A model of service to follow

 

"Do you realize what I’ve done for you? "If I have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet.  I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do."  (John 13:1-15)

There’s an old saying "familiarity breeds contempt."  But I think that often when it comes to Scripture, a better way to phrase this would be "familiarity breeds complacency."

We’ve all heard many times the story told in John’s Gospel.  As a former altar boy, I even had my feet washed by the priest of my parish.  And so sometimes when I hear this account, I find myself tempted to say inwardly "Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it before.  I have to humble myself.  Let’s go on to the next lesson."

But pause with me here for a moment, and let’s consider what really happened in this story.  The disciples still believed that the Messiah was the one who was going to restore their nation’s former glory.  The Christ would be the warrior king who will drive out the Romans, unite the Hebrew people and establish Israel as a beacon for all nations.  And yet they found themselves in an upper room with the man they believed to be that Messiah and He stripped himself naked, wrapped a towel around His waist, knelt down before them and began to wash their feet like a slave.  And what’s more, from our perspective 2000 years later, we see that Jesus already knew that among these people whose feet He was washing was the one who would betray Him, the one who would deny Him, men who had bickered about who is greater and who would sit His left hand and His right hand.  He had repeatedly asked them, "Don’t you get it yet? After all the time I’ve been with you?"

And He still knelt before them and washed their feet.

It’s easy for us to look back and chuckle at the disciples who didn’t get it.  And yet don’t we still find ourselves looking for that "messiah" who will establish our version of the kingdom of heaven on earth?  Don’t we campaign for that candidate who will restore our nation to its former greatness by promoting social justice or preserving religious freedom or maintaining 2nd amendment rights while fixing the economy with just the right mix (in our minds) of taxation and spending?

Jesus said, "You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am."  He acknowledges that He is our master, and still, He kneels before us.

This Triduum I pray that I let the words of Jesus deeply affect me, that instead of looking for a "savior" out there, I follow the model of the Savior I carry in my heart and kneel before and wash the feet of those I encounter every day.

Surely, it is not I, Rabbi?

They were a unique group.  Each was specifically invited to be a member.  For three years they travelled together, worked, prayed and played together.  Intimate relationships formed among them.  Some ties were stronger than others.  But at this point they had each other’s backs.  Jesus was the focal point of their relationships.  He was their teacher, their Rabbi.  That night, the family gathering was different.

It happens in the best of families – a meal spoiled.  The atmosphere holds threat of a storm while discord percolates just below the surface of pleasant conversation.  Then it happens.  Something is said or done that tilts the scales.  Accusations and denials spew forth.  Arguments ensue.  Someone is hurt, offended.  Feelings of betrayal, shame and apprehension fill the air.  Relationships crack, then crumble. 

This was the scene in the gospel I reflected on today, the account of the betrayal of Jesus by Judas.  Judas had sold Jesus for “…thirty pieces of silver…”  Jesus knew.  Then His brothers knew.  This wasn’t the beginning of the end for Jesus.  It was the beginning of the culmination of Jesus’ life’s passion.

We read of greed that led to betrayal, denial born of regret, broken relationships in the midst of anger, and later to additional denial fueled by fear, abandonment brought on by distrust and doubt.  This “family’s” relationships were faltering.

The story is well known.  It is told in the veiled whisper of scriptures.  Scriptures well known by this family. “…The Lord is my help; therefore I am not disgraced; ... I shall not be put to shame…” (Isaiah 50:4-9).  “For your sake I bear insult…zeal for your house consumes me…For the Lord hears the poor and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.” “I become an outcast to my brothers…Insult has broken by heart” yet “For your sake I bear insult…” (Psalm 69:8-34).  

Jesus wasn’t undone by the cowardly acts of His brothers and His sisters.  Rather, this was to be the final outpouring of His love, His passion, for all.  Jesus’ Passion is Love.  That’s it.  An ‘it’ so profoundly simple it’s simply profound.   Jesus loves not in spite of, but because of.  His life’s passion – His love for us, for me, is magnified in the coming events.  It’s Jesus’ Passion, His Love that leads to His death and resurrection.

Jesus loves us – all of us, fully clothed in our humanity.  For Jesus, the intimacy of our relationship is worth it all.  All of whatever it may be.  As we, His brothers and sisters run in fear and doubt, Jesus weeps out of love - for us.  As we, His brothers and sisters deny Him, Jesus reaches out, to us, to the crowds on His way to His death.  As we, His brothers and sisters fade away, Jesus blesses us from the cross. 

Jesus’s Passion, His love, leads to His death and resurrection.  Jesus’ Passion, His love, leads us through His resurrection to Love. 

A song of salvation

 

The scripture readings I reflected on today speak to me of salvation.  In Isaiah, the Lord says, “I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:1-6).  In Psalm 71 the line that stuck out to me is, “I will sing of your salvation” (Psalm 71:1-17).   And in a story from John, Jesus shares the Last Supper with the disciples and tries to explain to them what’s coming (John 13:21-38).

Moses Mendelssohn, the great-grandfather of the famous German composer, was far from being a handsome man.  In fact, he was inflicted with a grotesque humpback.

One day when his family was visiting a merchant in Hamburg, Moses noticed the man’s beautiful daughter.  He fell hopelessly in love with her.  But she was repulsed by his misshapen appearance.

