Lent: Do Not Attempt Without Divine Supervision

Safety Disclaimers. They appear in commercials, either as fine print on the bottom of the screen or as voiceovers, warning of the possible dangers of amateur imitation or uninformed product use. "Professional driver. Closed course. Do not attempt." We even see them at our children’s playgrounds: “Adult supervision required.” For the sake of our safety, we know we need to take these warnings seriously.

There is no one who cares more about our safety than God. So, of course, the Bible is chock full of such disclaimers—warnings that are meant for application to every walk of life, every season, and every situation. Let’s put this to the test by looking at the season into which we are about to enter once again: the 40 days of Lent.

As we read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (540): "By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert.” Looking at the two Gospel accounts of Jesus’ time of fasting and trial in the wilderness-- Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13—in each case we read that Jesus was “led by the Holy Spirit into the desert.” But isn’t that an obvious, even unnecessary statement? As the Son of God, wasn’t Jesus always led by and filled with the Holy Spirit? Of course! So then just what were Matthew and Luke telling their faith communities-- and telling us-- with this seemingly obvious statement?

Remembering that the Gospels are not only accounts of the words and works of Jesus, but are even more so a handbook and field guide for all who seek to follow Him, these words are in fact an unequivocal warning, a disclaimer, meant for our instruction. Following Jesus means imitating Him in all things. During these 40 days, we fast, pray, and give alms, hoping to diminish the hold that this world and our own selfishness have upon us, so that we might become more like the One we follow—the One Who defeated Satan! But beware that Lent does not in fact become an exercise in achievement and pride. Do not attempt such a prolonged battle without Divine supervision-- without the loving and powerful help and guidance of the same Holy Spirit that led the Lord Himself into the desert.

"Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us walk in step with the Spirit." (Gal. 5:24-25)

He Sent Them Out Two By Two

A Reflection on Today's Gospel Reading: Mark 6: 7-13.

He sent them out “two by two.”

In the Body of Christ, there is no “Jesus and me.” Even the hermit living apart from the world does so with the undistracted purpose of joining him or herself in intercessory prayer to every living soul for the sake of all their needs and intentions. Jesus Himself lived among us and did everything in union with the person and will of the Father. He never gave instructions to a solitary disciple to carry out anything on his own. In fact, whenever any one of them did act alone, they inevitably fell into sin: Judas’ questionable keeping of the purse, and his ultimate betrayal of the Lord; Peter’s denial that he even knew Jesus; Thomas’ absence from the others in upper room where the risen Lord first appeared, leaving him susceptible to unbelief.

Preaching the Good News in word and deed in pairs, the Twelve assisted, supported, interceded for, and affirmed one another—and held one another accountable. Even together, disciples can do nothing apart from the Lord. It is He who sends us and empowers us. It is in Him that we must remain to bear fruit, it is to Him that we must continually return to be refreshed, renewed and restored. And when we finally rest from all our labors, it is in Him that we together will rest eternally.

A Prophet From Among Their Kin

A Commentary on the Gospel of Mark 6:1-6

Jesus said to them,

“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.”

 Perhaps we shouldn’t be too hard on Jesus’ fellow Nazarenes. Perhaps Jesus is just making a factual statement about human nature. How would we have reacted if someone we grew up with suddenly seemed to possess wisdom, knowledge and understanding which he could not have possibly acquired in the same classrooms we or our children sat in? Perhaps we, too, would have become indignant. After all, we saw nothing special in him during all those years. Why would God have chosen HIM, and not my child to be His prophet? But if someone from afar were to come and speak to their hearts, the fact that this man traveled so far to see and speak with THEM would have made them feel special; that God thought enough of them, cared for them so much, that He would send them someone to comfort them in body and spirit.  

 So then why does it say that Jesus was “amazed” at their lack of faith? Because He had grown up knowing them to be a people of faith. He worshiped for years in the synagogue with these same people, where he had learned the scriptures from them and surely heard them speak God’s praises as they recounted all the mighty works God had ever wrought. Why couldn’t they then believe that they were in fact special enough to be the chosen ones who would personally witness God’s fulfillment of the prophecy the Lord had spoken to Moses: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kin, and will put my words into his mouth” (Dt. 18:15-20).

"Save Us Lord! We Perish!"

A Reflection on Matthew 8:23-27

Being a disciple of Jesus means following Him wherever He leads us, and trusting that no matter where He takes us, we can rest assured that all is part of His loving plan and purpose, and that in all circumstances He will provide for all our needs and protect us from all evil. It is only natural for us to fear when we do not know what is coming next, or when we are in a situation, like the disciples in the boat, from which we cannot run; in which we cannot help ourselves and therefore must rely on God. The Lord does not rebuke His disciples for their plea, "Lord, save us," but rather, for their conclusion about what is happening to them in the face of this danger:  …"we perish!"

