Competitors to Christian Commitment

June 30, 2013 –– 13th Week in Ordinary Time

Luke 9:51-62

COMPETITORS TO CHRISTIAN COMMITMENT

What is the most important thing in your life?  One way to answer that is to think of what dominates your free time, that on which you spend your money, and perhaps especially what you most enjoy talking about.  In other words, where are your priorities?  Most of us know that our commitment to Jesus and his kingdom should be the most important thing in life.  Most of us have also found out that that kind of commitment is easier to talk about than to actually practice in day to day life.

We need to hear Jesus in the context of the things which touch us so deeply.  One thing to remember is that Jesus is en route to Jerusalem where he knows he will die.  As people face the issue of discipleship and what commitment means, we remember that ultimate commitment is modeled by Jesus. Jesus doesn't call for a commitment in others which he himself has not first embraced.  

Another thing to see in Jesus is his honesty with would-be followers.  He does not down-play the commitment.  He did not make things easy just to win a convert.  A commitment cannot be made if a person doesn't know what the conditions of commitment are.

One other thing about Jesus that we see here builds on his honesty.  Some might even think it is a harshness, but again, remember that Jesus has begun the walk toward his own death and is in no mood for half-heartedness in those who say they will follow.  In v60 he tells the man, Let the dead bury their own dead.... Jesus does not want a partial commitment.

Then, there are these three men who face the call of discipleship. There was nothing really sinful about any of their issues.  They were normal concerns that all of us identify with very easily.  They were "needs" that are common to all human beings, and that is just the point when it comes to Christian discipleship: human "needs" are not automatically justified in the realm of Christian commitment. The starting place in Christian commitment is not our felt needs.

Consider what the competitors to Christian commitment are.  Jesus' reply to the first volunteer disciple is, Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.  In other words, the very human need for security and the very human desire for comfort must take a back seat to a commitment to Jesus. Does this mean that no Christian should have a fixed home?  It doesn't say that.  Remember, Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem and this fellow says he will follow Jesus wherever Jesus goes.  For him, discipleship would have meant no home.  Following Jesus would have precluded that.  The particular issue with this man is just an example of the general truth that security and comfort cannot be more important than following Jesus if you have to choose between the two.

It was to the second man that Jesus explicitly said, "Follow me."  The man's answer was an example of misplaced priority.  Following Jesus accepts no higher priority.  If the man's father was dead and waiting for burial, Jesus' reply seems uncaring.  The point, though, is that the call of the kingdom cannot wait for even the most urgent earthly reasons.  The implication of Jesus' words is, "Let the spiritually dead bury the physical dead."  Some things can be done by almost anyone; the work of Christ can only be done by those who are fully committed to him.

Actually, we don't know if the father of this man was even dead.  A typical Eastern response to a commitment that upsets life patterns is to wait until things are more convenient.  What this man did not know is that for important events in life there is frequently a crucial moment.  This was a now or never proposition.  Following Jesus is that way, but the response of many people is "wait" –– wait until I'm older.... wait until I've had my fun.... wait until I'm secure in life.... wait.... But what is worth more than commitment to God's Son?

The third man only wanted to go back to tell his family goodbye.  That's not such an awful request, is it? God put us in families. They are important.  Children are to honor their parents and husbands are to love their wives just like Jesus loves the Church.  I don't think it was a verbal goodbye that Jesus was refusing this man; he was uncovering a divided loyalty, and there's no earthly loyalty that can compete with allegiance to Jesus and his kingdom, not even family.

I am an only child living almost 600 miles from my widowed dad who is now 93.  There are many times I'd rather be closer, but almost 50 years ago I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ and I made a commitment to not turn back.  If that means almost 600 miles from the family networking that so many other people take for granted, then my commitment is to be here. Yet even as I make that commitment, there will always be competitors.

What is it that will keep us from divided loyalty, from giving in to the competitors?  It will not be a mere cognitive “accepting” the teachings of Jesus, for Christianity is more than that.  Christian commitment means an identification with Jesus in his life and death and resurrection.  We get a good picture of that kind of person in the Apostle Paul.  He was the opposite of these three men.  He was willing to travel, having no permanent home.  He was not one who waited for things to get more convenient.  He held no other relationship above the one he had with his Lord.