When it was time for him to leave, he gathered up all his courage to try to speak with her.  But this beautiful girl wouldn’t even look at him.  And this caused him much pain. After several attempts at conversation, Moses shyly asked, "Do you believe marriages are made in heaven?"

"Yes," she replied, still looking at the floor.  "And do you?"

"Yes, I do," he replied.  "You see, in heaven, at the birth of each boy, the Lord announces which girl he will marry.  When I was born, my future bride was pointed out to me.  Then the Lord added, ‘But your wife will be humpbacked.’"

"Right then and there I called out, ‘Oh, Lord, a humpbacked woman would be a tragedy.  Please, Lord, give me the hump and let her be beautiful.’"

This beautiful girl looked up into his eyes.  Then she reached out and touched his hand.  Later she became his devoted wife.

This story reminds me of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “It was our infirmities (sins) that he bore, our sufferings that he endured." (Isaiah 53:4)

Jesus took upon Himself the infirmities of us all.  We who were once humpbacked with selfishness and sin have been made beautiful by the sufferings and death of Christ.

God knew us before we were even born.  He knew what we were going to be like, what sorts of things we might do.  But also maybe He had a plan for us.  Jesus knew Judas was going to betray Him, maybe even before Judas did.  And He also knew the betrayal was necessary.  As soon as Judas left the upper room, Jesus said, “Now is the son of man glorified.”  The betrayal was a necessary first step to get to the glorification.  Things were then set into motion.  What Judas did seems terrible, and was terrible, but it was necessary for the next steps.

While Judas in the story of salvation is the big betrayal, there’s Peter to deal with as well.  When Jesus says He’s going where His friends can’t follow, Peter says he wants to go too, and he wants to go with Him now.   And Peter will go, but just not now.  I understand how hard it is to be left behind and how hard it is to wait.  But Peter has to deny Jesus and has to stay because there are still things he has to do. Peter tells Jesus, “I will lay down my life for you.”  And he will, but not just yet.  And Jesus knows this too.  He knows that Peter will deny Him and must deny Him so he can finish what he needs to do here.  And when the time is right Peter will die for Him, as Jesus died for all of us.

If Judas hadn’t made his horrific decision, none of this could have been set in motion.  If Peter hadn’t made his decision, the Church as we know it wouldn’t have been established.  These decisions seem selfish, but they were necessary for the necessary outcome.  If Jesus hadn’t made the hardest decision of all, we wouldn’t have Easter.  Jesus had to be betrayed by His friends, and His friends had to betray Him in order for the Son of Man to be glorified.  And God knew from long before who they all were and what they all were capable of, and what we all are capable of.

Many years after the Resurrection, John wrote, "Love then consists of this: Not that we have loved God, but that God has loved us and sent his Son as an offering for our sins. If God has loved us so, we must have the same love for one another."  (1 John 4:10-11)

From the beauty God has bestowed upon us, we in turn are called upon to make our world more compassionate, more forgiving and more kind.

Selfless Devotion

 

I have many childhood memories of Holy Week, the special week that ends with the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  At first, it was a childish joy, because in the old days Holy Week meant an abbreviated school week.  When I got to my teen years, I looked forward to the different liturgies of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and of course midnight Masses.  As each year has passed though, I gained a deeper understanding of the Scripture readings of this sacred week.  This year is not an exception.

The reading from Isaiah is the beginning of the four Servant Songs: “Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, upon whom I have put my Spirit; . . .” (Isaiah 42:1-7).  This is a description of the one who was going to bring justice and freedom to all nations.  Isaiah called Him a “servant” not a king.  Not a ruler.  Not a master.  A servant.  One who looks to the needs of others before their own. This leader is also one who is focused on justice and peace.  Not your normal everyday leader.

The servant theme continues in the reading from the Gospel of John (John 12:1-11).  Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead and Martha was again serving, and Mary was at the feet of Jesus.  They were hosting a dinner for Jesus and this time Martha was serving the meal without complaining about what Mary was doing.  She might have been pondering the raising of her brother from the dead.  This time the focus is on Mary.  She was at Jesus’ feet again only she wasn’t listening to what Jesus was saying.  Rather, she was anointing His feet.  Didn’t she realize who He was?  It was Judas who was complaining this time about the waste of the costly nard.  He really wanted to sell it for his own pocket. Jesus spoke prophetically about the anointing of His own body on the day of His burial as a rebuke to Judas’ chastisement.

In a few days we’ll read the Gospel of John again (and I’ll reflect on it, as well) and at the Last Supper it will be Jesus who is washing the feet of Peter.  In Jesus’ time, the washing of feet was left to the lowest ranking servant in the house.  I think it’s interesting that Mary, a woman is chastised for doing this for Jesus and then Jesus hears Peter’s refusal of the washing of his own feet.  Mary, a woman, who in Jesus’ time had no rights or privileges sitting at a place of a lowly servant.  No one complained that she was sitting at Jesus’ feet.  It was an act of love and Jesus knew her intention.  Did Jesus ponder this action and then take it upon Himself to do as she did?  To wash Peter’s feet in a loving manner but elevating it, changing it, as He had to many of the other traditions of the time.  Raising this simple disgusting action of a servant to mean something deeper for the Apostles.  A simple action in the scriptures that has certainly struck me enough to spend some time reflecting on it today.

One of the questions that these readings led me to ponder is “What simple action in my everyday life has changed over the past year to an action of love?”  I think it’s worth pondering some more.

Stop. Look. Listen. Pray.

