Sunday, December 20, 2020

Mary Did You Know?

 

4th Sunday of Advent

Cycle B

Mary, did you know?

You’ve probably heard that popular song by Mark Lowry and Michael Green. It pops up on the radio and Pandora this time of year, and it asks questions that sound sensible. Mary, did you know your little boy would walk on water? Mary, did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation, would one day rule the nations? Did you know that your baby boy is heaven’s perfect Lamb?

Those questions seem sensible to us because we hear them from our perspective 2000 years after the events of Jesus’ life. We have the benefit of 2000 years of pondering and wrestling with the reality that God became man. Countless thinkers and theologians have given us insight as to who this person Jesus was and is, and we know all the details of his life and purpose through the gospels and Church teaching. We know how the story played out. But Mary couldn’t see the future. She didn’t have the complete picture. The gospels for her were her everyday life. She had no idea how God would choose to fulfill the promise he made to her that day through the angel. She probably had no idea what it meant that her son would be called holy, the Son of God. She was no theologian or rabbi. She didn’t know the particulars, nor could she make the connections. And yet she trusted in the promise. Her cousin Elizabeth greets her later with “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled”.

And she said yes. I don’t believe she could have answered any other way.

The angel’s greeting disturbed her. He described her as being full of grace. A curious description, don’t you think? Have you ever heard anyone else had that attached to their name? It wasn’t “Hail, Mary of Nazareth” or “Hail Mary, Betrothed to Joseph” or “Daughter of Joachim and Anne”. Hail, full of grace. We all have God’s grace in us, because grace is simply the presence of God in our lives. Everything is grace, in a way, but Mary was full of grace. It wasn’t just something she had, it was who she was. The Lord was with her, but in a way different than you and me. It was as if she was invaded by the Holy Spirit from the moment of her conception. The absence of the burden of sin gave her a clarity of understanding and of purpose that no other human being has ever had.

We see the invasion by the Holy Spirit and the presence of God in people’s lives often in the scriptures. Moses with the burning bush. The prophets Elijah, Jeremiah and Isaiah. Jesus himself at his baptism. Each time the grace of God seems to overwhelm them and compels them forth on their mission. The fullness of grace in Mary would naturally direct her decisions. Mary never seems to doubt. Hers is a simple acceptance and a sense of wonder at it all.

What would your life be like if you did not suffer the burden of sin? What different decisions would you make? How much closer to God would you be? How would that affect your own family? Just because Mary was conceived without original sin doesn’t mean she did not have the capacity to sin. She was human, after all. It was the fullness of grace within her and her closeness to the Father that helped her to choose not to sin. That’s really not any different from you and me. We are free to make the same choices she made.

Grace is a gift from God, and Mary had done nothing to merit God’s favor, except just be. She was favored simply because she existed. Like we all are. God doesn’t look at what we have or haven’t accomplished when he smiles upon us. We are all wonderful in his eyes, and worthy of his favor simply because he wants us to be worthy. He makes us worthy. I mean, really, what can we ever offer God in return for what he has given us? Isn’t that the supreme arrogance?

Look at David in the first reading. He was the greatest king of Israel. He had conquered all his enemies and made Israel into a nation to be reckoned with. So naturally David wanted to show his gratitude for what he had been given. But God didn’t want David to do anything for him. In reverse, God wanted to give David his greatest desire, a long dynasty. He wanted to give him more and more and more.

 

When we are faced with the unconditional loving gifts we are offered by God, how do we react? Do we think, well, it’s about time. I’ve been praying for years and years and have lived a holy life. Of course God favors me. Or are we like Mary, completely stunned that God has even noticed us? Perhaps you feel especially worthless this year. Maybe you’ve lost your job or someone close to you has gotten sick or even died. Just because God favors us doesn’t mean life will be easy. Just because Mary was without sin doesn’t mean she would not suffer. Jesus was also without sin yet he still suffered as a result of sin in the world. Both Mary and Jesus made the choice to follow the Father’s will, just as we all do.

 

Mary was full of grace because we are all full of grace. Mary was favored because we are all favored. What made Mary extraordinary was that she was ordinary. She did nothing to deserve this. We can do nothing to deserve what we receive. God did not ask her if she wanted this. He just stated that it would happen. He didn’t even ask her for her reply. She just gave it. God knows what is good for us, he cannot give us anything that is not good, so why would he ask our permission to give us anything? And we are not called to give him our permission, only our acceptance of his many gifts.

 

So, did Mary have full knowledge of what was happening to her and what that meant for the salvation of the world? Who knows? It really doesn’t matter. What matters is that Mary, like us, made a decision to follow the will of God given her particular level of faith and the grace that had been given her. In that way we are just like her.

 

It is interesting that in the week just before we celebrate the fulfillment of God’s promise of salvation in the incarnation we revisit where that promise was first given to a young girl, close to God and full of grace. This was the week that Mary had been anticipating those long nine months. It was all about to come true.

 

Mary said yes, and nothing would ever be the same again. Her life was changed forever, and so was ours. “Blessed are you who believe that what was spoken to Mary by the Lord would be fulfilled”.

 

 

Saturday, November 21, 2020

The Divine Right of Kings

 

Feast of Christ the King

Cycle A

Nancy and I have been binge watching monarchies lately, particularly those in Great Britain and France around the reigns of Henry VIII and Louis IV. We love period pieces, and the stories are so well written and made real because they are based on actual events. This was the time of the Divine Right of Kings, the belief that the sovereign derived his mandate and power directly from God, before he was even born, and that the king was accountable to no one but God. To love the king was to love God. To oppose the king was actually a sin against God. That reasoning removed all restraints on the king’s power, and each monarch seemed to draw more and more to himself as each fell deeper and deeper into tyranny. And tyranny, as it always does, was eventually overthrown by violent revolution.

