Demons

There have been several times in my life when I have felt and, I believe, seen demons when either I or my children were in distress.  Each time, I commanded them to leave “in the Holy Name of Jesus”, whereupon the feeling of dread left immediately!  

Demons are real.  They hate us and they desire deeply to destroy us.  If that’s not frightening it should at least make us sit up and pay attention.

Demons are fallen angels who retain their natural powers.  Though they turned from God and acted in complete selfishness, God doesn’t strip away their natural powers unless they misuse them and we turn to Him for help.  As with the holy angels, demons have natural powers of communication and influence upon us and upon our world.  The angels are given the care of the world and our lives.  Those angels that fell from grace now try to use their power over the world and their power to influence us and communicate with us for evil.  They’ve turned from God and now they want to turn us.

One thing this tells us is that we must constantly act in a discerning way.  It’s easy to be tempted and led astray by a lying demon.  In the case of the man in Luke’s Gospel (Luke 4:31-37) he had so cooperated with his demon that it took full possession of his life.  Though that level of influence and control upon us is quite rare, it can happen.  What’s most important, however, is that we simply understand and believe that demons are real and they constantly try to lead us astray.

But the good news is that Jesus has all power over them and easily confronts them and overpowers them if we but seek His grace to do so.  

We’ve all experienced demonic temptations, but they’re nothing to be overly frightened about.  And they shouldn’t be seen in an overly dramatic light.  Demons are powerful, but the power of God easily triumphs if we let Him take control.  As we reflect upon the reality of evil and demonic temptations, we should allow God to take command and trust that God will conquer.  

The wonder of it all

 

I sometimes wonder what Jesus was like as a kid. I wonder if He walked around in flowing robes blessing people. If Mary and Joseph ever ran out of food, did Jesus just ‘miracle up’ all the wine and fish and bread they needed?When one of His buddies hurt himself in the playground, did Jesus touch and heal the ‘boo boo’? And in school, when asked a question, did he answer in eloquent and perfectly crafted parables?  

I imagine Jesus had to learn to walk, like the rest of us. He probably made mistakes growing up. Maybe He lost some friends and even He, being fully human and fully divine, had to deal with human emotions and fears. He must have had a hard time accepting who He was, and His mission.

I can hardly begin to grasp what He must have had to process as He began to understand who He was, and what He could do, and more importantly, what He was going to have to do.

After Jesus spent 40 days in the desert being tempted by Satan to renounce His relationship with His Father and remaining faithful, He went “home” feeling renewed. He revealed Himself to the people who knew Him best. They had seen Him grow from a little guy learning to walk and making mistakes, and now He’s saying that He’s the anointed one of God.

They had a hard time accepting who He said He was, and His mission. There’s quite a foreshadowing of Jesus’ end of life in this Gospel. It begins with people praising Him and being amazed at His speaking and depth, but ends with them filled with fury, taking Him to the top of a mountain to “hurl him down headlong.” 

First loved and accepted, but then pushed to His death. 

Those who praised Jesus on Palm Sunday were the same people that would scream “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

And yet, even fully knowing what would happen, God still pursued us. He sent His Son as one of us to reach out and call us home, even though He knew we’d do much more than just throw him off a cliff.

As if that isn’t sad enough, There’s an even greater sadness in that we’ve not changed even 2,000 years later! We still consistently reject God. We drive Him from our public life and hide our faith from other people so we don’t look like “Jesus-Freaks.” We turn our backs on fully experiencing and sharing the amazing life of unity, peace, and love that God wants for all of us.

And still, He loves.  And with such amazing love, to hold out a hand of care and forgiveness even though these very same people slam a spike through it.

As I reflect on this, I can’t help but remember the refrain to “Right Here Waiting,” from about 30 years ago:

Wherever you go,
whatever you do,
I will be right here waiting for you.

What a perfect description of God. All we have to do is look, listen and be God’s beloved.

Knowledge is empty without understanding

 

I remember when my college advisor recommended that I take a “critical thinking” course.   It was pretty boring, and I think I may have dozed off a time or two, but one thing I took away from that course though, was the difference between “knowledge” and “understanding”. 

Basically, knowledge is simply an awareness of something.  Knowledge is easy to come by.  Understanding is the ability to use knowledge to pursue an action, using critical thought.  Understanding is the tougher of the two to accomplish.

Last week I reflected on the Gospel when Jesus asked His disciples “Who do people say that I am?” and we heard Peter ‘get it right’, confessing that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the living God”, and so he was given the “keys to the kingdom” (Matthew 16:13-20).  

Today I want to reflect a little bit not on how Peter got it right, but how he got it wrong (Matthew 16:21-27)!  I’m not saying Peter retracted what he said about Jesus, because that was right.  However he was wrong because he didn’t understand how Jesus would be the Christ.   After Jesus predicted His Passion, death, and Resurrection Peter wouldn’t hear any talk about suffering and death: “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” And Jesus responded, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”  We can draw a correlation to Jesus’ vehement response to the time when Jesus was tempted by Satan in the desert (Matthew 4:1-11),  when the devil took Jesus up to a high mountain and told Him He could have all the kingdoms in the world if He just worshiped him.  This was also a temptation for Jesus to forego the cross and try to force everyone to do right.  And now He heard Peter telling Him the same thing; to avoid the cross or even any mention of it.  It’s as if Jesus was saying, “Peter, this is tough enough as it is!  You sound just like the devil.  I’ve already had to fight the temptation to abandon the mission I was given.  When you speak like that, you’re just getting in the way.”