 

St. Paul of the Cross used to say that all can be found in Christ’s Passion.  Mark’s Gospel narrative of the Passion of Jesus begins with a plot to kill Jesus (Mark 14:1-15:47).  It’s a story of conspiracy and murder.  Amidst the darkness of this moment the next paragraph illumines the excessive and aromatic abundance as Jesus is anointed.  One can almost smell the richness of that moment in Mark’s writing.  Have you ever noticed, in the darkest times of your life, there was some small little thing which was a very bright spot?  Whether Jesus is reclining at table here in Bethany or later in the city of Jerusalem celebrating Passover, food is always a priority for Jesus.  (It’s one of those things we always love about Him isn’t it?)  And somehow that Passover meal becomes not only a religious act but a pronouncement and celebration to His disciples of how much He loves them.  And just like real life, when everything seems to be going really great, look out!  In the middle of this final meal together, Jesus is now being betrayed by one in His inner circle.

Whether it’s stories of Judas’ betrayal, or Peter’s denial, this narrative is filled with emotional pain.  Additionally, the stories of physical violence including torture and crucifixion revealed the physical pain.

Mark’s passion narrative illustrates the sad reality that the last few hours of Jesus’ life are a place where personal desire meets divine obedience, and personal friendships and relationships crumble.  Misaligned perceptions, false accusation, false testimonies, lies and deception rise to be the judge of truth.  Yet Jesus’ faithful testimony to the truth will be the very thing which leads to the only charge which can be brought against Jesus—blasphemy.  Notice, at no point does Jesus ever separate Himself from the accused.

Mark’s passion narrative includes other themes such as being taken where you do not want to go, knowing the authority and power of silence, and the conviction of speaking and testifying to the truth.  Simon of Cyrene reiterates the role of service even when it’s inconvenient.  And the two insurgents crucified with Jesus reiterate themes of testimony and belief.

This is a religious story.  One that takes place in a historical religious context, and yet establishes a new covenant.  He is the fulfillment of Scripture and through this story we see a kingdom is established.  Why is it the condemned man is now the king?   Do you see the paradox in this?  And speaking of paradox why is it that the Roman centurion recognizes that Jesus is the son of God, but the chief priests don’t?

This Gospel is written to jar us.  It boldly displays the anguish of Jesus and the cruelty of the process.  It screams of Jesus’ innocence, and frustrates our confidence in structures which we’ve held true for generations.  But ultimately, it drops the bomb right in our lap of that most difficult question, do you believe that good really is more powerful than evil?

As we enter into this Holy Week, it might be a good idea to stop.  Look.  Listen.  And pray.

Find the time each day to just stop; stop watching television, scrolling through social media, arguing with a significant other or a co-worker, or even something as mundane as housework.  Don’t even plan it.  Just stop.

Then look for Jesus in the Scriptures.  Just one line, or even just a word that brings Him into our presence.  It’s not hard to find Him.

As we reflect on that line or that word, listen to what Jesus is saying.  He has one purpose in His life on earth, and every word He ever said and every action He ever took was to show us the way to our inheritance in the Kingdom of God.  If we listen close enough, we’ll hear His voice urging us on.

Lastly, once we hear His voice, it’s time to pray.  After all, prayer is a conversation with God, through Jesus.  No one, including Jesus, wants a one-way conversation.  If He did, He wouldn’t have taught us how to pray (Luke 11:1-13).

If we try to follow this simple plan to stop, look, listen and pray this week, maybe the greatest event in the history of the world will be easier to grasp for many of us when we celebrate His Resurrection next Sunday.

They shall be my people...

 

In both Ezekiel (Ezekiel 37:21-28) and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:10-13), we hear God promising to gather the scattered remnants of Israel; and in his Gospel, John, interpreting the high priest’s comments, sees Jesus gathering “into one the dispersed children of God” (John 11:45-56).  In all of these passages it’s God who acts.  Plainly we can’t do it ourselves.  Humans divide.  It’s God who unifies.  What we need to hear and understand is that unity is what God wants.  Though we can’t do it ourselves, we certainly can impede it, and we desperately need to understand how doing that would be completely contrary to God’s will.

In my reflection today, I think of the ways we divide – all variants of “us” and “them”: white and black, immigrant and native-born, gay and straight, rich and poor, Protestant and Catholic, liberal and conservative, clerical and lay, vaxxers and non-vaxxers, maskers and non-maskers. . . the list is endless.  These kinds of divisions are ingrained in our psyches – in our biology even.  That’s why what Jesus has done is to make something totally new – totally different.

This isn’t to suggest that these distinctions are trivial, nor that we can abolish them by willing it.  But they're not as important as the equality and unity of the new creation, which has to be given precedence whenever there seems to be conflict with the new creating that God is doing.   It's important to remember that we humans use these divisions for dominance.   But there’s no dominance in the new creation.  There is, instead, only self-giving.  As Paul wrote: “Neither Jew or Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female” (Galatians 3:28).  And Jesus, in His prayer to the Father at the last supper, asked God that: “they may be one, as you Father and I are one – so that the world may believe you sent me….” (John 17:21-26)

“So that the world may believe. . .”  Division doesn’t manifest God.  We, as Church, do not show God’s presence so long as we are divided.  Next week we’ll celebrate – not just remember, but actually relive – that new creating.  It is well to keep this emphasis on unity uppermost in our minds and hearts as we approach that holy day.

