Gospel Reflection 20071028
Reading the Bible can help find strength to meet life's challenges.
There are many days when life just gets too busy and I wonder if anything I'm trying to do is worth it. On those days, if I take time to open my Bible and read, I always find a passage that says, "Don't give up. I called you to be my light to the world."
The Bible can also be a source of support in times of trouble, moral guidance and help on how to live and for understanding our faith.
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Trust Only in God’s Mercy
October 28, 2007
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel
Lk 18:9-14
Jesus addressed this parable
to those who were convinced of their own righteousness
and despised everyone else.
"Two people went up to the temple area to pray;
one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.
The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself,
'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity --
greedy, dishonest, adulterous -- or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’
But the tax collector stood off at a distance
and would not even raise his eyes to heaven
but beat his breast and prayed,
'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.'
I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former;
for whoever exalts himself will be humbled,
and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."
The story is told that one day Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, visited a prison and talked with each of the inmates. There were endless tales of innocence, of misunderstood motives, and of exploitation. Finally the king stopped at the cell of a convict who remained silent. “Well,” remarked Frederick, “I suppose you are an innocent victim too?” “No, sir, I'm not,” replied the man. “I'm guilty and deserve my punishment.” Turning to the warden the king said, “Here, release this rascal before he corrupts all these fine, innocent people in here!” The biblical saying proves true, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5).
Today's gospel is one to which every believer needs to pay close attention. It is the story of two believers, a Pharisee and a tax collector. It is important to underline the facts that both men were believers in the same God, both belonged to the same religion and both worshipped in the same temple. Both men were active believers who participated in temple worship and said their daily prayers. But what do we see? At the end of the worship one of them went home at peace with God but the other did not. We all, believers in God, need to pay attention to this story not only to learn the secret of offering a worship acceptable to God but also of leading a life of faith that leads to justification and not disappointment at the end of the day.
It will help us to appreciate the point of this parable if we try to understand a little bit more of who the Pharisees were. It often comes to us as a surprise to hear that the Pharisees were, in fact, very disciplined and devout men of religion. Pharisees were serious-minded believers who had committed themselves to a life of regular prayer and observance of God's Law. In fact, they went beyond the requirements of the law. They fasted twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays, even though the law only required people to fast once a year, on the Day of Atonement. They gave tithes of all their income and not just of the required parts. When the Pharisee in the parable said, “I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income” (Luke 18:11-12) he wasn't kidding. Few Christians today can measure up to the visible moral standards of the Pharisees.
Tax collectors, on the other hand, were generally regarded as people of low moral standards. Because tax collectors worked for the pagan Romans, mixed up with them and constantly handled their unclean money they were said to be in a state of ritual uncleanliness. As far as the religion of the day was concerned, tax collectors were public sinners on the highway to hell. But the tax collectors knew that the voice of people is not always the voice of God. They still hoped for salvation not on the merit of any religious or moral achievements of theirs but on the gracious mercy of God.
Believing in God does not really save anybody. James tells us that the devil himself believes in God and trembles with fear (James 2:19). Rather, what really matters is what people believe about God and how their faith in God affects their view of themselves and of others. The Pharisees believed in a discriminating God who loves good people and hates bad people. People behave like the God they believe in. So the Pharisees quickly learn to love only good people like themselves and look down with contempt on bad people and sinners like the tax collectors. Jesus told this parable against the Pharisees because they “trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt” (verse 9). The tax collector, on the other hand, trusted not in himself or in anything he had done but only in God’s mercy. Standing far off, he would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (v. 13). This is the man who went home at peace with God and not the self-righteous Pharisee.
Like the Pharisee and the tax collector we too have come to God's house to offer worship and prayers. Like them we too hope to go home at the end of this service reconciled and at peace with God. Then let us learn from the tax collector the secret of worshipping in a manner that is acceptable to God. Firstly, we should not listen to other people or even to our own consciences when they tell us that God is so angry with us that He cannot possible forgive us. Secondly, we must acknowledge our sinfulness and entrust ourselves to the generous mercy of God which is bigger than any sins we might have committed. Finally, we promise God to never to look down on our fellow sinners but to help them in their search for God, just as the tax collector is helping us today in our search for God. Remember, God always opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
One of the often repeated themes of sacred scripture is the special care god has for the poor, the underprivileged, and the outcasts of society. We find that theme in today's Gospel
St. Luke is especially known for his sympathy for the plight of the outcasts. His gospel is sometimes called the gospel of the great pardons, for he tells the stories of the woman taken in adultery, the forgiveness of the paralytic; and the good thief on the cross. Today he tells the memorable story of the Pharisee and the tax collector (years ago the tax collector was called the publican).
If ever there was an outcast of society in the time of Jesus, it was the local tax collector. He had plenty of power and plenty of money, most of it skimmed off the taxes he collected. He had the power to make the final decision on how much each family must pay. But he had no friends. As Mother Theresa points out, the poorest of the poor are those who are unloved. And the tax collector was the greatest of the unloved.
But in this parable, the tax collector has repented all the crimes that he committed. He kneels in the very back of the temple, unworthy to approach the altar and confesses his sinfulness to the lord.
But the Pharisee, standing proudly in the front of the temple, trumpets his achievements. I once heard a story about a “man who always found fault with everyone, and especially his wife. She could do nothing right. One morning she asked what he wanted for breakfast. He said: I want some O.J., coffee, bacon, toast, and 2 eggs, one fried, one scrambled. She worked hard to prepare the best possible meal, set it on the table, then waited for his approval. He looked at the meal and said; you've done it again; you scrambled the wrong egg.
The Pharisee in the parable was like that man. Nobody except him could do anything right. "I thank you that I am not like the rest of men grasping, crooked, like this miserable tax collector.
The man who went home from the temple justified was the tax collector, the one who recognized his sinfulness and asked for god's mercy.
When we read the parables, we usually identify with one of the characters depicted in the story. If I were to ask you with whom in this story you most easily identify, you would probably say the tax collector. That means we like what he did. But it also means we think we are more like him than we are like the Pharisee. And that is something we need to question. If most of us are like the tax collector, there would be no point in Jesus telling this story. He is suggesting, ever so subtly, that maybe we are sometimes very much like the Pharisee.
Jesus asks us to reflect on the pharisaic acts of our own lives; the times we judged we were better than others. The times we’ve heard "let us call to mind our sins and failures of the past" then spent the next moments in blank thought because we could remember nothing in our past for which we had remorse, or because we thought "we have done this so often in the past it isn't important to do it again.”
We are asked to reflect on these and other pharisaic actions of our lives.
In today’s Gospel the Pharisee boasts about his virtues and condemns the tax collector and considers himself a righteous man because he fasts twice a week and tithes. He has little use for the tax collector. His attitude is haughty compared with the humility of the tax collector.
Jesus is critical of the Pharisee not because of his virtues but because he “exalts himself” while Jesus praises the tax collector because he has humbled himself before God, admitting he is a sinner and asks for mercy.
The Pharisee is boasting. The Pharisee seemed to congratulate himself on what HE alone accomplished.
We can also become enamored with our accomplishments. We may judge our worthiness by the material aspects of our lives. There’s nothing wrong with earning a lot of money, with gaining fame and notoriety or in becoming a powerful force in one’s community. However, Jesus calls us to make a decision: are our actions motivated by ambition, by a desire to be recognized for our efforts or do we take our actions so that we may derive our motivation from God’s promise that He will “bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever.” Once again Jesus asks us to make this decision: is my life dedicated to God or to my own personal accomplishments? We truly must make this distinction. How do we do it? We must examine our actions and our motives.
