. How can we be in the world and not of it?
But God has revealed His wisdom through the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit bubbles up within us as a pure fountain. We are purified because Christ is holy, and He is in us. God is MIGHTY and we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, even perfection.
The past few weeks the readings have circled around the idea of obedience to God. Obedience teaches us humility, and forces us to make room for God in our lives. We can only be perfect if He is there, and obedience not only teaches how to be perfect, like a parent teaches a child to pray by folding their hands for them, but frees us from the burden of perfection by ourselves.
The glory of what we believe is that we are not alone. Jesus is with us, in our suffering on the cross, and in our joy in our hearts. Perfection does not always have to be drudgery, but it can also be joy. When the law becomes our desire, and not our command, that is when we are progressing along the path of the Lord.
How much shall we give? Everything, because the stakes could not be higher.
But we are not alone, and the Church walks together with each other and Jesus in poverty and perfection.
How much?
How much do we have to give God, how closely do we have to follow His commandments? How much will be asked of us to be holy, how much will we have to sacrifice? Everything, all of them, everything, all of it.
This is the message today: there is no halfway to Heaven. We have before us fire and water, Heaven or Gehenna. Gehenna was the place in Jerusalem where people came to throw away their trash. It was a huge pit, that burned day and night. This is what Jesus puts before us, to be members of the kingdom of Heaven, or trash to be burned away.
We read the Gospel and immediately want to soften it. “He can’t mean literally cut out your eye, Jesus just wants us to do everything we can to avoid sin.” “He can’t mean that looking at a woman with lust is the same as adultery, He’s just over exaggerating to make His point.”
But this is the point, that Jesus sees clearly He cannot overemphasize. The stakes are too high; if you cannot keep from looking at a woman in lust, if everything fails before your desire, absolutely cut it out. You must do whatever you have to, to avoid the fire. Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. We are now not only bound by the letter, but by the spirit as well.
It’s easy to think that this kind of absolute holiness is only meant for a select few. In the Church, we have priests and monks and nuns who we expect to be holy, but we don’t hold ourselves to the same standard. Because we are not consecrated to God, we feel that the bar is set lower for us. We only have to be mostly good, because only a few people can be Mother Teresas.
That is a lie. “No one does he command to act unjustly,/ to none does he give license to sin.” We are a holy kingdom, and by our Confirmation we are made a royal priesthood. We are all ministers of God, and clergy are only supposed to be ministers to members of the Church. Perfection is demanded of all of us, however sinful we may feel.
And that’s the issue. No one feels good enough to be perfect. Too much of the time, it’s hard enough to just be ok. We are asked to be pure water in a brackish pond, and it’s hard to separate ourselves from the muck. How can we be in the world and not of it?
But God has revealed His wisdom through the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit bubbles up within us as a pure fountain. We are purified because Christ is holy, and He is in us. God is MIGHTY and we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, even perfection.
The past few weeks the readings have circled around the idea of obedience to God. Obedience teaches us humility, and forces us to make room for God in our lives. We can only be perfect if He is there, and obedience not only teaches how to be perfect, like a parent teaches a child to pray by folding their hands for them, but frees us from the burden of perfection by ourselves.
The glory of what we believe is that we are not alone. Jesus is with us, in our suffering on the cross, and in our joy in our hearts. Perfection does not always have to be drudgery, but it can also be joy. When the law becomes our desire, and not our command, that is when we are progressing along the path of the Lord.
How much shall we give? Everything, because the stakes could not be higher.
But we are not alone, and the Church walks together with each other and Jesus in poverty and perfection.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Link to Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/020611.shtml
To be Christian is not very complicated. We do not have to be smart, or clever, wise, or strong. This is what it means to follow God: Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless, clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own people. Build your faith not on human wisdom, but on the mighty power of God.
If we do these things, God will recognize us as His own, we will cry for help and He will hear us. If we work for justice, Isaiah says our wounds will be healed and our vindication go out before us. The psalmist says that our justice will endure forever, and our horn exalted in glory. In the Lord’s justice, we shall find salvation.
But Jesus also tells us that justice has been left to us. “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?” If we will not share our bread, or clothe the naked, then who will? We are called to be salt and light, simple basic things. But it is on these things that all else depends. If a light in the darkness goes out, then there is only darkness. If salt loses its flavor, there is no other seasoning which can replace it.
God no longer works thunder and lighting to establish His kingdom on earth, but relies on His people. The glory of God is now seen only through our good deeds, and the words with which we proclaim His name. If we will not make justice then who will? If we will not speak about God, then who else will?
When Paul speaks to the Corinthians, he reminds them that when he visited he did not wow them with fancy speeches, or secret knowledge. He did not put on a good show, or have awesome music to persuade them to love God. He came in weakness and fear, and spoke only with the Spirit and power.
We forget sometimes the power of God. We are called to do so much, and there is such a thirst for justice in the world. We want to be strong to fix everything, and we are afraid when we think ourselves too small or weak to do it. But in our weakness the mighty power of God shines through. Salt and light are such small things. But the tiniest light throws back the darkness, and a little bit of salt goes a long way to season food. God does not need our strength, but our weakness so that His glory might be present.
God will confirm us in strength we do not have. “He shall never be moved;/ the just one shall be in everlasting remembrance./ An evil report he shall not fear;/ his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.” We must trust God, and make justice where we are. If we do so, God will make miracles happen.
To be Christian is not very complicated. We do not have to be smart, or clever, wise, or strong. This is what it means to follow God: Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless, clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own people. Build your faith not on human wisdom, but on the mighty power of God.
If we do these things, God will recognize us as His own, we will cry for help and He will hear us. If we work for justice, Isaiah says our wounds will be healed and our vindication go out before us. The psalmist says that our justice will endure forever, and our horn exalted in glory. In the Lord’s justice, we shall find salvation.
But Jesus also tells us that justice has been left to us. “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?” If we will not share our bread, or clothe the naked, then who will? We are called to be salt and light, simple basic things. But it is on these things that all else depends. If a light in the darkness goes out, then there is only darkness. If salt loses its flavor, there is no other seasoning which can replace it.