Why me, Lord?

 

Personalized license plates can be pretty profound sometimes—even when they’re probably just trying to be funny.  I saw one the other day that read “YMELORD”; “Why me, Lord?”   It’s a question that has come up throughout history and continues to be asked in these troubled times.  For instance, Jeremiah suffered through rejection of his prophetic mission at the time of the exile (Jeremiah 20:10-13).  And John’s gospel relates how Jesus also was rejected by the Jews who were trying to stone Him for blasphemy (John 10:31-42).

Jesus was threatened by those who witnessed His “works.”   And Jesus challenged His accusers to clarify over which “good work” were they charging Him.  Jesus’ time had not yet come so He fled down the mountain to the Jordan.  His passion and death would come soon but He wanted to celebrate the Passover first with His disciples. 

When we ask the question, “Why me, Lord?”  there are many ways to respond.   We can join with Him in His passion and death as we realize we also have many moments of crisis in our own lives when we plead for God’s help.  There are times of mourning when a family member dies; there are economic crises when we lose a job or even a home; there are spiritual crises of faith when we find it hard to believe in a good God who cares for us, etc.

Psalm 18 has a line that gives me hope when I’m in a “Why me?” state of mind: “In my distress, I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.” (Psalm 18:7)

My reflections this past week have been on Scripture that dwelt on crises:  Monday with Jesus saving the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11) and Wednesday with Daniel refusing to worship the golden statue of Nebuchadnezzar and then being thrown into the fiery furnace with his three companions (Daniel 3:14-95).

We need to remember the comment made to Thomas in the Upper Room the week after Jesus rose from the dead.  Jesus said, “Blessed are they who believe even though they do not see.”  (John 20:29).  This can also be translated to “Blessed are they who have trusted even though they do not understand!”

So “Why me, Lord?”   If we truly trust the Lord we can respond “Why not, Lord because blessed are we who don’t understand even though we’re bombarded on all sides with terrible pressures and anxieties.”

The fullness of time

Today marks nine months from the feast of Christmas, and so we Christians celebrate the Annunciation by the angel Gabriel to Mary that she was to become the Mother of our God and Lord Jesus (Luke 1:26-38). 

The growth of a child in his or her mother’s womb remains one of the most ordinary, and at the same time extraordinary facets of human life.  A new and soon-to-be independent creature grows mysteriously hidden for nine months.  Yet, in those nine months, this not-yet independent creature remains dependent for everything.  And in that hidden life of the growing child, the sole source of nourishment and life-giving oxygen is the mother.  Given that amazing truth, with awe and wonder we might say that there is something of the mother in the child—a gift given in those crucial nine months, creating a bond that remains deep even after birth.

In the mysterious and wonderful plan of God for the salvation of the world, a plan to wed heaven and earth, the Son of God was destined to become one with us in our humanity.  How would this great mystery come about?  How would this human life be fashioned so that it might be united to the Son’s divine life?  In the Providence of God this mysterious happening would take place in the womb of a mother, a human mother.  Mary would be God’s instrument so that a body would be prepared for the Son (Hebrews 10:4-10).

As with every human life, something of this Mother is in this Child.  The bond shared by Mary and her Son Jesus, which remained throughout His earthly life, now flourishes in the heart of the Church’s devotional life as we confidently entrust our cares to the Son through the Mother and her most holy Rosary.

Today is a great day to reflect on the wonder that He who is our Lord and Savior is also a Mother’s Son.  Perhaps we might allow Mary’s motherly heart to warm us into love and respect for our own human lives and that of all others.  And confident in the bond that she shares with her Son, perhaps today there is some special need, some special intention that we want to share with her so that she might share it with her Son. 

You gotta have faith

 

One of the things that I will always remember my boss telling me early in my career when I was grousing about the incessant changes we had to adapt to constantly.  “The only ‘constant’ in this company is ‘change’.  You have to have faith that it’s in the best interest of our customers, our employees, and our shareholders that we comply with the changes.”  When I was especially adamant in my refusal to even consider a particular change, he would tell me, “The changes are going to happen with or without you—I’d prefer to have you on my team, but the choice is yours.”  Sometimes it required a large amount of faith in my boss’s assurances that everything would work out fine to finally get on board and execute the changes.  Frequently, the hardest part of making the changes was having enough faith in my boss’s vision to convey the changes to my subordinates.  Many of them were even slower than me when it came to change.  Ultimately, as my boss promised, the changes were made.  Those who refused to change went their separate ways, and those of us who had faith in the system became more successful for it.

There can be no simpler example of faith in action than the faith of Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego in the familiar Old Testament account (Daniel 3:14-95).  These men had real confidence in God that went beyond their deliverance from a fiery furnace.  When facing the question of whether to demonstrate fealty to an idol in order to save themselves, they weren’t moved by the apparent consequences of their decision.  Instead, they seemed indifferent as to whether God would save them from the furnace.  They understood that God was able to save them, but whether God would choose to do so would be His prerogative.  They didn’t decide to follow God because He would save them, but because of the reality of who He was.  What a demonstration of faith!  As Paul would later observe, “whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” (Romans 14:8).  I wonder what it felt like to enter that furnace untouched, and to be joined in the experience by the “fourth [man who] looks like a son of God.”

