The Spirit of Jesus

O Blessed Lord, make Your love and truth the foundation of all our lives, and fill us with an eagerness to extend Your peace and kindness to all those whom we encounter. Amen.

St. Paul tells us that all creation shows forth the greatness and glory of God (Romans 1:16-25); but our human eyes, impaired by sin, refuse to accept what is so evident. Humanity, by enthroning itself in the position belonging to God and dispossessing Him from our minds and hearts, is suffering dire consequences. To fill man's inner void, his emptiness caused by God's absence, each age creates new idols to worship, strange gods (such as money, power, sex) that open him to impurities and degradations.

The truth of these words is being played out in our times, thanks to our "judicial experts" who have perverted our nation's Constitution so as to make it palatable to extreme liberal tastes. They now interpret "separation of church and state" to mean that God must be eliminated from the human equation, completely removed from the public's eyes. The writers of our Constitution fully acknowledged God and His natural law; however, their original intention was to also insure religious freedom by preventing the imposition of one state religion on our people. They merely wished to prevent the great harm once wrought by the religious persecutions in their English homeland, not promote atheism.

Today, God's Commandments have been placed in a courthouse back room behind locked doors; this allows us to draft laws that are contrary to what should be the premises behind all laws--love, truth, leading to respect for human life and assurance of justice for all. Now, under the protection of law, we can cheat, lie, covet, kill and commit adultery, to name but a few of our newly claimed "rights."

Also lacking God's love and wisdom, we cannot discern truth from falsehood and spend much time rationalizing acts that cheapen humanity, and cancel our dignity as beings made in God's image.

We must be careful to maintain our focus on the Spirit of Jesus. There were occasions in which Jesus did not fulfill the external rituals of his day. He seems to have done this to point out the hypocrisy of those who focus on externals and forget that religion is about a heart given over to God and God’s people. So, to those who made a big deal to ceremoniously wash their hands before eating but whose hearts were “filled with plunder and evil,” Jesus said that the God who made the outside of a person also made the inside and we ought to be at least as concerned, if not more so, about that inner geography. Washing your hands but then hating your brother is like washing the outside of a bowl but not managing to clean out the rancid meat that is in it. To Jesus, the remedy for this spiritual myopia is to give alms. When we give to others instead of focusing on ourselves, this cleanses our hearts. Then, Jesus says, “Everything will be clean for you.” (Luke 11:37-41)

A tough act to follow

Dear Lord, You became man, suffered and died to win salvation for all souls. Look graciously on the souls of those who have drifted away from You and the Faith. Grant them Your grace to see the error of their ways and return to the fold in Your care. Teach me to stay close to them during this trying time and to try to convert them by action and prayers more than by words that may antagonize. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust You to do everything to bring them back to You. Amen

Today is my brother Bill’s birthday.  Happy birthday, bro!  I love you. I pray that your special day finds you happy and healthy. I left you a birthday message on your wife’s Facebook page, since you don’t have one!

Leave it to Mom to try and swell my ego!  She knows I subscribe to Liguorian Magazine (an excellent publication, by the way, if you want a good variety of articles about different faith issues and events).  This month there is an outstanding article on St. Gerard Majella, the patron saint of mothers.  I’ll let you read that article here.  I have also blogged previously about him here.

Back to my (temporarily) swelled ego:  Mom said she thought she saw a lot of St. Gerard’s spirituality in me.  There is no way I could even come close to that type of humility!  (lol)  Seriously though, I’m in somewhat of a quandary.  If I agree with her, it shows a lack of humility.  If I disagree with her, I’ll be saying that I’m not humble enough to be a saint.  What to do?  I’ve decided to admit I’m not as humble as St. Gerard is, but that I will work on it.  Fair enough?