There are many successful people in this area who have had many accomplishments. However, are all of them doing what you are doing right now? Are all of them pausing to praise their God, to pray to Him and to set aside time to be with him, as you are doing? You might say, “Well, my coming to Church is not that big a deal.” True, it’s not the only thing we do each week to indicate our “longing for the appearance of God” but it is an important thing that we do.
The message remains the same: living our lives according to the will of God, following the teachings of Jesus Christ and actively “seeking our place in His heavenly kingdom” is really why we are here. Of course, we should spend more than just an hour here in church one day a week. We must realize that others, too, have been adversely effected by life events and it prompts us to ask ourselves, “What can I do to help those individuals?” They may be friends, relatives or neighbors who need a phone call from each of us asking, “What can I do to help?” When Paul writes, “the one who serves God willingly is heard” it means that each of us could actually have the answer to the prayer of those who have been adversely affected by events in their lives. But, we must take the initiative.
This homily is directed to the teens and the young adults. When you think about it, we very seldom preach a homily to that group. And yet, there is no doubt our young people are the most vulnerable group in the Church today. Drugs, sex, alcohol and the music they hear is having a powerful effect upon them. When they are away at school, they may stop going to Church. But ... we seldom address their needs.
As I read today's Gospel I was having a difficult time. I couldn't get a handle on how it applied to our society today. We, in America, have the highest standard of living of all the countries in the world. However, today's Gospel deals with the weak and oppressed tax collector.
I wondered, "Who are the most oppressed people here in our country?"
Yes, there are many who are poor and we should help them. We all have some troubles but, when compared to many in the rest of the world, we live in a society that has been blessed beyond the imagination of many who have populated this world since it was created.
Most of us have enough food, we have comfortable housing, we have the advantage of wonderful education facilities and access to advanced health care. Not everyone has the same level of income or security but because of the poverty elsewhere, ours is a nation that attracts many more immigrants than any other.
So, who are the oppressed? As I thought of an answer, I came to a conclusion: Possibly the most oppressed section of our population is that of our young people. Now, one might say, "How can you say that? We in the young generation, in general, are better fed, housed, clothed, educated and safe than any generation in the history of the world."
That may be true, but I would suggest the young people here also face more potential problems than we adults faced as we were growing up. And so, I'd like to talk to the young people here today. Unfortunately, not many homilies are directed to those of you here who are in grade school, in your teens or have reached the age of "young adulthood". And yet, you are the future of our country and the future of the Church.
Let's consider some of the problems you face. With television you can be subjected to many shows that contradict the teachings of your mother and father. Public schools can no longer teach morality, honesty, truthfulness or purity because the Supreme Court has decided we must keep God out of our education system. The availability of drugs, alcohol, pornography, and a transportation system that allows you to go anywhere in the world has forced you young people to make a lot of difficult choices. You have access to situations that didn't exist when I was growing up.
I can understand that on occasions you don't know what is right and what is wrong.
The music you hear, the television shows and the movies you see, the literature you can read all indicate you can do anything you want to do.
But you also know of some of your friends who have tried what the modern society has offered them and they have paid a huge price. Each of you probably knows of an acquaintance who has made the wrong choices and has suffered from those decisions.
Possibly, some young people here are being pressured by your peers to "join the crowd", so to speak. You may hear the refrain, "Come on. Come along with us. Everyone's doing it. It's fun. No one will find out. Nothing will happen to you."
You feel like you're in a trap. One part of your mind knows that the things our society offers us are wrong. The other side says, "But, how can I resist. It's true, everyone is doing it. It must be all right".
St. Paul, one of our Church's greatest saints tells us that he too had the same problems.
He writes, "At my first defense no one appeared on my behalf, everyone deserted me."
Have any us ever felt that way? Have you ever faced an important decision and felt there was no one to turn to? Well, at one time in our lives all of us have probably felt that way. The parents and grandparents here have felt that way and I'm sure the young people have felt that way. "I'm all alone and I have to make a decision. I don't know what to do."
Paul also writes.
"But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength and I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever."
Now, I'm sure some of the young people here are saying to themselves, "What's he talking about? What is this religion stuff? I can't make a cell phone call to St. Paul."
What I'm talking about is simple. It is difficult to be a teenager or a young adult in these times. The society in which you live, and even the whole world, is saying to you, "Things have changed. Forget the old rules. Nothing will happen to you." Now let's be honest. I will bet that each young person here knows of someone to whom, "IT DID HAPPEN."
It may have been drugs and now they are addicted. Or, everyone told them, "DON'T WORRY, BUT NOW THEY ARE PREGNANT." Others said, "Don't worry about what your parents think. They're old fashioned."
But, deep down, you may now realize your parents are probably the BEST TRUE friends you'll ever have and you know you need them.
In the gospel Luke writes of the tax collector who stood at a distance and didn't even raise his eyes to Heaven but beat his breast and said,
"Oh God, be merciful to me."
And so, I say to you today that you young people do live in a frightening world. You have so many choices and that make it difficult to see what's right and what's wrong for you. Others give you advice but it may be the wrong advice.
Instinctively, if we give it some thought, we all know what's right and what's wrong.
When faced with a difficult choice, ask yourself these questions, "Would I want my mother or my father to take drugs, to get involved with alcohol? Would I want my brothers or sisters to live the life of some of the famous entertainers who seem to be with a different partner every month?" Your answer would probably be "No, I would not want them to do that." You would say that because you love them. In reality, the same is true of your God and of Jesus Christ.
So, when you are in a difficult situation and you have to make a choice, don't forget Jesus Christ and say to Him, "Help me! You suffered for me and I know you will guide me." …AND HE WILL!!!!
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Sts. Simon and Jude
Jude is so named by Luke and Acts. Matthew and Mark call him Thaddeus. He is not mentioned elsewhere in the Gospels, except, of course, where all the apostles are referred to. Scholars hold that he is not the author of the Letter of Jude. Actually, Jude had the same name as Judas Iscariot. Evidently because of the disgrace of that name, it was shortened to "Jude" in English.
Simon is mentioned on all four lists of the apostles. On two of them he is called "the Zealot." The Zealots were a Jewish sect that represented an extreme of Jewish nationalism. For them, the messianic promise of the Old Testament meant that the Jews were to be a free and independent nation. God alone was their king, and any payment of taxes to the Romans—the very domination of the Romans—was a blasphemy against God. No doubt some of the Zealots were the spiritual heirs of the Maccabees, carrying on their ideals of religion and independence. But many were the counterparts of modern terrorists. They raided and killed, attacking both foreigners and "collaborating" Jews. They were chiefly responsible for the rebellion against Rome which ended in the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
Comment:
As in the case of all the apostles except for Peter, James and John, we are faced with men who are really unknown, and we are struck by the fact that their holiness is simply taken to be a gift of Christ. He chose some unlikely people: a former Zealot, a former (crooked) tax collector, an impetuous fisherman, two "sons of thunder" and a man named Judas Iscariot.
It is a reminder that we cannot receive too often. Holiness does not depend on human merit, culture, personality, effort or achievement. It is entirely God's creation and gift. God needs no Zealots to bring about the kingdom by force. Jude, like all the saints, is the saint of the impossible: only God can create his divine life in human beings. And God wills to do so, for all of us.
Quote:
"Just as Christ was sent by the Father, so also he sent the apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit. This he did so that, by preaching the gospel to every creature (cf. Mark 16:15), they might proclaim that the Son of God, by his death and resurrection, had freed us from the power of Satan (cf. Acts 26:18) and from death, and brought us into the kingdom of his Father" (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy).
Gospel Reflection 20071021
The more we pray, the more we become aware of the presence of God in our lives.
God communicates with us all the time, but it is easy to miss those messages. When we pray words over and over again, they can lose meaning. When we focus on what the words are actually saying, the words fill with power and meaning!