God no longer works thunder and lighting to establish His kingdom on earth, but relies on His people. The glory of God is now seen only through our good deeds, and the words with which we proclaim His name. If we will not make justice then who will? If we will not speak about God, then who else will?
When Paul speaks to the Corinthians, he reminds them that when he visited he did not wow them with fancy speeches, or secret knowledge. He did not put on a good show, or have awesome music to persuade them to love God. He came in weakness and fear, and spoke only with the Spirit and power.
We forget sometimes the power of God. We are called to do so much, and there is such a thirst for justice in the world. We want to be strong to fix everything, and we are afraid when we think ourselves too small or weak to do it. But in our weakness the mighty power of God shines through. Salt and light are such small things. But the tiniest light throws back the darkness, and a little bit of salt goes a long way to season food. God does not need our strength, but our weakness so that His glory might be present.
God will confirm us in strength we do not have. “He shall never be moved;/ the just one shall be in everlasting remembrance./ An evil report he shall not fear;/ his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.” We must trust God, and make justice where we are. If we do so, God will make miracles happen.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Link to Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/013011.shtml
“The Lord shall reign forever;
Your God, O Zion, through all generations.”
It’s almost obvious to us the saying “Nice guys finish last.” Even the readings today, written thousands of years ago, take for granted that those who lie, cheat, and steal are those who succeed. The world is run by people who have pressed for every advantage over those who have followed the rules and tried to be kind. Nothing has changed in all our long history from that time until now.
But they are not God’s people. “Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth,/ who have observed his law;/ seek justice, seek humility.” Those who obey God are God’s people, and He is the God of justice. He keeps faith forever, secures justice for the oppressed, and sets the captives free. While the readings assume that we know the evil often succeed ahead of the good, they remind us of this fact: The Lord is powerful, and keeps faith with His people. There will be justice.
The Beatitudes affirm this. Those who are weak, but follow God, will find satisfaction. The Lord will not let us suffer forever. Whether in this life or the next, God will remedy our injustice with justice, and our sorrow with joy. It is our part now to have faith, and to believe in the victory He has already won for us.
We think it such an awful thing to be weak. But God has chosen the weak things to shame the strong, the foolish to shame the wise. We believers are not often the CEOs or presidents, the PhDs or millionaires. But God has chosen us, because we have room for Him. It is the weak who are blessed, because they lack and God provides.
In love, there is both giving and receiving. We often would rather give than receive, be strong rather than weak. But there is both in love, and without both there is not love. People who “have everything” do not want to receive; they want to give, of their opinion, of their will, of their influence. They don’t “need” anything, and thus are not open to God. But the weak are. The ones who mourn, who hunger and thirst for justice, who are poor in spirit, who are merciful, who suffer evil spoken falsely against them: all these need God. They are open to receiving from God, and so will be satisfied.
When we are weak, we receive God into our lives. When we are strong we feel we don’t need Him. We should encourage ourselves to be weak, to be vulnerable, to leave room for God in our lives It is hard to be weak. But He is the God of forever, faithful and loyal to the people who have chosen Him; He has promised us we will not suffer forever.
There is balm, in Gilead. There is ease for our suffering in God. Do not be afraid to lean on Him, because He remembers us in our pain. Do not be afraid to need Him. Because in our weakness He has chosen us to be proof of His power in the world, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God.
“The Lord shall reign forever;
Your God, O Zion, through all generations.”
It’s almost obvious to us the saying “Nice guys finish last.” Even the readings today, written thousands of years ago, take for granted that those who lie, cheat, and steal are those who succeed. The world is run by people who have pressed for every advantage over those who have followed the rules and tried to be kind. Nothing has changed in all our long history from that time until now.
But they are not God’s people. “Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth,/ who have observed his law;/ seek justice, seek humility.” Those who obey God are God’s people, and He is the God of justice. He keeps faith forever, secures justice for the oppressed, and sets the captives free. While the readings assume that we know the evil often succeed ahead of the good, they remind us of this fact: The Lord is powerful, and keeps faith with His people. There will be justice.
The Beatitudes affirm this. Those who are weak, but follow God, will find satisfaction. The Lord will not let us suffer forever. Whether in this life or the next, God will remedy our injustice with justice, and our sorrow with joy. It is our part now to have faith, and to believe in the victory He has already won for us.
We think it such an awful thing to be weak. But God has chosen the weak things to shame the strong, the foolish to shame the wise. We believers are not often the CEOs or presidents, the PhDs or millionaires. But God has chosen us, because we have room for Him. It is the weak who are blessed, because they lack and God provides.
In love, there is both giving and receiving. We often would rather give than receive, be strong rather than weak. But there is both in love, and without both there is not love. People who “have everything” do not want to receive; they want to give, of their opinion, of their will, of their influence. They don’t “need” anything, and thus are not open to God. But the weak are. The ones who mourn, who hunger and thirst for justice, who are poor in spirit, who are merciful, who suffer evil spoken falsely against them: all these need God. They are open to receiving from God, and so will be satisfied.
When we are weak, we receive God into our lives. When we are strong we feel we don’t need Him. We should encourage ourselves to be weak, to be vulnerable, to leave room for God in our lives It is hard to be weak. But He is the God of forever, faithful and loyal to the people who have chosen Him; He has promised us we will not suffer forever.
There is balm, in Gilead. There is ease for our suffering in God. Do not be afraid to lean on Him, because He remembers us in our pain. Do not be afraid to need Him. Because in our weakness He has chosen us to be proof of His power in the world, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Link to Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/012311.shtml
Today’s readings are about longing for God, and the suddenness with which He can come.