I have a confession to make.  When I was a kid (it had to be in grammar school) I was somewhat embarrassed by my middle name.  I mean, I didn’t know anyone else with the name and everybody else had “normal” middle names like John, James, Matthew, etc….you know, like the names in the Bible. In fact at first I thought someone at the hospital had misspelled my REAL middle name, which I deduced to be “GeraLd”.  Now that’s a strong name!  I was disappointed when Mom told me that “GeraRd” was my middle name.  She told me some story about how it was a saint’s name, but I didn’t really believe her (I figured she was only trying to make me feel better).

But then the TV show The Fugitive came on the air.  The fugitive was being sought by Lieutenant Gerard!  This gave me a cool explanation for my name.  I would go around telling my full name proudly by saying, “It’s Stephen Gerard, you know—like Lieutenant Gerard!”, as though it would carry some special weight with the authority of a Lieutenant behind it!  It was a bonus for me that an antagonist in a TV show turned out to be righteous.  Kids.  Go figure.

It was not until many years later that I would take the time to research St. Gerard.  He put Lieutenant Gerard to shame in the “hero department.”   St. Gerard’s heroism was in virtue and obedience; quite a “class act”, I must say.

And, after discussing him with Mom today and reading the article I linked above, I have another confession to make.  I consider myself one of St. Gerard’s miracles! 

It’s a miracle that started long before I was born—1918, to be precise.  My grandmother had contracted some sort of plague while she was pregnant with my mother.  One day, the doctor told my grandfather and great-grandmother that Grandma (and therefore, her baby—my mom) would not last the night, and to make arrangements.  Instead, someone told Great-Grandma about a relic of a relatively new saint—Gerard—(he was canonized in 1904) that she could use along with prayers to St. Gerard for his intercession on Grandma’s behalf.  Great-Grandma took the relic to the hospital and laid it across her stomach.  The next morning, the doctor was amazed that Grandma was still alive, and in fact so much better that the prognosis was good!  Thank God for that, or I would not be here tonight, telling this story.  But that’s only Part 1; Fast Forward to Part 2, that begins in 1953.

My mom found out she was pregnant again, but she was worried.  She had had three miscarriages since her last child (Bill) and was afraid she might have another.  Grandma reminded Mom of her own “worrisome” pregnancy and the prayers to St. Gerard.  Mom prayed to him for his intercession and promised that if this pregnancy went to term, she would name the child after him. 

I’m not a kid anymore. Now I know “the rest of the story”.   And I have this irresistible urge today to say:  Hi!  My name is Stephen GERARD.  Pleased to make your acquaintance!

St. Gerard, please pray for me and my family.   Pray also for any women who are going through a difficult pregnancy now, and those who are contemplating ending a pregnancy.  Help us all find our way to Jesus Christ and the warmth of His embrace.  Amen.

“Let the nations bestir themselves and come up ...” (Joel 4:12).

Lord, I pray today that I might make real in my life this most fundamental truth that I am ONE with Christ through baptism. Help me to grow in awareness of the consequences of that reality. Let me live out that solidarity in Christ that has been given as a gift. This gift, faith, allows me the freedom to imitate Christ. I seek to be “clothed” in Christ as St. Paul says. Let the “mind” of Christ be mine in all its wonder and freedom to serve others as an imitation of Christ. As Christ “poured out his life” for others, may I be similarly poured out as a reflection of the freedom and faith with which I have been gifted.

 I was at Wal-mart the other day, rushing to buy a few things I need, not paying much attention to the other shoppers when a woman with a small child came up to me and asked, "Would you like to know about Jesus?"  I didn't want to be rude, but I was in kind of a hurry, so I replied, "Thank you!  I do know about Jesus!" and then walked to another aisle for something else I needed. 

I was impressed with her enthusiasm and obvious love for Jesus Christ and the example she was setting for her child as an evangelist.  I'm not sure I have the courage to walk up to complete strangers (and who's stranger than I am?  lol) and ask them if they know about Jesus.