When we focus upon Nebuchadnezzar, we see a slightly different message coming out of this account.  Nebuchadnezzar asked, “Who is the God who can deliver you out of my hands?”  I don’t think he expected to learn the answer.  He was surprised at the audacity of anyone who wouldn’t see him as preeminent.  His initial reaction to that challenge was blind rage.  Sometimes finding God can be quite a shock, particularly when we discover the foundation for our lives is crumbling and untrustworthy.  Sometimes we too are like Nebuchadnezzar, who was a bit of a slow learner when it came to the God of Daniel, Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego.

John’s Gospel also deals with the problems of other slow learners, who seem unable to shift their focus from the past to the present (John 8:31-42).  As a result, they’re unable to recognize the work of God who is in their midst.   May God save us from our own blindness as to the works of God, and may He open our eyes to His works that are visible in our present reality.  And may each of us recognize and accept God’s answers to our questions about who He is, responding with humility, gratitude, and openness to the future He has planned for us.

Look to what is above (John 8:21-30)

 

The Scriptures I reflected on today were so timely and relevant for our world today!

The Israelites, out of frustration and exhaustion and impatience, complained against God and Moses, and God punished them by sending saraph serpents who bit the people, and many of them died.  The people repented, and asked Moses to intercede for them.  And in response, God told Moses to fashion a bronze serpent, mount it on a pole, “and if anyone who has been bitten looks at it, he will recover.” (Numbers 21:4-9)

In John’s Gospel, Jesus was once again trying to tell the people who He is.  Finally, Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me.”  (John 8:21-30)

I daresay there’s a lot of us in these crazy times who can identify with those ancient Israelites who complained against God and Moses.  Who wouldn’t complain?  We’ve had to deal with the pandemic, the isolation, the despair, and the anxiety.   Add to that the racial violence, the unemployment for many, the anger at our government officials, and the list goes on.  But as always, for true believers, there’s hope.

When we reflect on Jesus on the Cross, we can believe that the love and sacrifice demonstrated there come from God.  We can believe God really loves us that much!   We can look at Jesus on the Cross, and, like the Israelites in the desert bitten by the serpent, we, too, can “recover.”

We can recover from despair and anxiety.  We can recover from anger and bitterness.  We can recover from prejudice and hatred and fear.  We can recover from weariness and apathy and complacency.

Jesus is I AM for us.  Jesus is God’s love revealed to us.  May we look upon Him and see His love and sacrifice and be healed.

It’s easy to judge others

 

I reflected on two Scripture stories today that teach us how a “herd mentality” can lead us down a path of judgement and hate instead of our call to be compassionate and understanding.

In the first story (Daniel 13:1-62), two elders, whom people revered because of their wisdom, knew that their word would carry more weight than that of the righteous woman, Susanna.  They knew that their reputation would serve as a perfect cover for their accusation and lies.  Their lust and power could overcome their “conscience” with impunity.  Susanna recognized that she was in a “no win” situation.  She chose to trust in the Lord, to trust Him with her predicament.  I must admit that I would find it difficult to let go of my “rational” brain and to trust God in such a precarious situation.  I often find that I rely on my own problem-solving capabilities rather than to rely on the power of prayer.  I often forget how powerful it can be to share my problems with the Lord.  Susanna was saved because she believed that justice would prevail.

A couple of years ago, police officers in my town responded to a report of a possible baby abandoned in a dumpster.  Sure enough, a newborn baby boy was found alive inside the dumpster and medics transported the baby to an area hospital for treatment.  During their investigation, the police located the teenage mother near the scene who was also transported to a hospital for treatment.  The 15-year-old mother of the newborn was treated, then cited for felony child abuse/endangerment and released to her parents.

When the story hit the media, the reactions of a lot of people were lacking in charity at the least, and downright vengeful at the worst.  Some of the comments were quite graphic in the punishment the young mother should receive, even up to death!  However, there were several commentors who stated they knew the mother and couldn’t believe she would do what she had done. 

I am not defending this young woman for her actions.  Child abandonment is wrong and throwing away a living, breathing infant is especially egregious.  No person should ever have to endure such violations of their person or their dignity, especially a newborn baby.  Everyone needs to be treated with compassion and understanding.

At the same time, however, we must be willing to extend compassion and understanding to the new mother as well.  We must be willing to see her as maybe a deeply troubled person with mental illness or disordered passions.  We mustn’t forget that Jesus has called us to forgive every person, regardless of their sins!

John’s Gospel about the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11) reminds us of how easy it is to judge others and how easy it is to condemn others for some action.  Individuals tend to attribute invariable dispositions or traits to people’s action while underestimating the impact of situational factors.  We’re quick to judge others.  To make us feel better, we tend to judge others as inferior to ourselves.  We see ourselves as “better than average.”  This better-than-average effect is helpful in keeping our self-esteem and self-concept intact.  However, it also assumes that others are worth somewhat less than us, that they may be acting wickedly while we would refrain from doing the same.  Jesus made explicit what we typically don’t see: “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  It’s so much easier to judge others than to be honest with ourselves.  This parable goes to the heart of what it means to be human.  We’re all sinners; we’re all imperfect and rather than look inwards and ask for forgiveness, we look outward and judge others.  I pray that I will not judge others, that I will work toward a just world, and that I will see the light, “even though I walk in the dark valley.”  I pray that I will trust the Lord, for He is at my side (Psalms 23:4).