If we think Jesus is being unfair or unkind to Peter, we should remember that His Father had a similar encounter with Jeremiah.  Jeremiah had been made a reluctant prophet.  Jeremiah even claimed that God duped him into the job.  He was so angry and discouraged at the rough treatment he had to take from his own Jewish people that he decided to quit (Jeremiah 20:7-9).

But he couldn’t get rid of the fire in his heart, so he continued to prophesy that Babylon was chosen as God's instrument for chastising Israel because Israel was just predictably unfaithful, and they deserved punishment.  Not that the truth makes a prophet's job any easier!

So when Jesus said, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?”, He knew what He was talking about.  The devil offered Him the whole world, but if He fell to that temptation, He would have lost Himself.

Jesus didn’t run away from the Cross, and He tells us not to run away from it either.  This is what Peter still had to understand.  And it’s sometimes hard for us to understand as well.  To take up our cross doesn’t mean we accept injustice or abuse.  But it does mean we accept suffering as part of life, especially as crosses come when we love beyond ourselves, as it did for Jesus.  For instance, I have to take time to adjust any mask I’m wearing so that I don’t fog up my glasses.  It’s a pain.  But it’s a small cross to bear if I can contribute to decrease the spread of the corona virus.  This is a small thing compared to health care workers who are carrying heavy crosses in serving others.  So are parents and teachers when it comes to the opening of schools, no matter where you stand on what did or should happen.

Differences between us shouldn’t blind us to the humanity of each other. If we can recognize the crosses that others bear as well as accepting the crosses that come to us, we can see how connected we are to each other and to Christ.  Maybe we need to deny ourselves self-righteousness and the rush to violence.

St. Paul’s exhortation in Romans (12:1-2) comes to mind: “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.”  Taking up our cross keeps us from being conformed to an age of avoiding suffering and denying the humanity of the “other.”  Taking up our cross can actually renew our mind by keeping us in contact with the extent of God’s love in Jesus Christ and helps us discern God’s will in how we are to love others as He loves us.

May we not be obstacles to, but instruments of, God’s love.

It’s easy to be angry with a racist.  But when we truly understand that person — their upbringing, worldview, personality, family history, where they were raised, the nature of stereotypes, and so many more factors that pushes a person to think and act that way —we pity or even sometimes berate them, but ultimately we need to understand so we can accept who they are.  The difficulty is wanting to understand and accept them, because it’s so much easier to resent them, to place them in a container that’s labeled “Broken” and move on.

Life will be way easier by doing the latter, but a life of understanding, regardless of the stress it produces, is worth living.  Exercising an understanding sharpens and enriches the mind.

If we understand a person or event, this understanding should inspire us to live more positively than negatively, maybe push us to contribute in a meaningful way.  The goal is to get out of that place of frustration, baseless opinions, gossip, and to combine knowledge and ideas that helps us lead better lives.

Superpowers

 

“Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! Look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!

Yes. It's Superman, strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men.  Superman, who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel with his bare hands, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American way.”

I’ve been able to recite this introduction to the old Superman TV show word for word since I was 5 years old.  Of course, at five years old, it was all about the ‘neat stuff’ Superman could do.  As I matured however, the most important words to me were not the abilities that Superman had—as impressive as they were—they were the last 11 words that left the biggest impression on me.

“…fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way.”  I grew up believing that truth and justice truly are the American way.  And the older I get the more I realize it is, in fact, a never-ending battle to maintain this belief.

Truth and justice are taking a real beating in the United States and the American way is quickly becoming blurred, if not a joke, in the eyes of the world.  We can use more superheroes these days, to battle the ‘forces of evil’ in the form of relativism, racism, intolerance, and hatred.  The good news is that there are plenty of heroes to get the job done!

What’s your “superpower” or the special gift or talent we possess that might assist others?  We all have at least one superpower.  The Church calls them charisms.  They’re the graces and/or gifts and talents given to us by God, intended to build up the Body of Christ.  They’re given freely, but they do need to be ‘activated’ through Baptism, discernment, and prayer.

John the Baptist knew that his charism was to preach and proclaim the coming of the messiah.  He held fast to his gift of preaching and teaching and put his life on the line to speak the truth when it came to confronting Herod Antipas about his marriage to his brother’s wife when his brother was still living. While Herod, a “king” with “power” couldn’t stand up to the truth when his wife asked for the “head of John the Baptist”.  He couldn’t humble himself and say no to the request.  It would’ve been “humbling” for him to do so.  It may have made him seem weak.  What would people think of a king not keeping a promise? (Mark 6:17-29)   Probably the same thing we think of modern-day politicians who don’t keep theirs!

When given power we need to know what to do with it.  In the account of John the Baptist’s beheading we have two great examples of the choices we have in using our “power” or charism.  We can use it for a greater good and it may cost us friends, jobs, opportunities, or even our very lives, like John;  or we may use it to make us “king of the hill”, walking over others and ignoring the truth as we climb up to what we think is our goal, as Herod did.  It’s not always an easy choice when “human wisdom” and/or society tells us that it’s okay to climb our way up and if someone next to me is falling down well, too bad for them.  On the other hand, our faith says that we can all climb together helping each other to achieve our goals and giving glory and praise to God.  In doing so we build up the “Body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31).