Longing is something common to everyone. We long for the girl who doesn’t see us, or the job we don’t have. We long for a friend when we are lonely, and for God when we can’t make sense of the suffering. Today the psalmist asks, “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom should I fear?” But he ends with “I believe that I shall see the bounty of the Lord/ in the land of the living./ Wait for the Lord with courage;/ be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord.” He isn’t certain of God, but longs for His certainty and refuge. The psalmist persists in his belief, waiting fervently for the God he cannot feel but believes will come for him. He longs with faith.
In the first reading, longing is fulfilled. Not only has God brought light, and abundant joy, but he has smashed the rod of the taskmaster. Smash is a strong word; God did not remove the rod, He did not break it, but He smashed it with all the force of a man throwing a glass bulb onto the ground. The point is that when God comes, He comes.
Jesus came to Galilee, and invites Simon and Andrew to come with him and be “fishers of men.” They come at once, leaving their nets. Jesus next sees James and John, and when He called to them, they came immediately. These four men then travelled with Jesus as He taught in the synagogues, proclaimed the gospel, and cured every disease and illness among the people.
We get so caught up in our lives, and what we long for, that we can imagine nothing will ever change. We make up a thousand obstacles between us and what we want, and a thousand excuses why we can’t do something. We in the Church may long for holiness, and to be chaste, or forgiving, but we know that this and that and such and such will never let us do it. But God smashed the rod, and Jesus was followed at once and immediately. There is nothing keeping us from lives of holiness, when God is so powerful.
And it is God, only God who will bring us there. The second reading deals with the division among early Christians, where some said they belong to Paul, or others Apollo. But Paul says you fools, it is not me, or Apollo, or Cephas that saved you in your longing but Christ. It was the cross of Christ, and the death He suffered that set all men free, with no divisions. God is more powerful than Paul, than the Pope, or any church, and it is in Him that we find rest from our longing. Sometimes we forget that.
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” The light is not Catholicism, or Lutherism, or non-denominationalism (which divides itself as well), but Christ. Always and only Christ.
Christ is more powerful than anything in our lives. When we long for Him, we should remember the words smash, at once, and immediately. There is nothing keeping us from Him that He cannot overcome. We just have to say yes to the invitation.
Today’s readings are about longing for God, and the suddenness with which He can come.
Longing is something common to everyone. We long for the girl who doesn’t see us, or the job we don’t have. We long for a friend when we are lonely, and for God when we can’t make sense of the suffering. Today the psalmist asks, “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom should I fear?” But he ends with “I believe that I shall see the bounty of the Lord/ in the land of the living./ Wait for the Lord with courage;/ be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord.” He isn’t certain of God, but longs for His certainty and refuge. The psalmist persists in his belief, waiting fervently for the God he cannot feel but believes will come for him. He longs with faith.
In the first reading, longing is fulfilled. Not only has God brought light, and abundant joy, but he has smashed the rod of the taskmaster. Smash is a strong word; God did not remove the rod, He did not break it, but He smashed it with all the force of a man throwing a glass bulb onto the ground. The point is that when God comes, He comes.
Jesus came to Galilee, and invites Simon and Andrew to come with him and be “fishers of men.” They come at once, leaving their nets. Jesus next sees James and John, and when He called to them, they came immediately. These four men then travelled with Jesus as He taught in the synagogues, proclaimed the gospel, and cured every disease and illness among the people.
We get so caught up in our lives, and what we long for, that we can imagine nothing will ever change. We make up a thousand obstacles between us and what we want, and a thousand excuses why we can’t do something. We in the Church may long for holiness, and to be chaste, or forgiving, but we know that this and that and such and such will never let us do it. But God smashed the rod, and Jesus was followed at once and immediately. There is nothing keeping us from lives of holiness, when God is so powerful.
And it is God, only God who will bring us there. The second reading deals with the division among early Christians, where some said they belong to Paul, or others Apollo. But Paul says you fools, it is not me, or Apollo, or Cephas that saved you in your longing but Christ. It was the cross of Christ, and the death He suffered that set all men free, with no divisions. God is more powerful than Paul, than the Pope, or any church, and it is in Him that we find rest from our longing. Sometimes we forget that.
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” The light is not Catholicism, or Lutherism, or non-denominationalism (which divides itself as well), but Christ. Always and only Christ.
Christ is more powerful than anything in our lives. When we long for Him, we should remember the words smash, at once, and immediately. There is nothing keeping us from Him that He cannot overcome. We just have to say yes to the invitation.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Link to Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/011611.shtml
Obedience. What does it mean to obey, to do something whether you will it or not? What is freedom, and is there freedom in obedience?
The readings today focus on obedience, and the reasons why we are obedient to God. The first is that we are obedient, because it is through our obedience that God accomplishes His will. “You are my servant, Israel, through whom I show my glory…I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. “ For this purpose God makes us powerful, and has raised up the weak things of the world to accomplish great purposes.
The second reading tells us that we are to be obedient because we are called to it. We have called upon the name of Christ Jesus to save us, and in return have been sanctified by His blood. Because of our sanctification we are called to be holy, and in holiness is obedience to God. We should be obedient out of gratitude, and respect for what we have been given.
The Psalm says to be obedient, because that is what God desires. “Sacrifice or offering you wished not/ but ears open to obedience you gave me.” Rather than praise of His name, God desires that we follow what He has commanded us to do. Over and over again in Scipture, we are told that we know God’s people by the works that they do. The hymn of praise we sing should always be, “Here I am Lord; I come to do your will.”
These are excellent reasons for obedience. But is it good for us to be obedient? The greatest gift God gave was free will, that we might freely choose God and offer Him our love. But the commands that God gives are often things that I do not want to do. They are hard things, and while they are satisfying in the long run, they are frustrating in the short term. Why is it good, that if God gives us freedom, we should give it up to show our love back? To be obedient, to follow commands like a dog, does not seem the kind of love we are taught is between God us. Does God desire slaves or sons? What good is freedom, if I can never do what I want to do?