He said to them, “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?” 
Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, 
and there was great calm. 
The men were amazed and said, “What sort of man is this, 
whom even the winds and the sea obey?”

It takes "little faith" to follow Jesus when "all is calm" and "all is bright." We love to go to church on Christmas Day and Easter Sunday. Yes, it is good to rejoice in the coming of the Lord and in the salvation He won for us in His conquering of sin and death. These same disciples who followed Jesus into the boat and saw that even the winds and the sea obey Him forgot all about the miracles when Judas and the temple guards showed up. It is natural to forget and to flee. But we are called to do the supernatural. We are called to follow and accompany Jesus on Good Friday, too. As Paul writes in his second letter to Timothy: "It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; If we endure, we will also reign with Him."

On Calling God Our Father

That God is personified as “He” in both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, and that He would have us call Him “Father,” says more about us, our needs and our nature, and about who we are in relation to God, than it does about the infinite God.

Everything that exists here in the world, in the finite realm of space and time, has its origins in God, in eternity, and is only rightly seen when viewed in relation to God.  That God would want to be called “Father” and “He” is God’s own way of making Himself in a way (albeit a very limited way) understandable to us in terms we can grasp, just as Sacred Scripture speaks of God as having “eyes,” or a “hand,” “right arm,” or a “back.” Knowing us better than we could ever know ourselves, God knew best what we would need from Him, which was, in the fullness of time, to reveal Himself as Father through His Son, and to reveal the fullness of His love for us in giving that Son up to death for us.

We can be certain that we bear something of God’s likeness, but we can also be certain that this does not in turn mean that God is like us. “The Father” is not in any way a male human being. When Jesus, Who became man, Who took on human flesh to redeem our flesh, says, “I and the Father are One” (John 10:30), He is speaking of the perfect communion of their persons and natures. They are still distinct persons. Jesus came from the Father and exists in the Father, but He Himself is not the Father.  Unlike us, Jesus bears the Father’s image and likeness perfectly ("Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9)). It is Jesus who taught us to call God “Father,” and it is in fact only in Christ that we can call God “Father,” as we have only become God's adopted children in Christ. As St. John writes at the beginning of his first epistle, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (1 John 1:2).

The Court of Public Opinion Isn't Public at All

Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world, and neither is the one in which we find ourselves living today.

It seems that religion’s voice of moral authority has been successfully silenced.  Now speaking in its place are a fine group of oligarchs, many of them ruling in secret, as they exert their power and influence over our elected officials and government institutions behind the scenes.  Money talks, and it often whispers. Through the decisions of US Courts, even of individual judges, marriage and family have been “redefined”—and we are told we have no right to say otherwise.  Some of our oligarchs have even gone so far as to tell us that the teachings of the Church have to change. But why are we shocked by all this? Because these same powers and influences have also successfully robbed us of our regard for history.

 A long time ago, way back in 1992, in the case known as Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the US Supreme Court judges, after suffering from a momentary lapse of sanity in which they seriously considered overturning Roe v. Wade (1973), instead decided to reaffirm the central holding of Roe. But in order to rationalize their decision, that is, to reiterate Roe's ruling that the "Constitutional rights" of personal privacy and personal liberty trumped the rights and duties of the State to protect human life, they had to even further twist and warp the concepts of human privacy and liberty, to such an extent as to this time make them absolute, not only over any earthly authority, but even over the authority of God Himself:

"At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life."

Father, forgive them, for they knew not what they were doing…or did they? “The right to define one’s own concept of existence?” Does that sound familiar? “Call me Caitlyn.” “I self-identify as black.”  Just as the judges promised, hand in hand with the right to define one’s own concept of existence, is the right to define meaning.  What is marriage?  What is a family? What is gender?  What is race? What is the mind? What is the body? What is insanity?  Through our laws, we have been progressively practicing wholesale deception and self-deception as a society. Why are we then surprised that so many individuals are now coming forward asking us to affirm them in their own private worlds of deception?

It strikes me as profoundly cruel that our culture has chosen to affirm Mr. Jenner’s illness rather than affirming the suffering man. And no matter what anyone tries to say, we didn’t do it for the sake of Mr. Jenner. In fact, we did it at his expense, to try to console ourselves; to affirm our society’s sins, our wholesale rejection of the Creator and the inherent beauty and sanctity of life, and the wisdom and order and blessing of Creation as given to us.