 

What keeps striking us is how the people of those times reacted to the tyranny they experienced. The people seemed to love their king no matter what he did. They rarely attributed the evil he did to him but to his counsellors. No matter what horrible things were done to them they would not blame the king because the king was acting by the will of God. God had chosen him, so he was above blame.

 

The people looked to the king to be the instrument of God’s mercy and God’s punishment. They saw him as a benevolent father figure who gave and took away like the God of the Old Testament had. They expected the king to provide for the common good. It was his responsibility to see that they were fed, housed, and had the basic necessities of life. If they did not have these things it was the king’s fault. If they did it was because of the king’s bounty. Their own personal responsibility was taken away. It was not theirs to be their brother’s keeper, but the king’s. The king was the final judge and arbiter, and oftentimes that judgement seemed completely arbitrary. Loyalty to the king was the most important thing to them. Any hint of disloyalty was met with cruel retribution.

 

And the absolute monarchs were isolated from their people. They stayed within their own courts and never really had contact with the common people. They dismissed the suffering of their people because they never saw it firsthand nor experienced any want or need themselves. They never saw the hungry, thirsty, naked, homeless, sick or prisoners. They had no compassion for them outside of their need to believe they were loved by their people. They lived in manufactured bubbles. I think very much like many of our secular and religious leaders today.

 

Each year we have different readings for the Feast of Christ the King, and this year we hear the famous passage from St. Matthew’s gospel about the final judgement. Matthew 25 is one of my favorite passages. We hear of how the king will judge everyone at the end of the age. Judgement is reserved to the king, and this king is truly the absolute monarch, but his judgement is different from the absolute monarchs of Western civilization. Whereas the kings of the Middle Ages judged arbitrarily according to loyalty to the crown, our king puts judgement squarely our interactions with other people. The kings of old were seen as the providers of good to the people. Our king sees us as having that responsibility also.

 

The differences between our king, Jesus Christ, and the kings of old are many. Our king did not live in a bubble, surrounded by courtiers and sycophants and removed from the people. Rather, he lived and moved amongst them, living as they did, simply and poorly. His courtiers were not aristocrats and wealthy noblemen but simple people, tax collectors and prostitutes. He experienced hunger and thirst, sickness and nakedness. He was a prisoner himself. The image we have of our king is the good shepherd, not the autocrat, and our king truly did smell like his sheep.

 

And whenever he encountered someone who was suffering, he first healed them, then redeemed them. He took care of their physical needs first; then he showed them the way to eternal life. By lifting them up out of their misery he freed them to be able to accept him as their Lord and savior. He never imposed his will upon them, even though he had the power and authority to do so, he simply called them to discipleship. To our king, absolute power manifests itself in compassion and mercy. That is the example he left us, and it is by that example we will ultimately be judged.

 

It’s easy for us to make excuses for our responsibility to our fellow human beings. It is easy to delegate it to the state, or to someone else but ourselves. We too often live in our own bubbles, concerned mostly about ourselves, or our immediate families and group of friends. What has always bothered me about this gospel passage is that the people whom the king judges harshly are not bad people. They are not going out and oppressing people to cause their hunger or thirst, nakedness or imprisonment. And it doesn’t even matter that they are unaware of their neglect. In fact, that makes it worse. It is the sins of omission that are judged the most harshly. Ignorance is not an excuse. Apathy is the worst sin. To our king and judge in this passage, your intent and motivation is not important. Did you help others or not?

 

In these days of pandemic we are becoming even more and more isolated from one another. We are living in artificial bubbles, some of our own creation and some imposed upon us. At times like these it is easy and natural to focus on our own situations and not upon those of others. If we don’t see it on the news or on the internet or social media it isn’t real to us. We jump from crisis to crisis and so are unaware or ignore the fact that so many people are hurting and need our compassion, prayers, and assistance. And so many times it is we ourselves who require that. Yes, we are all hurting, but we must not allow that to be an excuse or reason to not reach out to others. Jesus didn’t give any exemptions to loving our neighbor as ourselves, he just said to do it.

 

The monarchs of the Middle Ages claimed the Divine Right of Kings from God, and their absolute power led to horrible suffering for their people. Jesus actually is the Divine King, and his absolute power has freed us from sin and eternal death. He has absolute power and authority, yet he submitted his will to that of his Father. He asks us to do the same. He asks us to show compassion and mercy to everyone we meet, just as he does. He holds us up to the same standard that he held himself to. And just as his submission to the will of God led to his glorification, so will our submission lead to ours.

 

 

 

Sunday, October 18, 2020

Balancing Act

 

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle A

It is serendipitous that this gospel reading falls during an election year, and especially these past couple of weeks, when the question of faith vs. the law has been foremost in the news. How are people of faith to live as faithful citizens? Are we to separate our religion from our citizenship? Can there be a true separation between church and state for us? What does that really mean? Can we truly put our faith in one box here and our interactions with the world in a box over there?

Is it acceptable to pay the census tax? The Pharisees were really asking Jesus if it were acceptable for the Jews to submit to Roman authority. The two great symbols of Roman oppression were the Roman army and Roman taxes, both of which were overwhelming and ever present. A sign of allegiance to the Roman empire was the payment of taxes. To resist paying was treason. That is one reason why tax collectors were so hated. Not just because oftentimes they cheated and got wealthy off their neighbors, but because they were seen as Roman sympathizers, traitors to their people. And so, the Pharisees were asking Jesus if it were ok to commit an act of civil disobedience, rebellion actually. If he said yes they could turn him over to the authorities. If he said no the people would turn against him.

