A Sign From God

December 22, 2019 –– Fourth Sunday of Advent

Isaiah 7:10–14 / Psalm 24 / Romans 1:1–7 / Matthew 1:18–24

A Sign From God

If we’re honest, we will admit that we would like for God to work on our preferred timetable and to do things in a way that it’s easy for us to understand and obey. Yet the general message we find in Scripture is that God is mysterious and we need to trust him.

When we see trouble on the horizon––whether it’s large scale like global or national, or up-close and personal––we want God to “fix it” so that we aren’t threatened or discomforted. King Ahaz was facing an attack from neighboring kingdoms who had formed a coalition against him. Isaiah told him not to be afraid, that God was at work. Then Isaiah told Ahaz he could even ask God for a sign! (How often do we hope, deep in our hearts, that the Lord will give us a clear sign?!)

Ahaz declined! Maybe he did what is so easy for anyone to do when God does come close––panic and run (that seems to be an inherited response from Adam and Eve). But God also did what he always does––God acts for what is good. The sign was still given: the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.

At the time, the sign was unclear. It was rather general and in veiled language. On the other hand, it is an example of something that happens repeatedly in Scripture. The Old Testament especially is full of what biblical scholars call sensus plenior, a Latin phrase that means "fuller sense" to describe a deeper meaning intended by God, but beyond the human author’s intention at the time of writing.

So we do not know exactly how Isaiah understood what he was saying at the time. Yet this in itself has something to say to us. How often are we unsure what God is doing in our own lives and the things going on around us? Our faith may not readily perceive that God is at work in any up-close and personal way. Or we may, indeed, sense that God is truly up to something––yet not understand what it is. Through all the years of salvation history, this is not unusual. Do not be discouraged if you can’t see or aren’t sure of God’s immediate activity. That doesn’t mean God is not at work! 

The reality of this is magnified in the very event when God was finally making plain what he had said through Isaiah. It came 700 years later! And even then Matthew’s story shows that Joseph didn’t understand what was going on. At first he thought what everyone else would come to assume––Mary had done something she shouldn’t have done (this was part of God coming to us in humility). But Joseph had one thing going for him at the start: he was able to discern the voice of God.

Now, I don’t think we should be looking for a particular revelation when we have a vivid dream or when some unusual thought impresses itself in our minds, but…. we should have spiritual ears which are regularly listening for what God might say, and be open. (I would add to that a readiness to seek spiritual counsel if something seems unusual.) What I’m saying is that God wants to be in a relationship with us. I  say this because the fulfillment of God’s message to Isaiah and the outcome of God’s word to Joseph was exactly that: God is with us.

Today we do know what God was saying through Isaiah. The fulfillment of the virgin shall conceive and bear a son is Mary receiving the physical life of God in her womb and giving birth to Jesus, Son of God and Son of Mary. This is not mere myth; “myth” implies an essential truth. The Virgin Birth is not figurative. This is God at work for our salvation.

We may wonder: why don’t I see God working in big ways like this, “up-close and personal” in my life? The big things are “sprinkled” across the span of salvation history. Scripture is selective. The people and stories which are so familiar come out of centuries of events. C.S. Lewis once observed: “They come on great occasions…. that spiritual history which cannot be fully known by men. If your own life does not happen to be near one of those ganglions, how should you expect to see [it]?”  (from Miracles)

As we celebrate another Christmas I want to remind us of three big things from our readings today. First, God is at work for our salvation even if we don’t understand every detail around us. Second, God did a one-time thing through Mary. Third, because of what did God in and through Mary by sending his Son, God is with us, and he wants us to know him.

The way we do that is to believe, to trust, and to listen.

Are you listening?

Spiritual Authority

Wednesday: November 13, 2019–– 32nd Week of Ordinary Time

Wisdom 6:1–11 / Luke 17:11–19

Spiritual Authority

St Paul tells the Romans that the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable (11:29). He is talking about God’s promises to Israel and giving assurance that the Jewish people will not be left out of the salvation accomplished by Christ.

Yet the principle goes beyond the particular application in the Romans letter. The original gift and call that God gave his human creation was to govern the earth as his vice-regents. Humans have an inherent spiritual authority that has a cause and effect in this world. It can be used for great good; it can be used for great harm and evil.

The harm and evil that has been done is quite visible across the span of history. One of the worst conduits is what we think of as political power. That is the basis of the warning in today’s reading from Wisdom: Because authority was given you by the Lord…. Because though you were ministers of his kingdom, you judged not rightly….Terrible and swift shall he come against you….

Lord Acton has been credited with saying “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Pride and a selfish lust for power has turned God’s gift of vice-regency into horrible repercussions in our world.

But God’s people are not totally helpless. One way to understand prayer is our God-given ability to use spiritual authority to combat the forces of evil which operate through dark principalities and powers.

This is also a good way to understand why humility and thankfulness can be powerful actions for good––in our own souls and in the world around us. The Gospel shows us the kind of people God is so prone to work in and through––the lowly and desperate, like the lepers. Yet there is a needed response: thankfulness––an attitude that acknowledges God as God.

When live unto God we are allowing the spiritual power of our vice-regency to flow through us for good. And so we come to him each day, humbly taking our place both as his exalted creatures and as his dependent children. And we pray…. we pray for good and we pray against evil. And we ask for the grace to give thanks always for his good gifts.

The gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. Let’s use them wisely.

Life and Death

November 10, 2019 –– 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

2 Maccabees 7:1–2, 9–14 / 2 Thessalonians 2:16–3:5 / Luke 20:27–38

Life and Death

This is the time of year when the Church turns our attention through the readings to the Four Last Things: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. The wisdom of Christian Tradition knows we will not easily think about those things on our own. Our society is obsessed with the here and now. Physical comfort, convenience, and entertainment would be contenders for a “secular trinity.” The Scriptures and the lives of the saints tell us that faithfulness to God is more important that all those things––that faithfulness to God is even worth dying for.  But…. if we are going to hold life in this world loosely, we must have a good reason for our faith. If this life is all there is, the “secular trinity” seems most reasonable. How do we understand the tension of life and death?

The Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection. They were the aristocrats of Jewish society and collaborated with Rome, the power of the day. Their focus was the here-and-now. An unbalanced focus on life in this world is not an unusual response for the wealthy of any time or place. The Sadducees did not wish to lose their wealth, their comfort, and their “place.” But comfort and convenience can suffocate spiritual life. Who feels a need for God if it seems everything is going great? To the comfortable, heaven can seem like a fairy tale with no relevant meaning. Temporal life becomes more important than God; death is to be avoided at all costs and the interim filled with whatever helps us forget we are going to die.

Contrast the Sadducees with the seven brothers and their mother in the Maccabees story. Life certainly was not comfortable and convenient for them. Alexander the Great’s empire had extended into Judea and there was a tyrannical demand that everyone be totally unified in their allegiance to the state. There was no place for a religious commitment that conflicted with the unification of the social order. How shall we respond when there is pressure to be absorbed into a conformed pattern of living that denies God and his truth? This old Jewish story tells us: Even after being tortured one of the brothers said, It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the hope God gives of being raised up by him….

One gross distortion of contemporary Christian Faith is to see it as a spiritual insurance policy providing coverage from hard and painful things in life. Prayer becomes access to a divine vending machine––say the right words and you get supernatural goodies. The Thessalonian letter written by St Paul almost 2000 years ago is an ongoing reminder to all Christians that the world can be a hard place––especially for those who give total allegiance to Jesus. Here the Apostle Paul is asking the Thessalonian Christians to pray that we may be delivered from perverse and wicked people, for not all have faith. He knows that all Christians are in a spiritual war and we need God's perspective and presence.

When people give Jesus total allegiance and Christians have a passion to extend the Gospel to the whole earth, there will be obstacles. Christian faith and practice are being suppressed more and more in our own nation. Much of the world is closed to Christian witness today because spiritual warfare is real. There is opposition to Christian Faith to the point of persecution and death. It’s been that way throughout history, yet it’s not only an in-the-past issue. More Christians died for their faith in the 20th Century than all previous centuries combined! It is estimated that in the two millennia of Christian history, 70 million faithful have died for the Faith, and 45.5 million––65%–– were in the last century. We are in a spiritual war. Satan does not want the love and the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ to prevail.

How can we stay faithful? How can we not succumb to the numbing effects of seduction like the Sadducees? How can we choose faithfulness to Jesus above ridicule or financial loss, or even   physical persecution? Well, we have examples of faith like the seven brothers and their mother. We have the martyrs of the Church. Most of all, we have Jesus affirming a life that goes beyond this world: the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob is a God of the living. As Paul tells the Thessalonians: the Lord is faithful. And so we pray each day for the grace to live in true faithfulness––to give total allegiance to Jesus.

We cannot give witness to something we don't live, and we're not expected to live something God hasn't provided. Knowing Jesus Christ is to know God's love. And knowing that love, we are to show the love of Jesus.... to our wife or husband.... to our children.... to our neighbors.... to the people at work. We are to witness to the love of Christ everywhere we go. When we do that, we are being witnesses of the Gospel (the root of “witness” is martyr). When we witness to the love of God, we show that there is something more important than our own comfort and convenience, or even our very lives. It is because Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and coming again to bring total healing to this broken world.

Luke’s setting for this part of his Gospel is Jesus on the way to the cross (see Lu 9:51). This is  so we can know the power of God over death itself. Maccabees tells the story of people who paid the ultimate price for faithfulness to God. Each one of us as Christians is called to “martyrdom” –– laying down our lives in selfless love as a witness to Jesus. It may be a “red martyrdom”–– laying down our physical lives for Jesus’ sake, but more often it’s what the Church calls “white martyrdom”–– dying daily to our selfish desires so that the life and love of Christ in us can grow.

We often hear, “Life is short…. better enjoy it.” How about, “Eternity is long, better prepare for it!”  That is how to keep a true perspective on life and death. 

Jesus Wants Everyone

November 3, 2019 –– 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Wisdom 11:22–12:2 / Psalm 145 / 2 Thessalonians 1:11–2:2 / Luke 19:1–10

Jesus Wants Everyone

When Jesus began his public ministry in Nazareth, he read from the Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor (Luke 4:18). And preach good news to the poor he did. Later Jesus sent an answer to John, who was in prison and wondering if Jesus was the One, saying, Go back and tell John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deafa hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor (7:22,23).