Keep walking

 

Saint Paul tells the Thessalonians to “conduct yourselves to please God” and, “not to take advantage of or exploit a brother or sister”. (I Thessalonians 4:1-8)   The Psalms say, “The heavens proclaim his justice.” (Psalms 97:1, 2, 5-6, 10, 11-12)   And in Matthew, Christ tells the parable of the ten virgins.  Five are prepared and five aren’t ready for the arrival of the bridegroom.  Jesus warns us, “...stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” (Matthew 25:1-13)

We’re living in trying times, no doubt about it, but it’s also true that these times can include moments of grace and hope.  In retirement and throughout this period of semi-isolation I’m finding the pace that allows Jesus’ words, ‘stay awake’ to take on more meaning!  Each new day brings another example of God’s beauty and grace.  Some of these profound moments include prayer and reflection while on my daily walks; the beauty of God’s creation in cloud formations or sunsets on the ocean; great discussions with my granddaughter Liliana about her life and aspirations; visits from my two youngest grandchildren, either in person or over FaceTime during this pandemic.

To try to be like Jesus is a life-long task.  It isn’t something that just all of a sudden happens.  It starts with a relationship with Christ.  And then it requires work—lots of work.  I liken it to my recent experience in trying to get physically active again so I can spend more quality time with my family when we go places.  I started by walking to the end of the block first; then a couple of days later I was walking around the block, then a mile, then two, and now three.  As I get more involved in my walks, my daughter helps me prepare to ‘do it right’ by getting me the right walking shoes, a special watch to monitor and record my progress, even a water bottle to carry with me to stay hydrated.  Every day I walk, I feel like I’m getting stronger and more enthusiastic for the next day, the next experience, the next adventure.  

We should prepare for our religious experience in the same way.  We need to go out and buy the oil that will keep the lamps burning as we await the Bridegroom.  This oil has many ingredients: compassion, kindness, thoughtfulness, prayer, good works that support those around us, a focus on the eternal while working in the present to help those around us. The oil is supplied by God in abundance and we need do nothing other than be willing to accept it.  This oil will keep our light burning strong in a world that is growing progressively darker. We can await the Bridegroom and light the world with the light that God gives us. All we need to be is willing and ready.

One grace builds upon another.  When we take a deep breath and turn to God in our hearts, even momentarily, the choices we make have more potential for being grace filled.  When we reflect upon the depths of the mystery of the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus, the mystery of death isn’t frightening but freeing.  When we plead for the grace to love our spouse, our children, our parents, our friends, and our colleagues more selflessly, all kinds of new graces flow forth.  When we consciously gather the struggles, conflicts, joys, and desires of our week, they prepare for a Sunday celebration so much fuller than just going through the motions to “fulfill our obligation."   When we open our hands and ask for a growing desire to be servant, to hear the cry of the poor, to let our life reflect the coming of God's reign, then God will provide plenty of oil for a torch that is Light itself.

May we be like the wise virgins who were prepared to welcome the bridegroom with full lamps as we continue to journey through life awake and aware of God’s many blessings that surround us.

It's never too late to wake up

 

There it is, standing emphatically on its own.  One of the few direct orders we get from Jesus.

“Stay awake!” (Matthew 24:42-51)

People are generally very conscientious of taking care of their physical belongings.  We lock our homes and our cars; we buy insurance on almost everything and we buy and install all types of protective and preventive devices such as fire extinguishers and burglar alarms.  We teach our children from the day they’re born what to fear and what will hurt them.  Like the master of the house in the parable, if we knew when something bad was going to happen, we’d be smart enough to be there to prevent it.

But people aren't the same when it comes to the non-physical things in their lives.  When we forget that Jesus Christ is present within us, we tend to engage in things that are damaging to our souls and our relationship with God.  We sin in a variety of ways with no regard for the consequences. We abandon the protection of our souls and become like the wicked servant in Jesus’ scenario.  In order to ‘stay awake’, we need to wake up first!

We need to be concerned with those things that truly impact us: our attitudes, our compassion, our trust and faith in God.  What other people think of us is irrelevant.  We shouldn’t concern ourselves with why someone looked at us cross eyed; rather, we  should be aware of the goodness of God and all His gifts, and all the talents He’s shared, and all of the mercy He has shown.  In other words, we need to wake up!

We must take care always and remain awake prepared for His return.  We must secure our souls against the dangers of the world, we must "buy the proper insurance" and make sure our "fire extinguishers are charged and ready."  We do this through daily prayer, reading the Scriptures and through frequent reception of Holy Communion and the sacrament of reconciliation. 

It’s tough in this time of global upheaval due to COVID, social injustices and unrest, and natural disasters, but we still need to stay awake and remain faithful and prudent.  We must take care to be in constant prayer with God, read His word, share His messages – there are so very many!  To stay awake and be prepared, living our life in a way that’s pleasing to God.  And if we aren’t, the world situation we’re in today should be a “wake-up call”.  It’s never too late to reconnect with our loving Savior and live as He wants us to live.

No place to hide, so do what is right

 

In the Gospel the last couple of days Jesus has been angry, saying, "Woe to you," and calling the Pharisees hypocrites.  The harshness of His words reveals how serious it is to be a hypocrite.  (Matthew 23:27-32)

Until living a virtuous life becomes habitual, we should all worry about being hypocrites. It means having self-knowledge and requires us to be on our toes. We must be careful that we don't start slipping into doing what seems and looks good, instead of being good.