He said to repay to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s. Was Jesus telling them to practice separation of church and state, to offer dual allegiance both to the emperor and to their God? Was it ok to serve two masters? Was he telling them that it was ok to support the emperor, but only on the outside? Sort of like, throw the coins in the basket, but cross your fingers behind your back?

Jesus was practical about it. The Roman occupation was a reality, and he understood that earthly authority had its place, but God’s people were to ultimately submit to a higher authority. The kingdom his followers were to be subjects of was not of this world. It was in the world but not of it. Yes, we have to submit to earthly authority, if for no other reason than it allows societies to organize themselves safely, but we are not to offer our ultimate allegiance to it. That is reserved for our true king and creator. I think Jesus was preaching a rebellion of the spirit and of the soul. His message from the moment he began his public ministry was “Repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand”. In that message and mission he refocused our allegiance where it truly belonged. To Him.

This is a tough duality and is often really hard to balance. Do you choose your faith based upon your politics, or are your politics determined by your faith? If there is a political position or law that is contrary to the gospel, what are we to do? If a law is immoral, are we called to observe it anyway or are we called to change it? Are we called to resist it or even overthrow it? The questions are even more basic than that. Where does law come from? There is God’s law and there is human law. Where does morality come from? Is it a human construct or does it come from the creator? These questions were actually the basis of the Declaration of Independence, and they are the questions of conscience we all must face.

Why would faith in God be contrary to human law in the first place? Flip that around. Why would human laws be contrary to God’s law if they are just? If morality comes from God, then justice also comes from God. Therefore, laws that are just must conform to the law of God if they are to be moral and good. This may be hard for some people to grasp, but it's important. Catholics don't hold their positions on moral questions because of "deeply held religious convictions." Rather, they are held because of the conclusions of right reason applied to the understanding of the Natural Law. To be a good citizen means to live in the world but to order our lives around the moral and the good, and we do that best through the eyes of our faith.

In Gaudium et spes, the great Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World from Vatican II, the fathers stated, “The Council exhorts all Christians, as citizens of both cities, to perform their duties faithfully, in the spirit of the gospel. It is a mistake to think that, because we have here no lasting city, but seek the city which is to come, we are entitled to evade our earthly responsibilities…But it is no less mistaken to think that we may immerse ourselves in earthly activities as if these latter were foreign to religion…”

Jesus gave us the great commission to go and make disciples of all nations, and to do that we must teach them everything he has commanded us. We are to be active in the world and actually convert it. We are to spread Jesus’ commandments of loving God and our neighbor. We cannot just compartmentalize our faith and our interactions with the world. Our faith must be our interaction with the world. We have a responsibility to society and to one another. We cannot simply remove ourselves. We are our brother’s keeper. Jesus is the truth. We are to testify to the truth.

Two opposing positions cannot both be true. Either one is right and the other wrong or they are both wrong. To what truth do we adhere? I know plenty of people who have left the Catholic Church because they do not agree with this or that teaching. They go and find a church that agrees with them rather than take the time to really understand what the church is telling them. Because it is easier to do that than to admit that me might have to change our views and change our lives. It is oftentimes easier to render unto Caesar.

We are approaching one of our greatest privileges and responsibilities as citizens in a few weeks – voting. We exercise this privilege as citizens of the world. How we vote should be exercised as citizens of the Kingdom of God. As mature Christians we must vote our conscience, but that conscience must be properly formed. Again, do you choose your politics based upon your faith? Everyone has a conscience, but if you do not knowingly and willfully form that conscience society will do it for you. And we Catholics should turn to our church to help us form ours.

St. Paul said in his letter to the Romans, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will." Jesus Christ established his church on earth upon his apostles and said that the Holy Spirt would always be active in and through it, until the end of time. He gave his apostles authority both in heaven and on earth. “What you bind on earth is bound in heaven.” He declared that he and his church are one in the same. He said, “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects Him who sent me.” And the one who sent him is our king. And so, the Church has the moral authority to help us form our consciences.

So, whether you have made up your mind on how to vote or not, take some time to check your conscience. The US bishops put out a good guide for voting called Faithful Citizenship that you can find on the USCCB website. It is very balanced and does not endorse any political party. It does, however, state some truths of our faith as they apply to the public square that we should all consider and adhere to. Give to Caesar by voting. Give to God by voting with a properly informed conscience.

How would the world be if we truly lived as subjects of our true king? How would your lives and the lives of those around you be changed if you and I truly lived according to the two greatest commandments? The world fears the rule of God because it threatens earthly power and licentiousness. We do not.

What is Caesar’s are material things. What belongs to God is our souls.

We submit to authority but understand who the ultimate authority is.

We must work for justice in the world because we know who the ultimate judge is.

God himself is intimately involved in the world, so we are intimately involved.

The rule of Caesar is flawed and temporary. The rule of God is perfect and eternal.

 

 

Monday, September 28, 2020

It's Not Fair!

 

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle A

Ez 18:25-28

Phil 2:1-11

Mt 21:28-32

 

It’s not fair! And thank God it’s not.

Today’s readings tie in nicely with last week’s, where we heard the parable of the vineyard workers where the workers who were hired for only a short time received the same wage as those who had worked all day under the sun. The ones who had worked all day felt cheated because the vineyard owner was generous with his money. We hear from the prophet Ezekial today that the Israelites felt they were not being treated fairly by God because there were consequences to their actions. Ezekial sets them straight just as the vineyard owner last week did with the workers who had felt cheated.

