Gospel Reflection 20070218
Unpack your excess baggage.
Traveling through life, we can get bogged down in inessentials, sometimes losing sight of core values. We need to pack lightly during days of preparation for Christ's resurrection. A Lenten pilgrimage will be smoother if we take inventory of our baggage at the onset. Release a burden of grief today, give up an idol that prevents you from choosing life.
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Christ Raises the Standard for the True Disciples
February 18, 2007
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Luke 6:27-38
Jesus said to his disciples: "To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount. But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful. "Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you."
The Sermon on the Mount, from which we have just heard, is replete with wisdom. It is a wisdom which sees beyond rights and freedoms, violence and counter-violence, possessions and loans, negotiation and accountability, yes, and beyond our all too defective vision and exercise of human justice. The wisdom of the Cross perceives the heart of all things, especially the heart of man and, indeed, above all, the Heart of God Himself.
Today's Gospel challenges us to do precisely the opposite of what our human nature naturally wants us to do. The principle of ''eye for eye'',''tooth for tooth.'' But the first words of Jesus cut to the heart of the matter: Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, Pray for those who mistreat you, Give to everyone who asks. Do good for your enemies, lend them money expecting nothing back. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Stop judging, Stop condemning, Forgive and you will be forgiven. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
The Gospel today tells us that if we, as Christians, want to be followers of Christ, then we are to be as open in our attitude to others as God has been in his care for us. We are challenged to love and pardon those who wrong us. It is not easy to be a Christian and do all the things the Gospel tells to do but we must share our lives with one another. This is what discipleship requires.
We find it hard to love, to forgive, and to trust those who have hurt us and let us down. Our society is divided on the grounds of class, language, religion, gender, race. Husbands and wives go through traumatic experiences when they hurt each other. Parents find it so difficult to correct their own children, because today nobody accepts correction easily, without self-defense. Teachers cannot cope up with their students who find them fallible. Employers cannot tolerate one another’s imperfections. Priests and religious brothers and sisters find so difficult to live with one another. We may try to adopt the ‘holier-than-thou’ attitude and to criticize, to moralize, to condemn, to point out faults with a self-righteous attitude. We may try to grab power in every encounter with our neighbour and show our superiority. We may hurt our brothers and sisters with harsh words. We may try to build up walls instead of bridges. This is not what our heavenly Father wants from us. This is not to be Christ-like. This attitude only hampers our development and progress. The love of Jesus demands that we accept and respect the ‘other’ as s/he is, if we are to spread God’s Kingdom and its values.
Last Sunday we heard Jesus proclaim the attitudes that we are to have if we want to be blessed by God. These Beatitudes are the blue print for building our lives as disciples. Today Jesus gives us the step by step instructions to build the attitudes that will complete our transformation into heavenly beings disposed for union with God. These building instructions are clear, concise, and unambiguous.
First, we are to love as God loves - everyone - No exceptions, No conditions. We are to love enemies just as if they were our closest friends. Of course, loving means we wish the best for them, we help them and pray for them.
The disciples had a difficult time following the Old Law, and even in loving their neighbors, but suddenly and dramatically Jesus raises the standard. It is no longer enough to love those who love us; now we must also embrace those who don’t love us. This is the new law of love which Christ preaches. It is hard for our human nature, so weighed down with pride and self-justifications, yet the Gospel calls us to a higher path and a purer love. Sometimes it goes against the grain of our culture and “common sense.”
Second, when we are mistreated we do not offer anything but kindness, even when it might require sacrifice on our part (i.e. “from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic”).
Third, give without expectation of repayment.
Fourth, stop judging and condemning. The disciple who loves and offers kindness does not behave this way.
And finally, be sure to forgive – this is how we will obtain forgiveness.
Of course it is easy to forgive those who forgive us, or those who are truly sorry. It’s easy to have pity on someone if he or she is a sympathetic figure. But when we have to forgive someone who continues to do wrong and to hurt us, it takes the grace of God to make this possible. Jesus tells us we will receive forgiveness only if we forgive others. How often do we pray the Our Father – “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” – and not really mean it! We need to tap into his divine grace, his mercy and love, and give that same forgiveness we have received. This will change our hearts and the hearts of others, and ultimately, it will change the world.
An example of forgiveness that I know of is in a short story. I would like to share with you: This by the way is a true story. This happened in the Saint Louis area. Some years ago this couple lost a daughter, who was in college. The girl was young - she had her whole life ahead of her. She was murdered by a man. I can only imagine the shock, the pain, the anguish of her family at the news of the tragic death of their loved one. The man, who committed this horrible crime, was caught, tried and found guilty. The parents of the murdered girl forgave the man found guilty and pleaded with the judge that he not receive the death penalty. This is a perfect example of loving your enemies.
Another story of forgiveness is the parable of the Prodigal Son
Every one here has at one time or another been wounded by someone or, at least, we believe we have been hurt or offended. Every one of us carries scars from just living and the way in which life can be cruel and hurtful at times. Because of this we can accumulate a tremendous burden of resentments, grudges, hatred and anger. We all know someone who has nursed a grudge for years and who is consumed with their anger, justified or not. Sometimes those wounds are slight and sometimes serious and extreme, especially if at the hands of someone we love and trust. These wounds can be real and our anger justified.