A call to die (to self)

 

Death doesn’t necessarily sound all that inviting to most people.  When I was 6 or 7-years old, my mom and dad would visit my maternal grandparents quite often.  We had to drive past Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery to get there.  Looking at the headstones and mausoleums would get me thinking about my mortality every time!  I got proficient at recognizing landmarks and knew when we were getting close, so I would always hide my head and try to think of something else or fall asleep because the thought of dying terrified me.  I was afraid to look death in the eye.

The Gospel I reflected on today brought this memory back.  I realized that I’ve matured in my faith to where I am no longer terrified to contemplate death.  So, how should we look at death?

First of all, death, literally speaking, is a passing from this world to the next.  When our time comes in accord with the will of God, we should welcome it and anticipate our full immersion into the life of God. 

But in John’s Gospel, Jesus speaks of death on another level.  We should see ourselves represented by the grain of wheat that achieves its potential only by falling to the ground and dying.  In that natural act, it is planted in the fertile soil and grows, producing an abundance of good fruit (John 12:20-33).

How should we see ourselves represented in this natural action?  We do so by embracing death to self so that we can be planted in the fertile soil of the grace of God and produce an abundance of good fruit.

Dying to oneself means that we let go of all selfishness in life.  First, all intentional acts of selfishness must be let go, but then even unintended selfishness must be let go.  What is “unintended selfishness”?

Unintended selfishness is a way of referring to everything in life that we hold on to and cling to simply because you want it for ourselves.  This could include even good things such as a loving relationship.  It’s not that we should do away with good things in life, such as loving relationships; rather, we mustn’t cling to anything, even good things, for selfish motives.  Love, when it is authentic love inspired by God, always is detached and selfless, looking only toward the good of the other.  This is the purest death to self that we can live.  When this level of love is lived, that of complete selfless detachment, God enters into our lives and into each particular situation of our lives, bringing forth an abundance of good fruit.  This is a gift that’s more powerful than anything we can do on our own; it’s the fruit of a total death to self, transformed by God into new life.

As believers who have lived from the 20th century into the 21st, we are beset by a collage of images we will never forget, even if we desired to do so.  Images of the trench warfare of World War I, the bread lines of the 1930’s and families with unemployed breadwinners, the death camps of Nazi Germany, the scarred survivors of the atomic blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki , screaming children running for their lives during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam,  the sight of the Twin Towers collapsing to the ground with thousands of innocents trapped inside, the ugly and horrifying images of journalists, aid workers , and Christians  being slaughtered by terrorists, the onset and mismanagement of the COVID pandemic — all of these and more are part of our life circumstances.   In addition to seeing and feeling the suffering of this magnitude, we experience our own pain and suffering in the circumstances of life from death of a loved one, to unemployment, to worry and concern for a child or grandchild or parent or a friend, to personal illness, to the ordinary advancement of aging.

Scriptures invite us to vividly remember that Jesus was no stranger to suffering and that we, His followers, will need to deal with suffering in our own lives as well.  Does Jesus desire for us to suffer?  I think not.  I believe in a Jesus who wants us to do everything in our power to eliminate or minimize suffering in life.  After we do this, we’ll find, as did Jesus, that there’s just some suffering in life we just can’t do anything about.  It’s at this point that we’re invited to unite ourselves with our Crucified Lord, to make ourselves one with Jesus in His sufferings so that we might receive His Divine strength in our neediest moments and become one with Him in bringing about new life and a renewed, more profound relationship with God for ourselves and for all of God’s People.  These are the moments when we, like the Greeks in John’s Gospel, look for Jesus, when we most desire and need to see Jesus.  Our Scriptures also invite us to understand that in these neediest of life’s circumstances, we’ll see the Suffering Jesus and will recognize the immensity of His love as the foundation of His sacrifice for us.

United with our Crucified Lord through our own unavoidable sufferings in life, we’ll be fortified and empowered by Him to take a “Walk of Faith” with Him through the garden of life.

God is revealed in love

The Gospel I reflected on today tells us of two ways that the people of Jesus’ time used to consider whether or not Jesus was the Messiah.   First there were the people who believed in Him because of the miracles that He performed, and then there were others who believed because of the way He spoke at the temple.  They asked one another, "Is He the Messiah?  Is He the prophet?"    And they struggled for proof one way or the other.  Even with all that they heard and all that they saw, they remained skeptical, and few seemed to have faith that Jesus was indeed the anticipated Messiah. (John 7:40-53)

Jesus renounced a plea to "go public" as we would put it today.  He didn’t seem at all concerned about whether or not He had the popular vote.  In fact, even when Jesus did go to the temple for the Feast of the Tabernacles, He did so in secret.  But still all around Him, the discussion continued and "the Jews looked for Him."

In the meantime, the chief priests and Pharisees disparaged the possibility that Jesus was the Messiah by using the argument that the authorities and Pharisees didn’t believe that Jesus was The Christ, therefore there was no point in anyone else even considering that Jesus might be the Messiah.

What is it that leads us to believe in Christ?  Is it the Words of Scripture?  Is it miracles we witness?   We believe that Faith is a gift from God.  We need only be open to the gift.  God will always give Himself to us if we are open.  We also know that God is love and that love becomes manifest through humanity.  God is revealed in love and we see God in the love and good works of the Saints, or in the good people that we meet in our daily lives.

Let’s not forget during these last weeks of Lent, that we, too, are called to be signs of God’s love.  As Christians, it’s up to us to be open to the signs of faith and love in our lives and as Christians, it’s up to us to find the ways that we can serve as signs of faith and love to others. 