One way that you to reflect more on this text is to read Paul's letter to the Philippians and notice how often he refers to Jesus.  He is a man totally entranced with Jesus Christ.  Note how he gives Jesus the priority: For to me, to live is Christ... (1:21);  I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things (3:8); I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings (3:10); I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (3:14).  Those are the words of a person who is winning the battle with competitors to Christian commitment.

So I end the reflection on these verses with my opening question: What is the most important thing in your life?  These men who encountered Jesus help us see the competitors that we face in our commitment to Jesus.  Who or what are we putting first?

Two Models of Religion

Wednesday: 19 June, 2013 –– 11th Week in Ordinary Time

2 Corinthians 9:6–11 / Psalm 112:1–4, 9 / Matthew 6:1–6, 16–18

Two Models of Religion

“Religion” is getting bad press these days. There are certainly awful things to give religion a bad name, and Jesus names some here: people who are so stuck on themselves that they do religious things to get attention. Of course, there are worse things than that done in the name of religion, but Jesus wants us to know that even doing legitimate “religious” things for the wrong reason is odious.

Again, it’s not that giving, praying and fasting are bad things. Jesus says, When you give.... When you pray.... When you fast.... There is the explicit assumption those things will be done, but the issue is how and why –– not ostentatiously and not for personal glory. The Psalm says that the man who fears the Lord.... lavishly gives to the poor.... The focus, you see, is on the Lord. As people who have received mercy and grace, we in turn give to others. This is the healthy cycle of prayer and fasting and giving.

The Epistle gives the proper model: God loves a cheerful giver. When our hearts are so turned to the Lord that we live in an awareness of his gifts to us, we cannot help but have an attitude that wants to gift and bless others. Paul tells the Corinthians: You are being enriched in every way for all generosity.... In other words,  God gives to us so we can give to others. This is “right religion” (and James gives explicit support to this in his letter, Jm 1:27).

When I was child there was a Sunday School song we learned. I have forgotten the last part of it, but the first part is indelibly stamped in my memory: Jesus and others and you –– what a wonderful way to spell JOY...  This is what the readings are telling us today. When our focus is on ourselves it only brings misery to us and those around us. When we choose to focus on the Lord and allow that to shape our attitude toward others, we find ourselves giving and forgiving and modeling just the kind of religion that brings honor to God (and that he, in turn, honors). Jesus and others and you –– what a wonderful way to spell JOY....

Loving Like Jesus

Tuesday: 18 June, 2013 –– 11th Week in Ordinary Time

Matthew 5:43–48

Loving Like Jesus

We know that Jesus sometimes used hyperbole (e.g., if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off or hate father and mother, wife and children). Some would like to think Jesus is exaggerating his point here as well: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Yet the text and the witness of earliest Christianity only gives evidence that Jesus is being quite literal. We are to be like the heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. 

There is a protest: That’s not normal! And of course, that is true –– anyone can retaliate. It does not take the grace of God to hit back. Again, Jesus is clear: if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Then he extends the contrast with what “normal” people (unbelievers) do. Yes, Jesus is being quite literal.

Then the protests really begin.... the “what if” questions: “What if someone has killed your family?” I remember a class lecture from seminary by the best professor I’ve ever sat under. He was addressing this passage under the category of the “ethics of the kingdom.”  He told the story of giving the same lecture on a mission trip to Africa and one of the students –– perhaps one who had been affected by inter-tribal violence –– asked that very question. I’ve never forgotten the answer....

The prof said he looked at that young man who had pain on his face and yet an obvious desire to be faithful to the gospel, and he didn’t know what to say. But then, in the way that the Spirit has of giving us deep truth in our desperate moments, he found himself replying, “Humanly, I do not know what I would do; I am a man like you. But let me tell you what I would want to do: I’d want to love the way that God loved me when I killed his Son.”

And we react: That’s not natural! This is too true. Christianity is a supernatural faith. It is based on the supernatural death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is lived out of the supernatural indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This is why Jesus says, So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect. It doesn’t take the grace of God to hate or hit back. Christians are called to love.... like Jesus. (And no matter how much we fall short, we cannot lessen the standard –– Lord, help me grow in your love!)

This Is My Body

June 2, 2013 –– Corpus Christi Sunday

Genesis 14:18–20 / 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 / Luke 9:11b–17

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Almost unbelievable to me now, for over thirty years of my ministerial life I honestly did not give one explicit thought to what Jesus meant when he said, This is my body.... I never saw the inherent continuity with the Melchizedek priesthood, or the manna given to the Israelites, or the implications of covenant and eating the sacrifice, or Jesus feeding the 5000.