In today's Gospel, Jesus gives us the solution to our anger and wounds. "Be merciful as your Father is merciful." He asks us to love our enemies and to good to those who harm and hate us. The key is forgiveness, to forgive those who wound us and hurt us not matter how severe those wounds. A deacon friend of mine had his belief in the virtue of forgiveness put to the test when his 18 year old daughter was murdered by two men in the process of robbing their home. She was murdered in a brutal and unnecessary way. At first, he was enraged and his anger, although justified, consumed him. He said that it was with him night and day and he thought of little else but his wounds and his anger. But eventually he also recalled the words of Christ that His followers must be willing to forgive, no matter what the injury. That to continue to hate was contrary to everything that Jesus taught. He said that the moment he came to the point where he could truly forgive the two murderers, through much prayer, there was a sense of peace that was tangible as he let go of his anger and hatred. To be able to forgive brought closure to me, he said. Forgiveness is at the very core of Christianity and is the most divine thing anyone can do. Forgiving frees we who are victims of wounds to go on with our lives. Forgiving does not mean that the wound will disappear, but it will allow you to be able to live with that wound. My deacon friend said that while he was consumed with his anger, he was unable to perform his duties at work or church with any degree of efficiency. But when he freed himself by forgiveness, he regained his sense of humor and became more of himself.
Jesus means for us to struggle through our feelings of righteous anger and resentment until we find the thread of mercy and forgiveness that breaks the cycle of hatred and anger, or resentment and revenge. The virtue of forgiving can be the result of a long process of recalling the hurtful incident and then letting it go. Another's actions may have been wrong and destructive. But that dies not make that person an unforgivable person, no matter what the wrong. We must make the choice to forgive another despite our feelings to the contrary. That choice truly leads us to freedom.
The virtue of forgiveness finds its fullest expression in the challenge of Jesus to love our enemies. His very life is an example to us of forgiveness from the very start of his public ministry to his forgiveness of the thief on the cross. We are all the recipients of that divine forgiveness. No matter how far any of us has strayed from God, He always gives us a way back to Him and is ready to forgive us. God touches us in our sinfulness, which is part of our very humanity, and is there to forgive us. God's forgiveness is the love He has for us that reaches into the dark spaces of our failings and brokenness, raises us up, and holds us in the palm of His hand until we are healed. The love of God and His willingness to forgive us gradually leads us from our sinful ways to a life of grace and purpose.
Jesus calls us to be forgiving people. He calls us to ask for forgiveness from those we have wounded and to forgive those who have wounded us. This is our call today as followers of Christ. "Pardon and you will be pardoned - Forgive and you will be forgiven". Is there someone you need to ask for forgiveness today for some wound you inflicted? Is there someone you need to forgive today for something they did to you? DO IT! In doing it, forgiveness will make you free.
To forgive one’s enemies seems more than idealism: it sounds like extremism, folly or absurdity.
It was the extreme forgiveness of Jesus manifested most fully on the Tree of torture which changed the course of human history. It is human commonsense which is folly in the light of the wisdom of the Cross. True forgiveness seeks out with a passion what commonsense and justice cannot see: it focuses its gaze with penetrating desire upon the hidden beauty, worth and dignity of the other and seeks to call it forth, like Lazarus from the tomb. It wades through the filth and the thickets of sin and complexes, of defense mechanisms and of all forms of evasiveness and elusiveness, and with unyielding tenacity it seeks communion of love with the other. Forgiveness is the divine battle-cry against all that is the enemy of the communion of love between God and mankind, between each person and his neighbor and between a man and his own inner self. Forgiveness cares nothing for the rights, privileges and protections of the one who wields it, since it has already convinced him that all he has and is, is worth nothing if he cannot be in deep and everlasting communion with the other. What dignity can mine be if it prevents me from finding its fulfillment in oneness of love with the other? What integrity can mine be if I fear it being broken in seeking wholeness in my neighbor? What reputation is worth having if I keep it at the price of alienation from my brethren? What riches have a value if they stop me from seeking to enrich the souls of others with mercy, forgiveness and compassion? And if I myself seek understanding, acceptance and freedom from my failures, am I not more likely to find all these in giving them to others?
Forgiveness does not eliminate the difference between right and wrong: it gives a heart to the right and hope to the wrong. Before exerting itself, forgiveness recognizes the difference between good and bad; but afterwards, if accepted, it eliminates that difference by overcoming bad with good. Forgiveness is not moral blindness; it sees in the moral darkness and turns on the light of goodness and truth.
At the time of King David, the rule of morality and justice was often reduced to the famous dictum: ”an eye for an eye”. Yet David did not apply it when Saul was in his power because David recognized in Saul the Lord’s anointed. But we are all anointed, if not with sacred chrism, then with our identity as created sons and daughters of God. We may and must judge certain actions to be wrong or right according to the law of God, but we are in no position to judge the innermost conscience of another human being. When someone does something contrary to the law of God, we must recognize it as wrong and, speaking the truth in love, do what we can to help our neighbor examine his or her own conscience in the light of God’s law. But the ultimate goal of any such dialogue must be forgiveness and reconciliation. The Church only imposes penalties on members who knowingly and obstinately do what is wrong, in part, yes, to discipline them, but ultimately as a remedial measure to help make them stop and realize the spiritual danger in which they have placed themselves. No-one is happier than the Church herself when someone under such a penalty repents and returns in reconciliation to the community. Discipline, sanctions and penalties are but tools of forgiveness seeking to achieve its ultimate goal of restored communion between believers. The Church would fail in Her ministry of forgiveness if She simply overlooked the plight of someone in grave spiritual danger, even although that individual might refuse to accept that he is in such danger. Later, however, as a result of the pedagogy of grace working through discipline and reconciliation, he will hopefully come to himself and realize his situation. Then he will give thanks for what the Church has done for him. In all this, the Church merely serves the Crucified Lord in seeking to elicit from believers the inner dispositions to welcome and receive the saving mercy of God.