It is so good that God does not treat us as we treat each other. It is so good for us that God’s ways are not our ways. What we think is fair may not be what God thinks is fair. We think that getting our fair share means someone else misses out. God gives everyone the same based upon our actions. Our idea of justice is really around punishment. God’s idea of justice is all about mercy. We are all given as many chances as we like to repent and return to God, up until the very moment of our death. And it doesn’t matter what other people do. It’s our choice and we will each have to suffer the consequences of our choices.

It doesn’t matter how long it takes us, just as long as we make the right choice.

Both sons in the vineyard story today had a change of heart, but the only decision that mattered was the one that ultimately conformed to their father’s will. We aren’t given any reasons for their decisions. We don’t know why they ultimately changed their minds. Perhaps the first son who initially agreed to go into the vineyard was attacked and vilified for it. Maybe his friends lured him away to go have some fun instead.  Perhaps the second son was hard-headed and proud, but came to obey his father out of love for him. Or maybe his friends guilted him into it. Their situations didn’t matter, only their decisions did.

We are all called to work in the vineyard of the Lord and be faithful to his commandments. And his commandment is to love one another as he has loved us. To love someone else as God loves them is to humbly serve them.

I spend too much time on social media, I admit it. It seems that every day someone posts a meme or a comment about how important it is to focus on yourself, to rid yourself of people who do not bring out the best in you, or don’t reciprocate your affection or attention. Be strong and be alone. Don’t rely on others. Such an American way of thinking, isn’t it? But that is not how God thinks. St. Paul says today that not only should we be of one mind and heart, we should actually live for one another, to empty ourselves just as Jesus did.

Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory;
rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,
each looking out not for his own interests,
but also for those of others.

To be truly human is to serve others. Jesus said that he did not come to be served but to serve. God didn’t have to become man. He didn’t have to redeem us. He didn’t have to suffer our ignorance. He didn’t have to suffer and die on that cross. He chose to. He humbled himself and became one of us, because he loved us so. He not only became human, Paul says he took on the form of a slave, the lowest form of human. He became obedient and humbled himself. Are we greater that that? Are we called to anything other than that?

Jesus always turns things on their head. We think that success will come from being self-reliant, smart, and focused on ourselves. Jesus says the greatest person is the one who is the servant of all. We think that those that work harder should get more. Jesus says that everyone is subject to his mercy, no matter what. We think that appearances matter. Jesus says that we will be judged not by our words and our promises but by our actions. Those who do nothing will receive nothing, but even the reluctant workers will get the rewards.

And we are given every chance throughout our lives to make decisions to act, even to the very end of our lives. The workers in last week’s parable thought it was not fair that those who had worked in the vineyard only one hour should get the same pay as those who worked all day. And we may think that it’s not fair that someone who had lived a wicked life but at the end repents will gain the same reward as the person who was faithful their entire life. But what if you were that person, would you care if it were fair, or would you rejoice in your good fortune? We should not consider it a slight to ourselves if God is merciful to others. We should rejoice with them.

I find it a great comfort to know that I can choose God even in the last moment of my life, and he will be merciful. I also know that I can not choose God, and there will be consequences to that. I know that I am called to work every day of my life for others if I am to be a true disciple. And discipleship will bring me happiness and will greatly benefit those around me, and will ultimately lead to eternal life with God. It’s really hard to think of myself last, and I rarely do it well, but I am still called to try, even if I fail.

Think not as human beings do but as God does. We never seem to understand that, do we? It seems to be so difficult for us to live not for ourselves but for others. We don’t understand that the best way to be happy in ourselves is to deny ourselves and live for others. The path to happiness and fulfillment in life is through selflessness. That is the way God thinks. Jesus proved that.

We are not to worry about what others are doing. Worry about yourself. Only an empty cup can be filled. Empty yourself and you will be filled. By humbling himself Jesus was exalted. It will be the same with us.

It’s really not fair. Isn’t that wonderful?

 

Monday, August 31, 2020

Get Behind Me, Satan

 

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle A

Jer 20:7-9

Rom 12:1-2

Mt 16:21-27

 

Do you remember in last week’s gospel Jesus asked his disciples who people were saying the Son of Man was? Some thought Jesus might be the prophet Jeremiah, and this week we hear why. Jesus was a lot like Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a fearless prophet, who suffered many persecutions and attacks upon him by kings and false prophets who did not like his message of repentance in the face of destruction. Jesus also prophesized about the destruction to come, and preached repentance and conversion. Jesus was also persecuted and killed for his message and his claim. Without calling it such, Jeremiah was preaching the gospel and foreshadowing the coming Messiah. And so, we can understand why people might have thought of Jeremiah when they heard Jesus.

 

Jeremiah is not one of the most uplifting prophets. The weeping prophet, he is called. Jeremiah was called to prophetic ministry in 626 BC. He was young, probably just a teenager or in his early twenties, and he was a reluctant prophet. He really didn’t want to be God’s mouthpiece, and he came up with all sorts of excuses not to do it. He came from a well-off priestly family, and probably was not what most people thought of when they thought of a prophet.

 

The times in Judah were tough. The last few kings had not been faithful to God, choosing to worship the god Baal, one of the local pagan gods. They went so far as to adopt the practice of child sacrifice. There were rumors that the Babylonians were planning to sweep down and invade the country, as they had so many others, so the people were looking to the king to make the right alliances to protect them.

 

And so Jeremiah shows up and starts telling them that they don’t need to rely on human alliances, they really just need to repent and put their trust in God. Jeremiah’s job was to reveal the sins of the people and explain the reason for the impending destruction and captivity by the Babylonian army. “And when your people say, 'Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?' you shall say to them, 'As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.'" Not exactly a popular message. And Jeremiah was attacked and ultimately killed for it.