God desires sons who are free, and in their freedom always choose Him. Is it more free to choose good or evil as one desires, or to always choose good because that is all you desire? Holiness means becoming the latter. John the Baptist was free, and was obedient to God out of a pure desire for holiness. He did not sin because the law required him not to, but because he loved God and chose good. What is more, the freedom that chooses good out of a holy desire is made grander: “I am made glorious in the sight of the Lord, and my God is now my strength!” With God, much more is open to us, and we can choose things that were beyond our grasp before.
God is powerful. We obey Him because of that, because we owe Him that, it is what He desires, and it is how He accomplishes His purposes on earth. But we do it also so that through obedience He might change our hearts; and with changed hearts we might choose more freely only good things. We obey that we might be free in holiness.
Obedience. What does it mean to obey, to do something whether you will it or not? What is freedom, and is there freedom in obedience?
The readings today focus on obedience, and the reasons why we are obedient to God. The first is that we are obedient, because it is through our obedience that God accomplishes His will. “You are my servant, Israel, through whom I show my glory…I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. “ For this purpose God makes us powerful, and has raised up the weak things of the world to accomplish great purposes.
The second reading tells us that we are to be obedient because we are called to it. We have called upon the name of Christ Jesus to save us, and in return have been sanctified by His blood. Because of our sanctification we are called to be holy, and in holiness is obedience to God. We should be obedient out of gratitude, and respect for what we have been given.
The Psalm says to be obedient, because that is what God desires. “Sacrifice or offering you wished not/ but ears open to obedience you gave me.” Rather than praise of His name, God desires that we follow what He has commanded us to do. Over and over again in Scipture, we are told that we know God’s people by the works that they do. The hymn of praise we sing should always be, “Here I am Lord; I come to do your will.”
These are excellent reasons for obedience. But is it good for us to be obedient? The greatest gift God gave was free will, that we might freely choose God and offer Him our love. But the commands that God gives are often things that I do not want to do. They are hard things, and while they are satisfying in the long run, they are frustrating in the short term. Why is it good, that if God gives us freedom, we should give it up to show our love back? To be obedient, to follow commands like a dog, does not seem the kind of love we are taught is between God us. Does God desire slaves or sons? What good is freedom, if I can never do what I want to do?
God desires sons who are free, and in their freedom always choose Him. Is it more free to choose good or evil as one desires, or to always choose good because that is all you desire? Holiness means becoming the latter. John the Baptist was free, and was obedient to God out of a pure desire for holiness. He did not sin because the law required him not to, but because he loved God and chose good. What is more, the freedom that chooses good out of a holy desire is made grander: “I am made glorious in the sight of the Lord, and my God is now my strength!” With God, much more is open to us, and we can choose things that were beyond our grasp before.
God is powerful. We obey Him because of that, because we owe Him that, it is what He desires, and it is how He accomplishes His purposes on earth. But we do it also so that through obedience He might change our hearts; and with changed hearts we might choose more freely only good things. We obey that we might be free in holiness.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Thirty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Link to Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/111410.shtml
We are afraid of weakness. Everything in our culture encourages us to be the best, the prettiest, the strongest, the smartest…even in reality tv shows we watch people who are encouraged to be the most promiscuous, the most abrasive, and the loudest person they can be. Our culture believes in bullies, because only the person who can force their beliefs to be accepted is allowed to hold those beliefs. Might makes right, and it doesn’t matter whether that right is of God or man because it is the strength of the person or group advocating that counts.
And this is wrong.
Christianity is not about overcoming oppression through strength, but through love. It is ironic; we are commanded to be weak because behind us we have the greatest power in the world. Jesus is stronger than everything, than sin, than death, than all the kings of all the earth. We are called to be weak to let His strength shine through us.
This is why Jesus says to not prepare a defense of yourself beforehand. Because when we are persecuted for His sake, He will give us an eloquence to move the stony hearts of mountains. Sometimes He speaks with our suffering, and the death of His martyrs; but then their blood writes upon the hearts of those who witness them: God is Love. And a Love worth dying for is a powerful sermon to give.
Just the same when Paul tells the church in Thessalonica to work diligently and not mind the business of others. It is weakness to be obedient and take responsibility for yourself, not trying to rise above others. We who would try to give commands to other people seek to gather strength to ourselves, but we are called to be weak and give all our strength to God. That means trusting God to use our brothers and sisters in His Word better than we can.
Because our God is the God of justice. All power and glory are His, and when He comes to rule the world He will take it back upon Himself. We who claim power now will have it stripped from us; we who claim places of honor at the table will be sent down to places of dishonor. But those who fear God, who submit in their weakness to the strength of His love, will be raised up. To seek the power of authority is to seek sovereignty, and ruling over others is God’s province. If we can be weak, we can learn to move with the authority God gives us.
In weakness there is strength, because all the power of God and the Holy Spirit wells up within us. Serving Him in humility lets us act with Him. But to be strong and seek power is to rely upon yourself. If we try to accomplish things through our strength and not God’s, we are doomed to fail because His strength endures forever, not ours.
It is terrifying to be weak, and to give up the power we have. But let us let go, and pray that God moves within us. He can accomplish more than we can even understand.
We are afraid of weakness. Everything in our culture encourages us to be the best, the prettiest, the strongest, the smartest…even in reality tv shows we watch people who are encouraged to be the most promiscuous, the most abrasive, and the loudest person they can be. Our culture believes in bullies, because only the person who can force their beliefs to be accepted is allowed to hold those beliefs. Might makes right, and it doesn’t matter whether that right is of God or man because it is the strength of the person or group advocating that counts.
And this is wrong.
Christianity is not about overcoming oppression through strength, but through love. It is ironic; we are commanded to be weak because behind us we have the greatest power in the world. Jesus is stronger than everything, than sin, than death, than all the kings of all the earth. We are called to be weak to let His strength shine through us.
This is why Jesus says to not prepare a defense of yourself beforehand. Because when we are persecuted for His sake, He will give us an eloquence to move the stony hearts of mountains. Sometimes He speaks with our suffering, and the death of His martyrs; but then their blood writes upon the hearts of those who witness them: God is Love. And a Love worth dying for is a powerful sermon to give.