By intentionally placing yourself in a prayer posture and genuinely listening to the words you are saying, you allow yourself to become aware of God's presence. God "speaks" to you. You become a better receiver of insights from God.
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Persist in Prayer
October 21, 2007
Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel
Lk 18:1-8
Jesus told his disciples a parable
about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.
He said, "There was a judge in a certain town
who neither feared God nor respected any human being.
And a widow in that town used to come to him and say,
'Render a just decision for me against my adversary.'
For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought,
'While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being,
because this widow keeps bothering me
I shall deliver a just decision for her
lest she finally come and strike me.'"
The Lord said, "Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says.
Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones
who call out to him day and night?
Will he be slow to answer them?
I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.
But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
Christ uses the image of the widow because he has compassion on the person who is needy. Everyone is needy in his own way. Everyone has virtues he needs to acquire, and sins and vices that need to be cast out. It takes a humble person to realize his inability to acquire these virtues on his own and to resort to begging our Lord for his grace. Do I see my need for Christ in the battle for virtue, or do I work as if he played no role? We were created to have a personal relationship with Christ, to seek his will, and then to put it into action. Everything we say, think, and do should flow from our continual friendship with him. God wants us to realize we are completely dependent on him. He knows what we need before we ask. However, he waits until we turn to him in prayer and in this way increases our desire for what we request.
How many of you have seen this painting of an old burnt-down mountain shack? All that remains is the chimney - the charred debris of what was that family's sole possession. In front of the destroyed home stands an old grandfather-looking man dressed only in his dressing-gown with a small boy clutching a pair of patched overalls. The child is crying. Beneath the picture are written the words which the old man is speaking to the boy. They are simple words, yet they represent a profound sense of faith and hope. The words are, "Hush child, God ain't dead!" The man or woman of faith knows that there are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about their situations. Today's gospel presents us with another example, that of a woman of faith, a widow, and urges us never to grow hopeless about any situation in which we find ourselves, no matter how hopeless it may seem.
In ancient Jewish society a woman depended on her husband for sustenance and social status. To lose a husband meant to be poor and defenseless, especially where the widow had no grownup son. That was as close to a hopeless situation as one could ever get. The greatness of the widow in the parable lies in her refusal to accept the oppressive and abusive situation in which she found herself in the pretext that "That's the way things are." Some other less courageous, pious woman would even have told her to submit to the oppression as being God's will. But she knew better. She kept her hope in final justice alive and did everything in her power to right the wrongs inflicted on her by her oppressive neighbors. Finally her dogged determination paid off and she was vindicated. There are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about their situations.
Two frogs fell into a deep cream bowl; / The one was wise, and a cheery soul.
The other one took a gloomy view / And bade his friend a sad adieu.
Said the other frog with a merry grin, / "I can't get out, but I won't give in;
I'll swim around till my strength is spent, / Then I will die the more content."
And as he swam, though ever it seemed, / His struggling began to churn the cream
Until on top of pure butter he stopped, / And out of the bowl he quickly hopped.
The early Christians found themselves in such an apparently hopeless predicament. Soon after Jesus left them they found themselves persecuted and oppressed by the Jewish religious hierarchy. What encouraged them to endure the persecution was their belief that the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus was soon to take place. They believed it would coincide with the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple. But when in AD 70 Jerusalem fell and the Temple was destroyed yet Jesus was nowhere to be seen, the Christians found themselves in a big crisis of faith. Have they hoped in vain? Will the Lord ever come back to reestablish justice, to vindicate the innocent and put their enemies to shame? Should they continue hoping and resisting the injustice of their oppressors or should they just join them since they can't beat them? In other words, the early Christians found themselves in the situation of this widow who, without her husband, her lord, had to wage a campaign of passive resistance against injustice and oppression without knowing when it might come to an end. That is why the parable ends with the words of reassurance and a probing question:
And will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth? (Luke 18:7-8)
The practical implication of the parable for daily Christian living is given, namely that we "ought always to pray and not lose heart" (verse 1). Prayer expresses our hope and nourishes our faith. Let us ask God today to make us strong in our faith, unwavering in our hope, and persistent in our prayer.
Consider gambling. I think the odds are always stacked against us. However, there is a saying in the lotteries that goes like this, "You can't win unless you buy a ticket." Well, they don't tell you that even it you buy a ticket your chances can be a couple of million to one that you won't win.
It's not that way with our God. We win every time. All our troubles may not go away, life will not become a bowl of cherries but, like the woman in today's readings, if we persevere, if we continue to ask Him for His help, it will come. But we must take the initiative. Ask Him for help in one particular situation in which you find yourself. Be specific. And then, don't just wait for a bolt of lighting to change everything. Do everything you can to help yourself but put Him in the equation. That's what He asks us to do. He will not disappoint us.
Several years ago there was book and a movie called "Catch 22". The phrase "Catch 22" eventually became an often-used expression for a situation that is hopeless.
An example of "Catch 22" is the person who is told that he could not get a job unless he belonged to the union-only to find out that he can't join the union without a job.
Well, the woman in today's Gospel was in a real "Catch 22" situation. She was the helpless victim of an absolutely corrupt system. Most likely, she wanted the unjust judge to help her get the inheritance that her husband had left her. Her adversary was probably a lawyer who was holding back the money that was rightfully hers.
The "Catch 22" was that, in order to get a hearing with the judge to get her money, she needed a bribe to pay him off. Since she didn't have any money to bribe him with, she couldn't get a hearing to get her money.
In Jesus' time in Israel, women had absolutely no rights of their own. Their rights came through their husbands. So, if a widow didn't have a family to take care of her, she was really up against it, especially if she had small children.
So, in this impossible situation, the poor widow uses the only means open to her. Faithful to the old adage that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, she comes to court every day and makes a scene. How many mothers and fathers right here in the assembly today wouldn't do exactly the same thing, if their children were in dire need?!! For the sake of his personal peace of mind, the judge finally gives her what is rightfully hers.
You know, most of Jesus' parables involve a similarity between the main character and God. Here, however, the point of the story is the difference between the corrupt judge and God. It's a story of contrasts.
Though her situation appeared hopeless, the woman never gave up. With God, however, Jesus is saying that our situation (whatever it is) is never hopeless. God is not like the corrupt judge. He doesn't have to be bought off before He'll answer our prayers. God is always approachable.
Are there people here today who think that God doesn't hear their prayers? If there are, then today's Gospel story is for them. God wants all of us to come before Him with all of our needs and concerns. And the needs and concerns of others too. He always answers our prayers, although the answers may not be exactly what we'd like them to be.
Perhaps you're wondering; "What's the point of praying, if God already knows what we want"? Or, "Why bother praying because, whatever I ask for never seems to happen"? Maybe these questions occur because, down deep, we have a sneaking suspicion that God is just like the unjust judge-hard-hearted and uncaring. Maybe that's why Jesus used this particular type of judge in the story.
But, we have to persist in our prayers, regardless of outcome-not because God is hard-hearted, but because we may be.
When we ask God for something, are we trying to get Him to change His mind? That would make God just like the unjust judge. And, the point of the story, as we have just seen, is that God is not like the corrupt judge. No, our prayers don't change God-they change us. They open us up to God working in our lives.
Prayer reminds us of our need for God. How easy it is to forget our need for Him, when things are going well for us. It's precisely at these times-when the sun is shining on us-that we start to think that we can make it on our own. We think that we can get by; by our cleverness, by our hard work, by luck, by knowing the right people, even by trying to be so good that God will have to grant our requests!
I think that one of our problems with our prayers not being answered is that we're not praying for the right things. Our prayers are too small and too self-centered. And, God certainly knows that I'm probably more guilty of this than anyone here today.