I have been thinking about this woman for a couple of days and waiting for an opportunity to incorporate our encounter into the blog.  When I read the Gospel for tomorrow (Saturday), I thought it was just the opening I was looking for:

While he was speaking, a woman from the crowd called out and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.” He replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”—Luke 11:27-28

Like the woman I encountered at Wal-mart, this woman is deeply impressed with Jesus and His ability to hold the crowd’s attention with His healing and His story telling. She does the most natural thing in the world: she thinks how proud His mom must be to have raised a child to become such a man, and she congratulates the child by blessing the mother with a beatitude: “Blessed is the womb that carried You and the breasts at which You nursed.”

When Jesus answers—“Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it”—it may sound at first as if He is deflecting the compliment to His mother by using it to make His own point, as if He has said that anyone who does God’s will is greater than His mother. In fact, He increases the honoring of His mother. He is saying, in effect, “Greater even than her human mothering of Me is the way Miriam has heard the word of God and carried out that word.”

It may help to recall that the daily prayer of Jews was (and still is) the Shema (“Hear!”), from the first word of Deuteronomy 6:4-5: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.” So the whole of the life of the covenant could be summarized in the phrase “to hear the word of God and live it out.” Mary exemplified that kind of deep hearing—a total response to the word of God expressed in the Torah. It was the readiness of that deep hearing that enabled her to become His mother in the first place.

In the 9^th chapter of the Gospel of Luke, we have the vision of the transfiguration, where Peter, James and John first see and hear Moses and Elijah (who represented the Law and the Prophets who mediated the word of God to Israel) speaking with Jesus; then those two disappear and Jesus is standing alone, when the voice of the Father is heard to say, “This is My beloved Son, hear Him!”

For us, Jesus is the word of God. We imitate Mary by hearing and following Jesus. That’s what this business of daily reflection (on the word of God about the Word of God) is all about. Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.

Sometimes we lose our sense of awe for the divine, and we need to “bestir [our]selves” from time to time.  While we may find comfort in our familiar patterns and think that surely God doesn’t mind, some of those patterns are not pleasing.  Our ways fall short of God’s ways; our thoughts fall short of God’s thoughts.

The prophet Joel projects hopeful messages designed to encourage and uplift.  (Joel 4:12-21) First, judgment will set things right.  We who live in the tension of the present age can identify with a desire for relief from evil and injustice that occur all around us.  We can look forward to having God set things right, particularly when we seem unable to do so on our own.

Second, even in the midst of setting things right, we are told that “the Lord is a refuge to his people.”  This is a good thing.  If we are really honest, we recognize that we are sometimes part of the problem that needs correcting; we need things to be set right in our own relationships and attitudes.  The enduring love of God is a source of great comfort, particularly when we know that we share the infirmity of our fellow humans, who are likewise made of dust. Yet God still chooses us and if we respond to the call, He will even send us, flawed as we are, to convey His love to the world.

Calling down justice to rectify the faults of others may make us feel good for a time, but it is fraught with peril.  Sometimes it may even be like calling an artillery strike on your own position.  Be prepared to hear the Word of the Lord and to observe God's Word. Psalm 97 promises that "light dawns for the just; and gladness, for the upright of heart."

This involves doing, but it also involves contemplating the living Word, who perfectly reflects the Father’s love.  Through doing so, we may be more likely to set things right, both in our own lives and in the world around us that we encounter daily.  Listen for the call of the Lord!

The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand! Rejoice! Share!

The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand!

“Come, Spirit of God.  Help me to know what it means to live by faith, to live in covenant with you in the midst of today’s challenges.”

When Jesus was accused of driving out demons by demons (Luke 11:15-26), He simply replied that the power of evil is (more or less) united and if not so, evil could not continue to exist. Demons driving out other demons would eventually deplete the entire kingdom of any strength. But the power of that kingdom is evident.
 