It is false to say that a forgiving Church would not condemn evil. Evil crucified Christ precisely because He denounced it uncompromisingly. Many would crucify the Church for doing the same. People misunderstand that the condemnation of evil ideas, evil behavior, evil laws and any other form of evil, never, never, never means condemnation of the human person who might promote or even live such evil. As Christ, so the Church condemns no-one; as Christ, so the Church by the authority of Christ calls evil by its name so as to call the sinner to repentance and say to the sinner “neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” If and when members of the Church turn a blind eye to evil or cover it up, they connive with Lucifer who himself is the master of manipulation in making evil look good. What can remedy these ills which will assuredly accelerate the disintegration of society? Forgiveness, yes, but a forgiveness which, by proclaiming God’s truth, has effected the return of hearts and minds, behaviors and understandings to the ways of the Creator and Redeemer.
It is not true to the spirit of the Gospel of forgiveness to fail to point out what is wrong according to Christ’s truth, whether it be welcome or unwelcome, a source of applause or of disdain. What is, however, true to the Gospel is to speak that truth with great love and hope that those whose sinful behavior alienates them from God will, by the courageous witness of the Church to His truth and love, feel their hearts moved to return to the Lord. This is a most difficult task. People are deeply sensitive and can feel that condemnation of their actions is condemnation of their persons. That is what evil wants any sinner to feel, but it is simply not true. It is precisely because they are loved that the waywardness of sinners (all of us!) is pointed out to them, because those who love them in Christ do not want to see them suffer more or run the risk of being lost altogether. We are all sinners; Christ alone is our judge, but He will judge us upon our willingness to live according to His truth, not only to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, but to liberate from the prison of falsity those who are enchained by the fascination of evil. May He have mercy upon us all and break open our hearts to measure out to one another, with noble generosity, the saving wisdom of His Holy Cross!
Jesus concludes these instructions with a description of what the final product will look like if we form ourselves into beings with these heavenly attitudes. We will be gifted in good measure, so good that the gifts will be overflowing.
What Goes Around Comes Around. How hard it is to be magnanimous and generous of heart with everyone around us. How hard it is to rise above the pettiness and squabbles in which we often find ourselves. But how different is the figure of the true disciple, the follower of Christ, who moves through this world spreading mercy and forgiveness, reconciliation and joy. Such a disciple enjoys the deepest peace of soul, knowing that he or she is truly walking in the footsteps of Christ. He or she brings the same love Christ had for us to others in need of love and mercy. We need to be that kind of disciple, starting today.
And the final warning to listen and build according to the directions, is that the way we measure others will be the measure used by God (the Master Builder) to measure us.
We Americans are easily distracted from these building instructions. We are used to doing things our way. We are “free”, we have “rights”. People have to watch out if they cross us, threaten us, cheat us, or harm us. We have the power. With police, the courts, money, and even the military to make sure we get what we want and deserve. Let us not forget to use the heavenly standards given by Jesus to measure if we are on the right track or not. What kind of ATTITUDES have we built in our hearts.
Can we expect to be forgiven as individuals or even as a nation, if we have not forgiven. Can we expect to continue being gifted in good measure if we continue to judge, condemn, hate, and refuse to share with others, especially with those in greatest need whether they are our friends our not?
Remember the last Beatitude? “Blessed are you when people hate you, and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice, your reward will be great in heaven.” Our reward for building the “Right Attitudes of Being” is in heaven not here on earth.
As we struggle to implement these clear, concise, and unambiguous instructions to transform ourselves into heavenly beings, let us not forget the presence of Jesus Christ who is with us.
How do we rise above ourselves to complete these instructions from Jesus? I believe that we can do this with the Eucharist and personal prayer. We have the opportunity at every Eucharist to receive the Lord Jesus. The Lord lives within us. The Lord can transform us. We have to be like the clay in the potter’s hand. To be pliable clay we must be open to the will of God in our lives. We must give up some of the control that we enjoy and seem to want to have in our lives. To open our lives to the Lord and His will is an act of faith and trust. It is to let the Lord be in control and we to submit to His control. How often do fight change in our lives? How often do fall into old habits?
Thus when we are in a situation and we know that our emotions want to rule us; it is a time to pray and lift this up to the Lord. This may be the most difficult time to make decisions for us because it demands a lot of control on our part. It a time to find strength, wisdom and patience beyond ourselves. This is the time for prayer. A time for us to be present to the Lord and His grace. We can make the right decision and be like Jesus. The Lord can work through us. Let us pray for each other that we might let Christ rule in our hearts and our lives.
In our daily lives, we have so many opportunities to be compassionate as our Father in heaven is compassionate to all those we meet - in our homes with family, at work and wherever we may be.
We shall receive what we have given to others. When we act with mercy and compassion, God will act similarly toward us. Going beyond what is required will inspire God to be equally generous.
We humans are simply unable to comprehend the lavish generosity of God. When we learn to offer compassion, love and forgiveness to others, we will learn to trust what God is offering to us.
To be a Christian then is to accept that each person is chosen by God. Each is deserving of love. Each needs to be heard. No one is beyond the mercy of God, and if people need proof of that, then maybe it is to be found in the way we react to them. We need to be open enough to listen, to offer a word of hope, a word of peace, a word of forgiveness. If we wish to perfect our witness to gospel values, we could begin by showing mercy to ourselves and others, and to love and pardon those who wrong us.
The gospel today challenges all of us who hear it!
Today's Gospel is truly a challenge to almost everybody. After all, it is not easy to love your enemies, is it? Jesus calls those who follow him to a higher standard. The love he calls us to is to be pro-active. It is not the kind of love that says, "I love humanity. It is just my neighbor that I cannot stand". Here is a cute little story that may illustrate the pro-active love that Jesus calls us to. We know it by another name-The Golden Rule.