So it can be surprising that Jesus sought Zacchaeus. Luke tells us he was wealthy (v2). Not only was he wealthy, his wealth came through his collaboration with Rome; he was a tax collector. Here was a man who held in public opinion the place a drug dealer might have today. Here was a man opposite of the blind beggar in the previous story of Luke’s Gospel. Zacchaeus had power. He had advantages. He could buy almost anything he wanted. He was surrounded by comfort.

Just as Jesus had pronounced blessing on the poor, he had denounced the rich:

But woe to you who are rich,

for you have already received your comfort.

Woe to you who are well fed now,

for you will go hungry (6:24).

Jesus told horror stories about the rich (12:13ff and 16:19ff). He told the rich ruler to give everything away to the poor, and then commented on the man's reluctance by saying, How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! (18:23). Why did Jesus give attention to Zacchaeus?

Maybe it was because he was a tax collector. Anyone who was that despised by everyone else was especially needful of Jesus' compassion. In fact, Levi (or Matthew), one of the twelve disciples, had been a tax collector (5:27). Quite early in his Gospel Luke says that Jesus had a reputation of being a friend of tax collectors (7:34). And because of that, tax collectors made it a point to gather around Jesus (15:1).

The truth is, Jesus gave himself to anyone who would receive him. Jesus gave all kinds of people an opportunity. He ate with tax collectors, yes, but he also ate with Pharisees (7:36 and 14:1). The issue was not one of relative wealth, occupation or handicap. The issue was then what it is today, one of love and grace on Jesus' part, and one of acceptance or rejection on the part of others.

Zacchaeus took a first step toward Jesus by going out and climbing the tree. Whether wealthy or sinner of any kind, when someone takes the first step toward Jesus, he will offer his love and mercy. Zacchaeus recognized the need to respond to love and mercy, and he did. He gave away half his possessions to the poor and promised to make restitution for the many times he had cheated people. Jesus reaches out to all kinds of people, and the people who choose to follow Jesus show his grace in their lives in some demonstrable ways.

Notice that Zacchaeus gave only half his possessions away. Jesus' word to the rich ruler was to give everything away (18:22). Here is where we find differences. The issue of what to do with wealth did not even exist for the poor who turned to Jesus (like the blind in the previous story). Zacchaeus gave away half and it was enough. Paul wrote to Timothy to tell the rich not to trust in their wealth but to share (1 Tim 6:17-19), but in spite of that warning he does not categorically denounce the rich.

Maybe this is enough for us to begin to see something important about people who follow Jesus.  First of all, Jesus wants all kinds of people as his followers. He wants the poor. He wants the handicapped. He wants the people that much of society thinks is worthless. Jesus wants sinners  ––big sinners. He wants the kind of people who have collaborated with structural evil. He wants people who have used power to hurt others. He wants people whose manners and way of life are disgusting to normal people. Of course he wants them to change, but he wants them. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.

Jesus wants people who are rich. He does not want rich people because of their money; he wants them in spite of it. He may tell some to give it “all” away; he will certainly have those with money who obey him give some of it away. And all of us, like Zacchaeus, need to give back to anyone we have wronged.

So whether one is a common worker or a corporate executive, a rich person or a poor person, a person with almost every advantage or a person with any kind of handicap, Jesus wants you. Whatever or whoever you are, Jesus wants you. But know this: when Jesus “has us” it will change us, as it changed Zacchaeus.

Desire and Salvation (a daily homily)

Wednesday: October 30, 2019 –– 30th Week in Ordinary Time

Romans 8:26–30 / Luke 13:22–30

Desire, the Holy Spirit, and Salvation

Someone asked Jesus: “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” Jesus replied by addressing the questioner personally: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate.” Those who truly desire to be saved will be saved.

St Augustine said:

The entire life of a good Christian is in fact an exercise of holy desire.

You do not see what you long for, but the very act of desiring prepares you, so that when he comes you may see and be utterly satisfied.

There is then within us a kind of instructed ignorance, instructed, that is, by the Spirit of God who helps our weakness.

The Lord your God tests you…. to enable you to know. So the Spirit moves the saints to plead with sighs too deep for words by inspiring in them a desire for the great and as yet unknown reality that we look forward to with patience. How can words express what we desire when it remains unknown? If we were entirely ignorant of it we would not desire it; again, we would not desire it or seek it with sighs, if we were able to see it. 

Here is a consolation: “The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness”…. and “intercedes with inexpressible groanings.”

Whenever we feel drawn to God it is a desire that he has implanted within us. When we respond we are not alone. The Spirit both draws us and helps us. And every day we open ourselves for the grace to hear and follow. Those who do that will be saved.

Living With Passion

September 22, 2019 –– 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Amos 8:4–7 / Psalm 113 / 1 Timothy 2:1–8 / Luke 16:1–13

Living With Passion

In this Gospel story Jesus is not recommending conniving selfishness (the prophet Amos warns about that!). Jesus is making the point that we are in the same position as this steward who saw his imminent dismissal threatening him with ruin––but the crisis which threatens us is even more serious. The steward was losing his temporal security; all of us are going to die, and how we respond to this temporal world will affect us eternally. The word mammon in the Gospel reading is not merely money, but the sum total of temporal values.