Just the same when Paul tells the church in Thessalonica to work diligently and not mind the business of others. It is weakness to be obedient and take responsibility for yourself, not trying to rise above others. We who would try to give commands to other people seek to gather strength to ourselves, but we are called to be weak and give all our strength to God. That means trusting God to use our brothers and sisters in His Word better than we can.
Because our God is the God of justice. All power and glory are His, and when He comes to rule the world He will take it back upon Himself. We who claim power now will have it stripped from us; we who claim places of honor at the table will be sent down to places of dishonor. But those who fear God, who submit in their weakness to the strength of His love, will be raised up. To seek the power of authority is to seek sovereignty, and ruling over others is God’s province. If we can be weak, we can learn to move with the authority God gives us.
In weakness there is strength, because all the power of God and the Holy Spirit wells up within us. Serving Him in humility lets us act with Him. But to be strong and seek power is to rely upon yourself. If we try to accomplish things through our strength and not God’s, we are doomed to fail because His strength endures forever, not ours.
It is terrifying to be weak, and to give up the power we have. But let us let go, and pray that God moves within us. He can accomplish more than we can even understand.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Thirty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Link to Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/110710.shtml
I love the books of Maccabees; their story is of a family that started a revolution for the Lord, that reclaimed Israel from pagan hands and held it as a whole nation again for several decades. The first reading comes from the beginning of their story, before the brothers have risen up against their Greek oppressors. The story of the brothers is meant to serve as both an example of injustices done to the people of Israel, and an example of Jewish bravery.
At the time, many Jews were letting go of the laws, and adopting Greek practices. The Temple in Jerusalem had a Greek idol placed upon the altar, and Jewish men were participating in Greek gymnasiums, letting themselves become indoctrinated. The story of the brothers at once reminds us that the laws of our ancestors are worth dying for, and God will reward our devotion.
Their story is an apt one for our time, if not all times. The people of the Church are constantly tempted to adopt the ways of the world. The Church is always old fashioned because it is centered in Tradition and the teachings of man whose story is 2,000 years old. We care so much about acceptance, and God demands that we offer up that desire on His altar. God told us that if the world hated him, it would hate us as well. If we are truly God’s we are counter to the world, and will at worst be considered weird; at best, dangerous.
The Resurrection is supposed to be comforting in the face of all this. God is not “God of the dead, but of the living;” in a way, I think this is the strangest of all the things we believe, but it is the center of our faith. Jesus rose from the dead, and we believe that because He did, we will too. We believe He has power over sin because death could not hold him. We follow God now, so that we might have everlasting life.
It is hard to take comfort in that belief though, because death can be so terrifying. Even pain is scary, and we all seek to avoid suffering like the plague. Paul knows this, that’s why he always instructs the churches to pray for him, and let them know he prays for them as well. And this is where the story of the brothers can inspire us: in the community of faith, we encourage each other to persevere towards the end.
Those who are strong in faith uplift those who are struggling; as we each experience doubts, the roles reverse. Together, like the brothers, we stand firm in what has been passed down to us, persevere until the end of the race. We remind each other that God is faithful, and in our suffering on His behalf there is merit, and hope in death.
Just as God does not abandon us when we hurt, He will not abandon us when we die. This is the hope Jesus offered us, that our life in pain and suffering would have its reward. What He has given us is worth dying for, but also it is worth living for. We should take from these readings a determination to live a life more openly of Christ, for we have our faith, our brethren, and our hope of rising again.
I love the books of Maccabees; their story is of a family that started a revolution for the Lord, that reclaimed Israel from pagan hands and held it as a whole nation again for several decades. The first reading comes from the beginning of their story, before the brothers have risen up against their Greek oppressors. The story of the brothers is meant to serve as both an example of injustices done to the people of Israel, and an example of Jewish bravery.
At the time, many Jews were letting go of the laws, and adopting Greek practices. The Temple in Jerusalem had a Greek idol placed upon the altar, and Jewish men were participating in Greek gymnasiums, letting themselves become indoctrinated. The story of the brothers at once reminds us that the laws of our ancestors are worth dying for, and God will reward our devotion.
Their story is an apt one for our time, if not all times. The people of the Church are constantly tempted to adopt the ways of the world. The Church is always old fashioned because it is centered in Tradition and the teachings of man whose story is 2,000 years old. We care so much about acceptance, and God demands that we offer up that desire on His altar. God told us that if the world hated him, it would hate us as well. If we are truly God’s we are counter to the world, and will at worst be considered weird; at best, dangerous.
The Resurrection is supposed to be comforting in the face of all this. God is not “God of the dead, but of the living;” in a way, I think this is the strangest of all the things we believe, but it is the center of our faith. Jesus rose from the dead, and we believe that because He did, we will too. We believe He has power over sin because death could not hold him. We follow God now, so that we might have everlasting life.
It is hard to take comfort in that belief though, because death can be so terrifying. Even pain is scary, and we all seek to avoid suffering like the plague. Paul knows this, that’s why he always instructs the churches to pray for him, and let them know he prays for them as well. And this is where the story of the brothers can inspire us: in the community of faith, we encourage each other to persevere towards the end.
Those who are strong in faith uplift those who are struggling; as we each experience doubts, the roles reverse. Together, like the brothers, we stand firm in what has been passed down to us, persevere until the end of the race. We remind each other that God is faithful, and in our suffering on His behalf there is merit, and hope in death.
Just as God does not abandon us when we hurt, He will not abandon us when we die. This is the hope Jesus offered us, that our life in pain and suffering would have its reward. What He has given us is worth dying for, but also it is worth living for. We should take from these readings a determination to live a life more openly of Christ, for we have our faith, our brethren, and our hope of rising again.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Link to Mass Reading: http://www.usccb.org/nab/102410.shtml
The Lord will rescue those who are just and faithful to Him. In persecution do not despair; doubt not God nor the victory of salvation He has placed within you. Though we sin, sin cannot prevail against the strength of the Holy Spirit. In pain, we need to look to humility, to let ourselves be weak enough to need God.