In the mythological story of Pandora, she succumbs to doing the forbidden by opening a box which unleashes into the world all of the evils known to man.  But the last entity to emerge was something unlike all the others:  it was Hope. When the Lord God pronounced the inevitable consequences of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, He nevertheless promised that out of sinful humankind itself would come One Who would crush the head of the serpent, the father of lies. Those of us who say we believe in Christ, those of us who pray to the Father with the words, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,” what are we doing to bring about the reign of Christ in a world that hates us, but is clearly thirsting for what it hates? The Church has been forced out of the public square in the United States, just as it has been under the world’s totalitarian regimes. But even China has an irrepressible underground Church.  Do we? 

Love is the Author and Finisher of Our Faith

 

On the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul

 

     How could Peter be so rightly convinced in his heart that Jesus was truly the Son of God, but then after Jesus' arrest, swear up and down that He didn't even know Jesus? After Peter made his profession of faith in reply to Jesus' question, "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus tells the Apostles that because He is "the Son of the Living God," His life is about doing the Father's will, and to fulfill that mission, He must allow Himself to be arrested and put to death. That's when Peter protested, saying that God should instead forbid such things from happening.  

Statue of St Paul in front of St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, Italy.

     What Peter's lack of understanding about Jesus' identity and mission tells us about his faith-- and about ours as well-- is that faith is not a learned skill or personal attribute, but is totally a gift from God.  As it is a gift, we do not deserve it, and as it comes from God, we cannot understand it without His help. So how are we then to respond to this gift?  By humbly saying "thank you," taking possession of it as our "pearl of great price," and then asking God to show us what His purpose and intention is for this gift of faith in our lives. Peter had readily received the gift of Jesus from the Father, but still had his own idea of what the right purpose of that Gift should be.


     As we consider and celebrate the lives of Peter and Paul on the occasion of this solemnity, we might be struck by how greatly different these two men were from one another. Peter was an uneducated fisherman, but one could easily imagine him with a tendency to contemplation, as fishermen have much time on their hands to think about other things while waiting for the right conditions and the right fish.  Having to often act on the spur of the moment by profession, we can also understand his impetuous nature and speech. Paul, on the other hand, was highly educated, steeped in the letter of the Law, and calculating by nature. But as the Lord does with all of us--because He knows us better than we know ourselves-- Jesus knew exactly the right method and the perfect moment for capturing and converting their stubborn hearts.

     Faith is not only a call to trust God for everything, but is also a call to mission. As did Peter and Paul, as we also make our journey of formation and maturity in the faith, we find that we also come to love the God who has given us the gift of knowing Him, and as this love matures, we find ourselves wanting to serve Him. As we pray in one of the Mass' Eucharistic prayers, "our desire to praise You is itself Your gift," so we must also remember that the work God has given each of us to do is HIS work, not ours.  And if we truly love Him, there is nothing that He could ask us to do that we would not say "YES" to-- just as Jesus said yes to the Father in all things, even as He went to the cross.

Love the One You're With

     On Pentecost Sunday, we celebrated the culmination, cause of, and reason for what we do every day as the Body of Christ. Jesus' saving death and resurrection reconciles us to the Father, and the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit, which the Father and the Son lovingly lavish upon us, all make it possible for us to become and to live as true sons and daughters of God.  Just as St. Peter writes in his second letter, we now "share in the Divine Nature" of God (2 Peter 1:4).  This realization should render us awestruck and breathless! We can now be as intimate with the Father as Jesus is with Him!

Holy Trinity, fresco by Luca Rossetti da Orta, 1738–39

     We live in a world of increasing division and conflict, and where our attention to such things as our virtual email and texting relationships is keeping us from loving those who are physically with us, the ones whom God has given us to love, and who need us in the here and now. 

     As we contemplate the perfect unity of love of the Holy Trinity this Sunday, let us remember that our partaking in the Divine Nature means we are no longer our own, because we have been redeemed at a great price, and now belong to God, body and soul (see 1 Corinthians 6:19-20).  And as temples of the Holy Spirit, we have all the power, all the grace we need to live out this calling, this blessed life of abiding in His love and of bestowing that love upon one another, here and now!  This is the true joy of the Gospel!

Come, Holy Spirit!

Fill the hearts of Your faithful,

And enkindle in them the fire of Your love!

Early depiction from the Rabbula Gospels, 6th century

Do you realize that every time we celebrate Mass, we not only experience the re-presentation of Christ's sacrifice on Calvary, but we also experience the re-presentation of Pentecost?  We not only gather together as the ancient Hebrews did, in a holy place, to rejoice in the presence of the Lord among us, but like the Apostles, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we ourselves are also filled with His presence! 