 

You can see why Jeremiah was tempted to give it all up. He saw the futility of it all, the danger. He says that God duped him, that reality wasn’t what he thought he had been offered when he accepted the role of prophet. He was understandably angry and discouraged.

 

Jesus slams Peter pretty hard today. Last week we heard Jesus proclaim Peter to be the rock upon which he would build his church and he gives him the keys to the kingdom of heaven. In the next passage he seems to call him Satan. But it was not Peter Jesus was rebuking, it was the opportunity to take the easy way out and not fulfill his mission as his Father wanted him to.

 

Peter wasn’t doing anything wrong when Jesus rebuked him. In fact, he was acting out of love for Jesus. But Peter didn’t see the big picture, he didn’t understand the plan like Jesus did. Peter was thinking as any friend would when someone they loved was placing themselves in danger. But Peter wasn’t thinking as God thinks. Peter didn’t yet fully understand that Jesus must suffer and die, and that the good news of the gospel was the outcome of that death.

 

I am often frustrated and bewildered at hatred for the gospel today. The world still does not see things as God sees them. When given the choice, we choose ourselves over God. And it’s sad and ironic that by doing so we are going against our own self-interest. The world has distorted its understanding and view of the gospel to be exactly the opposite of what it really is. They see it as a set of oppressive rules, stifling the human spirit, when in fact it is the most freeing and human thing we could embrace. Jesus Christ didn’t become man to enslave us but to redeem us. And that path had to lead to the cross. The good news of Jesus Christ is that God became human so that we could become divine.

 

The world has left out half of that equation, believing that we are already dieties, that humanity is all there is, everything begins and ends with us, we are in control, and God is a myth. Our plan is focused tightly on ourselves; we see only what is before our eyes, and we have no understanding of the greater plan, because we think we are the plan.

 

Jesus understood the true plan and knew where it would lead him. Through Peter Satan was tempting Jesus to take the easy way out. If anyone could do that, Jesus could. It was the same temptation Satan had given Jesus earlier in the desert. If you are the Son of God, make it easy on yourself and eat. Declare and exercise your power over heaven and earth and take dominion of all the nations. You can choose not to do this, so don’t. It’s too hard. It’s futile. They won’t love you for it. They will reject you. They will kill you. So, don’t do it. Leave them to themselves and their own destruction. They don’t deserve so great a redeemer.

 

But like Jeremiah, Jesus couldn’t resist the Spirit. Like Jeremiah, Jesus had the Spirit burning in his heart, and he was compelled to follow the will of God. All prophets know the consequences of their message. They are often afraid. But the Spirit of God uplifts them and strengthens their resolve. Get behind me, Satan. I will not go the easy way. I will sacrifice myself for the ones I love.

 

Do you have a burning in your heart to speak the truth? Is there anything in your life that you would have the courage to stand up for and profess, even at the risk of losing your friends, your livelihood, even your life? We live in fear; fear of viruses, fear of violence, fear of being destroyed if we say or do the wrong thing or speak the truth. We distrust all our institutions, our church, our government, our neighbors. As Jeremiah laments, “violence and outrage is my message”. And, just as Jeremiah tried to remove himself from his prophetic mission, we often shy away from ours as well.

 

It takes great courage to be a prophet, but we are all called to prophesy. When we were baptized we were anointed with the Sacred Chrism as priest, prophet and king, just as Jesus was. On that day we were sent on our mission. We have the same choice Jeremiah and Jesus had. We can resist our mission and take the easy way out, or we can surrender ourselves, allow ourselves to be duped by God and embrace it. We are called to speak truth to power, we are called to admonish one another, instruct the ignorant, and correct our own behavior that goes contrary to the truth. We are called to live lives of persistence, fortitude, and courage.

We must continue to be the light of the world and proclaim the good news that the Kingdom of God is at hand. Now. Not just 2000 years ago. We must declare our allegiance to Jesus Christ and not to the world. It may cost us dearly. We may lose friends, position, and power. But we must do these things because we must love as God loves.

 

Do not conform yourselves to this age
but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
that you may discern what is the will of God,
what is good and pleasing and perfect.

 

 

 

 

Monday, July 27, 2020

The Wisdom of Solomon


17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
1 Kgs 3:5, 7-12
Rm 8: 28-30
Mt 13:44-52

How many of us would make the same choice as Solomon if given the chance? How many of us would choose human relationships over our own pleasure or success or comforts? As I grow older, I have come to understand that having wisdom and acting wisely is a great gift, and one that will bring all the other things to you as well. Because Solomon asked for such an unselfish gift, God gave him wealth and power and prestige, all the things he did not specifically ask for.

Solomon asked for an understanding heart to judge and rule God’s people and to know right from wrong. That request itself was a wise one. It showed great self-awareness, and that is the basis for wisdom. You must know yourself before you can understand another, just as you must love yourself before you can love another. How can you love your neighbor as yourself if you first do not love yourself? How can you understand your neighbor if you first do not understand yourself?

There’s a saying that wisdom is making good choices and knowing how comes from making poor choices. But just making a lot of mistakes does not make you wise. You have to learn from those mistakes and work hard to change your behavior to the good. We all know people who keep making the same mistakes over and over again, and never learn from them. And wisdom does not necessarily come with age nor with position. Solomon was not wise just because he was king, and yet though he was a youth he was regarded as the wisest person on earth.

Wisdom is also knowing what to do in a given situation. Wisdom can be painful to attain, because usually it comes from not knowing what to do and getting it wrong. It is that pain that remains in our memory so we can avoid it in the future. I’m glad it hurt to touch that hot stove when I was a child, because I haven’t done it since. It often takes time to become wise, because we are so very stubborn and so slow to change.