Worthy of imitation

 

A few months ago, Pope Francis declared this year (from December 8, 2020 to December 8, 2021 [the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception]) – the Year of St. Joseph.  This coincides with the 150th anniversary of Blessed Pope Pius IX’s declaration of St Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church.  Every March 19th, the Catholic Church celebrates the Solemnity of St. Joseph, dedicated to the life and faith of St. Joseph, the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Pope Francis also published an apostolic letter about St. Joseph, “Patris Corde,” which means “With a Father’s Loving Heart.”  In it, he names St. Joseph’s many admirable qualities, worthy of imitation in the coming year and the future.

While we don’t know many details of St. Joseph’s life, we do know that he was a skilled craftsman, a carpenter by trade.  We honor this particular aspect of his life with a Feast Day on May 1^st that is appropriately named “the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker.”   

We also know that he was a righteous man, a just man.  He took his calling of husband very seriously, and along with Mary, taught the child Jesus about God, goodness, compassion, fidelity to tradition and generosity to those in need. 

Joseph underwent many struggles as the husband of Mary and the father of Jesus.  His happiness at the prospect of taking Mary into his home as his wife was shattered when he discovered that Mary was pregnant.  He wasn’t the father.  He must have spent many sleepless nights wrestling with the best way to deal with what he thought was Mary’s infidelity.  We can probably image how he must have felt: betrayed, devastated, uncertain of his future and broken-hearted.  He was a man of faith, a man of justice, a man who knew the law and who wanted to live according to God’s Law.  But Joseph was also a man of God, formed by his deep faith in the living legacy of the Hebrew scriptures and traditions.  His faith helped him accept the God who broke into our human story time and time again, to bring freedom and grace, dignity and hope, a new beginning and a new creation. 

He believed in a living God, who speaks to us in loving ways, even as God gives us the strength to endure many hardships.  God spoke to Joseph and said to take Mary into his home.  He heard and he obeyed.  He did the right thing; he was a righteous man. 

Joseph wasn’t only Mary’s loving husband, but he was also Jesus’ loving parent.  Along with Mary, Joseph taught Jesus well.  Under their care, Jesus grew “steadily in wisdom and age and grace before God and men.” (Luke 2:51). 

Jesus, Mary and Joseph didn’t live during the best of times.  They lived in an occupied country that was ruled by a cruel Roman empire and by a puppet Jewish king, Herod.  Furthermore, their religious leaders were divided and fighting each other.  At any given time, these authorities could disrupt the lives of the people of Israel.  Joseph, head of the family, saw his role as keeping Mary and Jesus safe and secure in the midst of the chaos and confusion that was part of everyday life. 

We honor and celebrate the life of St. Joseph this day because he’s such a good example for us in the world we live in today.  More than ever, we live in a world that lacks a moral compass, where good and evil aren’t recognized as social conditions, and leaders are no longer respectful and committed to the common good.  We celebrate St. Joseph’s fidelity to the traditions of his ancestors.  We celebrate his openness to God’s voice in his life.  We celebrate his love for his wife, Mary.  We celebrate his parenting of his son, Jesus.  We celebrate his sense of justice and his integrity.  

St. Joseph, husband of Mary and father of Jesus, pray for us!

So close, yet so far

 

My reflection today took me back to when I was in charge of training new managers and re-training some of the more experienced managers.  I was sometimes exceedingly frustrated by otherwise intelligent and savvy men and women who didn’t appear to listen.  Despite my best efforts and repeated instructions, suggestions and admonitions, the managers would take a different path, turn in the wrong direction or make a mistake.  They knew what they should do, but they didn’t do it.  I would sigh loudly and roll my eyes over their bullheaded behavior that could (and sometimes did) get them into some serious trouble—a handful of them even lost their jobs over their inability or (most often) their unwillingness to listen, learn, and follow directives as taught, despite my frequent intercessions for them with the ‘higher-ups’.

That behavior resonated with me as I read the account in Exodus today, where Moses intercedes for those who have built the molten calf to worship it.  Moses asked God to relent from punishing those who had strayed, who didn’t listen to God and Moses.  God listened to Moses and relented (Exodus 32:7-14).  Then there’s the passage in John, when Jesus seemed exasperated that people didn’t listen or if they did listen, they didn’t hear. He told of people searching the Scriptures to find eternal life, yet they didn’t want to come to Jesus to have that life (John 5:31-47).

It seems to me that this lack of listening, or perhaps it’s listening and not really hearing, also characterizes many peoples’ relationship with God (including my own).  We have instructions, suggestions and admonitions, but we often stray away from what we should do and who we should be.  We don’t hear.  We may listen to the Gospel, but we’re easily swayed by our own bullheadedness.  I pray that I really hear God and that I listen with an open heart and a mind and a will that are open to God’s way, not just my way.

Have faith: Our future is secure

If we ever wonder if God loves us, we only need to read these words: “The Lord is tenderness and pity, slow to anger, full of faithful love.  He is generous to all, his tenderness embraces all his creatures; trustworthy in all his words, and upright in all his deeds.  The Lord supports all who stumble, lifts up those who are bowed down.  Upright in all that he does, He acts only in faithful love.  He is close to all who call upon him, all who call on him from the heart.”  (Psalm 145:8-18)

But if we question God’s love, maybe it’s because they’re only words to us.  We need to go beyond the words to an experience of God’s love.  We need to believe these words are true and ask God to show us they are real.  As parents and grandparents raising our children, it’s good to encourage them to question all that we tell them about God.  We should teach them that they’re able to ask God to reveal Himself to them so that they’ll know He is real.  They need to be taught that they can’t get to heaven on our faith, that they needed to make it their own.  So, as I reflect on this today, the question is: How can we open ourselves up to His Presence?