The Mass is the fulfillment of Jesus' high priestly prayer, which He made to the Father on our behalf before entering into His Passion (John 17),  "that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us."  At Mass, Christ is present not only among us, in the Word and in the Eucharist, but also dwells in the priest and in us, the people, who are gathered in Christ's name and enter into communion with Him-- and therefore into communion with one another as His body!

St. Joseph

Husband, Guardian, and Man After God's Own Heart

St. Joseph was of the house of David, and even more than was his royal father, Joseph was a man after God’s own heart-- for like the Lord His God Himself, his greatest desire was for mercy, and not sacrifice (cf Mt 9:13). His betrothed Mary's virtue seemed lost when she was found to be with child apart from him, but Joseph chose to spare her life and dignity rather than subject her to the tenets of the Law—under which he had every right to demand that the pregnant Mary be stoned as one who had supposedly committed adultery.

When God asked even more of Joseph, that he not only let Mary and her baby live, but based on the word of the Lord alone, that he consent to live as husband and father to them. Like a true son of Abraham, he gave the Lord his fiat without a word; without hesitation. But St. Joseph was not silent; he was unquestioningly obedient to the will of His God.

St. Joseph was more like Jesus and His Heavenly Father than any other man born of woman. While many may argue that no word of Joseph is recorded in the Bible, such is not the case. Like Jesus’ Heavenly Father, it was Joseph’s works which spoke for him—the greatest of which was preserving and caring for the life of the Son of God as though He were his own.

Abraham's Sacrifice: Rendering to God What is God's

Rembrandt van Rijn, Abraham's Sacrifice, 1655

A Reflection on Genesis 22:1-19

This passage represents the culmination of a series of events in the life of Abraham and in his relationship with God.  As that series of events seems to show, Abraham has now received everything God promised him:  the blessing of many possessions, land, God’s protection (as secured in Abraham’s covenant with Abimelech, the Philistine king), and the long-awaited promised son Isaac. Now God is going to test Abraham, but why? God’s covenant with Abraham is everlasting, but what about Abraham’s covenant with God? Has Abraham obeyed God thus far only in order that God would fulfill what He had been promising?  And now that Abraham has everything he desired, will he continue to obey God in all things?

But how can this be?  God is actually commanding Abraham to take his son, his one and only son, and offer him as a sacrifice!  That Isaac was finally born to Abraham was the fulfillment of the seemingly impossible. That God would ask Abraham to slay his son seems completely contrary to the nature of God and His own commandments; and that Abraham would obey such a command from God seems completely contrary to who Abraham is.  It broke his heart to have to send his son Ishmael out into the wilderness, to disown him and completely trust him to the care of God.  But this!

Yet Abraham does not question; he does not protest; he does not weep. He obeys without hesitation.  It would seem that God’s fulfillment of His covenant with Abraham has in turn brought about Abraham’s fulfillment of his covenant with God.  It took many years and many journeys and many lessons, but now his conversion is complete.  Abraham has become a saint!

In our own lives, in our own covenant relationship with God, He asks nothing less than everything from us.  But only because He has – in His Son, His One and Only Son—already given us nothing less than everything of Himself!  We say we will trust God in all we do, but then, like Abraham, we end up forgetting that God is with us, so we end up doing instead what we think best—because we think, after all, we have to look out for ourselves.  If only we would instead give Him our all and trust Him for all—because everything we have is, after all, a gift to us from Him; and when God asks for it all back, He is then only asking us to empty ourselves of ourselves, so that He may instead fill us with Himself!

Because Abraham was willing to give the gift of Isaac back to God as a sacrifice, God not only instead Himself provided the ram for Abraham’s sacrifice, but promised provision, peace and blessing for Abraham’s descendants to come, who would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the shore. If we then put all of our faith and trust in God and in the Ram He has provided as the One Sacrifice pleasing to Himself, we will have, as His promised reward, nothing less than eternal life.

Take Courage, it is I; Do not be Afraid!

For All Caregivers Everywhere
Matthew 14:22-33

Jesus saves Peter from drowning (Matthew 14:30-31)

Lord, what words of consolation can You give
To those of us who must helplessly look on,
As mind and body of loved ones crumble;
wash away before our eyes?
We know no comfort;
No comfort can we give them.
Our boat is a long distance from land,
Battered by waves of tears, anxiety, sinking in despair,
Our hearts torn and tattered like sails in the storm.
Yet in the midst of this terror,
It is then You come, unexpectedly,
Appearing like a ghost,
Looking like the very ones who are vanishing from our sight.
For where do we see You, Lord?
Not in a heavenly vision,
But there! in the same faces of those who no longer know us!
It is then that we hear You speak to us,
Seemingly out of mouths that can no longer form words,
Saying gently, yet ever so clearly,
"Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid!"