We often think of the wise person as someone who we can go to for advice. A wise person has something other people don’t, some special secret. The guru on the mountaintop who can give us the meaning of life. And many times, that’s what a wise person does. But more often wisdom is found in not doing something. Wisdom is most often self-restraint. It’s anticipating the consequences of an action and choosing not to act because it would not be in the best interests of the other person or make the situation better.

Wisdom is not responding back in kind when someone attacks or insults us. It’s not posting that rude comment or sending that nasty letter. And not only because it would be fruitless but because we understand that the best way to bring someone around to our point of view is not to attack them in return but to try to understand them. When we open ourselves up to that understanding, oftentimes the solution to the situation becomes clearer to us. Many times, our grace and patience will calm things down and help win the other person over. But mostly, the wisdom of not responding in kind is in the love we show for the other person by showing restraint. Turning the other cheek is not a sign of weakness but of love for the other person. How will attacking them show them the love of God within us?

It takes great courage to be a person of wisdom. It is not just hard to show restraint, it takes courage to admonish someone when required. It takes courage to tell your daughter that her lifestyle choices are putting her immortal soul in danger. She may reject you and your message or even her faith. It takes courage to go against a dangerous or sinful conventional wisdom. It takes courage to stand up for what is right and speak truth to power, but the world needs wisdom, especially these days. And it takes courage to learn from the wise, because it often requires deep changes to our lives. Wisdom rips away the pretense and gets to the depth of the truth, and that can be painful. Wisdom not only requires self-awareness but self-denial and humility.

Wisdom does not have to come just from our own experience, but from that of others. We all know people we consider wise. Maybe it is a parent or grandparent, a mentor or great leader or thinker. Or, all of the above. We can and should learn from wise people. We hear from Jesus in today’s gospel,

“Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven
is like the head of a household
who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.”

The wise person does not embrace change just for change’s sake. The wise person is a complete person and knows that wisdom is the sum total of a person’s life and experiences. They don’t throw out former worthy ideas and experiences because they know that is what had formed their new ideas. And the wise person knows that you can’t just jettison the past, with all its heroes and villains, virtue and vice. The wisdom of the ages is a valuable thing, because it is the foundation of the wisdom of the current age. And the wisdom of today is often born out of the folly of yesterday.

The best place to learn wisdom is the bible. You know, in scripture there is an entire book dedicated to wisdom. It is actually quite beautiful and profound. In it wisdom is described as one of the main attributes of God and is actually personified. Wisdom is described as a person, a woman actually, who was with God from the beginning, is of God, and is God. God is wisdom itself, and wisdom is how God interacts with all creation. Therefore, wisdom is holy because God is holy. When we act wisely, we are holy also.  Since wisdom comes from God our path to wisdom must be with God.

The wisest person in history was Jesus Christ. Jesus knew human nature better than anyone. Who knows the human heart better than the one who created it? People came to him for advice and guidance, or to try to entrap him, and he turned their hearts precisely because he knew their hearts. People were amazed at the depth of his wisdom, and many became his disciples because of it. And Jesus lived his wisdom with great courage and humility. It is the same with us. People will come to know and love Jesus Christ because of the wisdom of our lives and example. When we act with wisdom, we image Christ to the world and show the world the many practical and intimate ways God is working in their lives.

Wisdom is a gift we give to other people. It is totally selfless, if it is true. Solomon didn’t ask for anything for himself, instead, he asked for the ability to treat others as they should be treated. To truly love his neighbor as himself. When we act out of concern and compassion for another person, that is wisdom. When we put ourselves in their shoes to try to understand them, that is wisdom. When we get our own ego out of the way, that is wisdom. Being wise is to love and to love is to be wise.

We all are given the choice of Solomon, a man who knew his limitations and chose to rely on the wisdom of God. Learn from that perfect wisdom and let it guide you. Don’t worry if your store of wisdom is lacking. God has plenty to share.


Saturday, June 20, 2020

Fear No One


12th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jer 20:10-13
Rm 5: 12-15
Mt 10:26-33
Cycle A

Fear no one.

For the first time in my adult life I am truly frightened. The perfect storm of pandemic and social unrest and the polarization of our society are taking a toll on me, on my psyche, and on my soul. You may be feeling the same way. I try to find peace but it seems that every news story, every conversation, everything I see, read, and hear bombards me with over-the-top fear, hatred, and anger. I cannot escape it, even in prayer, even in my closest relationships.

Terror on every side, the prophet Jeremiah says! I have never seen such fear and anger before, and it’s getting harder and harder to make sense of it and cope with it.
When you were little, did you ever get woken up by thunder, really loud thunder that seemed to shake the house? And were you frightened by it? Did is terrify you? What did you do? I think most of us ran to mom and dad’s room and jumped in bed with them.

We ran to mom and dad because we felt safe there. We didn’t actually think that they could make the thunder stop, we went there because we knew we would be held and stroked and reassured. We trusted them to make everything alright, because they always made everything alright, didn’t they? And for me as a child, mom and dad’s room was special, it was different than my room, it smelled differently, it was always sort of dark and warm. I rarely went in there during the day. Sort of like a church. And I remember running to the door, then slowly creeping in there in the dark, hearing their breathing, hesitating a bit, and then climbing in, usually on Mom’s side, to snuggle in.

We all need to feel safe, to feel loved, to feel protected by someone stronger than us when we are frightened.

But, how do we handle our terror when mom and dad aren’t there? Where do we go to feel safe? What if we have to deal with our terrors on our own, with nowhere to run to, no one to snuggle down with, no one to smooth our hair, kiss our brow, and tell us everything will be alright? What if we are alone?