In my former tradition, Communion meant eating a piece of bread, sipping a little cup of grape juice and piously (with great stress on the need to focus with inner piety) “rememberig” what Jesus did for us. Pious feelings can be good things (but they should not be a barometer of one’s faith). And there is certainly nothing wrong with remembering what Jesus did for us –– we need to do that. But, is that all “Communion” is? Many Protestant Christians believe that is, indeed, all Communion is.

This has caused no small consternation among some people who were so close to my wife and me in our former setting. I still sometimes get critiques of our Catholic beliefs from well-meaning people, and every time it is so obvious there is misinformation and a lack of understanding. I was sent one lengthy critique of the Eucharist written by a man who says he grew up Catholic and was well-catechized (the implication is that he is therefore an authority and his castigation of the Church must be right). His argument then turns to human logic used to defy the Church, and disclaimers on the basis of technicalities. This is one of his claims: “The belief that the nature of the host changed at the consecration did not become an official doctrine of the Catholic Church until the Lateran Council of 1215.” This may be technically true in terms of an explicit formal statement, but it is presented in the article to imply that the Eucharist was a late-developing and “institutionally Catholic” belief having no basis in the early history of the Church. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Recently I read a rather comprehensive overview of writings by the early Church Fathers on the Eucharist. Among the oldest is Ignatius of Antioch, whose life overlapped that of the Apostle John, and he was likely mentored by John. St Ignatius warns c.106 A.D. of “men who have perverted notions about the grace of Jesus Christ which has come down to us, and see how contrary to the mind of God they are.... They even abstain from the Eucharist and the public prayer [the Liturgy – the Mass], because they will not admit that the Eucharist is the self-same body of our Savior Jesus Christ....” (Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Smyrnaeans 6, 7 in Early Christian Writings, Penguin Books, 1968, p102–103).

An honest look at the documents of Early Church history offers overwhelming testimony that Jesus’ words were taken literally: This is my body.... this is my blood.

It had bothered me for years that Communion was not taken more seriously in the tradition where I pastored. Even apart from the issue of the literal Real Presence of Jesus, I had an implicit recognition and a gnawing discomfort that we were not doing something that the earliest Christians did regularly and with a great importance.

About mid-way in my journey to the Church (as I look back now), I began to move my congregation toward a more frequent Communion. Actually, I had initiated Communion to every other month when I first came to the congregation (instead of the 3–4 times a year that had been the previous practice). But after coming back from my month at the monastery, I moved our observance to once a month. Remember, we had no fixed liturgy. Pastors had the freedom to shape the congregation within the tolerances of the people. I soon discovered where the lines were with Communion.

As soon as we began monthly Communion, people began to complain. A few people told me that “if we have Communion too often it won’t be special any more.”  I wanted to ask the first woman who told me that whether she would be content if her husband said “I love you” only quarterly, and that if he said it too often it would not be “special”! Can a serious I love you be said too much? If my grandchildren run up to me with a hug and an I love you every time they see me, I assure you, it will not cease to be “special.”  How much more do we need the regular intimate love of our Lord that he has provided in the mystery of the Eucharist.

The time came when I knew that anything less than weekly Communion would be disobedience on my part. It was also obvious that weekly Communion would never be accepted in the tradition I was serving at the time. I knew I was the one who had changed; resigning was my only option.

It was during this process that I began to look more closely at the claims of the Catholic Church about the Eucharist. The testimonies of the Early Fathers were overwhelming. The biblical connections I had never seen before began to come into focus with amazing continuity. This is my body.... this is my blood.

Then it became obvious: All of Christian Faith is an overwhelming mystery. God, the maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible, was able to “condense” himself into a single Man –– a real human being. When people saw Jesus on earth, they saw.... a man. There was no comprehension at the time that Jesus was the maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.  In a parallel way, today we “see” only bread and wine. But through the power of the same Holy Spirit that brooded over Creation, and the power of the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, there is a power of the Spirit unleashed through the Church so that the priest –– who is conformed to Christ through a succession going back to the very beginning –– can say these words over the bread and wine: Make holy, therefore, these gifts we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall, so that they may become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.... This is the faith of the Church. This is the very gift of himself from the One who died and rose from the dead so that our sins can be forgiven, and we can be raised to new life.

This is my body.... this is my blood.

Exposed to God

Such a great cry of the heart from St Augustine....