On Sinners, Saints, and the Mercy of God

The Parable of the Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30)

 

"Parable of the Enemy Sowing Tares." Unknown, 1894.

 ²⁴He put another parable before them, saying, ^(A) "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, ²⁵but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds^[a] among the wheat and went away. ²⁶So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. ²⁷And the servants^[b] of the master of the house came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?' ²⁸He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' So the servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?' ²⁹But he said,^(B) 'No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. ³⁰Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers,^(C) Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"

Footnotes:

1. Matthew 13:25 Probably darnel, a wheat-like weed
2. Matthew 13:27 Greek bondservants; also verse 28

Cross references:

1. Matthew 13:24 : Matthew 13:37-42; Mark 4:26-29
2. Matthew 13:29 : 1 Cor 4:5
3. Matthew 13:30 : Matthew 3:12

Even the name by which this story has come to be known could color the way we understand this particular parable of Jesus about the Kingdom of Heaven.  But the focus of the story doesn't have to be the weeds which have grown up among the wheat in the field.  The appearance of the weeds certainly upsets the servants of the master of the house, who offer to immediately go out into the field and pull them all up as a service to their master.  But we notice that the master himself is not upset, nor does he even seem surprised.  He also apparently knows the source of the weed seed, and in his wisdom, is content to let the weeds grow up among the wheat until harvest time.

We note that the enemy mentioned had come and sowed weeds among the wheat while the master's servants were sleeping. We also note that the master does not chide his servants for sleeping.  It was not as though they had been "sleeping on the job". By contrast, perhaps the master's own lack of surprise, and in fact, what would seem to be his full knowledge of how the weeds came to be there, would indicate that he himself had witnessed exactly what had taken place; that the master in this parable is none other than "He who watches over Israel" and the One who "will neither slumber nor sleep" (Ps. 121:4). Could this mean that the master then knowingly allowed the weeds to be sown amidst his wheat? Perhaps the master of the house has a plan of which no one else knows.

What do the wheat and the weeds then represent in this parable about the Kingdom of Heaven? Are we to understand them simply as sinners and saints, who at the time of the harvest will either be punished or rewarded for their deeds? Yet, if the weeds definitively represent sinners and the wheat saints, then doesn't that seem to say that sinners cannot repent and become saints, and saints cannot before the end of their lives turn into unrepentant sinners, ultimately rejecting the Lord? Such an interpretation would seem to simultaneously favor two Calvinist doctrines:  first, of predetermination; that is, that God only desires the salvation of the elect, and then, of "once saved always saved." But rightly knowing that we are each endowed by our God with free will, we clearly see the error in these doctrines.  Each soul is free to ultimately either choose or reject salvation.  Sanctification is also a process worked over time by grace with our cooperation, not an immediately complete, once-and-for-all event performed by God alone and apart from our will.

Clearly, the master of the house knows that in trying to pull up the weeds from among the wheat, some of the wheat might be pulled up as well before it has matured. If heaven were to rain down judgment upon the sinner while he yet lives, such judgment could also take the life of his neighbor the just man. Perhaps, then, there is much more to the wisdom of the master than meets the eye. Letting both the weeds and the wheat grow up together until harvest time is a decision that he alone has made, and which no one else seems to understand or appreciate. Perhaps, then, only the master knows, understands and can see that it will only be at harvest time-- at the time of judgment-- when it will be ultimately known which plants bear grains of wheat and which are truly weeds; which are saints and which are sinners; whether a soul has finally persevered or has at the moment of death despaired and rejected God, in spite of his continual call to repentance and offer of mercy. The parable then seems to serve as a reminder to us that the Lord God is the only just judge.

The focus and purpose of this parable then, would seem to be, not to remind us once again of the four last things-- death, judgment, heaven and hell-- but rather to reveal to us in a new way the great merciful heart of our Heavenly Father. While others would judge our eternal destinies still in the midst of our lives, the Father is infinitely patient with us.  Further, if we are sinners, he gives us the gift of saints to live among us, to serve as living examples of what we can be if we would only turn to Him. If we are humble and obedient, we might be living holy lives, perhaps with apparent sinners living among us, for whom we should constantly pray as well as remember that we are only what we are ultimately by the grace of God.

Finally, how are we to understand what happens at the time of harvest, where the weeds are bound into bundles to be burned, with the wheat gathered into the master's barn? When something is burned, all of the moisture, all of the life and potential life, is removed from it, and ultimately, it is reduced to dust, and therefore worthless. It is also no longer recognizable as what it was before it was burned.  When one burns a plant after it is harvested, the ultimate intention is to kill its seeds, so that it might not further spread or reproduce. But as for the wheat, which the master will gather into his barn, the grain will either be ground into flour or it will be sown in the ground again.