So many people are in that situation right now, aren’t they? They are terrified and have to deal with their fears all by themselves, on their own. One of the worst things about this pandemic is that we are isolated from one another. We cannot run to mom and dad, in fact, we have to be isolated from them even more due to the risks to them. Many of us turn to technology like virtual meeting rooms and social media, but that’s not the same, is it? We need that physical contact, not just audio visual contact. We need to be held and fussed over and consoled. Touching a screen is not the same as touching another person.

So, we have been placed in stress like we’ve never known before, coming from every direction. How can we cope? What do you do in times of great stress? Do you turn to prayer? Do you try to pray more often, or harder, or for different things? Have you prayed for others and asked others to pray for you? And have your prayers brought you peace? Or do you turn to your intellect, and collect data and facts to support your thinking or opinions or positions to reassure you that you really are in control of the situation? Does that give you control? I think that is a large part of our fear, of my fear. The sense of losing control.

But we are never really in control, are we? God is, whether we like it or not. And that should console us. Jesus says today to fear no one, but more importantly, he says “trust me” and “acknowledge me”. We are so very valuable, so precious in God’s eyes that he will never cause us to be harmed. Even if we lose everything we have here on this earth, even if we are killed, we really haven’t lost what is most important to us. “Do not be afraid of those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul.”

But how can you trust a God you cannot see? How can you go beyond saying and praying the words to a place of true peace in the midst of the whirlwind all around you? If it’s hard enough to trust our fellow human beings, who we can see and hear and touch, how much harder is it with our invisible God?

Well, I guess it’s a lot like running to your parents’ room during a thunderstorm. As a little child you didn’t question your mom and dad’s love for you. All the things they had done for you before - feeding and clothing you, holding you, laughing with you, cleaning up your messes – showed you that they were trustworthy. And as a little child you really didn’t have much choice in the matter; you couldn’t do all those things for yourself. So, you had to rely completely on them. Therefore, it was almost instinctive for us to run to those people when we were in dire need and afraid, because they had been so trustworthy in all those other things. You didn’t question it, you just accepted it.

As we grow up we are taught to be more and more self-sufficient, to make our own decisions, and take care of ourselves. We may turn to our parents from time to time for advice, but eventually we become fully responsible for ourselves and our actions. Sadly, many people lose sight of what it means to be a child, both of our parents and of God. We value our own independence over everyone else, and become more and more self-centered. Many people become estranged from their parents and especially from their God. They actually grow out of God and replace their love and reliance upon God with love and reliance of the self or upon the tribe.

And so I can understand why so many people today are angry and hateful and destructive…they are afraid and have no one to run to. They have been so used to relying solely on themselves that they cannot admit that they are not in control and will never fully be in control, and that it’s alright to not be in control and to need to rely on the help and comfort of someone stronger. It’s not just alright to want to run to your Father’s arms, it’s what the Father wants. Jesus told his disciples “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Maybe that’s what he meant and how we are supposed to think and behave.

On this Father’s Day weekend I think it’s good to reflect on what it means to be a good father, and how the role and image of a father should and can be one for all disciples. How can we all, but especially we men, be trustworthy models of our heavenly Father, to help those closest to us live peacefully during these trying times?

First, pray. If you haven’t been praying, start. If you have been praying, pray harder. Pray for peace. Pray for strength. Pray for wisdom. Pray for forbearance and patience. Pray for all those gifts of the Holy Spirit by which the world will be healed. Prayer is the solid foundation upon which all else will stand or fall.

Second, live within yourself. Realize and accept that there are a lot more things in this life you cannot control than you can. You cannot affect much of what happens to you, you can only affect your reaction to it. Try not to worry about things you cannot control. Most of all, see yourself as a little child who must rely on someone stronger. This will lead to humility and reduce or eliminate your fear.

Third, unplug. Take a break from all the negativity that bombards you. Turn off the phone and the TV and read a good book with a strong reinforcing message of love. Heck, read the bible! Have a long conversation with your spouse. Play a game. Find a way to re-ground yourself without distractions.

Next, connect. Keep coming to Mass every week. Stay in touch with people in your church community. Join in the daily coffee talks with Fr. Gray to laugh, converse, and get a jolt of inspiration along with your caffeine. Remember, where two or more are gathered in my name, there I am among you.

Finally, be kind. Fr. Gray last week spoke of kindness, which is based upon love. Kindness is such a strong way to show your love. Be kind to those closest to you. Be kind to those who disagree with you. Be kind to strangers, especially. Be kind because that is how people know they are loved. Kindness removes people’s feelings of loneliness and fear. Kindness to others allows them to be kind to others in return. Our kindness can bring a sense of the divine to those who have lost their trust in God.

The most common phrase in the bible is “Fear Not”, “Be Not Afraid”, or “Have No Fear”. May we all trust that message from the Lord so we can become the type of people the fearful run to for comfort, solace, and strength.


Sunday, January 26, 2020

E Pluribus Unum


3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle A

Is 8:23-9:3-1

Ps 27:1,4,13-14

1 Cor 1:10-13, 17

Mt 4: 12-23



The United States of America. One Nation, Under God, Indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for All. E Pluribus Unum – Out of Many, One.

There is strength in numbers. There is power in unity. This has been proven time and again. The 13 colonies ditched the Articles of Confederation and joined together under the Constitution because there are some things that can only be done by a unified nation. National defense, consistency in laws, a strong economy.

People always come together under common beliefs, values, and goals. That is not a coincidence. That is one way we as human beings image God. One God, three divine persons. There are many parts, but one body in Christ. A house divided against itself cannot stand. One bread, one body, one cup of blessing.