When I say that our prayers are too small, I mean that God wants us to ask (and ask and ask again) for eternal things. Don't get me wrong. I'm not putting down asking God for good health and peace and creature comforts. To God, because He loves us so much, the most important prayers are prayers relating to our salvation. He loves us so much that He wants us to be with Him for eternity.
Jesus wants to answer our prayers. He won't keep us waiting until we bid high enough for the things we need. But, He does ask us: "Do we believe in a God who answers prayers? Do we really trust Him? Or, is our real trust somewhere else; in our own cleverness, our good looks, our good luck, the strings we can pull or the bribes we try to offer God, in the form of prayers and good works?
God won't give us everything we want when we want it. But, He will hear us and answer us-if we'll only let Him. It's up to us to discern and appreciate the answers we receive, even if the answers are "no".
Our trust in Him will be based on our faith in Him. If we truly believe that Jesus is God, the 2nd person of the Holy Trinity, and that He cannot lie, then we will trust Him in everything and with everything-ourselves, our businesses, our loved ones, our health, everything. And this trust will give us the confidence to pray unceasingly. Our very lives will be a prayer to the Lord.
Today’s gospel is about perseverance. I learned about what perseverance means, first hand. There’s been a commercial on television for the past few years, a commercial for a type of knife. According to the commercial, with this knife you can cut anything. It will cut nails or tin cans as easily as it will cut sticks of butter and ripe tomatoes... smooth, clean and quick. The commercial continues and displays all of these functions and then explains you can have this knife, and many like it, if you buy one immediately for just $19.95. You have an option of three sizes of butcher knives, a paring knife and 6 steak knives. Also, if you call within 30 minutes of hearing the commercial, you can get a second set of knives for a mere $1.00.
This commercial has been on television for many years. I have watched it, I’ve turned it off or switched channels while it was airing. I’ve laughed about it, made jokes about it and wondered whether the knives really could do what the commercial promised. But, I would never even think about buying one. However, a few years ago I was at home on a Saturday night and I was watching TV. Nothing else was happening, I hadn’t talked to anyone since late that afternoon and I was just relaxing. Suddenly, the commercial was being aired again. In a very weak moment, I made the phone call. Not only did I order the butcher knife and the paring knife and the 6 steak knives but, yes, I added a dollar and received a second set of knives. After all of those years, I got my knives! After all those years, they finally got me! Think a moment... has this ever happened to you? That night I learned first hand what perseverance is really all about.
Jesus tells this gospel story so that we can learn about perseverance. He asks us to be steadfast in prayer, He asks us to persevere in our faith. This is not an easy thing to do. There are a lot of things to distract us from being faithful, faith filled and prayerful. There are things that happen day in and day out that make it hard to be loving or forgiving and understanding. Jesus asks us to be wary of all of these situations.
In the Gospel reading (Lk 18:1-8), the Unjust Judge yields to the widow who was nagging him-she was complaining about her adversary, probably a rich influential man. The widow was too poor to bribe either the judge or his assistant; and these officials did not wish to alienate important citizens. Jesus encourages us to pray unceasingly. Pray, never lose heart We cry to the Lord, we want justice. But it does not happen. What to do? When we see what is unjust and absurd in life, we view God as a judge who does not care about his people. But if we pray, much of what seems to be absurd will disappear. We shall come to recognize the face of the God who loves us in daily events. When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth? Jesus confirms an opinion already found among the Jews of his days. In the last days before Judgment, the power of evil will be so great that in much love will grow cold (Mt 24:12). Can men sustain their confidence in God while they carry their crosses to the darkness of Calvary? God will see justice done to them, even if he seems to delay to help them. Through the parable of the Unjust Judge and the nagging widow, Jesus wishes to encourage people to pray continuously, without losing heart, even when they do not get immediate results. God will certainly come to our aid in his own time and way -- because he is a God who loves us.
The message of the Gospel passage is that victory is the result of a combination of action and prayer. We must always make our efforts and also seek God's help. We need people who will venture out into action and also people who will pray for the success of the action. The unceasing prayer of a person or a community never goes unheeded.
How do we pray? There are people who give up prayer when they do not get what they ask for. They will quote what Jesus said on one occasion: "Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you" (Mt 7:7). "How many times I asked for this and that, but nothing has happened. What is the use of praying? I wonder whether God listens at all"--some lament this way. Why is it that some of our prayers are not answered? It is because we do not pray enough and with faith. How much time do you set aside for prayer? And how do you pray? Often our prayers are limited to certain formulas. We recite them without putting our heart into them. Even our attendance at Church is sometimes only a ritual we go through -- without being involved personally.
We are challenged in today’s scripture to ask ourselves if our relationship with God is a surface acquaintance or does it run deeper? Relationships with those we love are developed through knowing them and spending time with them. How well do we know God? How much time do we spend with Him? Louis Everly, author of “That Man is You,” wrote “We can commune with God everyday. He is there everyday waiting, waiting to speak to us in the scriptures.”
We get frustrated and wonder if God listens to our prayers when we meet resistance, hostility and even ridicule from those around us, especially those close to us. Sometimes we wonder if it is all worth the effort. Today’s reading encourages us to see beyond the despair, anger and evil we encounter and realize that we can persevere secure in the knowledge that what God tells us, He will do.
The key is perseverance. Those of us who are parents know about perseverance because we don’t quit loving our children or being there for them when they get in trouble or live in ways which we find in conflict with our values. If we can be there in the times trouble for those we love, how much more God is there for us in our darkest nights, in the pit of our deepest despair, in our most painful experiences of abandonment and betrayal.
Our deepest awareness of His presence is most often experienced in prayer. Talking with God in prayer is essential to our relationship with Him. If we don’t talk much during the week, a Sunday God is a stranger. It is in the depth of prayer we build a relationship that is alive and growing. It takes practice, a quiet place, an attitude of readiness and openness. Praying is about life, we pray best when we get close to our center and the way into our center is through our daily experiences. In other words, what is in our life belongs in our prayer. There is no need to pretend with God, no reason to hide.
Everly wrote, “Some people have never met God either in prayer or in the written word or in forgiveness or in faith or in their neighbor or in their lives and yet fondly hope to meet Him in heaven.” He concludes, “ If we haven’t found God on earth we won’t find Him in heaven.”
It is not easy to persevere in prayer. The distractions and busyness of everyday life fatigue us and dull our spirits and best intentions. Many of us are good at praying but not very good at making ourselves available to God. Often we may feel that God did not answer our prayers. Perhaps God is saying to us “You did not listen.” Can we hear the prayer of God going on within us?
The “missing” in most prayer is the listening. It is the same reason for many of the difficulties in relationships between husbands and wives and parents and children. Do we really listen to one another? Do we listen to God? I believe that is the message of today’s scripture. If you and I persevere in the listening aspect of prayer as much as in the talking aspect we will discover God present within us and the answer to our prayers.
Jesus tell us in the Gospel, “Will not God then secure the rights of His chosen ones who call out to him day and night?” Scripture and prayer are the building blocks of our relationship with God.
It is our responsibility as followers of Jesus to know Him through prayer and scripture and to proclaim Him to the world by our words and actions. It does make a difference to the world and to us whether or not the vision of Jesus is shared. None of us can follow who we do not know or love who we do not speak with or listen to. How well do we know God? How much time do we spend with Him in prayer?
It has been suggested that in these difficult and dangerous times we Pray for Wisdom, Listen with Humility and Respond in Faith. I think these three aspects of prayer are always good guidelines for us to follow.