The Lord will rescue those who are just and faithful to Him. In persecution do not despair; doubt not God nor the victory of salvation He has placed within you. Though we sin, sin cannot prevail against the strength of the Holy Spirit. In pain, we need to look to humility, to let ourselves be weak enough to need God.
Twenty Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Link to Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/101710.shtml
When Jesus relates the parable about the unjust judge and the widow who nags him, he notes that the judge renders a decision in favor of the widow “lest she come and strike me.” Another translation reads: “yet because this widow bother me, I will vindicate her, or she will wear me out by her continual coming.” And Jesus does not need to interpret this any further, but says that if the unjust judge will respond to the widow through fear or annoyance, then so God will. It is interesting because the chosen who call out to God day and night, are held up as justified in seeking their rights from God.
We as Christians emphasize always our duty to God, and talk about prayer as something that changes the “pray-er,” if not necessarily God’s mind. We remind ourselves to expect suffering, because all of God’s followers suffer on account of God. That’s how we know we are his. But we shy away from the idea that we have rights towards God, because He is God and we are not. But we do. God is King; we are His Body, building His Kingdom; we have rights for Him to support us in that.
When Israel is threatened by Amelak, Moses does not hesitate to tell Joshua to defend Israel. And Go preserves the, because they are on the path He set before them. Paul exhorts Timothy to stay faithful to what he has learned and believed from his youth, because it is true; to help Timothy, Paul refers him to the Scriptures, which are God’s and useful for “teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” We have a right to expect Scripture, to have a guide for us in spreading the word.
The point is that God is with us, that “The Lord will guard you from all evil,/ The Lord will guard your life./ The Lord will guard your coming and going,/ both now and forever.” Our God is with us. His name is Emmanuel, “God with us.” It is clichéd to say that God does not give us more than we can handle, but it is more accurate to say that He gives us everything we need to continue the mission. There is a subtle difference, because the first assumes we have everything we need to handle what happens to us, because God has given it to us. But the second is different, because we do not always recognize our gifts.
Let us not forget what we have been given. We have been given the Word of God in Scripture, to guide us and succor us in our distress. We have been given salvation, and the Holy Spirit welling up in our hearts. We have been given the Church, to lean on and hold us when we are struggling. We have the charisms that God has given us, and the family and friends our lives our intertwined with. All these things are here for us, and God has prepared all these things to accompany our prayers.
We are not alone, and God holds all of our prayers in His heart. His love is overflowing for us, and we should never hesitate to ask for help in our distress. Our God hears our just plea, and will respond. We must make sure then, to recognize when He comes.
When Jesus relates the parable about the unjust judge and the widow who nags him, he notes that the judge renders a decision in favor of the widow “lest she come and strike me.” Another translation reads: “yet because this widow bother me, I will vindicate her, or she will wear me out by her continual coming.” And Jesus does not need to interpret this any further, but says that if the unjust judge will respond to the widow through fear or annoyance, then so God will. It is interesting because the chosen who call out to God day and night, are held up as justified in seeking their rights from God.
We as Christians emphasize always our duty to God, and talk about prayer as something that changes the “pray-er,” if not necessarily God’s mind. We remind ourselves to expect suffering, because all of God’s followers suffer on account of God. That’s how we know we are his. But we shy away from the idea that we have rights towards God, because He is God and we are not. But we do. God is King; we are His Body, building His Kingdom; we have rights for Him to support us in that.
When Israel is threatened by Amelak, Moses does not hesitate to tell Joshua to defend Israel. And Go preserves the, because they are on the path He set before them. Paul exhorts Timothy to stay faithful to what he has learned and believed from his youth, because it is true; to help Timothy, Paul refers him to the Scriptures, which are God’s and useful for “teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” We have a right to expect Scripture, to have a guide for us in spreading the word.
The point is that God is with us, that “The Lord will guard you from all evil,/ The Lord will guard your life./ The Lord will guard your coming and going,/ both now and forever.” Our God is with us. His name is Emmanuel, “God with us.” It is clichéd to say that God does not give us more than we can handle, but it is more accurate to say that He gives us everything we need to continue the mission. There is a subtle difference, because the first assumes we have everything we need to handle what happens to us, because God has given it to us. But the second is different, because we do not always recognize our gifts.
Let us not forget what we have been given. We have been given the Word of God in Scripture, to guide us and succor us in our distress. We have been given salvation, and the Holy Spirit welling up in our hearts. We have been given the Church, to lean on and hold us when we are struggling. We have the charisms that God has given us, and the family and friends our lives our intertwined with. All these things are here for us, and God has prepared all these things to accompany our prayers.
We are not alone, and God holds all of our prayers in His heart. His love is overflowing for us, and we should never hesitate to ask for help in our distress. Our God hears our just plea, and will respond. We must make sure then, to recognize when He comes.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Twenty Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Link to Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/101010.shtml
“O my God, I am so sorry for having offended you,
And I hate all my sins, because of Your just punishments,
But most of all because they offend You, my God,
Who are all-good and deserving of all my love.
I firmly resolve, with the help of thy grace,
To sin no more and avoid all near occasion of sin.”
Asking forgiveness for our sins is so cathartic. There is a reason while Jesus told us to confess to one another; we can ask forgiveness in our hearts, and pray for it out loud, but there is something in the way we communicate our own sinfulness to another person that is such a release. Saying our sins to someone else makes them real, and leaves you transparent, with no more secrets to hold. Not that anyone else but God forgives sins, but God in His wisdom knew that that we need each other, that any sacrament of the Church, any visible manifestation of God’s grace in the world, must also include the communion of saints. God sent his disciples out two by two to preach the Gospel, and the Church has been together ever since in every moment of our lives.