We hear today the prophecy of Isaiah regarding Zebulun and Naphtali, how the people in darkness have seen the light. You may recall that when the Israelites left Egypt and settled in the promised land, they did so according to their tribes – the 12 tribes of Israel. 10 settled in the northern part of the land and 2 settled in the south. King David was the first to unify the tribes into one nation, however, after his reign the kingdom split into two, Israel in the North and Judah in the south, each with their own kings.

The Assyrians invaded the Northern kingdom of Israel in 721 BC and carried the 10 tribes there off into captivity. One reason Assyria was able to do this is because Israel and Judah were no longer unified, and therefore were weakened. The remnant that remained in Israel intermarried and assimilated over time with various foreign groups. Two of those tribes were Zebulun and Naphtali.

Unity and purity of belief have always been two of the most important values of the Jewish people. They have worked very hard to maintain their particular identity as God’s chosen people by not intermarrying and assimilating into the cultures they have inhabited. Those who did were considered unclean and were to be avoided and even shunned. That is why the people who lived in Zebulun and Naphtali were considered to be in darkness. They had been cut off from the unified nation, they had defiled themselves by assimilating. They were impure and were therefore were without hope. They were considered Gentiles, not Jews.

That area is also known as Galilee. And it was no coincidence that Jesus chose to live there, chose to begin his ministry there, laid the foundations of his church in the apostles there. Jesus did not simply desire that his church be unified with him in all things, he actually said that he and the church are one in the same thing. He prayed, “that all of them may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”  And he left us the greatest sign and creator of unity in all of history, the Eucharist.

But maintaining unity is difficult. We hear St. Paul say today,

I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that all of you agree in what you say,
and that there be no divisions among you,
but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose.

From the very beginning of the Church there have been divisions. We hear today that the Corinthians were already taking sides, this one following Apollos, this other one Cephas, and yet another Paul. And it’s a natural thing to do. We do it ourselves. We prefer this priest or that, this pope or that, this politician or that. And I think that we follow them because they agree with us. Their worldview parallels ours, and that makes us feel justified and important.

Human beings have always joined themselves in factions, usually based upon what we feel best serves our interests. We naturally are attracted to people and movements that coincide with and reinforce our own beliefs. Ironically, in this way when we group ourselves with others we do it for completely selfish reasons. It really isn’t about the group, it is about us.

And I think the most destructive thing about this tribalism is that typically it moves beyond just identifying with a specific group to vilifying and demonizing people outside the group, who do not agree with our worldview. Factionalism often leads to arrogance and discrimination and closemindedness. It can ultimately lead to violence astonishingly quickly.

So, St. Paul is understandably frustrated. Didn’t they get it? It wasn’t about a human being’s thoughts or teachings or eloquence. It was about Jesus. It is about God. The one person who can truthfully claim that it is all about him is Jesus. The deeper your understanding of your discipleship, the more you become like Jesus and the more he becomes the center of your life.

It’s like a cup of water. It can only hold so much. If you fill it with something else the water must be displaced. The more we let Jesus fill our souls the less space we ourselves will take up.

I think that’s what the apostles experienced when Jesus called them by the seashore. Their lives were filled with the cares and simple joys of their everyday lives. Like us, they were focused on themselves, even though they were devoutly religious people. Their belief in God was very important to them, but it wasn’t everything. They needed to make more room in their lives for God.

Jesus had one consistent message throughout his earthly ministry – “Repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand.” Sometimes he referred to the Kingdom of Heaven, like today. Either way, the message is the same, for them and for us. I think we all too often think of God as being somewhere else. God is in heaven, a place we have some foggy idea of. Every now and then we are aware of God’s presence in our world; when we reach out to him in our distress, when we thank him for something wonderful that has been given to us, when we see the beauty around us in nature and in one another. For most of us, we move through awareness and unawareness of God.

Jesus is telling us something different today. He is saying that God is not somewhere else, he is here. And he is immanent, here at this very time in our lives and active in history. There are some people who view God almost like a celestial watchmaker. He has fashioned an unimaginably complex universe, set it in motion, and then lets it run by itself with no continuing interference from him.

But the reality of the incarnation – God become man – refutes that belief. Our king is so involved in our lives, in every area and fiber of our lives that he chose to become one of us. He is intimately a part of who we are and who we are destined to be. We are fully human when we rally around our king. We are fulfilling our destiny when we subjugate our will to His.

Jesus urges his disciples to be united around their king. But it’s so much more than just being subjects of the king. No matter how benevolent an earthly king is, there is still always a degree of separation between him and his subjects. Jesus said that our unity with our king is so much deeper, the lines of separation destroyed.

We are unified around our king. He is and should be the center of everything in our lives. It is difficult I think for us to submit to our king. As I said before, we gravitate towards those who agree with us. With God it’s different. We should not rally around our king because he agrees with us but because we agree with him. We are subjects, not the king ourselves. It is easy to forget that sometimes, especially in our self-centered society.

Remember that the beginning of Jesus’ call to us is the word “Repent”. We are to first and foremost get our relationship right with our God. We need to realize that we all have the need to repent, to change, to turn from our sinfulness and re-orient ourselves to God each and every day. And the best way to do that is to participate in the Mass, to partake of the one loaf and the one cup, to become one with Jesus body and blood, soul and divinity. To become Jesus active in the world today. To become what you eat.

Just as Jesus fulfilled the prophecy by bringing the gentiles and the outcasts back into union with the chosen people, he does the same with everyone who seeks him. The kingdom of God is at hand, and it is one kingdom. It is one kingdom of hope and of peace, and it is achievable and real.

Leave behind your tribe. Leave behind your faction. Leave behind anything and everything that causes division and strife in your church and in your life, and switch your allegiance to the King.

That is the one path to being truly happy in this life and in the kingdom to come.