As Christians, we believe there are two worlds: the unseen world as well as the one that is visible––the world which is eternal as well as the one that is passing away. Some people live as though this world is all there is and ever will be. That means all their values, all their energies and all their hopes are focused on the here and now. Living that way is the essence of unbelief. To live that way is to leave God and his kingdom out of the picture. It is an attitude which thinks that being “happy” right now is the most important thing––and temporal security is a top priority for having happiness.

Jesus says the man in this story acted "prudently" (v8). The word is sometimes translated “wisely” or “shrewdly” (emphasizing the devious side of being “wise”). The steward had foresight and recognized the critical nature of his situation. Jesus is not commending his character or what he did; rather, Jesus respects the intensity of the man’s perception and motivation to act “prudently” for his welfare, so he says: For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.

In essence, Jesus is saying that people who live for the here and now know how to go after what they want. Worldly people know how to be worldly. They are shrewd. They know how to get their way. They know how to take care of what is often called “Number One.” A shrewd businessman knows how to manipulate situations to his own advantage. A playboy knows how to seduce. A “shark” knows how to cheat people. That kind of character goes after their goal with abandon. People consumed with this world know what they want and they know what they have to do to get it. That is how they can be a model to us for how to live with passion for the kingdom of God. The dedication it takes to achieve advancement and pleasure in the here-and-now is the kind of dedication Jesus calls his disciples to have for following him.

We live in a world where most people get things backwards. Beginning with the first disobedience in the Garden, people have always tried to rationalize away God's laws. The Pharisees did it (see v14). Many “religious” people do it today. God calls his people to look at life in an upside-down kind of way.

One way to think about our priorities and motivations is through the values we hold for our children. So much of the focus is on worldly success. Little Johnny might know little or nothing about God, Scripture, or Sacraments, but let him bring home a bad report card, and the reaction is quick. Here is a big problem because if Johnny doesn’t get better grades, he might not get into the best college, and then he won’t be able to make a killing––I mean.... a living.

Too often in today’s culture kids are taught that sports is the most important thing. Weekly church attendance is not so easy, but daily practice is certainly accommodated. We can think that an hour sitting in church is next to eternity (and don’t dare go over), but hours of a Saturday or Sunday (or both) watching games and going to sports meets is no big deal. Meanwhile Johnny and Susie, who can kick a soccer ball or shoot baskets for hours, barely know Scripture and have no clue at Mass. But Mom and Dad haven’t made those things important, so maybe they’re not important at all.

But it’s not just families with kids and young adults…. “Mature adults” can spend hours worrying and strategizing to make sure their retirement income enables them to “live life at the standard you have come to expect” (that line was in a commercial). Retirees can passionately give themselves to the pleasures “we worked for so long and hard to enjoy,” and that’s supposedly the crowning glory of life.

It is so easy for all of us––parents and church leaders––not to be responsible in what matters most to God. Our children hear that they should study hard, get good grades etc., to make it in this world. In its place this is not wrong––but their souls are more important. If we allow our heroes and models to be sports superstars and entertainers who make it big in this world, then what is our true focus? Where are our hearts?

We all have a God-given capacity to go after what we want.... with abandonment. People around us do it all the time. “Go-getters" usually have the admiration of a lot of people. One exception to that is people who are super-motivated about Jesus––they are usually looked upon as "fanatics."

Jesus is calling us to be disciples who are willing to live for his kingdom with the same intensity with which worldly people pursue their own self interests. The unbelieving world will not easily hear the Church if we as Christians are not modeling distinctiveness in our values and commitments. May our Lord have mercy on us all. May he give us, who claim the name of Jesus, the desire and the strength to serve him with passion.

The Laws of God

September 15, 2019 –– 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Exodus 32:7–11,13–14 / Psalm 51 / First Timothy 1:12–17 / Luke 15:1–32

The Laws of God

It is good and helpful when we can understand the authority of law to be a security and even a comfort in our lives. One curse of self-autonomy is to react to laws as an infringement on our personal freedoms. Whenever we want to do “my own thing” or to be first or to be the exception, we might think of the chaos and anarchy that results if every person relates that way to others.

This is true in the natural world. Think of the basic law of gravity. Gravity is what keeps our feet anchored to the ground so we can walk. Sometimes we get frustrated with gravity (even if we don’t think of it in those terms): if we drop something valuable or precious to us and it breaks, we can think “why did that have to fall?” Or when we weigh ourselves we might wish the gravitational pull was not so intense on the scales.

This carries into the spiritual world. Just as there is a law of gravity in the natural world, there is a Law of Divine Retribution in the spiritual world. Disobedience to God brings hard repercussions. Sin gets judged. In the first reading Israel turned away from God and was in immediate danger of divine retribution. In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the wayward young man remembers life at his fathers’s house (the household where he formerly felt so confined and restricted) and becomes aware of what he has done––I have sinned against heaven and against you; and he knows the appropriate repercussion––I no longer deserve to be called your son.

If we see only the restrictive and threatening side of law, the result is usually misery. As the parable opens the prodigal son felt the restrictions of home and bolted. At the end of the story his brother, the older son, thought he had done right. When the prodigal returned the other son complained to the father: all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends… The younger son selfishly ran away and the older son miserably remained to “earn” (this is implicit) the favor of the father.