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We have heard about the great Doctor of the Church, St.Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (Aurelius Augustine, 354-430 CE.). Born in Tagaste in North Africa of a pagan father and Christian mother, after a good education at Carthage, Augustine abandoned himself to physical pleasure. At seventeen he had a mistress and at eighteen a son, Adeodatus. In 373 Augustine became associated with Manicheism. He was praying, "Make me chaste and continent, O Lord, but not yet" (see his Confessions, no.8). After nine years as a Manichean, he became a skeptic. He was leading an unsettled life-both in his thinking and his moral behaviour. Full of questions and doubts, he was groping for solutions, searching the Truth. He left Carthage to teach Rhetoric in Rome, he was also reaching for a new philosophy of life, Neoplatonism, which he continued to study in Victorinus' translations of Plotinus (205-270 CE.) and Porphyry (233-304CE.). Disappointed in his teaching in Rome, Augustine accepted in 384 a government appointment to teach rhetoric in Milan, where he met Ambrose, Bishop of Milan. In a state of self-condemnation, he rushed into a garden where he heard a voice telling him to "take up and read" (Tolle, lege). He opened his Bible at random to Rm 13:13 and read: "Let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires". His character was miraculously transformed; he became a "new man". In the following year 387, on Easter eve, Augustine was baptized by the bishop Ambrose at Milan. From his traumatic experience, he gave deep psychological insights regarding grace and spiritual life. The credit goes to St. Monica, the mother of Augustine, who was praying unceasingly to God for her son's conversion, and died in 388 CE. "It is impossible that the son of such tears should perish!"-- was the remark made by one of the bishops, when Monica asked his help to persuade her son to come to the Catholic faith.
Gospel Reflection 20071014
There are no limits to what God can achieve with you.
When you are aware that you can improve yourself, that there's always something else to learn, and that others can show you how, you can do almost anything. When you do, it's O.K. to be proud when you realize that God, through other people, helped you achieve something. On the other hand, excessive pride is arrogance—the opposite of humility. When you strut around like you know it all and can beat anybody in anything, you can't grow. Maybe that's what Jesus meant when he said those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
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Faith & Gratitude
October 14, 2007
Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel
Lk 17:11-19
As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem,
he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.
As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him.
They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying,
"Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!"
And when he saw them, he said,
"Go show yourselves to the priests."
As they were going they were cleansed.
And one of them, realizing he had been healed,
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.
He was a Samaritan.
Jesus said in reply,
"Ten were cleansed, were they not?
Where are the other nine?
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?"
Then he said to him, "Stand up and go;
your faith has saved you."
Leprosy was a terrible disease; terrible not only because it destroyed the body but also because its victims were separated from their families and society. There were very strict laws that prohibited lepers from mixing with “healthy” folks. Imagine the suffering of lepers!
In today’s gospel we read of the 10 lepers who were healed by Jesus. Leprosy was possibly the most terrible affliction that could befall some one in the time of Jesus. Not only was it an incurable disease but those who contracted it were cut off from all society. They had to leave their families, gather with other lepers and broadcast to anyone who came near them that they were “unclean” so that everyone would stay away from them. Being cured of this disease was more than just a miracle restoring their health. It also restored their entire social life. They could be with their family, their friends and go back to their jobs.
In today's gospel, as Jesus entered the lepers village they cried to Him, "Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" Leprosy, at that time, was possibly the worst affliction a family could endure. Lepers were ostracized from the entire community and had to stay away from any contact with healthy individuals because the disease was very contagious. These lepers had to leave their wives, children and friends. They had to leave the village and lead a life of loneliness, waiting for their death.
It is easy to forget at times what it meant to be a leper in Jesus’ time. Such a person had to separate himself from the community, live outside the town, and declare himself “unclean” when anyone approached him. According to the Jewish mentality of the time, illness was a punishment for sin. If you had leprosy, you were considered a terrible sinner. So, as miserable a state as leprosy was, worse still was the shame of it all.
Leprosy is loneliness, it is isolation, it is anger, it is helplessness, a sickness of the body that becomes a sickness of the spirit. The Jews believed God sent it as a punishment that the sufferer was imbued with something heinous in his genetic or familial makeup, something that deserved this great punishment. In other ages, there was Bubonic Plague or Diphtheria; but those diseases, although terrifying, mercifully killed their sufferers. Leprosy left a person alive, in a living death.
And into the hopeless lives of ten lepers came the Son of God, the sign of life itself heading for Jerusalem to triumph once and for all over death of the body, and in so doing to give eternal life to the spirit.
What is the leprosy in our communities, in our lives that Jesus can heal?
Check newspapers, magazine and popular TV shows the last few months. Is dysfunctional a word that was around twenty years ago? I remember reading a column in the newspaper where a young woman who had sought career advancement and material success and then realized that all she wanted was a lifetime commitment to a man who loved her. I have listened to the young couples who wish to marry but don't want to have kids until "we're financially established, and get to know each other, and get to do the things we want." I have read the surveys taken among adolescents in upper middle class private schools who claim that their parents don't really love them. Read “Beer and Circus” by the Indiana Professor who vilifies public universities for providing sensual titillation rather than education for young men and women. And listen to high school students talk about college as a "life experience." While the police speak of unchaperoned high school beer parties; or worse yet parties where parents provided the alcohol for the children of parents who would not want their children to break the law. Can we all look into our lives and find the sleaziness of television fare, the social pressure, the financial pressure, the school achievement pressures, the mid-life crisis? You wouldn't have to go far to find a psychiatrist who would admit that some families today are sick, are in need of healing.
Is there loneliness in our busy worlds in our families? Is leprosy loneliness?, Are our neighbors or family members isolated from us or from those around them? Is that a leprosy?. What kind of angers keep coming back again and again in our lives? Is our anger a leprosy Are there people in our lives who seem to be helplessly enmeshed in difficulty? Who seem to be calling out for help as a leper would call? Has the spiritual illness prevalent in the outside world infected our families? What are we doing about it? Do we wander around in our caves failing to listen to the stories we hear of this Jesus of Nazareth who has the power to heal our sickness? Do we sit in our pain and isolation failing to hope in the Lord? Or do we cry out from afar in our leprosy to the Lord to save us? Do we have faith in the Lord when we call him and when he answers, "go, do what I have commanded." Do we walk off as the lepers did to show ourselves to the priest but believe our leprosy is still with us.? Notice that in the gospel reading Jesus asks the lepers to prove their faith in action. And if and when the sores and scabs leave us as Jesus sends his healing grace upon us, do we immediately run back to him forgetting our own self-interest? Jesus will heal the leprosy in our lives.
In the Gospel Reading, Jesus felt obliged to perform the miracle of curing these ten lepers; they really believed he could do it. That is why Jesus so hastily tells them to go to the priest, as prescribed by the law, and have their return to health officially recognized. Thus their banishment and disgrace would end. However, in their burst of joy, nine of the cured ten forget to say, “Thank you.” At first, it seems strange to us that they would omit this, after being transformed in one moment from utter misery to a clean bill of health. However, we often do the same; we forget to give thanks in the joy of a moment when someone has really helped us or resolved a major problem for us.
It does occur to one leper, a foreigner, to return to thank Jesus; he is a Samaritan. Jews and Samaritans normally despised each other in Jesus’ time, which probably makes his words of thanks to Jesus all the more remarkable. However, what really catches Jesus’ attention is the fact that only one person comes back to express his words of gratitude. Doesn’t this passage remind us of how rare the virtue of gratitude is in the human heart?
It would seem that being cured of leprosy would be the greatest gift a person could receive. There was no cure, no hope. One would think that every leper who had been cured would seek out Jesus and thank Him profusely. He had allowed them to return to their wives and their children. He made it possible for them to mingle with the their friends and neighbors in the village. Not only that but he lengthened their life span by many years. And yet, only one man returned to thank Jesus. Jesus Himself was stunned. He said, "Ten lepers were cleaned were they not? Where are the other nine?"
What Jesus seems to be saying is that if one receives any gift, he should at least say, "Thanks!" But nine of the cured lepers didn't even do that.