Whoever I may be, Lord, I lie exposed to your scrutiny

Lord, you know me. Let me know you. Let me come to know you even as I am known. You are the strength of my soul; enter it and make it a place suitable for your dwelling, a possession without spot or blemish. This is my hope and the reason I speak. In this hope I rejoice, when I rejoice rightly. As for the other things of this life, the less they deserve tears, the more likely will they be lamented; and the more they deserve tears, the less likely will men sorrow for them. For behold, you have loved the truth, because the one who does what is true enters into the light. I wish to do this truth before you alone by praising you, and before a multitude of witnesses by writing of you.

O Lord, the depths of a man’s conscience lie exposed before your eyes. Could anything remain hidden in me, even though I did not want to confess it to you? In that case I would only be hiding you from myself, not myself from you. But now my sighs are sufficient evidence that I am displeased with myself; that you are my light and the source of my joy; that you are loved and desired. I am thoroughly ashamed of myself; I have renounced myself and chosen you, recognizing that I can please neither you nor myself unless you enable me to do so.

Whoever I may be, Lord, I lie exposed to your scrutiny. I have already told of the profit I gain when I confess to you. And I do not make my confession with bodily words, bodily speech, but with the words of my soul and the cry of my mind which you hear and understand. When I am wicked, my confession to you is an expression of displeasure with myself. But when I do good, it consists in not attributing this goodness to myself. For you, O Lord, bless the just man, but first you justify the wicked. And so I make my confession before you in silence, and yet not in silence. My voice is silent but my heart cries out.

You, O Lord, are my judge. For though no one knows a man’s innermost self except the man’s own spirit within him, yet there is something in a man which even his own spirit does not know. But you know all of him, for you have made him. As for me, I despise myself in your sight, knowing that I am but dust and ashes; yet I know something of you that I do not know of myself.

True, we see now indistinctly as in a mirror, but not yet face to face. Therefore, so long as I am in exile from you, I am more present to myself than to you. Yet I do know that you cannot be overcome, while I am uncertain which temptations I can resist and which I cannot. Nevertheless, I have hope, because you are faithful and do not allow us to be tempted beyond our endurance, but along with the temptation you give us the means to withstand it.

I will confess, therefore, what I know of myself, and also what I do not know. The knowledge that I have of myself, I possess because you have enlightened me; while the knowledge of myself that I do not yet possess will not be mine until my darkness shall be made as the noonday sun before your face.

The Gift of God

Sunday: May 26, 2013 –– Feast of the Most Holy Trinity

Proverbs 8:22–31 / Romans 5:1–5 / John 16:12–15

The Gift of God

Today is the one-year anniversary of my diaconate ordination. I had no idea fifteen years ago, when I recognized the need for more intimacy with God and then began to pray “Do with me what you will”, that I was embarking on a journey that would lead me to where I am today.

It is right, on the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, to remember that we are pondering a mystery that cannot fit in our minds. God wants us to know him, and he gives himself to us as we open ourselves –– that’s the nature of love –– but we will never have God “figured out”.  All of life is to be a quest to know God more and more.

Who is God? God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit –– one God. Yet St Columban said, “If anyone wants to know what he should believe, let him not think that he will understand.... by words and arguments, but by perfect and right action.... by faith, which proceeds from purity and simplicity of heart.”  As I discovered, when we have open hearts we have no idea what God will do.

In last week’s homily, Monsignor noted that it’s easier for us to grasp the gifts of the Father and the gifts of the Son than the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is, among other things, the agent of the Sacraments. Sacraments are graces –– gifts –– that God has chosen to give us through the Church. In establishing the Church, God is telling us that we cannot be good enough by ourselves, nor truly spiritual. There is a popular sentiment that says, “I am spiritual but I’m not religious –– I don’t need a church.” Catholic Faith teaches that this is not true. By ourselves we are not smart enough to be sure of who God is, and by ourselves we are not strong enough to be truly good. We need help. The Sacraments are a tangible way that God has chosen to help us. This means the Holy Spirit is a gift generating from the Father and Son to help us in our quest of goodness and true spirituality –– in other words, grace for salvation and eternal life.