The readings today are about the joys and responsibilities of forgiveness. Though both Elisha and Jesus cure physical sickness, disease is always associated with sin in the Scripture. When Naaman is cured of his leprosy, he rejoices in God, who he recognizes by His power. He wants to give a gift to Elisha, but Elisha will not take credit for God’s power. For all glory, and all honor is for the Lord; Naaman realizes this, and takes the earth to always be in Israel the land of the one, true God.
Of the ten lepers, however, only one returns to offer God praise. Jesus sent them to the priests to be examined, that they might be let back into society. But only one remembers that it is not the priests, but God, who is the one to be remembered. Though God in each case uses people for healing and forgiveness, the lesson is that to Him alone is honor due.
As members of the Church we can forget God sometimes. We remember the rituals, and the motions, but lose God in the routine. Always, and unceasingly we must praise God. He has done wondrous deeds, and his right hand has won victory for him. And for us, He has won a victory over death that we share. Hallelujah!
We have forgiveness because we fall. We forget what Jesus taught us, what Paul reminds us: that “If we have died with him we shall also live with him; if we persevere we shall also reign with him.” When we sin, when we deny him, we forfeit our salvation. But even when we are unfaithful Jesus is faithful, because he cannot deny himself who lives within us.
Jesus is in our hearts and walks beside us in victory. Let not sadness, nor anger turn us aside, nor lust or jealousy. But God may we be yours, remember you before us always, to sin no more and avoid all near occasion of sin. Thanks be to God.
“O my God, I am so sorry for having offended you,
And I hate all my sins, because of Your just punishments,
But most of all because they offend You, my God,
Who are all-good and deserving of all my love.
I firmly resolve, with the help of thy grace,
To sin no more and avoid all near occasion of sin.”
Asking forgiveness for our sins is so cathartic. There is a reason while Jesus told us to confess to one another; we can ask forgiveness in our hearts, and pray for it out loud, but there is something in the way we communicate our own sinfulness to another person that is such a release. Saying our sins to someone else makes them real, and leaves you transparent, with no more secrets to hold. Not that anyone else but God forgives sins, but God in His wisdom knew that that we need each other, that any sacrament of the Church, any visible manifestation of God’s grace in the world, must also include the communion of saints. God sent his disciples out two by two to preach the Gospel, and the Church has been together ever since in every moment of our lives.
The readings today are about the joys and responsibilities of forgiveness. Though both Elisha and Jesus cure physical sickness, disease is always associated with sin in the Scripture. When Naaman is cured of his leprosy, he rejoices in God, who he recognizes by His power. He wants to give a gift to Elisha, but Elisha will not take credit for God’s power. For all glory, and all honor is for the Lord; Naaman realizes this, and takes the earth to always be in Israel the land of the one, true God.
Of the ten lepers, however, only one returns to offer God praise. Jesus sent them to the priests to be examined, that they might be let back into society. But only one remembers that it is not the priests, but God, who is the one to be remembered. Though God in each case uses people for healing and forgiveness, the lesson is that to Him alone is honor due.
As members of the Church we can forget God sometimes. We remember the rituals, and the motions, but lose God in the routine. Always, and unceasingly we must praise God. He has done wondrous deeds, and his right hand has won victory for him. And for us, He has won a victory over death that we share. Hallelujah!
We have forgiveness because we fall. We forget what Jesus taught us, what Paul reminds us: that “If we have died with him we shall also live with him; if we persevere we shall also reign with him.” When we sin, when we deny him, we forfeit our salvation. But even when we are unfaithful Jesus is faithful, because he cannot deny himself who lives within us.
Jesus is in our hearts and walks beside us in victory. Let not sadness, nor anger turn us aside, nor lust or jealousy. But God may we be yours, remember you before us always, to sin no more and avoid all near occasion of sin. Thanks be to God.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Link to Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/100310.shtml
How long, O Lord, how must we cry for help and you not listen? How long must we suffer the abuse of children in the Church? How long must we stand by and watch our soldiers kill in the name freedom? How long must we persecute, slander, and shame our Christians into hiding the Gospel from those waiting to hear it? How long must we wait while Your Word is twisted into hateful things…
Oh God, how long?
It is hard to cry out for help, to ask for more faith to help us endure, only to hear Jesus say: “When you have done all you have been commanded, say ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’” Like a slap in the face, we feel that God makes light of us, the parent who doesn’t understand and says “It’s not that bad.” This is the God of Mercy and of Love! If we cannot grieve to God, who can we grieve to?
“Write down the vision clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily. For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint. If it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late. The rash one has no integrity; but the just one, because of his faith, shall live.”
Endure. Though the sorrow may last for the night, joy comes in the morning. Christ told us, that if the world hated him, it would hate us as well. Pray hard for faith, and hold onto it. Because our God really is the God of mercy and love, and are souls are kept safe with Him. We are tempted so strongly by the Devil to disbelieve in the victory Jesus brought us, but we must hold fast to our faith, our evidence of things unseen. And sometimes unfelt.
The parable of the servant who is required to do more work is an example of our purification under suffering. The world will not let it be easy for us to love Jesus. It will be hard, and God’s kingdom will demand everything of us to be brought about. Like the servant who must work when he is tired, or iron which must be beaten many times in the forge, to be God’s we must be His past all reason.
But past all reason is God. We who have been tested and tempered time and again but cling to God have faith strengthened more deeply than we could have known. We are the ones who make converts, whose faith like Abraham’s is the realization of a victory unseen, but felt powerfully. How long must we suffer, O God how long? More than we can bear, until only God is left.
“Take as your norm the sound words that you heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard this rich trust with the help of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.” We may suffer, but we do not suffer alone. We are in pain, and Jesus on the cross stands in solidarity with us. Endure, with all the faith you have and the strength of God behind you, the One who is and ever shall be, the I AM. Victory will come, it has its time, it presses on to fulfillment and will not disappoint. Endure with God.
How long, O Lord, how must we cry for help and you not listen? How long must we suffer the abuse of children in the Church? How long must we stand by and watch our soldiers kill in the name freedom? How long must we persecute, slander, and shame our Christians into hiding the Gospel from those waiting to hear it? How long must we wait while Your Word is twisted into hateful things…
Oh God, how long?