The way the world looks at things it makes sense to most people to take revenge on their perceived enemies and to love only those who love you. The world is also quick to judge those with whom they disagree. The world lives as if God does not exist at all or, if God does exist, he does not particularly care about what we do or do not do.
Jesus calls us to a much higher standard. We are to live in such a way that our lives would make no sense at all, if God did not exist. That, my friends, is a real challenge. To live a 'normal' life, all we have to do are the things that the world does. We, however, are personally called by Jesus, not to live 'normal' lives, but to live 'supernormal' lives-lives that bring us closer to God-lives that the world cannot understand.
The words of Jesus cannot become mere slogans that we put on the bumpers of our cars or have framed to hang up on the walls of our homes. Jesus prefers that we speak and live his words in our everyday lives. The love that Jesus calls us to is not a noun-it is a verb-something done. That is the way Jesus lived and he wants us to do the same. We are to live every minute of our lives as if God truly exists.
To truly live as Christ wants us to live is not easy. The writer, G. K. Chesterton, said this about Christianity. "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried".
Acting as if God does exist does not necessarily mean that we have to perform miracles. It means simply doing, from the eyes of God, what ought to be done, regardless of the consequences. Look, I realize that we cannot do everything for everybody. Nobody can. But, it still did not deter Jesus from healing some people, even though he could not cure everybody. Jesus did not stop forgiving people just because they would sin again. He raised people from the dead, even though he knew that they would die again. He did what he could do and presumed that his heavenly father would make something good out of it. Jesus lived as God lived and he wants us to do the same.
And, we can do that! We can forgive someone even if they do not want to be forgiven. We can work hard even if no one notices. We can give others credit. Instead of yelling at our children when they do something wrong, we can tell them that we, too, made (and make) many mistakes too and that we love them regardless of their mistakes. These, and many other ideas, are good things and usually unexpected. After all, if we do only what is expected, how can we or anybody else, for that matter, know that there is a God in heaven, who calls us to a higher standard?
So, with Lent beginning next week, let us raise the bar regarding the Golden Rule. Instead of just doing unto others as we would like them to do to us, let us do what Jesus wants us to do. Let us "Do unto others as God would do unto them". So, this Lent, do something 'unreasonable', in the eyes of the world. Show them that God really exists.
Gospel Reflection 20070211
Take up your cross.
Most of the time we try to avoid suffering ourselves and work to lessen the suffering of others. But when life brings unavoidable suffering to us, we must accept it, learn from it and endure. Pray for the grace to take up your cross and bear it as Jesus did, on behalf of others.
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Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Luke 6:17, 20-26
Jesus came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground. A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon. And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”
Today, and for the next two weeks, our Gospel reading is that teaching of Jesus which, in St. Matthew’s Gospel, we know as the Sermon on the Mount. The two evangelists present essentially the same material, but there are some minor differences. Most notable, perhaps, is the setting for the sermon. While St. Matthew tells us that Jesus went up the mountain to teach, St. Luke depicts Jesus descending the mountain after prayer to teach on the level ground. For this reason St. Luke’s version of Jesus’ teaching is often called the Sermon on the Plain.
Both evangelists recount Jesus beginning His sermon with “beatitudes.” “Blessed”, “happy” are those…St. Matthew records eight such beatitudes, while St. Luke gives us only four, followed by four “woes.” Despite the obvious variations in the telling of the story, the message is essentially the same in both Gospels. As familiar as the beatitudes are to us, we should today take time to reflect on their meaning once again. As a help to us in coming to a deeper appreciation of the meaning of the beatitudes, the liturgy today gives us the passage from the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah.
The sage advice of the prophet gives us a solid basis for understanding Jesus’ beatitudes. Jeremiah puts it succinctly and clearly: “Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings…Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord.” There it is. God and God alone is worthy of our faith and trust. The things of this world –even other human beings—simply cannot bring our faith and trust to fulfillment. By no means should we take this message of the prophet as a cynical warning to avoid other people or their counsel and friendship. After all, God Himself can and does speak to us often through other people, especially those in whom we confide as friends or spiritual directors. Rather, Jeremiah insists that every good thing and person in God’s creation is given us as a help to know God. Everything in this world is passing away. It is God alone who remains our hope and our final happiness.
I think that we need to take this advice very seriously and even very literally. As a priest I have spoken so often with Catholics – many of them life-long Catholics and very good people – who were let down – disappointed – in some way by a spouse, a parent, a good friend, or sometimes by their pastor. They had put their trust in this person, and in some way that trust had been betrayed. When the person who lets us down is a priest, or a religious sister or some other representative of the Church, there can be traumatic effects. While I would not want to minimize the importance of being a trustworthy friend, the Word of God reminds me today that the only person Who will not disappoint me –will not let me down – is God. It is one thing to seek God in and through the things and people that are part of His creation. It is another thing to substitute those people and things for God.
After having started his public ministry, Jesus was recognized as a great Master of the Law. Many people followed him. They came from the surrounding country to listen to his words. In great numbers, many people who needed to hear the doctrine that the Master taught came to listen to him. That is why great numbers of people always followed him. Saint Luke tells us that one day, when Jesus came down from the mountain with his Apostles, he saw a great crowd. Using the Beatitudes, he explained the spiritual qualities that a true Christian should possess.
The Beatitudes that Jesus preached applied to everyone, regardless of social class or culture. They have endured throughout the centuries as an example of the type of conduct that should be followed. They call on everyone to live a fully Christian life.