As I reflected on the words “Woe to you” today, I recalled some childhood memories.  Mom used to have a “Woe to you” expression of her own; “Wait until your father gets home!”  Just the threat of having to face Dad (who was the kindest, gentlest man I’ve ever known) was enough to make me realize the seriousness of my offense.   And there was no getting out of it.  There was always some sort of punishment when I did face Dad, but it was always fair, just, and merciful.  I like to think I always came out of my punishments wiser and stronger.

Our inner attitude and our prayer should be inspired by Psalm 139.  “Where can I go from your spirit? From your presence where can I flee. If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I sink to the nether world, you are present there.” There’s no escaping the watchful eyes of God.  So it’s better to set an example of our Christian beliefs than to be made an example of what happens when we don’t practice virtue.

Virtue can be accomplished only with God's grace and acceptance of the means He provides.  So we should take what He has freely offered: His Sacred Word, His Precious Body and Blood, His Divine Mercy and Forgiveness, and all of the Sacraments.  May this grace help us be authentic followers of Christ, the perfect example of virtue.

Stand firm for justice, mercy, and fidelity

 

The COVID pandemic with all its implications coupled with all the political unrest fueled by racism and a Presidential election year can easily shade how we view the world and our place in that world.  There are many voices clamoring to direct our response to everything impacting our lives and even how we think about all that’s occurring.

God, though, isn’t surprised or confused with any of this.  He has the answers for each of us in these troubling times.  We simply need to turn to His Word.  In Paul’s second letter to the Church at Thessalonica, he encourages them to “not be shaken ….. or be alarmed.”  He goes on to remind them to “let no one deceive you in any way,” and further “to possess the glory or our Lord Jesus Christ” and to “stand firm” (2Thessalonians 2:1-3, 14-16).  That message certainly seems to apply directly to us today.  It’s so easy to let fear gain the upper hand, to let it overshadow the fact of God’s constant presence with us.  Paul’s message reminds us of God’s love, His everlasting encouragement, and our eternal hope through His grace; all designed to encourage our hearts and to strengthen us in every good deed and word.

Psalm 96 reminds us that our Lord is indeed in complete control.   No pandemic nor other forms of evil will have the final word.  We can join all creation with joyful confidence that God’s justice will prevail.  A verse in Hebrews further reinforces the fact that the “Word of God is living and effective, able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)   This amazing fact helps us to understand that God’s Word applies as much to us today as it did for those living in Thessalonica.  Maybe times of trouble are the most powerful in leading us back to God’s holy word.

Jesus spoke often of the sin of hypocrisy; at least it seems that this was one of the sins that dismayed Jesus the most.  He is rebuked the scribes and Pharisees for making a big deal of paying their tithes but neglecting the more important part of the law: justice, mercy, and fidelity. (Matthew 23:23-26)

Jesus called the religious leaders of His day blind Pharisees and hypocrites.  A hypocrite is defined as a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs and principles, that he or she doesn’t actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie their stated beliefs.  The Pharisees and the scribes of the time were very exacting in their interpretation of the law.  And they were extremely careful to obey the minutest detail of that law; it’s where we get the expression, “the letter of the law.”  Jesus scolded them for doing this instead of paying attention to the more important matters of religion.  They didn’t have the spirit of the law.   In their misguided zeal they had lost sight of God and of His purpose for the law.   If they had followed the spirit of the law, they would have understood that God didn’t want them to tithe for the sake of tithing but to care for the needy and the weak.  Instead the Pharisees used their exactness in tithing and insisting on the minute regulations to think of themselves in a selfish and prideful way and to hold those who did not or who were not able to follow these standards in contempt.

Giving to the Church or to the people of God, whether through tithing or a general spirit of stewardship should always be an expression of thanksgiving and a willingness to do God’s will.  The scribes, however, went to extreme lengths to tithe on insignificant things (such as tiny plants) with great mathematical accuracy but neglected the more important part of God’s commandments.

In today’s world, there’s still the temptation to be hypocritical in the practice of our Faith and morals (Don’t even get me started on the hypocrisy of our governmental officials and those who ‘follow’ them blindly!).  God doesn’t want us to strike our breasts, make a show of spending time in prayer or use our devotions to ignore the work He has called us to.  God wants us to be filled with a sense of thanksgiving as we give of ourselves in prayer and in the sharing of our time, talent, and treasure.  Most of all, God wants us to hear the words of His Son and be persons of “justice, mercy and fidelity.”

Sitting under a fig tree

 

Sometimes I wish I could be as simple with my faith as Bartholomew.  I would really like to know why Nathaniel (Bartholomew) was convinced that Jesus was “the Son of God, the King of Israel" simply because Jesus said, “I saw you under the fig tree.” (John 1:45-51) 

My impression is that Nathaniel was rather young at the time that this event occurred.  He shows the sort of cynicism that’s usually associated with young men in their late teens at the same time as being rather pure or "free from guile”; again, something associated with a young man trying to be innocent and pure of heart.  I don’t think that Jesus was being sarcastic in what He said, this was just part of the exchange of names and titles at the heart of this particular encounter.

What happened under the fig tree is never going to be completely clear to us on this side of eternity.  From what Jesus says and from Nathaniel's reaction we can infer that it was a very private and personal matter, one in which Nathaniel struggled (and won) in what was primarily a matter of honesty or straightforwardness, maybe of interior fidelity to God's love.  Jesus's next words are a matter of encouragement, a calling of the young man to great deeds.  Jesus will later go on to expand the "angels ascending and descending" to say that "no one has gone up to heaven except the One who has come down from heaven" (John 3:13) and to say "I am the way" (that leads to the Father) (John 14:6).