Yet, as Jesus pointed out - by looking at that kingdom and attributing everything to it, we miss the simple point that we are in the midst of the Kingdom of God. While evil has a small foothold, the world is suffused with the power of God, with the Light of God, with the Love of God. There is no place we can go where the power of God is not present. The Kingdom of God has come upon us.

And if it was true in the time of Jesus, how much more so is it now? Now we have been given the knowledge of God and the Son of God. We know the power of God and we have been privileged by the indwelling Holy Spirit to be able to see His works and rejoice in them. God is all love, all compassion, all wisdom, all justice, and all mercy. He welcomes all and He creates all.

The Kingdom of God has come upon us and is with us now in our daily labors. It is with us as we eat and as we sleep, as we talk to others and as we stay apart. The Kingdom of God is the Power of God and it is here for all to partake of and for all to see. The Kingdom of God is all around us - step into it and look around - marvel and rejoice at what you see because it is more than the promise of salvation - it is the pearl of great price (Matthew 13:45-46) - it is the one thing that matters. Open your eyes to see it and open your mouth to share it with those who cannot see so clearly. The Kingdom of God is ours to share with the whole world. It is God's Will that everyone knows it and rejoices in it!  Share it!  Rejoice in how it changes you and your life!

Ask, seek and knock

Lord, give us hope today. Give us hope in our own lives that we may follow in the ways of your Son, Jesus Christ. Allow us to really listen to you, Lord, and to answer your call with hope and joy to glorify your name.

Jesus is such a wonderful teacher. He knows that some of us have given up on turning to God. You may know someone who has. It's the confusion that the prophet Malachi writes about.  (Malachi 3:13-20)  The people are noticing that "indeed evildoers prosper, and even tempt God with impunity." Oh, we don't deny God's existence or "lose our faith," but we've "grown up" and don't turn to God "for every little thing" any more.

Some of us have had the experience that we have asked, and asked for some really important things, at times we thought that we (or someone we love), was in real need. And, we didn't receive.  At least that’s OUR perception.

Some of us just feel like Charlie Brown.  Lucy wants him to kick the ball, and Charlie really wants to kick it.  At the last minute, Lucy pulls the ball away and Charlie ends up flat on his back. It happens time after time. Our experience of not getting what we've asked for is just too great for us to try it again.

Jesus really is inviting us to give it another try. And, I imagine Jesus just smiling when we say, "Forget it." He understands our frustration and He so wants to help us. Jesus, the wise Teacher, takes us just a little bit deeper. He isn't going to tell me that I've been asking for the wrong things - though, of course, some of the things we've all asked for haven't been the things He's wanted to give us.

What He promises us is that God will give us the Holy Spirit when we ask Him. Wow. How many times did it never occur to me to ask for the Holy Spirit! The good Teacher is helping me see that in all my seeking and knocking and asking, my learning to ask for the Holy Spirit will always be rewarded. That is the gift God wants to give us. And, it is always what we need. Whether my hunger, anxiety, pain is small or unimaginably great, the Holy Spirit will always give me hope and courage and peace. And, the Holy Spirit will always keep us close to our Lord.

When we find ourselves whining, it may be helpful to ask what is so awful about living in service of our God and one another.  What is so distasteful about acting justly, loving tenderly, and walking humbly with our God?  What has happened to my value system that the material pleasures of those who seem far from God are more attractive than walking with Jesus at my side?

Through the prophet Malachi, God speaks similar words.  “To those of you who trust I say: ‘You are mine’.  I will make the sun of justice shine on you with its healing rays.”  These are words of love and consolation for those who pray (and even lament) with persistence.

If this month that is dedicated to the Holy Rosary is about anything, it is about trusting persistence in prayer, not whining because I have not yet gotten what I want.  There is certainly room for a compassionate lament that the love of Jesus and Mary for this human race so often goes unrequited, but that is very different from whining.  Jesus says, “Keep asking…keep seeking…keep knocking.”  (Luke 11:5-13) It is not just about persistence, but persistence with a good friend who can be counted on.  God is a better parent to us than we are to our own charges. Let's try it next time. Whenever we are in need, and we're tempted not to pray, let's seek, knock, and ask for the Holy Spirit.