It would have been “best” for both sons to stay at the Father’s house out of love––most of all, out of love for the father, but also allowing that love to open their eyes to the true goodness of the father’s house (instead of evidently seeing mostly confinement). Neither of the sons had truly understood the father’s heart.

All three readings today have one focus: God wants us to be “grabbed” by the true nature of his heart. In spite of the atrocity Israel committed against the Holy One who had so recently delivered them (even so miraculously) from slavery in Egypt, the LORD relented in the punishment he had threatened…. Writing to Timothy, Paul remembers his sins––a blasphemer and a persecutor and arrogant, but then gives this wonderful witness: I have been mercifully treated… The prodigal son goes home and tells his father: I have sinned…. I no longer deserve to be called your son. But even before he could get those words out, while he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.

Just like in the natural world, there are spiritual laws. There is a Law of Divine Retribution, but it is only a default for those who will not accept another, and deeper, Divine Law of Mercy. It is rooted in the nature of the God whose name is Love. In the natural world there is a law of gravity, but it can be superseded by the law of aerodynamics. Gravity tells us that something as heavy as an airplane cannot stay “up” but the law of aerodynamics shows that gravity does not have total force. And while airplanes eventually have to come down, in the spiritual world the Law of Divine Retribution can be perpetually superseded by the Law of Mercy. St Paul affirms to Timothy––This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

Something broken in us inclines us to focus on the negative. Like the older brother we easily see it in others (and, like the older brother, we often want to justify ourselves because we think we’ve behaved “better” than someone else). Sometimes we focus on the negative in ourselves; Satan wants us to do that if it can drive us to despair. What God wants us to see is his love and mercy––his father’s heart.

I am a father and a grandfather. I cannot describe the love I have for my family. I would die for the good of my children, but that is only an inadequate expression of the love of God. Again, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. There is no greater love.

St Ambrose, the early Father of the Church who helped form St Augustine, says this of God the Father:

Truly, he will come out running to meet you, his arms will be all embracing––for the LORD lifts those who are bowed down (Ps 147:6)––and he will give you a kiss, a sign of affection and of love; he will order his servants to dress you, to put a ring on you and give you sandals. You still are fearful for the affront you have caused, but he returns to you the dignity which you had lost. You fear punishment, and he kisses you. Finally, you fear being scolded, but he entertains you with a banquet.

Hear the Gospel. Let the “spiritual law of aerodynamics” lift you into the loving arms of our Heavenly Father and then soar in the mercies of grace given to us in Christ Jesus our Lord. As we come to the banquet of the Eucharist we are “fueled” with grace so we can fly, and they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint (Isa 40:31). This is the Law of Mercy from our Father.

Humility As Vulnerability

September 1, 2019 –– 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sirach 3:17–18,20, 28–29 / Psalm 68 / Hebrews 12:18–19, 22–24a / Luke 14:1, 7–14

Humility As Vulnerability

The readings today call our attention to humility. It is easy also to think of the implicit opposites of pride and self-centeredness. Right away we should understand the difference between humility and humiliation. Humiliation is a twisted rejection––of ourselves or from others––of the value that God himself has placed on us. We are not being proud when we recognize the good that is there because of what God has done. It is humility when we live with the attitude that our good things come from God and that ultimately everything belongs to him. Pride tells us to use every situation to our own advantage––to do all we can to make ourselves look good.

Last week's Gospel told us that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. He is on the journey that will take him to his death. In today's reading Jesus is still on his way to Jerusalem, but he is also at a stop. He is in the home of a Pharisee for a meal, and he uses the opportunity to model and teach us how to live. Jesus did not separate his life and death. He came to die; he shows us, on the way to his death, how to live.

This story took place while Jesus was eating. God's ways are best understood when they are incorporated into everyday life. Scripture tells us that meals are great opportunities for teaching God's ways. What do we talk about at meal time? Here we have “table talks from Jesus.”

Jesus was at a feast. At those meals there was a ranking order. The most important people would sit closest to the host or guest of honor. Jesus uses this occasion to portray what true humility looks like in such a setting (and he is actually helping avoid humiliation). In telling the guests to take the less important seats, Jesus was teaching through a specific example what Paul would later conceptualize when he wrote to the Romans (12:3), Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought. One word that gives a bit of insight to this is being willing to be vulnerable.

Even as Jesus teaches humility here, he models the ultimate example that Paul so wonderfully gave the Philippians (2:6–8): Jesus… who did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing…. he humbled himself and became obedient to death––even death on a cross!

As Jesus concludes his table talk, he also gives a word to the host himself. Jesus says a host should invite people who cannot return the invitation. Humility affects the way we give. One way to understand humility is to see it as an opposite of taking. Humility looks for a way to give; pride looks for a way to get. This coincides with what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount. There he asked, If you love only those who love you, what good is that? (5:46). True giving is when there is little or no potential for getting something back. Embracing Christian giving makes us vulnerable. Here’s a question to consider: Would our financial giving to the church be the same if the IRS did not give a deduction?