There are many ways to do this.  We can experience God in the sacraments.  Since they are “outward signs instituted by Christ to give grace,” we can receive a touch from God.  We can look for God in Scripture.   As we read, we can invite the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts and help us grow in our understanding of who God is for us.  We can surrender our lives to the working of the Holy Spirit and let Him take over. He’ll correct us and remind us of all Jesus said when He was on earth.  He’ll comfort us and guide us and teach us.  We all need the Holy Spirit! 

Come Holy Spirit!  May we all ask for more of the Holy Spirit every day so that we’ll know for sure the depth and height and breadth of God’s incredible love for each of us. “Can a woman forget her baby at the breast, feel no pity for the child she has borne? Even if these were to forget, I shall not forget you.”  (Isaiah 49:8-15)

We can ask Jesus’ Blessed Mother to help us through praying the Rosary.  The final prayer of the Rosary is: “O God, whose only begotten Son, by His life, death, and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant, we beseech Thee, that meditating upon these mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise, through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.”

God is for us; He is behind us and before us.  He loves us with an everlasting love and will never leave us or forsake us.  May we throw ourselves every day into the arms of the God who loves more than we can ever ask or imagine!  His promises are amazing for all who believe in Him: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life.”  (John 5:17-30)

May we walk each day in His love knowing our future is secure in His Hands. 

On the right side of the Law

Jesus was a spirit of the law kind of guy – one of the most important lessons we can carry away from the Gospel story about the healing of a paralyzed man at Bethesda.  “The man went and told the Jews that Jesus was the one who had made him well.  Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a sabbath.” (John 5:1-16)

Sure, healing someone on the Sabbath violated the letter of the law but the poor man had been suffering for 38 years.  Should Jesus just have cited the rules, apologized and walked away?  What if one of us were that man?  What would we want Jesus to do?

Letter of the law vs. spirit of the law.

It’s been a vexing issue for more than 2,000 years; as someone who instinctively goes overboard on the side of spirit of the law to help people, passages like this delight me.  It’s great knowing that Jesus is on my side!

It’s easier to be a letter of the law person because you can go strictly by the book.  You don’t risk suffering any consequences as Jesus did for violating regulations in order to obey the Great Commandments to love God and other people.  Saints throughout the ages including our own era have suffered for breaking rules in the name of obeying those greater commandments.

Heroes like Dorothy Day and the late Rep. John Lewis were beaten and jailed for refusing to practice a bland form of Christianity that followed legal rules but never challenged injustice.  They spent their lives making “good trouble” at great personal cost, as Jesus did.

Happily, we don’t have to face down armed attack at the Edmund Pettus bridge to live within the spirit of the law.  I think, for example, of my daughter Sarah, an attorney who helps immigrants regardless of their legal status; she speaks out loudly and often about the injustices of our nation’s current immigration policies.  I’m sure that Jesus blesses her work.

We can all find opportunities to respond to the spirit of the law even if it occasionally means fudging on some technical rules if we’re willing to risk paying even a small price to claim the label of “Christian.” 

Life with a capital "L"

 

Despite our challenges world-wide with COVID-19 this past year, everyone can probably agree that modern medicine has changed life as we know it.  Real progress has been made in dealing with major diseases, and research continues to promote health and longevity on many levels.  And yet death is inevitable, and modern medicine is helpless once a person has died.

Through His miracles Jesus wanted to show He had power not only over human sickness but over death itself.  A good example is the Gospel story of the royal official who showed a faith that at first was simply a belief that Jesus had extraordinary healing powers, that Jesus was some sort of super-physician.   As he anxiously encountered Jesus in Cana, his faith deepened and he cried out to Jesus:  "Sir, come down before my child dies."  I think it’s easy to imagine the official’s anguish for his child’s life – and the strong faith it took for him to head home after Jesus assured him that his son would live!   When he found out on his way home that his child was alive and well, he came to full faith in Jesus as the "life-giver"…and his whole household joined in his belief. (John 4:43-54)

This complete faith is the kind of faith we are called to cultivate through our prayer, penance and almsgiving.  Jesus isn’t concerned merely with our temporal well-being—although do doubt it’s important—but He especially wishes to one day share with us His own resurrection from the dead and happiness in heaven.  That’s "Life" with a capital "L" – more than modern medicine can ever hope for!

We’ve completed 3 weeks of Lent already, and we confidently look forward to celebrating Easter and Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.   As disciples we’ve pondered this same message in years past, but this year our faith has been tested by the pandemic, world violence, an unstable economy, challenging racial questions – and perhaps even some aches and pains of our own…   As we figuratively "head home" to family and friends, Jesus invites us to join the royal official in a deeper faith in His Life and Resurrection.  Truly God will create the "new heavens and a new earth" mentioned in Isaiah (Isaiah 65:17-21); complete with rejoicing and happiness – and health – that lasts!

In the words of Psalm 30:  "Lord, I put my trust in you; I shall be glad and rejoice in your mercy…"  (Psalm 30:2-13)