The message of the Beatitudes is, for some people, difficult to understand and accept. Those who do not follow the sometimes-difficult road of a life in Christ do not accept the Beatitudes that the Lord preached. This is because they do no like what they say. Nor do the Beatitudes promise them instant happiness, which is what they want. We know that nothing in this world can give us the absolute happiness that many look for without rest and at any cost. But, in an attempt to obtain it, there are people who are capable of stepping on their brothers and sisters in the faith. They look for happiness in power, fame and money. The only thing that they find on that road is an unhappy life for themselves and for those who surround them.
We know that it is difficult to follow the Beatitudes that Jesus proclaimed in the Gospel Reading today, especially when we live surrounded by violence, envy and injustice. Nevertheless, Christ demands that we leave all of those things behind and become meek of heart. We can do it. We will not be the first ones to do so. Jesus did it, as did the great saints of our Church. If we follow the Beatitudes of the Lord, even though this is difficult, we will feel peace in our lives. We will begin to do without material things, we will no longer be slaves to ourselves and we will be able to follow go through life with perfect dominion over the things that the world offers us to tempt us.
Today we live in a materialistic age that pushes us towards personal immorality. The modern methods of communication: television, movies and magazines, many times exalt a decadent lifestyle as something normal and desirable. Christ, in the Beatitudes, asks us to do just the opposite: to live a good live, in solidarity and dignity. The Lord shows us the road that we should follow to encounter true happiness. If we follow the road that the Beatitudes indicate, we will find eternal happiness at the end of our life.
Let us be humble and learn, once and for all, that true happiness can only come from God. The only way to find it is to live honestly in his love. Do not lend a deaf ear to Christ’s teachings in the beatitudes. If we do so, we will only find loneliness, bitterness and sadness.
Today's readings deal with Faith and Works. The prophet Jeremiah tells us "Cursed is the one who thrust in human beings, but Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord." When we reflect on this we know from personal experience the truth of this quote. How often have we been let down when we relied on our own resources of those of others. We all have true and loyal friends, but none like the Lord. He is always there for us with that unconditional love. Our faith and trust in Him is the only constant in our lives.
Luke's Gospel tell us of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in which he gives us the Beatitutes. Jesus calls blessed the poor, hungry, the weeping and those insulted and denounced. In Jewish society these were the outcasts of society. They were outcasts because it was believed that they had lost favor with God and were being justly punished for some sin, their own or their parents. Jesus goes on to denounce the rich, well fed, happy and go lucky, the very people Jewish society considered those blessed by God. Jesus turns the Jews belief system upside down.
This Sermon on the Mount opens the New Covenant by Jesus between God and human beings. I will be your God and you will be my people, but not just a few - all are included, especially those considered outcasts.
Jesus calls us to a new reality, a new sense of right and wrong. Just as Jeremiah reminds us that we cannot rely on human or material things since they have no lasting value, only loving God and doing His will here and now will lead us to ultimate happiness now and in the world to come.
Jesus tells us: "Blessed are you who are poor." Is he serious? Most of us do whatever we can to avoid poverty. Poverty certainly does not look like a blessed state of life. The poor, Jesus speaks of, have to do with our inner attitudes, our poverty of spirit. It is our willingness to admit our need for God and others. It is our ability to admit our mistakes and the fact that we do not have all the answers. It is our openness to ask others for help and then accepting it. It is a poverty of spirit which willingly acknowledges nothing is really ours. Yet, it is a realization that we are infinitely rich because all that is God's He has given us.
1. Blessed Are the Poor. You don’t have to be lacking in material possessions to be poor in spirit. However, we do have to be poor in spirit in order enter the Kingdom of God. To be poor in spirit means recognizing God as the author of your life and the Giver of every good gift. To be poor in spirit, you have to humble yourself. No matter how successful you have been in the eyes of the world, you have to realize that God has given you everything you have. If you hope to inherit the Kingdom of God and enjoy everlasting happiness, then you have to humble yourself.
"Blessed are you who are hungry." This is a hunger beyond our physical desire; it is a hunger within our spirit. You and I are called to hunger for justice, for love and unity, for the day when all people will recognize God. It is difficult to stand for what is right because it is frequently opposed to the values of this world. Doing the will of God the Father is seeking what is right and just.
2. Blessed Are the Hungry. What is it for which we all hunger? All of us truly hunger for God. There is a hole in our hearts that can only be filled by God. We all want to love and be loved. We can’t stop hungering for a closer relationship with him. We can’t be satisfied with the level we have achieved so far. God doesn’t just want to be a part of our lives; he wants to be at the center of our lives. He wants to be the desire of our hearts and he longs to be longed for by us. He wants to live in communion with us and fully possess our hearts so that we can become all that he created us to be.
"Blessed are you who weep." We weep because we mourn. How well do we express our feelings or show our emotions? Do we mourn over the selfishness which is part of us? Do we mourn for all who are suffering, even if we do not know them?
3. Blessed Are Those Who Mourn. When we suffer, be it physically or spiritually, we frequently turn inside ourselves and reflect upon the causes. Suffering is a consequence of sin. This affliction can -- and often times does -- lead to repentance. God does not reject a humble and contrite heart. Just as a caring father pays closer attention to his child when he or she is hurting or sick, so does our heavenly Father come close to us when we are in pain and comfort us when we are afflicted. Thus, the presence of the Cross and suffering are not something to be avoided at all costs. Rather they are blessings from God. They are a sign that he is close to us, that he loves us, for God reproves and chastises those whom he loves (cf. Revelation 3:19).
"Blessed are you when people hate you." We may think that this situation only existed during the persecutions of the early Church but it is happening today as well! Can we freely admit our love for the Lord? Do we stand up for the values of the Gospel? Are we able to "take the heat" for being a visible Christian at home, on the job in the community? We need to pray that we will be willing to suffer so that justice will prevail. May we be willing to work so that truth will prevail. May we never accept wrong no matter where we find it. May we never be compromising, uninterested or too busy to be bothered.