It’s easy to play the game "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." The opposite of living that way is learning to be honest before God and to hold nothing back (God knows everything about us anyway; he knows if our obedience is from the heart or mostly to impress others). One way to understand Christian Faith is embracing personal vulnerability. We are getting close to God when we realize we are needy! We need God’s love and care and salvation.

The readings today remind us that when our focus is on ourselves we will try to use every situation to our own advantage. A focus on self will be mostly concerned with personal comfort and security. In contrast, following Jesus reverses the way we usually think and live in everyday life. We are invited to enter into the incredible grace of being loved by God so that we ourselves become channels of his love and grace and mercy. That is what Jesus taught and modeled.

May our Lord give us the grace of humility––and a growing grace to follow him with whole hearts, day in and day out, in all our situations. Perhaps, at a family meal, you can talk about what it means to live with a vulnerable trust in God!

Ready for God’s Kingdom

August 11, 2019 –– l9th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Wisdom 18:6–9 / Psalm 33 / Hebrews 11:1–2, 8–19 / Luke 12: 32–48

Ready for God’s Kingdom

Christian Smith is a sociologist of religion at Notre Dame. He uses the term Moralistic Therapeutic Deism to describe the popular religion of American people. These are the basic tenets:

––A God exists who created and ordered the world and “watches over” human life on earth.

––God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other as taught by most world religions.

––The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.

––God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when needed to resolve a  major problem.

––“Good” people go to heaven when they die.

There is a growing assumption that this is a basic summary of Christian Faith. These things are easy to “believe” because they make few demands on our lives and, in a society where “feelings” are almost the ultimate criteria of values, believing these things make us feel good. The rebellious mantra of the 60s has become today’s secular dogma: If it feels good, do it.

But what if deciding right and wrong is not just a point of view? What if religion is not just a list of rules—mine or yours or anyone else’s? What if truth is not the ever-changing consensus of the crowd but instead is a Person you can get to know and a Person who knows you? Christian Faith says this Person’s story is told in the Bible. His name is Jesus. It is good to listen to what he says.

In contrast to living for convenience and temporary happiness and presuming that we measure up to God’s standard of “good,” Jesus exhorts his disciples to live differently. They are to give and store up treasure in heaven. Disciples are to be like servants who await their master’s return late in the night; they’re to be ready to serve the needs of the master. Then Jesus introduces another element: One concern of the master is to make sure that no one breaks into the home. Here we have the introduction of evil and the possibility of danger. Someone could break into the house and wreak havoc.

Peter asks a question, “Lord, is this meant for us or for everyone?” The disciples have lived in the presence of Jesus. They have been given much. Yet the inference is that if they’re not vigilant, they will be judged.

Jesus’ words are not only directed at disciples who lived long ago; they are directed at us. We also know the will of God through Jesus Christ. We have the Sacraments, the Scriptures and the Apostolic teaching of the Church. We have been given much more than the disciples initially had.

We are caught today in a conflict of faithfulness and complacency. There are popular but devastating beliefs and values and assumptions voiced in the media and among some of our personal relationships. False teaching is breaking into “the house”––the Church, and it is wreaking havoc.

A recent report has projected that only 50 percent of those surveyed even know that the Catholic Church teaches that during the Mass, the bread and wine actually become the Body and Blood of Jesus. Of that 50 precent, 28 percent believe the church’s teaching, but 22 percent reject it. 

As our larger society grapples with decreasing respect for human life and an evaporation of any boundaries to sexuality, many claiming to be “Catholic” are surrendering to whatever seems popular or easy. Jesus is saying the opposite. He is the Master. He has promised to come again, and he can come at any time. His servants are to be ready when he does come. The world around us says: “Focus on your own security…. live the easiest way you can…. take a short cut…. do what's most convenient….” If we always choose what is quick and easy in the service of our heavenly Master, we will not be ready at his appearing. Life is more than temporal comfort and happiness. Christian living means staying ready.

The Gospel today asks: “Are we ready?” Jesus wants us to be prepared for the coming fullness of God’s kingdom. We must each decide whether to be servants of the Word of God, or to embrace whatever is convenient and “feels” right. Catholic parishes are meant to be places of refuge and vigil. Here find help as we await the coming of our Lord and embrace him in the Eucharist and in the Scriptures. One important reason to gather as the Church every week is to remember that the One we follow did not choose the quick and easy way. He chose obedience to a truth that was not easily understood. He chose to persevere in prayer and surrender to the Father’s plan. He chose the hard road to the cross. And as he finished his earthly ministry he could say to the Father, I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do (Jn. 17:4).

Each week we come to hear God’s Word. Each week we come to eat our Lord’s Body and drink his Blood. This is the very life of the Church. This is meant to hold us steady as we live in a confused and conflicted world. Consistently in the Mass we are reminded: When we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death, O Lord, until you come again. Until he comes we remind ourselves of what Jesus said and did, and he said he would come back. We remember that he will come back at an unsuspected hour. We remember that he has called us to be and stay ready until then.

Jesus warns that a coming judgment will fall those who are not ready. In the meantime we will be surrounded by people and social media that try to throw “quick and easy” options in our path from every direction. We can be ridiculed if we live differently. But as surely as we profess our faith by partaking of the Body and Blood of our Lord, let us also persevere in the faith that has been handed down from the Apostles and stay ready…. until he comes. The reward, if we’re ready, is the greatest event we’ll ever attend: the heavenly Supper of the Lamb. 