Planting gourds in our lives

Lord, you are merciful and gracious. For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving. (Psalm 86)

Jonah embodies the human quality of resistance to change.  He is stubborn to his core; and, especially considering the length of his book in the Old Testament (only 4 short chapters), Jonah is the king of digging in his heels before the will of God. 

The way I read it, Jonah’s story is intended to be an opportunity to look within ourselves, a challenge to find those areas in our lives where we might be silently (or perhaps not so silently) refusing the will of God.  On some level, even the best of us struggle with change and stepping outside of the comfort zones we have unknowingly built for ourselves and had built for us.  We accept things that improve our lot in life (as Jonah easily accepts the gourd that God grows for him outside of Nineveh), but when it comes to planting gourds ourselves the matter becomes a bit more intimidating.  When we reach out to forgotten friends, when we challenge the status quo at our places of work, when we try to make amends for past mistakes, or when we see a problem and actually stop to become the solution, we are planting gourds.  God is constantly calling us to step out of our boxes.  He works within our lives as they are, calling us to love our friends, families, and neighbors, but, at the same time, due to our restless hearts and God’s divinity, He may also be constantly hoping for us to do more, to challenge ourselves on a deeper level than we ever have before. 

God did this with Jonah, forcing him to confront people he disliked, warn them of God’s displeasure, and then watch as Jonah’s enemies changed their ways and became people of God.  After witnessing Nineveh’s conversion Jonah clung to his enmity, maintaining the narrow mindset that he had had his whole life.  The book ends with God pointing out Jonah’s irrationality, because, much like Jonah’s anger over the gourd plant suddenly dying as he sat outside of Nineveh, Jonah’s hatred for the Ninevites is fruitless. (Jonah 4:1-11) Jonah shows us that anger is a destructive emotion, and it is capable of blinding all people (even God’s prophets). It is not worth investing oneself in, especially because it is usually directed at things beyond our control.   Yet, in one form or another, we have all been there, and we will almost certainly be there again.  What will we do the next time anger clouds our judgment? 

We are called to plant our own gourds, and one of the best is forgiveness.  We are so lucky to be Christians. Imagine what it would be like to worship a god who did not forgive; a god who expected perfection; a god who punished our every mistake—maybe a god who didn’t even like us. Instead we worship a loving God whose forgiveness is beyond our understanding. The idea that Jesus died as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of my sins is sometimes hard to take in. God makes it quite clear, in scripture and with Christ as our model, that forgiveness is essential. My prayer today is for anyone who has a hard time with forgiveness.

In Wednesday’s readings, it’s fitting that Jonah’s story of belligerent, blind anger is followed by Christ sharing the Our Father with His disciples. (Luke 11:1-4)  The prayer is not only a means of communing with each other and with God, it is a way of life.  We can be daily bread for each other, and, by those actions, we bring God’s kingdom that much closer to our reality.

Take two

“God of all goodness, give us generous hearts to welcome your word and receive your Spirit so we can know your will in the midst of our anxieties and frustrations. May we rejoice in the fruit you bring from our efforts to hear your Word and follow your Spirit. Give us today the bread of faith.”

Having cleared up Jonah’s “hesitancy” to do what he was told to do, the Lord takes it once more from the start.  After a futile attempt to run away, having been rescued by God from the belly of the whale, Jonah hears the Lord say again, “Go preach repentance in Nineveh!”  And off he goes.

We are told that it should have taken three days just to cover the territory, so big was Nineveh.  But after a single day of work on Jonah’s part, the entire city (an “enormously large city”) repents in sackcloth and ashes!  Effective preaching?  No, the extraordinary conversion of this great mass of people has nothing to do with zeal on the part of Jonah.  The Lord wants this city to be converted and the Lord brings it about, even through a reluctant mouthpiece.  It’s the power of the message, and not the messenger that brings about success.