In this “rookie” year of my diaconate I’ve had a number of firsts. One was Confirmation. Monsignor and I met with each of the Confirmands, and I was faced with trying to make this particular gift of the Spirit meaningful to the young people who met with me. It was as daunting as trying to explain the Trinity (and rightly so, because Catholic Truth is seamless!)  So I used “gift” as key way to understand “grace”.  A true gift does not cost the recipient anything, but it does cost the giver. When God gives us a gift, we need to remember that Jesus paid for it with his life. He died on the cross in order to give us gifts of grace. What effect does a gift have on a person?  Well, it depends on what one does with it. Knowledge of God and his indwelling presence is a gift –– and what that means depends on what we choose to do with it.

When I was a child there was a TV program called The Millionaire, and each episode was about a person who was chosen by a very wealthy man to receive the anonymous gift of $1,000,000.  I presented the Confirmation kids with this scenario:  What if, when they came to be interviewed, I give them a check for $1,000,000?! In this fanciful situation a person can either think the whole thing is bogus –– the deacon is far too poor (which is the real truth!) or just crazy –– and not cash the check, or a person can cash the check, receive the gift and use it.

This is, I think, a great way to understand Confirmation (and all the gifts of the Spirit). When the Bishop extends his hands in blessing and, acting on behalf of Jesus Christ and his Church, gives the Sacrament of Confirmation, a great gift is given. This is the grace of our Lord extended through the corporate life of the tangible Body of Christ on earth. The personal issue then comes into focus: What will you do with this gift?  A person can treat Confirmation (and all the gifts) like a magnanimous check that is dismissed and left un-cashed. The gift has been given, but it is not being used.  Or, a person can “use” his Confirmation for both his good and the glory of God.

How does one know God? How does one “use” the gifts of the Spirit?  It starts with faith –– an attitude that chooses to act on the belief that something is real and worthwhile.  It can be a recognition that we cannot live unto God all by ourselves; we cannot make judgments according to our own understanding. When we choose to admit we need the care of our Father in heaven and we need to listen to Jesus through his Church, then we are “using” the gifts of the Spirit. When we embrace a humble attitude that remembers we are not strong enough to do right things by ourselves, we are “using” the gifts of the Spirit. When we ask God to help us choose right over wrong, and to choose the true good over lesser goods that are simply easier and more popular, we are “using” the gifts of the Spirit.

Every day we each have countless decisions to make. Some are small and seem relatively inconsequential; some are huge and we know our choice will affect us in a big way.  We will face such decisions as long as we live.  The issue of faith is this: will I believe that God has revealed himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Will I open myself to the gifts he has given through the Church: the grace and power of the Holy Spirit bought by the shed blood of Jesus Christ?  Will I dare to live beyond myself and choose that which is right and good?  That is one way we know we are using the gifts we’ve been given, and learning to live in the life of the Most Holy Trinity.

In and Out With God (and Others)

Wednesday: 22 May, 2013 –– 7th Week in Ordinary Time

Sirach 4:11–19 / Mark 9:38–40

In and Out With God (and Others)

We cannot comprehend the wisdom of God.  We are invited to contemplate God’s wisdom, and Sirach reminds us that contemplation has an affect: we become wiser as we learn to love and hearken, to trust and obey.

I sometimes think of where my understanding of Christian practice was fifteen years ago.  I was a successful pastor. Many people told me how much they were growing in their Christian lives through my didactic sermons. The orientation of my life was turned toward Jesus. Yet, I was not to stay where I was.

None of us should have static spiritual lives (actually, we cannot –– if we are not progressing we are regressing!). We are not designed to plateau with God.  This means we are all a work in process.

We are being wise when we can recognize stages of spiritual life. Not every person is at the same place of contemplation and understanding. It is human nature to want to judge someone who does not appear as “advanced” as we are, and it’s human nature to shrink back if we think someone is far beyond us. In either case, it’s a trap. Our focus is to be where we each are in relation to God. It is good if we can look back at our own lives and see growth –– maturation and increasing fruitfulness. It is also good to keep a proper reverence for God, because that will keep us humble.

The disciples were looking at others and judging. Jesus gave them words that we need to hear again and again: For whoever is not against us is for us (Mk 9:40).

Can we remember that?  Can we learn to apply that when others who own the name of Jesus are not where we are? This does not mean we compromise our commitment to the teachings of the Church, but it does affect our attitude and approach. We are called to live in a relationship with the Lord which puts the issue for each of us where it should be: Am I committed to Jesus and obeying him as best I know how?

Let’s seek to give an honest yes to that question, and leave to the Lord the implications of what he told the first disciples so long ago: whoever is not against us is for us. God is big enough to work it all out!