It is hard to cry out for help, to ask for more faith to help us endure, only to hear Jesus say: “When you have done all you have been commanded, say ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’” Like a slap in the face, we feel that God makes light of us, the parent who doesn’t understand and says “It’s not that bad.” This is the God of Mercy and of Love! If we cannot grieve to God, who can we grieve to?
“Write down the vision clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily. For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint. If it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late. The rash one has no integrity; but the just one, because of his faith, shall live.”
Endure. Though the sorrow may last for the night, joy comes in the morning. Christ told us, that if the world hated him, it would hate us as well. Pray hard for faith, and hold onto it. Because our God really is the God of mercy and love, and are souls are kept safe with Him. We are tempted so strongly by the Devil to disbelieve in the victory Jesus brought us, but we must hold fast to our faith, our evidence of things unseen. And sometimes unfelt.
The parable of the servant who is required to do more work is an example of our purification under suffering. The world will not let it be easy for us to love Jesus. It will be hard, and God’s kingdom will demand everything of us to be brought about. Like the servant who must work when he is tired, or iron which must be beaten many times in the forge, to be God’s we must be His past all reason.
But past all reason is God. We who have been tested and tempered time and again but cling to God have faith strengthened more deeply than we could have known. We are the ones who make converts, whose faith like Abraham’s is the realization of a victory unseen, but felt powerfully. How long must we suffer, O God how long? More than we can bear, until only God is left.
“Take as your norm the sound words that you heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard this rich trust with the help of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.” We may suffer, but we do not suffer alone. We are in pain, and Jesus on the cross stands in solidarity with us. Endure, with all the faith you have and the strength of God behind you, the One who is and ever shall be, the I AM. Victory will come, it has its time, it presses on to fulfillment and will not disappoint. Endure with God.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
2010, 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Link to Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/092610.shtml
Scholars like to talk about religion as a normative function of society. As in, religion teaches children how to behave, and conform to cultural norms. Schoolbooks describe religion as social control, and for the most part they are correct. Religion is often a mirror of what the people attending church already think and feel.
But that isn’t what we read today.
“Woe to the complacent in Zion!” cries Amos. Shame to the people of God who drink wine and perfume themselves, but are not made sick at the suffering of their brother! They shall be first ones exiled, and their self-absorbed celebrating be done away with.
In his parable Jesus condemns those who aren’t aware of the suffering of the poor, who are content in their own blessings. We aren’t told that the rich man was especially wicked; we are only told that in life he received what was good, while Lazarus received what was bad. Now in Hell the rich man advocates mercy. But it is interesting that while we know Lazarus by name, we don’t know the name of the rich man. And this is the sin: the rich man did not know Lazarus.
We are not called to be the normal of society. Christian writers spend a lot of time making distinction between religion as the organization and the spirituality we follow. They replace Christian with Christ follower, trying to call back to a more simple Gospel, untainted by church politics or bickering creeds.
But this is our religion: to be passionately in love with Jesus, and passionate in our support of the poor. “But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness…I charge you before God…to keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ.” What is the commandment? Love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as you love yourself. We are Catholic and we believe.
We should not be normal, Jesus isn’t normal. Jesus was the Son of God, and we want to be like that we can hardly help raising eyebrows. We should be weird, because people will think we are strange, talking to and touching the poor. Our friends will think we are going overboard when we volunteer all weekend, or wasting money when we tithe away our income to the St. Vincent de Paul. At best, they will say what a good thing we are doing, and box us away as “Saint Mary” or “Saint Tim.” It will be something that we do because we are strange and our goodness will become a fault that our friends overlook because they can’t understand that we give our lives to everything but ourselves. But every one who loses their life will gain it.
We are Catholic and we remember who we follow, a man who spent his ministry among the poor and rejected, who did not come to found churches but disciples who would follow God.
Link to Mass Readings: http://www.usccb.org/nab/092610.shtml
Scholars like to talk about religion as a normative function of society. As in, religion teaches children how to behave, and conform to cultural norms. Schoolbooks describe religion as social control, and for the most part they are correct. Religion is often a mirror of what the people attending church already think and feel.
But that isn’t what we read today.
“Woe to the complacent in Zion!” cries Amos. Shame to the people of God who drink wine and perfume themselves, but are not made sick at the suffering of their brother! They shall be first ones exiled, and their self-absorbed celebrating be done away with.
In his parable Jesus condemns those who aren’t aware of the suffering of the poor, who are content in their own blessings. We aren’t told that the rich man was especially wicked; we are only told that in life he received what was good, while Lazarus received what was bad. Now in Hell the rich man advocates mercy. But it is interesting that while we know Lazarus by name, we don’t know the name of the rich man. And this is the sin: the rich man did not know Lazarus.
We are not called to be the normal of society. Christian writers spend a lot of time making distinction between religion as the organization and the spirituality we follow. They replace Christian with Christ follower, trying to call back to a more simple Gospel, untainted by church politics or bickering creeds.
But this is our religion: to be passionately in love with Jesus, and passionate in our support of the poor. “But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness…I charge you before God…to keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ.” What is the commandment? Love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as you love yourself. We are Catholic and we believe.
We should not be normal, Jesus isn’t normal. Jesus was the Son of God, and we want to be like that we can hardly help raising eyebrows. We should be weird, because people will think we are strange, talking to and touching the poor. Our friends will think we are going overboard when we volunteer all weekend, or wasting money when we tithe away our income to the St. Vincent de Paul. At best, they will say what a good thing we are doing, and box us away as “Saint Mary” or “Saint Tim.” It will be something that we do because we are strange and our goodness will become a fault that our friends overlook because they can’t understand that we give our lives to everything but ourselves. But every one who loses their life will gain it.
We are Catholic and we remember who we follow, a man who spent his ministry among the poor and rejected, who did not come to found churches but disciples who would follow God.
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