Jesus puts a rather positive spin on some things that we would ordinarily consider to be quite negative. He tells his listeners that they are happy in their poverty, their hunger, their sadness, their persecution. We must be careful not to romanticize this teaching. Jesus and His Church have consistently sought to alleviate the suffering of human beings. The Lord never hesitated to cure those who were sick or suffering, to provide nourishment to those who were hungry and to bring joy to those in sorrow. So it had been with His body the Church. The point is not that these deprivations are good in and of themselves. Rather they help to situate a person in a right relationship with God. In other words, it is precisely those who are empty and in need who see most clearly that their trust must be in God alone. Haven’t we all experienced something of that? It is in our desperation, when we have nowhere else to turn, that we so readily trust in God and His mercy. That’s the point.
I would hazard a guess that most people here today have, at one time or another, fantasized about coming into a large sum of money and what they would do with it. It might be after buying a lottery ticket or picturing the Publisher's Clearing House truck stopping at your house or imaging yourself sitting in that seat on the Millionaire TV show and saying: "Yes, that is my final answer". We may pick different amounts - what would I do if, right now, I had $30,000,000, or $300,000 or $30,000 just fall out of the sky and into my life. Visions of paid off house mortgages, paid off car loans and travel come into the mind along with even more mundane things like a new refrigerator. So do other things like helping out our children and family and friends and church and those in need. We daydream about what we would do, how we would live, and what would change in our lives.
We have bought into the conventional wisdom that we can solve our worries in the here and now - it does not have to be the big lottery winner.. .just a few thousand dollars more and we could eliminate much worry from our lives.
Each of the three readings today is an affront to conventional wisdom. In the gospel of Luke, the beatitudes completely reverse our conventional aspirations: "happy the poor", "happy are those who hunger now", "happy are those who weep."
It is hard to "unlearn" the conventional wisdom. It is hard to embrace the unconventional wisdom of our faith.
This is one reason why periods of loss, crisis and change are so difficult. The death of a loved one, the loss of a job, a major illness - all these events force us out of comfortable routine and conventional ways. Crisis forces us to look upon our lives in a new way.
Who has not, at some moment in life said, "God, if you would just______"? For example, you are very ill or injured and all you have is a hospital bed and pain. You lie there and begin to think about all the things in your life which seemed to matter so much and now seem to matter so little. You make mental decisions to change yourself. "God, if you would just heal me - now I know what is truly important and unimportant - if I can get over this illness, this injury, I will change my life."
Then we go on and list the changes we would make. We would trade time. We would take time spent in pursuit of material gain and apply it to spiritual gain. Time at work or time watching TV would go down and time for relationships with family, friends and God would increase.
Then, we get well. What normally happens then is, bitten by good health, our best intentions fade and we once again move into lives of conventional rather than unconventional wisdom. We let the lessons - that what is truly important in life is what stirs our souls, not what comforts our bodies -just drop away.
Jesus calls us in today's scripture to choose how we invest our lives.
He says: "But woe to you rich, for your consolation is now. Woe to you who are full; you shall go hungry." The words here represent someone who is going to go bankrupt. The woes in Luke's gospel represent bankrupt policies; they are ways of life that (using modem business jargon) do not yield a return on investment.
It is a life focused on following our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is a life involving the important things - like love , forgiveness, kindness, mercy, honesty ....
It is a life of unconventional wisdom where only the richness of your soul and the contents of your heart are counted.
The “woes” – really no more than the converse of the “blessings” – give emphasis to the fact that our satisfaction and ease in this life can be a real hindrance to our placing our confidence in God. Again, I think we know this from experience. The happier, healthier, richer we are, the more apt we are to take satisfaction that we or the things of this world are responsible for that. Remember Jesus’ warning: “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:25) It is not that riches are evil in themselves. Once again, the point is that those who are rich in the things of this world can easily forget that it is God Who is the source of every blessing. As difficult –even strange, perhaps – as it sounds, we should not resist the sufferings of this life. These are our share of the cross of Christ. And unless we take up our cross each day and follow after Jesus, we cannot be His disciples.
Jesus gives us the profile of the type of persons He desires to be His followers. He is not giving us suggestions but rather a serious set of instructions of what it means to be Christian.
In the end, today’s Gospel asks us to be honest about the source of our hope and confidence. Our popular culture is quick to counsel us that our hope ought to be placed squarely on the things that this world has to offer. Surely we will be finally happy if only we can get that new car, the new VCR, the new house, etc., etc. It is seductive. But it is empty. How true are the words of St. Augustine: “Our hearts are restless, Lord until they rest in you.” In God alone can we find our true and lasting joy. Blessed are we who place our hope and God. Cursed are we if we place our hope in this world.
It is all a matter of faith, of trust in the care of the Lord who loves us without reservation. If we do trust Him and turn to him in all our needs we can be assured we will be blessed. On the other hand, if we only trust in things, woe to us. What is really important in your life? Be honest, what do you really, really value? Things? - the big house, the new car, designer cloths, fine food? Perhaps its recognition and praise by others. Yet we know from experience that all these things decay and pass away. Its not long before that new car has a scratch or dent and the new car smell is gone, its just a used car. Human recognition and praise is here and gone before the ink is dry on the newspaper.
The only lasting things and the only things we take from this life are relationships, relationships with loved ones and with God. We come into this world with nothing, but we do take something out - relationships, especially our relationship with God.
Ask yourself - Were do I put my trust?
Gospel Reflection 20070204
Be true to yourself!