Of course, whenever Jesus spoke He wasn't just speaking to those around Him. He was speaking to all of us, for all time. He was speaking to us here in the 21st century. Now, we might say, "Well, I've never had leprosy and I don't know of anyone else who has contracted the disease. So, this message doesn't really apply to me!"
Well, let's think about that. True, we haven't had leprosy and Jesus knew that we in America probably would never have to worry about such a disease. How then is He speaking to us through this parable and what is His message to us?
The life of a leper was painful and lonely. Those who were not afflicted by the disease had much to be thankful for. They shunned any contact with the lepers and continued to live their comfortable lives. Only Jesus remembered the lepers and cured them.
When one thinks of our modern society we sometimes forget that there are millions of people in our world who have the same difficulty these lepers endured.
Hundreds of thousands of people in the third world die each year because of a lack of food, abortion causes the death of millions of unborn children, wars take a deadly toll on thousands of others, including our own men and women in the armed services.
And so what is Jesus saying to us, today? What did he expect from the ten lepers? Did He expect they now give up everything and follow Him? He didn't mention that to the one who returned to thank Him. He didn't expect they perform any extraordinary show of gratitude. What did He expect? He expected their gratitude. He expected each of them to say, "Thanks, you have given me a gift which I have not earned. You have blessed me and I can only thank you with all of my heart." And Jesus let the villagers know by His response to the one who did thank him by saying, "Has none but this foreigner (a Samaritan) returned to give thanks to God?"
So, what is His message to us? As we consider the blessings we have received here in our country, I think it would be proper to say that even the poorest of us have been blessed by God beyond our imagination. Of course, some might say, "Well, we don't have a million dollars in the bank and we don't have some of the luxuries others have." That's true! However, the majority of the world's population has far fewer blessings than we enjoy. Most of us are well fed. We live in relative safety and have magnificent health programs. We have to admit, "God has blessed all of us and, individually, we should do something to say "Thanks" to Him.
To the young people....... Millions of your counterparts in the rest of the world don't have enough to eat, they live in housing conditions we can't even imagine, they have no opportunities to go to schools, no jobs when they get older. So, what does Jesus ask of you? He simply asks, "Is there only one in ten who have given thanks to their God for the blessings He has bestowed upon you? All of us, young and old, cannot imagine what our lives would be like if we had been born and lived in China, Iraq, many parts of Africa and South America.
And if Jesus were here today, would He make great demands upon you and me? I don't think so. I believe He would say to us what he said to the crowd, "You have been (cleansed) blessed. All I ask is that you recognize what you have been given and be grateful for the gifts." How can we be grateful? As Jesus has said,
Love one another as I have loved you!
Let's think about what we have been given and let us follow the example of the Samaritan. What did he do? "Realizing he had been healed, he returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked Him."
When we think of how we have been blessed, whether we are young or old, I believe we should consider the words of Jesus, "Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?' He blesses us because He loves us. We thank Him, praise Him and keep His Commandments because we love Him. It's the least we can do!
We find today in our Gospel reading the narrative description of miraculous healings, and such healings are vivid signs that make present the Kingdom of God. Unfortunately now a day, when we talk about signs we tend to look at them as some sort of extraordinary event without looking sometimes at the whole picture where God is present.
It is true that we find in Sacred Scripture a number of miraculous events that imply an alteration of the normal course of Mother Nature. However, God’s living Word is not limited as some people may think. The entire Bible talks about the creation of the world and its Creator, and of His living presence in the world and its circumstances. It is also true that sometimes the living presence of God is seen clearer when events develop in a different way than normal.
Jesus’ miracles, such as the miraculous healing of the ten lepers in today’s Gospel, have the intention to confirm what the disciples themselves witnessed: the extraordinary power of God alive and present in Jesus and in history. All of these miraculous signs have their origin in God and they point to God, so that we—guided by these miraculous signs—may participate of God’s Kingdom here on earth.
Every human being is called by God to be saved in Christ, to count on Christ, who is present among us here on earth. Every event, and every circumstance, no matter how insignificant it may look, has the purpose of helping us to have an attitude of faith. A faith that is required in order to allow God helps us in our needs. God is the one who is constantly asking us, what can I do for you?
If we allow the circumstances of daily life to reveal God to us, and return to God over and over, then we will become like the only leper who returned to Jesus in order to thank Him for what He did for him. That man was able to discover in that healing a sign of salvation due to the faith he had.
All of the good and holy that we may accomplish in life will lead us to God, but it is important to have faith. If we believe, instead of listening to ourselves alone, we will be listening to God who is calling us everyday. God is not far away from us, but extremely close.
The healed leper that returned to give thanks to Jesus was the only person who discovered God in that miracle. The other nine lepers only experience the miracle and went along in life ignoring what truly happened. However, God remains present within us and in our midst. That leper left everything behind and returned not only to give thanks, but he returned to Jesus, who is God. Is not this perhaps the beginning of a long conversion process? This is precisely the type of conversion to which all of us are called every day, because everyday we need the forgiveness of God for our sins. All we have to do is to return to God who is willing to freely share with us His infinite love and forgiveness.
If we examine our lives, we can see God’s hand in so many instances and “close calls.” We all have been touched by Jesus. Have our lives changed as a result of the encounter? Are you like one of the nine: superficial in your relationship with Christ except when you think you really need him? Or have you responded like the Samaritan: your life utterly changed and devoted to Jesus?
Some time ago, I read this imagined conversation between the Lord and the Samaritan in the Gospel:
"My dear Simon, so you came back. The only one to do so. The other nine have been declared clean by the priests, but I assure you their cure is only skin deep. Their leprosy is gone but nothing else about them has changed. After their bitter and hurtful experience they have returned to their own selves. They have not benefited from the slightest from what they have been through. They are the same old people with the same hard attitudes, mean ways, selfish habits, worldly concerns, shallowness and superficiality of life. They never suspect that a person can have inner leprosy as well. I mean leprosy of mind and heart. They are still suffering from that and it is unlikely that they will ever be cured of it. They are not even aware of it. But you, Simon, are a new man. Your cure is not skin deep. It has reached into your mind and heart. Stay like that and you'll never forget this day. Go in peace now, and, by the way, thank you for thanking me."
Harry Ironside, the great American Bible teacher, went into a crowded restaurant to have a meal. Just as he was about to begin his meal, a man approached and asked if he could join him. Ironside invited him to have a seat. Then, as was his custom, Ironside bowed his head in prayer. When he opened his eyes, the other man asked, “Do you have a headache?” Ironside replied, “No, I don’t.” The man continued, “Is something wrong with your food?” Ironside replied, “No, I was simply thanking God as I always do before I eat.” The man said, “Oh, you're one of those, are you? Well, I want you to know that I never give thanks. I earn my money by the sweat of my brow and I don’t have to give thanks to anybody when I eat. I just start right in!” Ironside said, “Yes, you're just like my dog. That’s what he does too!”
There are many people in our society today who are just like Ironside’s dog. Such people believe they have earned every good that comes their way and, therefore, do not need to thank anyone or any God for it. They forget that the blessings that come into our lives are God’s blessings before they become our achievements. What did anyone do to merit being born alive while some people were born dead or were even aborted? What did you do to deserve loving parents while many people never had any? What did you do to have eyes to see, ears to hear, tongue to speak, feet to walk, that some people among us do not have? How much did you pay God to make you such an intelligent and beautiful person? Think of the many wonderful teachers, friends and relations that you have had and that you still have. We take our blessings for granted. Emerson once said that if the stars came out only once a year, everybody would stay up all night to behold them. We have seen the stars so often that we don’t bother to look at them anymore. How easily we grow accustomed to our blessings and forget to give thanks for them.