I think that we too are called to struggle with our devils, especially internally, so as to be pure of heart before God even more than before other people.  We should review our values, our excuses, the things that we wish to hide from, and the things that we repeat to ourselves about our judgments of other people, their motives, why we have trouble with them, etc.  This is the fig tree where we wrestle with ourselves to become truly gentle and loving, without guile.

This year (since March, anyway), I’ve been “sitting under a fig tree” of my own.  I struggle to hold my Christian tongue when I read accounts of people who refuse to wear face masks when in public settings or worse, when they do so only to prove they “are not going to be told what to do.”  I know that instead of being angry and resentful towards them for their callous disregard for others’ well-being, I should be praying for them, but it’s really difficult.  Just when I think I’ve “forgiven those who trespass against me”, something else comes up that causes me to vent less than Christian epithets toward my neighbor.  My struggles are particularly rough in Presidential election years, when the guile or ‘deceit’ flows out of everywhere.  

Jesus praised Nathaniel because there was no deceit in him.    The word deceit is used most often for someone who is being sneaky or treacherous.   A person is outwardly nice but is scheming to take advantage of another.  One of our sins in dealing with others is using them for our purpose rather than for theirs, or better for God’s.

Part of our experience as a member of Christ’s Body is to be an extension of Him.  Hopefully, our self-interest rather than the interest of Christ doesn’t cruelly rob them of His care!  We all have a great need of others to live the Christ-life, but it’s frighteningly easy to turn the loving interest of God into our selfish needs!  Think of how many scams we all get these days on our cell phones.   “You’re the lucky winner! We picked your name to give you $1,000 dollars.  Just give us your credit card number so we can send it to your account!”

 In less obvious ways we’re not aware of how much we use others for our own purposes with no or little care for their interests.  Jesus took on terrible sufferings in His human nature to give the incredible gift of eternal life.  He couldn’t be touched by remaining with His Divine nature alone.  Only when He took on our human nature could He experience the pain of unselfish giving!  What a lesson the crucified Jesus gives us!  “You shall love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12).   To love like Jesus is to love others without self-interest.  We don’t love just so we look good to others.  We don’t love others so they can be a help to our personal plans.

When we live without deceit and without being sneaky, we love like Jesus on the cross. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

As I reflect on this today, I realize that we should be grateful for the struggles we endure, because internal struggle opens the door to the Lord, letting Him call us out from under our own fig trees to reveal Himself to us as our Way to God.

We're called to be a 'rock' for others

 

I have become quite eager to take a walk every day.  It affords me the peace and quiet I need to pray and reflect and then listen to Jesus speak to me.  But the last week has been a challenge for me.  Between the COVID lockdown, the August heat wave, and the smoke-filled air from the three hundred plus fires burning in California, I’ve had to go into ‘seclusion’, staying inside my home and trying to cope.  So I felt a certain connection with the Gospels I reflected on today.  My reflection is on the discussion Jesus had with His disciples in a ‘secluded’ place in the region of Caesarea Philippi. (Mark 9:18-21; Matthew 16:13-20)

After praying in solitude, Jesus asked His disciples what the people were saying about Him, then asked them what they thought: “But who do you say that I am?”  And Peter responded, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus is wise enough to know that this confession of faith didn’t come from him but from the Father, and said, “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.”

Thinking of Peter, I was drawn to the phrase that Jesus used: “upon this rock I will build my church.” Jesus didn’t say, “upon this rock I build my church.”  This is important because, having the knowledge of the entire Gospel, we know that Peter will have a lot to go through before he seems to be anything like a “rock.”

Peter still had a lot to learn.  He still had to understand what was going to happen to Jesus.  He still needed to learn that he couldn’t rely on his own strength, which he realized most poignantly on Good Friday when, out of fear, he denied that he even knew Jesus.  He had to repent and then experience reconciliation with the Resurrection of Jesus (John 21:15-19).  And after that, he had to receive the Holy Spirit.  And indeed, he did become a rock for the Church, until he was martyred for the Gospel.

Jesus directs the same question to us today: "Who do people say that I am?"  It’s a question we should reply to in prayer and in our lives.  If we answer as Peter did, "The Christ of God" (Luke 9:20), we'd better also think of the cost; "The Son of Man must suffer greatly" (Luke 9:22).

Peter’s journey indicates to us that we too have to go through times of repentance and reconciliation, death, and resurrection.  We, too, are called to be a “rock” for others, just as there are times when others are a “rock” for us.  And although we haven’t been given the “keys to the kingdom” as Peter was, we have been given “keys” to life with God.  We’ve been given Jesus as Lord and Savior.  We’ve been given the Holy Spirit.  We’ve been given the Word and the sacraments.  We’ve been given love and grace beyond anything we could possibly deserve or earn.

Jesus doesn't want us to tell others who He is, but rather to know that in our hearts and to see Him in our daily lives and to live as He lived no matter what the cost.  May we use the “keys” of Jesus’ Cross and Resurrection to enter more deeply into the love that God has for us and the commandment to love one another. 

As to when the air will clear, and cooler temperatures return so I can get back to my daily walks, "There is an appointed time for everything." (Ecclesiastes 3:1)  I trust in Jesus and I hope it’s soon.

What are my priorities?