This is what Jesus says.

Godly Perspective

July 14, 2091 – 15^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Deuteronomy 30:10-14 / Psalm 69 / Colossians 1:15-20 / Luke 10:25-37

Godly Perspective

Part of my ministry—actually it’s a huge part of living a Christian faith—is listening to people. One thing I hear again and again is the struggle of personal faith.

There is a basic understanding of what we as Christians believe. We say the Creed every week, and that’s wonderful. Even more people have some familiarity with John 3:16—God so loved the world that gave his only begotten Son so that whoever believes in him may not perish but have eternal life. Yet, there is an ongoing struggle: What does it means for me in my world?

Some people are always asking questions: Why? How? They tell me their mind never turns off. Sometimes they fight cynicism because the struggle seems so much bigger than any immediate answers. Other people deal with a seemingly endless assault of hard circumstances—relational, financial, physical, or emotional. Some people are continuously hit with all of these at the same time. So I hear painful questions: What is God trying to tell me? Why aren’t my prayers being answered? Does God care? Is God really there?!

All of today’s readings converge to give a perspective on this mindset. To be honest, they do not answer these questions directly. God’s way is not to give a detailed answer to our particular issues; instead (and I use this word again), God gives us a perspective that enables us to live in faith. And with that, I remind all of us that if we could “see” everything clearly, it would not be faith (Romans 8:24)—and as Scripture tells us, without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).

We need godly perspective….

A good place to start is to remember that no one who struggles deeply with personal faith is alone. It is common to humanity to have critical questions which go to the core of one’s being. It is even more common to face circumstances that strike at the heart of life’s meaning and purpose (that is the effect of the original disobedience). If you have deep questions…. if you have been hit with suffocating circumstances…. you are not alone.

One way we know this is because Moses—and this was ca. 4000 years ago—was facing people who were looking for answers. It was near the end of their 40-year wilderness wanderings. The Israelites had gone through hard times. The first generation of the Exodus pilgrims had died and their children, now adults, wondered if the God who had given their parents those promises years before was going to do what he had said. Their thoughts had turned in on themselves and they were asking: “What do we need to do to get God’s attention?”

Moses gives a short answer: Listen to God and obey. But how do we listen to God? It’s as if Moses reads their minds (actually, God is speaking through Moses): You don’t have to go on a big pilgrimage. You don’t have to go anywhere. What God is saying is something very near to you…. There are mistaken ideas and insidious lies loose in our world that say God is too remote and that issues are too complicated. NO! God is here.

This has been powerfully presented to us in the Incarnation. When God took on a fully human form it was beyond what even Moses could have perceived. Jesus Christ is God with us. That is what St Paul tells the Colossians: Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God…. in him all things hold together.

The modern world has become so “scientific” that we don’t look beyond the (amazing) natural laws and explanations of how the universe works. But beyond and behind and underneath all the natural laws which we mistakingly think explains everything is the One who created it all. The sustaining presence of God is as close as the sunrise each day. God is as close as each beat of our hearts. God is in control. God is at work.

Sometimes we get so absorbed in our personal issues and problems that we lose perspective. Hold your open hand up to your nose. All you can see is the palm of your hand. Yet on the other side of your hand is the larger world. Your hand doesn’t make the world go away; it just blocks you from seeing it.

Our issues and problems can do that to us. Big questions and hard circumstances can come so close that they obliterate the larger reality from our perspective. God is here. God is in control. God is at work. Our loss of perspective doesn’t stop God.

So how do we keep perspective? That’s the Gospel. The man asked Jesus: What must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus answered with a question that takes us back to what Moses told the people: Heed the voice of the Lord your God and keep his commandments…. What does God command? Love.

We make this command difficult. We are the ones who, like the man in the Gospel story, want to raise complicating questions that focus on ourselves. Above and beyond all other questions and issues there is one way to be close to God: to love as he wants us to love.

You see, God is already close to us. We are immersed in God every second of every day. There is no place where he is not! Moses told the people that the command is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts. We confess the Creed with our mouths and are enlivened in baptism. So, if God is close to us, what is the problem?

It’s whether we truly want to be close to God! Beyond our questions…. beyond our issues…. even beyond hard circumstances and pain…. Do I want to be close to God above and beyond everything else?

If so, we open our hearts. Moses told the people, and the law scholar admitted to Jesus, all your heart. We open our hearts to love God. We open our hearts to love others. We open our hearts so that we can see beyond the hand in front of our face. Then we find that God is here, and his Name is Love. It is out of that godly perspective that we can live and love.

The Way to Life

June 23, 2019 –– Corpus Christi Sunday 

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

The Way to Life

For over 50 years I was rooted in a Christian tradition that emphasized “come to Jesus.” I based my life and my vocation on the core doctrines which proclaim Jesus Christ as the Incarnate Son of God who died for the sins of the world and rose from the dead to give us eternal life. I understood the basics of what Jesus has done for us; it was only after decades of pastoral ministry that I began to see something much deeper––that what Jesus did for us is something he does in us, and that he comes into us in the the simple and yet most profound way of the Eucharist. And with that, I found something else: The Catholic Church is a seamless garment of Christian Truth which pulls its members into the very life of Christ. This is woven into all we do as Catholics, but it is so standard and pervasive that many miss it because of its familiarity (and then, in our human weakness, it can become “mechanical”). I want to remind us, in a bit overview, of what brings us to the summit of the Church’s life: the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. 