In today’s gospel Jesus heals ten lepers. Only one returns to give him thanks. Why didn't the nine lepers return? Here are some suggested reasons why the nine did not return:
One said, “I think we need to wait and see if the cure is for real, if it would last.”
One said, “Besides, there’s plenty of time to see Jesus later, if we need to.”
One said, “You know what: Maybe we never even had leprosy in the first place.”
One said, “There was no doubt in my mind that we would get well someday.”
One said, “I told you guys that if you think positively that you will be well, you will?”
One said, “Jesus didn't really do anything special; any rabbi could have done it.”
One said, “Now that we are okay, we do still need him?”
One said, “What we need now is the temple priest, the one who can declare us clean.”
One said, “Jesus said to go to the priest. He would be mad with us if we return to him now.”
You can see from these reasons that ingratitude often stems from selfishness and greed. Ingratitude is nothing but putting my need to get more before other people’s need to be complimented for what I have received from them.
Fortunately there is the tenth leper who says nothing but simply turns back to thank Jesus. He is a Samaritan, a foreigner. He cannot go to the priest because the priest would not minister to him. He does not belong to the “right” religion. He is regarded as a lawless sinner because he does not observe the Jewish Law. The nine Jewish lepers go to the priest because they want to fulfill the law. The lawless one follows his natural instincts and returns to Jesus to give thanks. Sometimes common sense is more accurate than the letters of the law in deciphering the will of God in particular situations. People who disregard common sense and reason and seek only to fulfill what the law or the man of God says often end up getting it wrong, like the nine lepers.
“Remember Jesus Christ!” exclaims St. Paul. Why do we let our fears and anxieties, our narrow-mindedness, our mundanity and profanity, our cynicism and skepticism, our vanity and self-concern take precedence over the blessedness of the memory of our beloved Jesus?
Do not forget Him, ever, in any place, in any moment, in any circumstance, however painful, however delightful.
Remember Jesus Christ and you yourself will be remembered by Him when He comes in his Kingdom.
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St. Ignatius of Antioch
(d. 107?)
Born in Syria, Ignatius converted to Christianity and eventually became bishop of Antioch. In the year 107, Emperor Trajan visited Antioch and forced the Christians there to choose between death and apostasy. Ignatius would not deny Christ and thus was condemned to be put to death in Rome.
Ignatius is well known for the seven letters he wrote on the long journey from Antioch to Rome. Five of these letters are to Churches in Asia Minor; they urge the Christians there to remain faithful to God and to obey their superiors. He warns them against heretical doctrines, providing them with the solid truths of the Christian faith.
The sixth letter was to Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, who was later martyred for the faith. The final letter begs the Christians in Rome not to try to stop his martyrdom. "The only thing I ask of you is to allow me to offer the libation of my blood to God. I am the wheat of the Lord; may I be ground by the teeth of the beasts to become the immaculate bread of Christ."
Ignatius bravely met the lions in the Circus Maximus.
Comment:
Ignatius's great concern was for the unity and order of the Church. Even greater was his willingness to suffer martyrdom rather than deny his Lord Jesus Christ. Not to his own suffering did Ignatius draw attention, but to the love of God which strengthened him. He knew the price of commitment and would not deny Christ, even to save his own life.
Quote:
"I greet you from Smyrna together with the Churches of God present here with me. They comfort me in every way, both in body and in soul. My chains, which I carry about on me for Jesus Christ, begging that I may happily make my way to God, exhort you: persevere in your concord and in your community prayers" (Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Church at Tralles).
Gospel Reflection 20071007
October 7, 2007
Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel
Lk 17:5-10
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith."
The Lord replied,
"If you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you would say to this mulberry tree,
'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
"Who among you would say to your servant
who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field,
'Come here immediately and take your place at table'?
Would he not rather say to him,
'Prepare something for me to eat.
Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink.
You may eat and drink when I am finished'?
Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?
So should it be with you.
When you have done all you have been commanded,
say, 'We are unprofitable servants;
we have done what we were obliged to do.'"
We experience faith every day. We have faith in our doctor to heal us when we are sick. Our faith in our doctor increases if he is good in his profession. The apostles experienced faith in Jesus in His ministry of love, mercy, healing and miracles. That faith went beyond their physical senses to Jesus as the Messiah. Such faith in Jesus was a good thing and more was better. The apostles said to Jesus, "Increase our faith". Likewise we also ask Jesus for an increase in faith. If Jesus responded to us and gave us the faith of a mustard seed, that still would not change our relationship to God. God is our creator and all that we are, all that we have and all creation comes from Him. We are still creatures and servants of God and will ever remain so. The Blessed Virgin Mary, full of grace and filled with faith acknowledged her status as "his lowly servant". No matter how hard we work or what we do will ever be enough to make up for the countless gifts of love and graces that Jesus gives us every minute of our lives. We could live the most holy of lives, live out the Commandments faithfully, and still be "unprofitable servants". "We have done what we were obliged to do". Our attitude should be one of grateful humbleness with praise and thanksgiving to our God who loves us beyond human understanding. We cannot, out of intellectual pride in our technological prowess, think that we have created everything worthwhile and take the attitude that we have preempted God in the process. All we discovered, invented or made are gifts from God.
We should continue to pray as the apostles did for an increase of faith. This is especially important in our prayer life. Faith is nourished and grows with prayer and we can lose our faith in the absence of prayer. When a human being does not pray, he relinquishes companionship with God and puts himself beyond God's reach. Prayer calls down the supernatural gift of faith and transports us to proximity with God, Mary and all God's saints--little short of where we're destined to be. Faith can be shaken by evil, suffering, injustice and death. As humans we don't want such trials and crosses and it's hard to look on them as gifts. Jesus, innocent of sin, took on all the sufferings of humanity to pay for our redemption. In faith, we follow the Way of Jesus which includes sufferings. We offer them to Jesus in the hope of sharing in His resurrection.
The first priority in our prayers should begin with thanks and praise to God. We see this in Mary's prayer, "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;” the Canticle of Zachariah; " Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;" Simeon taking Jesus into his arms and blessing God, saying: "Now Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word," in the Lord's Prayer; "hallowed be thy Name".
We should continue to pray for an increase of faith in Jesus every day. We could begin as soon as we wake from sleep with praise and thanksgiving with, "Glory be to the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and thanks for our rest and bringing us safely to a new day and offering all we do for the glory of God. We probably would not attain faith the size of a mustard seed but with prayers of thanks and praise and as grateful, humble, servants of God doing what we're supposed to be doing, we can trust that Jesus will increase our faith.
"If you have faith, you can move mountains." What does Jesus really mean, when He makes this outlandish claim? Is he speaking in hyperbole, or does He actually want His followers to believe that by simply having confidence and trust, one could move a mountain. Certainly Christ does not mean that a person on his own without tremendous external assistance could make a mountain move. Imagine you're standing at the base of Mount Everest, saying, "I order you to move five feet, Mt. Everest." It would be a long day.
However, it is clear that Christ is chastising the apostles for their lack of faith. When the apostles in today's gospel ask Jesus to "increase our faith," they are asking Jesus to strengthen their belief in Him and His new teachings. Perhaps it would help us to understand the request if we look at its context. In the four verses preceding today's reading Jesus makes two demands of His companions.
1.) He tells them to avoid scandals, causing others to sin. "It would be better for that person if he were to place a millstone around his neck and cast himself in the sea"
2.) And then He teaches His doctrine on forgiveness. He rejects the Old Testament law of the talon: "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." And then he demands that His followers forgive always, without end, "seven times seventy times."
This "turn your other cheek" rule was totally contrary to their former belief. So, basically the apostles are seeking the strength to accept Jesus' difficult demands.