This parable of the weeds-- that might yet be wheat-- seems to echo the beautiful words of Isaiah 55, of God's free offer of mercy, calling the sinner to repentance, so that he might yet know the wonderful compassion of the Lord-- and live.

9“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
         So are My ways higher than your ways
         And My thoughts than your thoughts.

10“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
         And do not return there without watering the earth
         And making it bear and sprout,
         And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;

11So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
         It will not return to Me empty,
         Without accomplishing what I desire,
         And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

12“For you will go out with joy
         And be led forth with peace;
         The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you,
         And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

13“Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up,
         And instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up,
         And it will be a memorial to the LORD,
         For an everlasting sign which will not be cut off.”

When God Calls: Part III

The Call of the Rich Young Man
Luke 18:18-23

Heinrich Hofmann, "Christ and the Rich Young Ruler"

The reader of this Gospel passage cannot be certain what in particular led the rich young man—a ruler—to inquire of Jesus, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Perhaps he was among those who had been listening to Jesus’ parables and teachings—about praying and not losing heart; about not considering oneself righteous; and about the need to receive the Kingdom of God as a little child. As for us, the initial call from God to this ruler was made in the quiet of the man’s own heart.

As a rich young man, as one who did not need to toil for a living, he was already keenly aware that everything he had came to him by inheritance. It is possible that his father had died, leaving the young man everything owned by his father. If so, he knew first-hand that all he possessed would be given to his descendents when he himself died. So in spite of everything he had that came to him by his father, the rich young man was painfully aware that all his possessions could not spare him from death, just as it could not spare his father from it. He clearly wants something that not even his father and all his possessions could give him: to live forever.

It would seem that this rich young man is also righteous according to the Law, as he tells Jesus that he has kept all the commandments from his earliest days. But he also seems to sense that Jesus’ own righteousness is above his own. He calls Jesus “good,” with Jesus then responding that, “only God is good.”

But when Jesus tells this rich young man, “there is still one thing you lack,” and that is, that he should sell everything he has, give it to the poor, and then come and follow Him, the man became sad. This was not what he had expected to hear or had hoped for. He was looking to do something in addition to what he had already been doing, not to change his life—and certainly not to give up everything. The man heard Jesus’ call, but refused it.

Perhaps this young man had found it possible to keep all of the commandments because he had never lacked anything in his life. He was rich and powerful. He did not have to take any other man’s wife (adultery), life (murder), or possessions (steal), or bear false witness in order to get what he wanted or needed. He also had always given honor to the father and the mother who had provided for his every need. If he were now to give up everything, then he would be faced with his own needs, weaknesses, and passions. But that is why Jesus did not merely say, “Sell all you have and give it to the poor.” He also told the man that once he had done that, “then follow Me.” It was not the giving to the poor that would lead the man eternal life, but rather it would be the following of Jesus—which would mean a complete reliance on Jesus for everything.

When God Calls: Part II

The Call of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Daughter of Abraham
Luke 1:26-56

Giovanni Lanfranco, "The Annunciation" (c 1620)

The call of God to Mary has much in common with the call of Abraham.  In exchange for consent to God’s will, God also promises Mary many things in return.  Here also, God calls for Mary's consent to something that is beyond human understanding and reason. The promise of a child to Mary also stood in stark contradiction to her life and her circumstances. As a true daughter of Abraham, Mary is also called to great faith.

But while there are great similarities to note, there are also marked differences.  Abraham did not come to know God until he was 75 years old.  From her childhood, Mary's life was one that was dedicated to prayer and service to God in the Temple.  Abraham was old and his wife was barren. Mary was a young virgin, and the child that God promised her through the words of the Angel Gabriel had not been sought or hoped for.  But the greatest difference between Mary and Abraham lies in how Mary responded to her call. 

In the case of Abraham, his initial response to God was one of silent and unhesitating obedience to leave his home for one unknown.  It was only later, as time passed, that he began to question God, asking Him where was the child that He promised, and how can you make a great nation of me when the only heir I have is one of my servants?  He also acted on his own initiative and lack of faith, in particular when he deceived the Egyptians about the identity of Sarah as his wife, and when he consented at her urging, to beget a child, Ishmael, by her handmaid, Hagar, rather than patiently waiting for the Lord to fulfill His promise for a true heir from his wife's womb.