 

Because the Church is made up of human beings, there’s always a temptation to strive for positions of power and prestige.  In the book of Matthew, Jesus tells us that the way of exaltation is humility and that the greatest among His children will be the one who becomes a servant of all. (Matthew 23:1-12)

The first principle Jesus gives is that those who would teach others must practice what they preach.  A person really doesn’t know something until they put it into practice and tell others about it. There were many orthodox teachers in Jesus’ day but the problem he had with them was that they were long on telling others what to do and short on doing it themselves.  I ran into this many times in the course of my career in management, and I was also (I’m sorry to say) guilty of it myself.  A simple example is that I always “preached” to my employees to clean up after themselves after installing a trailer hitch, or washing a truck, or any other task they were assigned.  But there were many, many times that I left a mess for someone else to clean up, citing my position of authority as an excuse; “I’ve paid my ‘dues’.  I don’t have to do it anymore if I don’t want to!”

The second principle Jesus mentions is that leaders should not tie up heavy burdens and lay them on peoples’ shoulders and then not lift a finger to help them.  (Matthew 23:4)   It’s similar to when a boss sets a goal for us, then tells us to ‘figure it out’, giving no other direction or support, only to end up chastising us when the goal isn’t met.  Again, I’m guilty of this.

Finally, Jesus teaches against the desire for places, seats, and greetings of honor.  There are teachers, fathers, and masters in this world, but Jesus doesn’t want His followers to clamor for titles of respect that do nothing but puff them up.  Jesus isn’t forbidding a teacher from being called “Teacher.”  He isn’t forbidding a father from being called “Father.”  Even the Apostle Paul used the term “father” for his relationship to people and churches (1 Corinthians 4:15).  The point Jesus is bringing home to us is that we’re not to clamor for honor and respect.  It’s through service that we become great.  It’s through humility that we’re exalted.

"The scribes and the Pharisees... all their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels." (Matthew 23:5)

We may not know what a phylactery is or how to lengthen a tassel, but when Jesus criticizes the scribes and Pharisees, the message is clear; they’re using these traditional symbols not for prayer but to bring honor to themselves.  Their prestige from being religious leaders is used to get places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues.

FYI—A phylactery is simply a small box containing scripture which is tied to the arm or forehead during prayer. This very visible sign of devotion (still used by some today) was being corrupted by the religious leaders who wanted the admiration of all.

It's always easy to dismiss the religious leaders of Jesus' day as dense and judgmental.  But sometimes we may wonder if we too are really all that different.  We may catch ourselves wanting to impress people by how we look or the importance of our jobs.  If we carry titles which bring us honor, we may enjoy using those titles just a little more often than necessary.  Perhaps we want to show people that we’re devout, or how much we’re giving up for Lent or how much time we spend in prayer each day. Hand-in-hand with each “blessing” of ours may be a judgment about people who don't have important jobs, don't look as polished as we do, and even those who pray differently or less publicly, or something else that doesn’t fit our standards.

Just as there is nothing wrong with the phylacteries or tassels of the religious leaders in Jesus' time, there’s nothing inherently wrong with titles in front of our names, good jobs, or wanting to be holy.  But as Jesus cautions us about titles and honors, He seems to be asking what priority these things have in our lives.  How important are they?  Have they become the focus of our lives?

Jesus is clear and direct: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:12)   We must be servants for others, He says.  Nothing is more important than caring for others and tending to those who have less than we do.

Jesus defended the weak and vulnerable of His day.  A devout Jew, He broke with many traditions of His day, standing by lepers, speaking with women, and making friends with tax collectors.  He shows us with His life how to be a servant and how to stand up for those who have no one else.  Carrying out that call from Jesus isn’t easy and may cause discomfort in our lives, but it’s clearly what we’re called to.  Be a servant.  Be humble.  Don't judge.  Don't move toward honors but away from them.

Jesus isn’t leaving us to deal with all of these challenges alone but is there with us in those challenges. We will fall and fail and still, when we sit quietly opening our hearts at the end of the day and listen, we can feel the deepest love Jesus has for us and know that tomorrow we can try again.

God's promise of new life

He asked me: Son of man, can these bones come to life? I answered, “Lord GOD, you alone know that.” (Ezekiel 37:3)

I read in the paper this morning that there are over 500 fires blazing all over California today, most of them caused by lightning strikes over the past few days and fed by warm winds and dry vegetation.  The smoke and ash from the fires closest to my home is so thick, we can almost taste it.  As a result, I haven’t been able to get out of the house for four days and take a walk as I pray, which has been the only activity I’ve availed myself of to keep my sanity since the COVID pandemic hit and the shelter in place rules set in.

It reminds me that for all of the advancements of Artificial Intelligence, God is still the author of all creation and makes the rain fall upon the good and the bad (Matthew 5:45).  We may be bad stewards who distribute our water unjustly and who use our water wastefully, but we can’t make the water fall from the sky in the areas where we need rain.  Only God can.

Those who live in drought, live with dryness.  Dryness will eventually drain out of us the much-needed moisture for a healthy life.  We can survive for many days without food, but we can’t survive long without water.  For that reason, dryness becomes a great metaphor for our human and spiritual life.

People who are dry of human kindness and compassion and affection are people who come across as unfriendly and unwelcoming.  They seem to lack the grace that the waters of Baptism give us They seem to be people who are devoid of life, meaningful relationships, and humanity.  They seem to be like the walking dead.  Again, there seems to be a lot of that going around in 2020.

So many saints, from St. Paul of the Cross to Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, have confessed many years of spiritual dryness.  Not just one or two times a year, but 30 or 40 years at a time.