A humbling thought: Christ too struggled with temptation. Because he became like us in all things, except sin, he helps us appreciate that there is no shame in being human. Pride, excessive self-sufficiency, worship of illusory pleasures of this culture— these are the temptations of today's desert. Renew your resolution to be whole and holy as you wrestle with the demons in your life.
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Lessons from the Deep
February 4, 2007
Luke 5:1-11
While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch." Simon said in reply, "Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets." When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that they were in danger of sinking. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.
Saint Luke, in his Gospel, explains that one day Jesus was standing on the shore of the Lake of Gennesaret. There were many people surrounding him and, since there were quite a few, they were pressing in on him. This was because they were anxious to hear him preach the Word. Seeing this multitude, the Lord observed that there were two boats anchored alongside the lake and, for safety’s sake, he decided to embark in one of them. This boat belonged to Simon Peter. He already knew Jesus. He had been with Jesus in other circumstances.
I am sure that it was not by chance that the Lord chose this boat. He was in the process of choosing his apostles. And, clearly, Peter was one of them. He wanted to have Peter by his side. Not only as company and friend. He had already decided to make Peter a fisher of men, his vicar on earth, the head of the Church that he was forming.
Jesus, on that day, was going to perform a great miracle. He had already done many wonderful things on that lake and on its shores. Many had seen him do these things. And that could have been the reason that so many people had gathered there. After preaching, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Put out into deep water, and lower your nets for a catch.” Peter still did not know Jesus well. So he obeyed but with some degree skepticism and very little confidence. They had been fishing all night long without catching anything. This could have been the reason for his reluctance to lower the nets once again. When Peter saw that the catch was so abundant that it did not fit in the boat so that he had to call his partners in the other boat over to help out, he threw himself at Jesus feet and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” We know that Peter was impulsive and even stubborn. But he was also very humble and he had a big heart. When he saw the miracle he remembered how he had acted. And that was the reason that he asked for pardon. Jesus already knew him and, because he did, he had already chosen him to be his apostle even though Peter did not know this.
The word, “apostle,” means, “Someone sent on a mission.” God calls all of us Christians, just as Peter and the rest of the apostles, from the moment of our conception to carry out a mission. When the Lord calls, some listen and others lend a deaf ear to the call. God chooses us and it is for us to obey or to resist his call. But let there be no doubt that all of us could be apostles if we decided to listen to God when he calls. And we should know that it is not for us to choose the Lord. It is the Lord’s prerogative to choose us, just as he chose the apostles. Let us not be tempted to excuse ourselves saying that we are not worthy of doing what God wants us to do We should remember that God is with us and he will give us the strength we need to overcome the obstacles, failures and frustrations that we will surely encounter
How does a married person react positively to the call of God? By truly loving your spouse. There probably is no husband or wife here that will say, “Well, that’s always easy to do.” It may be easy most of the time but there are times when it’s probably difficult. And that’s the key! God asks all of us to accept our calling and react in a manner that mirrors the reaction of His Son, Jesus Christ.
“My spouse and I had a fight, my parents don’t understand me, my boyfriend wants me to get more deeply involved that we should ......” How we react to those situations determines whether we are truly answering God’s call to us.
“Why do I have to make these difficult decisions? Why do I have to think of God or of other people? Why not just do what I want to do?” are questions we frequently ask ourselves. Paul was called to evangelize the world, Peter was called to martyrdom. They reacted positively to their calling and that is what each of us must do. We are expected to accept the conditions of "our ordinary calling".
For us, answering the call may be the courage to kiss one’s spouse and say, “I’m sorry.” It may be realizing God has given your parents the responsibility to expect reasonable obedience from you. It also may be that you have the responsibility to tell your boyfriend or you friends, “NO.” Is that easy to do? Not always.
The three men mentioned in today’s readings faced many difficulties. At times they were under intense pressure. We may not be as famous as they were but we walk the same walk they walked. The pressures and the difficulties we have are real.
One of the worst effects of sin, if not its main aim, is to make us think that God stops loving us: God is our enemy. Feeling bad about ourselves, we presume God feels the same way about us. And since sin is a regular feature of our lives, we can feel that God is never really happy with us. That “realization” can make us feel even worse: we sense we are almost permanently distant from God. In its turn, this can become resentment against God, the Church of God and the sacraments of the Church: “why is it all so difficult?” we complain. A next step might be simply to pretend there is no sin at all, that it’s all a ploy by “the clergy” to keep us under control. There follows a shift to an outlook on life which either cuts God and Church out completely or transforms them into what we want them to be. That may mean, for example, making religion a spiritual security blanket, or turning it into a pass-time, like going to a concert or a museum. This, of course, is the real aim of sin: it’s not so much the illicit pleasure of the moment (which Satan would deny us if he could) as the long-term break with the true God and the deformation of true religion.
First, He sees Peter’s humble confession: Peter had fallen “at the knees of Jesus” and confessed, “I am a sinful man.” That very confession was the result of giving Jesus access to his boat, hearing the words of Jesus as He taught from the boat, obeying the command of Jesus and accepting that Jesus was the power behind the draught of fishes. Jesus sees all this, and because of Peter’s humility and faith, He responds: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” Do not be afraid! Do not fear your sinfulness! Do not focus on your sins! Do not allow your sins to have the first or the last word in your relationship with Me! Do not let sin attain its aim of separating you from Me! Do not let your sin be more important than what I have just done for you! Do not let your many sins seem more than my generosity to you, my desire for you and for the faith and love of your soul! Do not let your sin get in the way of the great things I want you to do for me! It is not sin which determines who you are; it is I! It is not sin which prescribes the direction of your life; it is I! Sin is not the authority in your life; it is I! Sin is not your way, your truth or your life; it is I! Sin is not your God; it is I!