When God first created humans in his image (Genesis 1:27) he did two things: the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being (Genesis 2:7). In other words, God gave humans a physical body and a life based in Divine Spirit.

When our human parents responded “poorly” (to put it mildly!) to the privilege of choice––when they disobeyed God––their spiritual life died. Without God’s Spirit indwelling us, we are like animals without instinct. We do foolish and harmful things to ourselves and others. That is not what God intended, so still honoring the esteem of creating us in his image, God set out to win us back. That is one way to understand the ongoing intricacies of the biblical story.

Everything that God intends for us is incapsulated in the life of the God-Man Jesus. In Jesus, the Incarnation is the permanent unification of the Spirit of God with the human body. That is what Christmas is all about. It is the beginning of the story of what it truly means to be a godly human being.

Then the details get played out. When Jesus is on the verge of high visibility through his public ministry––as he begins to draw explicit attention as a truly spiritual man––he goes through a developing series of experiences which the Church came to understand as being significant for human reconciliation with God. We can enter into the life of Jesus through the Church’s liturgies. From the Incarnation at Christmas and progressing to the Real Presence of Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, we are being pulled into the life of Jesus so that God’s Life can be in us.

In his baptism, Jesus is identifying every human’s basic need of the indwelling Spirit. As Jesus is baptized, he made the waters of baptism the beginning source of God’s Life.

Immediately following his baptism, Jesus was tempted. Once again the privilege of choice was being offered to a man who was totally possessed by the Spirit of God. But unlike the first man (see 1Corinthians 15:45), Adam (see also Romans 5:12–17), we find in Jesus one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). So it is possible to live in a human body and say no to sin. It is possible to live in a human body and please God. It is possible be human and be holy!

But in a world where so many people still want to please themselves instead of God, holy people are often mistreated. The more Jesus taught and modeled a life full of God’s Spirit, the more a growing animosity wanted to get rid of someone who put a spotlight on the ugliness of a self-obsessed humanity.

In the Passion and Crucifixion of Jesus we see the ultimate result of rejecting God. Rebelling against God always leads to hatefulness and pain and death. When Jesus suffered and died, he was taking upon himself the result of all human rebellion against God.

It can often seem that evil is stronger than good. It can feel as though hate is more powerful than love. We can begin to think that in a world where so many things go wrong, God won’t really do anything to change it. That misses the whole point. God’s way is not to lash out (but he does allow the repercussions of sin to bear its deadly fruit in the world and in our lives). God’s way is to win us back. God is working for the long-term. We are too easily obsessed with now. We spend our chips trying to be happy; God is at work to make us holy.

After a rebellious world had done its worst to the Son of God––dead and in the grave, Jesus came back from the dead––in his body––never to die again. That is why the Church is all about Easter. Our biggest enemy has been defeated by a man in a human body like ours. As we follow Jesus in baptism and trusting God in our temptations, and as we follow Jesus in allowing all that is not pleasing to God to go the Cross so that we die to whatever blocks God’s Spirit in our lives, then we have every reason to believe that we will follow Jesus in Resurrection. Like Jesus, our bodies will be raised up never to die again.

But it doesn’t stop there. Forty days after his Resurrection, Jesus ascended to heaven. This can be perplexing, but understanding the physiology of the Ascension is not the point. There is another “dimension” that is all around us but invisible and usually hidden from our natural senses. The huge point is this: Jesus, in his human body, already has an eternal existence in a dimension we call “heaven,” and as surely as we share a common humanity with Jesus, Jesus leads all who follow him from the Cross to Resurrected Life and then to a dimension of Eternal Life––in our bodies––that we cannot begin to comprehend. Then, to bring it to fullness for all God’s people, Pentecost released the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11) to all who receive him (John 1:12).

So how do we follow Jesus into all these wonders? God has put a desire in every human heart for what is right and beautiful and good. When that desire is embraced and not rejected we are beginning to follow Jesus. And “following Jesus” is not left to our own effort and understanding; Jesus has given us the Church to guide us in Truth and show us the way. Jesus has given the Church access to the significant events in his life so that the power of what Jesus went through in his human body is passed on to us through the Holy Spirit. This is one way to understand the Sacraments.

When we come into the Church, we enter into the very Life of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Liturgy is a celebration of the presence of the living Christ among us. The Liturgy is a connection to that dimension where Christ has already gone. Liturgy expands NOW so that in the present moment, and especially in the Eucharistic Presence of our Lord, “the past becomes a present presence that opens a new future” (George Weigel, “Eastern Catholic Churches and the Universal Church” in First Things, 6/6/19). The Church offers a powerful reminder that “the way to God passes through things that can be seen and touched.” Jesus came in a body; he comes to us now again and again in his Body.

The very Presence of our Lord is with us in the Eucharist. We are not alone. Even more, Jesus gives himself to us as Heavenly Food, strengthening us for the journey and making all that he has done for us real and present right now! Believe… take…. eat…. worship…. and LIVE.