Where is the hope? The hope is found, as usual, in Scripture and Tradition. The prophet Ezekiel found himself in a desert, filled with dry bones.  He was asked if they could be brought back to life.  His answer came from years of personal prayer and listening to God; he couldn’t but God can make it happen! (Ezekiel 37:1-14)

In my opinion spiritual dryness isn’t a sign of God’s absence, but a sign of God’s purification.  God invites us into a special secluded place, a desert, which at first glance, is filled with dry bones.  But, in reality, it’s filled with God’s promise of new life.

It was in the desert that God established a covenant of love with the people of Israel.  In the New Testament, Jesus sums up the whole law with two commandments: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” and, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:34-40).  Love and Life go hand in hand, as do Faith and Hope. 

Celebration takes preparation

 

Jesus is such a great teacher!  His parables draw us in, have surprising elements and stunning punch lines.  Jesus was well aware of Ezekiel's preaching during the Exile.  It was full of promise.  The remnant left behind in a destroyed Jerusalem needed hope.  God promises that the covenant will be restored.  God will purify the people from their impurities and give them new hearts.  The gift will include writing God's statues in their hearts.  They will again be God's people.  God will again be their God. (Ezekiel 36:23-28)

But as the 22^nd chapter of Matthew begins, it’s obvious that the ultimate gift of God—the Reign of God, announced by Jesus—has been rejected by many of His own people (Matthew 22:1-14).  Jesus ends His previous parable, about the unjust tenant farmers by concluding, "Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit." (Matthew 21:43) There will be some believing Jews, Gentiles, and the new community of His followers who will be hearing this Gospel.  So Jesus next tells His listeners this sad but promising teaching story.

“The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son."  It’s so consoling to think of heaven as a wedding feast.  Jesus must have loved wedding feasts and found them to be the closest analogy He could find to give us a peek into what God has prepared for us.

The drama builds when the people first invited simply don't respond.  The king's response to them in the story replays the whole history of God's working with the Chosen People and Jesus' listeners knew it immediately.  Now comes the really good news: "Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find."  All along it was God's plan to offer salvation and the joys of the Kingdom of heaven, not only to a chosen few, but to everyone!  The victory Jesus will win over sin and death is universal.  It’s for all people.

Then, like most great parables, the story takes a surprising twist.  One of the invited guests doesn't have a wedding garment.  (It seems apparent that the person is without a wedding garment out of ingratitude and lack of serious respect for the king.  It’s not that the guest couldn't afford one.)  While the invitation is universal; that is, it’s free and unmerited, there’s also a universal call to holiness.  We’re called to receive the gifted invitation by living our lives as grateful guests.  We’re invited to be with Jesus by being like Him.  We’re called to come to the banquet ready to celebrate because we’ve been ready and open to giving our lives in imitation of the one who invited us.

How often it seems that we who have been invited to be part of the kingdom of heaven, simply take it for granted, as if all this gifted relationship with Jesus is about is our salvation.  We seem quite satisfied to know that we’re saved.  We can unconsciously act as though, "Well if I don't do anything seriously wrong, I'm in.  What more do I need to worry about?"

I think this parable makes it clear that our holiness has to "surpass that of the scribes and pharisees." (Matthew 5:20)   Jesus wants us to know that “it is mercy that I desire, not sacrifice." (Matthew 9:13) And, one of His final parables will tell us that our judgement—the decision about whether we ultimately will enter the Kingdom of heaven—depends upon whether we care for the "least of my brothers and sisters" ; feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the sick and the imprisoned. (Matthew 25)

In our prayers, we should ask for the grace to receive the invitation worthily, then respond more and more fully to Jesus' invitation to love as we have been loved.  Let’s see, feel, and act upon the invitation to eternal life by dying to ourselves a bit more every day, particularly in each of our relationships.  Let's forget about our own wounds and become healers of others' wounds.  Let’s open our hearts to hear the cries of all those who are poor and on the margins of our societies.  Let’s ask ourselves how we can respond, what role we can take, and how we can make a difference.  Let's put on a wedding garment, committing ourselves, and witnessing to everyone, that we’re definitely ready for the banquet of heaven.

Gratitude, not envy

My reflection today is about the wealthy landowner who at the end of the day paid everyone the same daily wage, even though some only spent an hour laboring. (Matthew 20:1-16)

In Jesus’ parable, the landowner went out in the morning and hired some workers.  Then he went out again 3 hours later, then 3 more hours, then 3 more.  And each time there were more hands waiting to be hired.  What He didn’t say is why the landowner didn't hire them all the first time.  I wonder why there would be more to hire each time he went out to the marketplace.  Was it because they slept late?  Did they not have the proper “skill set?”  Were they attending other “interviews” when this landowner came to hire?  Worst of all, were they just lazy and not looking for work after all, but merely making an appearance to avoid embarrassment?  The more I think about it, I realize that none of these questions matter.

What does matter is that the landowner felt so passionate about each and every worker's well-being that he constantly sought out more and more so none would be left out with his daily wage.  And he wasn't judgmental as to the reason why the man hadn't been hired until the last hour of the day.  He was happy that the laborer finally did show up and could share in the landowner's generosity.

At first, this experience would tempt anyone to envy.  Envy is a sort of sadness or anger at the good fortune of others.  Perhaps we can all understand the envy of those who put in a full day.  They worked for the full twelve hours and received their full pay.  But they were envious because those who worked only an hour were treated by the landowner with much generosity receiving a full day’s wage.