For all of Jonah’s reluctance, in the end he does exactly what he is told:  he preaches God’s message (not his own).  Though we might have preferred a more willing spirit, Jonah provides all that is necessary for a successful mission in God’s sight:  he does what God asks.

Perhaps the most important question we can ask at the start of each day is:  Lord, what do you want?  What do you want me to say, to do—today?  Without that kind of radical questioning, our best intentions are doomed to fail.  In case we doubt, Jonah’s tale reminds us that God has some very definite wants and desires!  

No place to hide

Jesus, help me to remember who my neighbor is by putting him in my path.  Then teach me how to introduce him to You through my actions.  Amen.

Like Jonah (Jonah 1:1:2:1-2, 11) we all have been commissioned by God for a specific purpose, and sadly, too often we go to great lengths to avoid doing what God asks of us.

Many of us would have been better off if we too had been swallowed by a whale and brought quickly to our senses within a matter of three days. But instead, we toss around like a sinking ship and nearly take down everyone else around us.

There is no place to hide from the Lord. We can try, but in the end we all will experience the darkness of the belly of the whale. The question is - what kind of shore will we be eventually spat up upon?

O Lord, we pray, let it be the shore of heaven.

“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.” (Mohandas Gandhi)

The garden of the gods

O LORD of hosts, look down from heaven, and see; take care of this vine, and protect what Your right hand has planted;  the Son of Man Whom You Yourself made strong. (Psalm 80: 15-18)

One of my favorite “day trips” with the family is to the Napa Valley.  Not for the wine but for the panorama of the vineyards.  All of the beautiful colors, landscape, architecture, and of course the different variety of grapes is magnificent!  No wonder God used the image a vineyard to describe the chosen people of Israel in Isaiah. (Isaiah 5: 1-7)  Isaiah uses the  “Song of the Vineyard”  to describe how his friend, God, went to elaborate pains in constructing his vineyard, with ditches and a tower for protection, and a winepress for squeezing out the precious grape juice that would become delicious wine.

The reading goes on to tell how disappointed God was when all that the vineyard produced was wild grapes, unfit for a good yield. All that work and loving care came to nothing! God promised to tear down that vineyard and let it revert to pasture land. Even as Isaiah was prophesying, the Assyrians were pounding at the gates of Jerusalem, about to destroy the city.

Jesus then uses that same image of a vineyard to describe Jerusalem in His time. Matthew 21: 33-43)  He focused on the unfaithful people who, by their sin and failure to listen to the prophets, had brought God's anger down on themselves.  Jesus' reference to the killing of the King's only Son was not lost on the Pharisees. They had already decided to kill this Jesus who claimed to be the Son of God. Jesus' words enraged them, and their hearts were further hardened against Him.

In the early days of America, trading companies and land agents, eager to bring Europeans to our shores, often described the new world as a garden of the gods, rich in natural resources and opportunity. And so it was! It was very much like the vineyard in Jesus’ parable.   Yet today, unless you live under a rock, you have to be aware that greed, selfishness, and sexual immorality are spoiling the garden.

This is Pro-Life month. Abortion and the culture of death are far from conquered. It is the worm killing the grapes in the vineyard and spoiling the garden. There is an axiom in law which states that the greater the person offended, the greater the offense itself. Since God Himself was the victim in Jesus’ parable, the offense against Him was beyond measure. Jesus directed the story He told then at the Pharisees. Who does He direct it to in today's society?

We are the workers in God's Vineyard which the Lord has given us to tend. Are we working hard enough to stop what is killing the grapes?

October is also the month of the Rosary. Here is a powerful weapon that is ours to pray each day for a restoration of America, God's Garden that once produced such goodness and responsible citizenship.