Never had anyone so completely reached into their hearts with such powerful yet tender love; never had they been so overwhelmed in their whole being and their whole lives. In opening themselves to Jesus, despite their sins, they … fell in love with Him; they knew their lives would never be the same again; they knew they would never understand themselves in the same way again; they knew that, although they had sinned, Jesus wanted them, not their sins, and that He would purify them from those sins.
This is Good News! This is the Gospel! To be sure, we cannot deny the pain we feel when we sin, but that pain is nothing in comparison with the joy and solace which pour forth into our hearts from the merciful Heart of Jesus. So as to feel good about ourselves after we sin, there are two options: either we deny that we have sinned and find a worldly happiness we invent for ourselves; or we confess our sins with humility and faith, trusting in the love of Jesus, and find joy in Him. If we try to handle sin and guilt alone, it will eventually destroy us, to the great sorrow of our Merciful Lord. But if we come to Him, especially in the sacrament of reconciliation, He will destroy it and exalt us in the joy of His merciful love. We can live genuine, happy and purposeful lives only if we allow Jesus to approach us personally and unite Himself with us. Otherwise, we may find some moments and experiences of passing jollity, but our hearts and souls will be deeply complaining and lamenting because they remain in the darkness without Him.
It offends contemporary sensitivities to speak of sin, guilt, repentance and confession. Certainly, some Church leaders have been guilty of using the doctrine on sin to instill fear and to manipulate people. It is good that we are freed from false understandings of these matters. However, freedom from false understandings of sin and its minions does not mean freedom from sin itself. Indeed, this is perhaps the heresy of today: a false understanding, not of sin, but of freedom, a freedom apparently disanchored from any responsibility to God. It’s as if someone were to say: “You tell me I’ve sinned, and I’ll take you to court, and if you insist, I’ll take you to the Supreme Court to decide the constitutional meaning of the Gospel.”
But it is Christ alone, and those to whom He has given His authority, who determine the true meaning of the Gospel. It is Jesus Himself, in texts like the one we have read in today’s reading from St. Luke, and many of His dependable teachers of the faith, who teach us the true meaning of sinfulness and freedom, and how Jesus interacts with the sinner to make him truly free. Sin alas has its place, dark and destructive, and must be taken duly seriously. But we need always to deal with sin in the powerful presence of Jesus Christ so that our trust and hope in Him may deliver us from every evil and restore us to the glorious freedom of the children of God. So, put out into the deep waters of the merciful Heart of God and your abundant catch will be the joy of God Himself.
"With that they brought their boats to land, left everything behind, and became his followers".
This is one of those bothersome sentences in scripture. It is bothersome because we tend to think in material terms - and this makes the "everything" sound like we have to sell off the house, the TV, the car, the golf clubs (no! not my golf clubs!!!!), and give away all but the clothes on our backs.
For Peter and his partners in the fishing business, the day of this gospel must have been their greatest success. They were amazed at the amount of fish they had caught - their nets were straining to the breaking point - the quantity nearly sank their boat and another boat. A fisherman like Peter would know the monetary value of this day by just looking at the load of fish. The modem day equivalent would be the worker getting the promotion to their dream job with an unimaginable wage increase, more than enough to take care of all their family finances. This is the big, lottery winning moment in Peter's life.
And then Peter and his partners, looking at perhaps the catch of their dreams, realize that their dreams of material success pale in the light of Jesus Christ. They see in Jesus the answer, not to the dreams of their minds, but to the hopes of their souls. Jesus does not ask them directly to give up anything - they choose the thing of greater value, the pearl of great price, which is life with Jesus which makes everything in their lives secondary to being with Jesus.
I'd like to assume that they kept the boat. I'd like to believe that it's the same boat they use a few chapters later in Luke when Jesus calms the storm at sea. I'd like to believe that they still kept their hands in fishing to earn a bit of a living. The fishing business, however, was no longer number one in their lives - their reason for living. Instead, following Jesus became number one.
So it is to be with us. We are asked by Jesus to make God number 1 in our lives. We are asked to make secondary to God, the "things" of our lives. In our world it is very easy to make "things" so important that they dominate our lives - to the point that our possessions possess us. There are people (and we may be one of them) who bury themselves in their work so deeply that the rest of life may as well not exist. The story line in books, movies or TV series about the obsessive workaholic who spends endless hours at the office and becomes a stranger to their spouse and children is a common theme. That arch-type is not limited to the corporate world. We can bury ourselves in many things. Children can become buried in sports (often with the help of their parents). Mothers can become buried in caring for their children. Ministers can bury themselves in doing good for others.
We can make the "catch of our dreams" as Peter did - we can be standing in our newcomer office with the VP sign on the door, "top of the heap!" ... we can win the game with a basket and get the scholarship we hoped for.. .we can be sitting at a rectory desk with a parish organization chart showing how we've covered all the ministerial bases... and we can feel a vague emptiness inside, like that old song by Peggy Lee saying, "Is that are there is?" Is that all there is? Is that all there is?
Interesting!!! Things which bury us have a common thread - they all involve our own egos and a belief that we are in charge and in control of our destiny. In the end, though, we give up control to these things and they come to dominate our lives, affect our personalities and limit the availability of choices in our lives.
Jesus calls us to freedom. Jesus calls us, as he did Peter and John and James, to make the "everythings" of our lives second to being with our God.
In return for "leaving everything behind" we get something. It is something which, when you receive it, does not leave a vague sense of a hard to define emptiness, of needing something else.
In return, we get love and friendship and peace and hope and joy and compassion and forgiveness.
Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