Mary, on the other hand, was a woman of unwavering faith.  In fact, her faith seemed to increase as God called her to greater and greater trust in the face of greater and greater uncertainty and suffering.  Mary’s initial response to the greeting of the Angel (“Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you.”) was one of astonishment and even fear, for surely Mary knew immediately with the Angel’s declaration that “the Lord was with [her],” that this was a call from God out of the quiet, hidden life she had always known, to something public and extraordinary.  But when the Angel tells Mary, “Do not be afraid,” she obeys.  When the Angel tells her that she is to bear a child, and that this child will be great and holy, she believes.  Her question, “How can this be, since I have no husband?” was an admission of her inability to understand as a mere creature, this great and seemingly impossible thing that God would do.  But unlike Abraham, who believed upon the reassuring word of the Lord that his descendants would be in number like the stars, but later gave in to doubt when he consented to beget a child by Hagar, Mary’s response of “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.  Let it be to me according to your word” was spoken once and for all.  It was the profession of a perpetual vow to obey and follow the call of God, making no protest, but always responding in silent obedience, “keeping all these things in her heart.” 

For Mary, the call to be the mother of the Messiah meant a complete change in her life, and in her identity.  As a woman pregnant and not yet wedded, she was subject to shame and scandal, even stoning, first in the eyes of Joseph, her betrothed, and also surely in the eyes of the community.  From the moment the Word was made flesh in her womb, and forever thereafter, Jesus’ very existence, His very identity, directly affected Mary—and not only Mary.  Through Mary, beginning in her visitation to her kinswoman Elizabeth, that same existence and identity of the child in her womb already began to change and sanctify the world.  For Elizabeth, Mary was no longer her kinswoman, but became, “the mother of my Lord,” and by merely being present as that mother, sanctified and filled the child in Elizabeth’s womb with the Holy Spirit.  And as Elizabeth further declares, Mary was blessed above all women, as “she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” (Luke 1:45)

When God Calls: Part I

Václav (Wencelaus) Hollar, "God Calls Abraham"

The Call of Abraham (Genesis 12)

The overarching theme of the book of Genesis is one of the Lord as Creator; of the One with Whom all things are possible (cf. Matthew 19:26), as the One Who makes all things out of nothing. He fashions us, humankind, after His own image and likeness, and gradually over time, in spite of our refusal to His invitation to life with Him, the Lord begins through His call to Abram--whom the Lord would rename "Abraham"-- to fashion us into a nation, a people, and ultimately on earth into the Body of Christ, destined in eternity to be nothing less than His bride!

Just as the Lord called Adam and Eve into being, the call of Abraham is nothing less than a call to life and to covenant with the Lord. The Lord asks much of Abraham: to obey His command to leave the land and the people he has known all of his life. But the Lord promises in return infinitely more than what He asks. The Lord promises Abraham, who is 75 years old, something beyond human reason: his wife, Sarah, is also old and is barren, yet the Lord promises Abraham an heir, and to make of him through that son “a great nation.”

Abraham was called to leave his land and his people—and to set off for an unknown land. While he did not go alone, taking his wife, his nephew Lot, his servants, and all of his possessions, at his age, Abraham would hardly be able to defend himself and those with him if anyone should attack them on the way. Did he at his age have the strength even to make a journey of an unknown length, and then to resettle wherever his journey eventually took him?

Nevertheless, Abraham’s response to the Lord's command was one of immediate obedience, without question. There is no specific statement on what motivated Abraham, but it is clear that he, like Noah before him, took God at His word. When Abraham set out on the journey, he knew God only through His voice, in the hearing of a command. Later, God appeared to Abraham, to specifically tell him that it was the land of the Canaanites that God would give to him and to his descendants. Abraham's response was in kind: to build an altar; to offer sacrifice and worship to the God who had revealed Himself to Abraham. Again later, Abraham builds another altar, this time initiating the relationship, in calling upon the name of the Lord. As part of his journey ever closer to the land which God has promised, Abraham also draws closer to the Lord, eventually putting aside his doubts and fears and attaining an ever greater faith and trust in the Lord as his provider.

Václav (Wencelaus) Hollar, "God Promises Abraham"

The call of the Lord completely changed Abraham's life and his destiny-- because Abraham said "yes," acknowledging the Lord as God. Before receiving the Lord's command to leave his land and his people, Abraham likely lived a very predictable life, one to which he had likely resigned himself. His wife was barren, and we can well imagine that Abraham mourned this, but on some level had accepted it, perhaps living a life of “quiet desperation.” But now, on his journey with God, Abraham lived a life full of uncertainty and anxiety--- but also, for the first time, one of great expectation and hope!

Open Wide the Doors to Christ!