It’s important to be careful about taking things for granted; that we watch out and not put too much emphasis on ourselves and miss the most important part of our existence, which is the graciousness of God.

It's not the amount of work that’s done or how much "heat of the day" is endured, or even how well the work is done.  It all depends on God's call and invitation, and our acceptance of the invitation.  Eternal happiness in the presence of our God is the ultimate wage.  That's where we need to focus ourselves--not on grumbling against those we think don't deserve the wages for which we contracted.

I tried to put myself into this parable and reflect upon how I would experience this generous action of the landowner toward others.  Would I see his generosity and rejoice for those treated so well?  Would I be grateful for them because they were given this special gift?  Or would I, too, find myself envious and upset?  In all honesty, I think most of us would struggle with envy in this situation.

But that realization is a grace.  It’s a grace to become aware of the ugly sin of envy.  Even if we’re not actually put into the position of acting upon our envy, it’s a grace to see that it’s there within us. 

I realize that I am sometimes each of the laborers talked about in this parable.  There are days that I’m very ardent in my prayer life, evangelical endeavors, and works of mercy then—more often than not—I’m lazy in those efforts. It’s on those days especially that Jesus comes to me sometimes several times in one day in my thoughts and in my interactions with others to remind me that it's never too late to agree to work in His vineyard and receive the “usual daily wage”, even though others have been more diligent than I have been.

And how do we “work” in God's vineyard?  There’s a trendy saying: “You have ONE job”.  That job is to love.  Scripture is abundantly clear that the highest Law (or the “labor of the kingdom”) is to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength.  And the second is like it: to love our neighbor and even our enemies as we want to be loved (Deuteronomy 6:4–5; Matthew 22:36-40; Luke 10:27).   And, just like farm work in a vineyard, this job isn’t easy.  It will weary our bones, test our patience and at times even cause us seemingly impossible suffering and heartbreak.  But at the end of our days no matter when we started and if we’ve done our one job right, a loving God will send His Son to welcome us and pay us our “usual daily wage” of everlasting joy in the presence of our Creator.

Though I often feel like one of the "eleventh hour" people who received the benefits of God's graciousness, there are so many others I know who deserve His gifts of love and mercy much more than I do.  Yet I am constantly showered with His graces. I hope I can live up to His expectations of me.

One particular day comes to my mind of when Jesus reminded me on a personal level of His generosity and His gratitude when we put into practice what He has taught us.

When I would attend the 6:30am daily Mass at the Cathedral years ago, there was a homeless man who used to sit on the steps by the front doors and ask for money.  I’m sorry to say I ignored him most of the time, sometimes even going out of my way to avoid seeing him.  Then one day, he wasn’t there.  I was prayed that he had found a job and was so hard at work that he wouldn’t have to humiliate himself by asking strangers for monetary assistance anymore.  

A couple of months later I saw him again.  He wasn’t sitting on the steps this time; rather, he was attending Mass!  He was dressed in the cleanest clothes I think I’d ever seen him wear and he looked good.  I said hello and asked him how he was doing.  He said he had been released from jail the previous night and had walked to the Cathedral from the jail!  That’s about a 15-mile walk along the mean streets of South Stockton, which is not the most pleasant or safe area (to put it mildly).  So I could empathize with him when he said he was hungry and could use some money for breakfast.

At first I wasn’t going to give him anything; I confess that at that point I was angry because I had given him money before and I was very disappointed that he didn’t seem to want to get out of his situation, and I thought I was probably just throwing my money away.  But it occurred to me that I had just received Christ within me in the Holy Eucharist and that He never refuses anyone who asks for His help.  Could I do any less and still call myself a disciple?  I only had a five-dollar bill with me, so I gave it to him.

Later that day as I was getting ready to go home from a rather long day at work, a last-minute customer came in who needed a hitch put on his car.  To be honest, my usual response to the customer would have been to tell him to make an appointment for the next day or send him to another store if it was an emergency.  But something (Someone?) compelled me to stay late to help this guy and train my new manager at the same time, and I agreed to install the hitch.  About half-an-hour later, the customer came outside to where my trainee and I were and put a small wad of cash in my pocket saying, “Thanks for being so kind and generous to me. Please go out tonight and have a drink on me.”

To be clear, I didn’t normally accept tips, but my hands were full performing the task at hand, so I thanked him and told him I’d be done in about 20 minutes.  When the hitch was done, I went into the store to tell the cashier what to ring up and he said that the customer had also decided to rent a trailer from us because I was so accommodating at the last minute.  That rental added another couple of hundred dollars of revenue to the day’s receipts. 

I went back to the hitch bay with my co-worker to clean up our work area and put away the tools.  That’s when I remembered the bills the customer had put into my pocket.  He had given me five $5 bills, which was five times what I had given the guy at the church that morning.  Since the new manager had helped to install the hitch, I gave him ten dollars and gave another ten dollars to the cashier who had stayed late to help us both, as well.  I felt it was necessary to share in the customer’s generosity and gratitude.

As I think back on it, Christ was showing me in a practical way what His message is all about for us. We’re called to love one another and help each other without passing judgment on our neighbor.  If we’re faithful to that Commandment, He will repay us 5-, 10- or 100-fold or more.  And, if we’re really lucky—through His mercy, we’ll be welcomed at the end of our lives by Jesus with the words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant…. Come, share your master’s joy.” (Matthew 25:23)