Gustave Dore, "The Burial of Jesus"

A Reflection on The Burial of Jesus
and the Guard at the Tomb: Matthew 27:57-66

It was evening. Soon, it would be the Sabbath. As would Your priest, who in silent, reverent awe places the Holy Eucharist in repose, your disciple Joseph of Arimethea wrapped Your body in clean linen and laid it in a newly-hewn tomb. Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” remained, even after Joseph secured the tomb’s entrance and departed. The women remained, sitting there, facing the tomb, as though paying homage and adoration to the Body of their Lord, which they had beheld with their own eyes as broken for them. Soon it would be the Sabbath, the day of repose, but they remained—because there, in repose, was the Lord of the Sabbath!

Joseph of Arimathea was a rich man, and this was to have been his tomb. One can imagine that only a rich man could have afforded such a luxury. First, there would have been the cost of the land, and then payment of the wages for the many hours of hard labor needed to dig out such a tomb. To the many poor, surely such a purchase would have seemed a waste, as did the costly perfumed oil poured out upon You in Bethany. They could never fathom paying in advance for a tomb hewn out of rock, because everything they earned day by day by the sweat of their brows went into just scraping out a living—with the intent of putting off for as long as possible the inevitable need for their burial.

Joseph was a rich man, but he was also Your devoted disciple. You taught that it is hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven; that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. But Joseph was living proof, as You also taught: that, for God, all things are possible. As one who had heard and received You as his Messiah, did Joseph, as he laid Your body in his tomb, indeed understand that You had died in his place? And after placing Your body in the tomb, did he then leave to return home, not just to prepare for the Sabbath, but also to await in hope for Your promised resurrection?

Lord, as at the burial of Your body by Joseph, You continue to trust the care of Your Body to us in the Most Holy Eucharist—but are we, like Joseph, truly your devoted disciples in our regard for this gift of Yourself? What did it cost Joseph to claim Your body from Pilate? Money? Loss of reputation? Even future suspicion and persecution? Are we willing to bear all the costs of claiming to the world that the Eucharist is indeed Your Body? Or do we, like the unbelieving chief priests and Pharisees, in effect call You “impostor;” insisting that the Sacred Host is not truly Your Body, but “only a symbol?”

In placing a guard around the tomb and securing it as best they could, did Pilate and the chief priests and Pharisees believe that doing so could actually prevent what they most feared: Your resurrection? Have we also so hardened our own hearts until they are like stones, and have we placed a guard and seal over them to try to secure them against Your triumphant entry? May we instead believe what we see, and instead heed the words of the angel of the Lord spoken at Your empty tomb, recapitulated time and again in our own time by Blessed John Paul II: “Do not be afraid!” May we, in removing the fear, remove the guard and the seal, and let you roll away the stone, and do as Your Vicar bade us: may we “open wide the doors” to You, so that You may enter triumphantly into our hearts, our lives, our world!

The Death of Jesus

James Tissot, "The Death of Jesus"

A Reflection on Luke 23:44-49

It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon because of an eclipse of the sun. Then the veil of the temple was torn down the middle.

Jesus cried out in a loud voice, " Father, into your hands I commend my spirit; " and when he had said this he breathed his last. The centurion who witnessed what had happened glorified God and said, "This man was innocent beyond doubt ." When all the people who had gathered for this spectacle saw what had happened, they returned home beating their breasts; but all his acquaintances stood at a distance, including the women who had followed him from Galilee and saw these events.

The sun, the Son! The “Light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel,” (Lk 2:32) eclipsed by death at the height of the day, in the prime of life, at the height of His ministry! Just a few days earlier, He had been proclaimed King by the people, riding triumphantly into Jerusalem as they glorified God!

The veil of the temple is torn wide open: God is no longer hidden from man. The Father Himself tore the veil in His haste in running out to meet us (Lk 15:20); He is pleased to give us the kingdom! (Lk 12:32) The Son’s eclipse reveals the Father, to Jew and Gentile alike.  The people whom Jesus excused because they did not know what they were doing (Lk 23:34) are suddenly filled with great remorse at His death. (Lk 23:48) Even the eyes of a Centurion—a pagan, who had surely carried out and witnessed countless crucifixions (the expression, “I’ve done this so many times, I could do it with my eyes closed,” comes to mind)—are opened!

Dearest Lord Jesus, you poured out Yourself completely in loving obedience to the Father. You even gave the Father the moment of your death; it was the only thing You had left to offer Him, making it the last act of submission of Your human will, the final prayer of utter trust and dependence, of unspeakable love You could offer, while You still had the powers of speech that the body He gave you possessed. I cannot fathom how, Lord, after hours of agony on the cross and at the point of death, You had the strength to fill Your lungs with enough air to be able to cry out, let alone utter a sound! How ashamed I am that I often let the least amount of bodily fatigue or stress keep me from just a moment of prayer! It is especially in these moments of affliction that I, too, should be crying out to Him in faith with complete trust!