There is one area in which most Christian religions are in total agreement: Faith is a gift from God. We are incapable of meriting this gift. Justification, we all believe, comes solely through Jesus Christ, our Savior. It is our belief too that Christ wished salvation for all people. As St. Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians, "announce to the gentiles the good tidings of unfathomable riches of Christ, and to enlighten all peoples to what is the dispensation of the mystery which has been hidden from all eternity through faith in Christ we all can be saved."
Of course salvation, though a gift of God, can be rejected, and good works (meritorious) can be performed as a result of Christ's salvation. Indeed in this modern materialistic world, we must protect the gift of faith with full cooperation. Prayer and sacrifice must be an essential part of our daily life.
The story is told of a man who fell off a mountain cliff. Half-way down the cliff he succeeds in grabbing a branch of a tree. There he is, dangling on the branch, unable to pull himself up yet knowing that letting go of the branch he would definitely fall to his death. Suddenly the man gets an idea. He looks up to heaven and shouts, “Is anyone up there?” A voice comes from heaven, “Yes, I am here. I am the Lord. Do you believe in me?” The man shouts back, “Yes, Lord, I believe in you. I really believe. Please help me.” The Lord says, “All right! If you really believe in me you have nothing to worry about. I will save you. Now let go of the branch.” The man thinks about it for a moment and then shouts back, “Is anyone else up there?”
Is the man in the story a believer? O course, he is. He believes that God exists. He believes in the power of prayer. He believes that God is able to help him and save him from his predicament. And, yes, he prays to God. But if he truly believes in God as he claims he does, why then does he not take God on His word? Why does he not let go of the branch to which he is clinging for life? Is God not able to save him? Many of us laugh at the story because we can recognize ourselves in this man. We believe in God, but when the going gets tough and things do not work out as we expect we take matters into our own hands or look for help elsewhere. We believe, yes; but we are people of little faith
The apostles too, the gospels tell us, are men of little faith. They believe in Jesus and follow him, but when they see the soldiers approaching in the garden of Gethsemane they abandon Jesus and flee. They are men of little faith. The big difference between us and the apostles is that whereas we often see ourselves as keeping the faith all right, the apostles see themselves as men of deficient faith. They know their faith lacks something. So in today’s gospel, they come to Jesus and say to him, “Lord, Increase our faith!" As the saying goes, he who does not know, and does not know that he does not know, is a fool. But he who does not know, and knows that he does not know, is a wise man. The apostles know that they their faith is not adequate. And they take steps to improve their faith. What steps have we taken in the past one year to develop our faith? How many retreats, seminars or bible study classes have we attended? How many books have we read? These are means through which the Lord increases our faith.
In response to the request of the apostles to increase their faith, Jesus tells them the parable about the unprofitable servant who comes back from plowing the field and proceeds straight away to prepare supper for his master and to wait on him while he eats. Only after the master’s needs are fully satisfied does the master then give the servant leave to attend to his own need for food and rest. How does this parable answer the request of the apostles for an increase of faith? Jesus is saying that if we have mature faith we would put the will and pleasure of God first in our lives at all times. If we have faith we will not grumble and complain that we have been working for God all day long, now we are tired and it is God’s turn to attend to our needs. Rather we will forget ourselves and work ourselves to death in God’s service, knowing that God will come to our aid when and how He deems right.
Faith for my deliverance is not faith in God. Faith means, whether I am delivered now or not, I will stick to my belief that God loves and cares for me. This is the mistake of the young man caught in the mountain cliff. He has faith in his own deliverance, not in God infinite power to save and unfailing love for him. God’s unconditional love for us demands only one proper response from us, our unconditional love and service of God. So many of us Christians today believe that true and mature faith consists in our ability to obtain miracles from God. The truth that today’s gospel shows us is that mature faith consists not in how much God attends to our immediate needs but in how willing we are to serve God unconditionally, without counting the cost. Let us today join the apostles in asking the Lord to increase our faith.
Gospel Reflection 20070930
September 30, 2007
Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Luke 16: 19-31
Jesus said to the Pharisees: "There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores. When the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, and from the netherworld, where he was in torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he cried out, ´Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering torment in these flames. ´ Abraham replied, ´My child, remember that you received what was good during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented. Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go from our side to yours or from your side to ours. ´ He said, ´Then I beg you, father, send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment.´ But Abraham replied, ´They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them. ´ He said, ´Oh no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent. ´ Then Abraham said, ´If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.´"
Imagine this scene. A man dies and arrives before the Judgment Seat of God. The divine Judge goes through the Book of Life and does not find the man’s name. So He announces to the man that his place is in hell. The man protests, “But what did I do? I did nothing!” “Precisely,” replies God, “that is why you are going to hell.” That man could as well be the rich man in today’s parable.
The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus has left Bible readers wondering why the rich man had to go to hell. We are not told he acquired his wealth by foul means. We are not told he was responsible for the poverty and misery of Lazarus. In fact we are not even told that Lazarus begged from him and he refused to help. We are not told he committed any crime or evil deed. All we are told is that he was feeding and clothing well as any other successful human being has a right to do. Why then did he go to hell?
The problem we have pinpointing the reason why the rich man went to hell has a lot to do with what we think sin is. We often think that we sin only by thought, word and deed. We forget a fourth and very important way through which we sin, namely, by omission. In the “I Confess” we say these words: “I have sinned through my own fault, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do.” Yet how readily we forget the sin of omission. Today’s parable reminds us that the sin of omission can land someone in hell. This is what happens to the rich man.
The good news of this parable is this: If you feel like a Lazarus right now, battered by sickness, poverty and pain, forgotten by society and by those whom God has blessed in this life, continue believing and trusting in God knowing that it will be well with your soul in the end. If you see yourself as one of those blessed by God with the good things of life, open your door and see. Probably there is a Lazarus lying at your gates and you have not taken notice.
Nice Isn’t Enough The rich man in today’s Gospel is the proverbial “nice guy”. His good qualities abound. He does, after all, accept his fate meekly. He doesn’t ask to be released from hell; he only asks for a drop of water to quench his thirst. And when he can’t even get that much relief, he begs for a special messenger in the hopes of sparing his own brothers a similar fate. He at least thinks of the welfare of others. Yet, all that niceness didn’t save him from eternal punishment. Do I ever think that just being a "nice" person will get me to heaven? Might I be using my own standards to judge my worthiness, rather than using God’s standards?
Where the rich man erred was in His was a sin of omission. The rich man lost his soul, not for what he did, but for what he failed to do.
Do I try to help others grow in their faith?
Share so Everyone Has What They Need
In the Gospel, we heard quite a reversal between how the rich man and Lazarus lived their earthly and eternal lives. Possessions are a constant theme for Luke, although he never tells how to use them. Possessions by themselves are neither good nor bad, but what one does with them is. Possessions can be obstacles to discipleship or they can be placed at its service. We must relinquish property, power, privilege, and status so as to empower others. The ideal is that all will have what is needed through sharing, which involves treasure, time, and talent.
In today’s gospel, no one remembers the name of the rich man, but we all know who Lazarus was. The rich man was so consumed with his possessions that he walked past Lazarus without evening acknowledging him. The rich man, even when in Hades, wanted to use Lazarus as his servant to cool his tongue and warn his brothers. This rich man just didn’t get it. He was all about himself. He had nothing to share; even the concept of sharing never entered his mind. It seems that he ended up in the appropriate place.
Once again Jesus, good teacher that He was, told his listeners a story, this time about a rich man and a poor man. The story is remarkable not so much because their places are reversed in the next life; St. John's Gospel has indications of that on more than one occasion. What is remarkable about the story is what occurs at the end.
Jesus does not indicate that the rich man's possessions had been gained by any injustice or other evil; there is nothing wrong with his riches. What Jesus is emphasizing here is that the rich man cares for no one but himself. He does not realize that the poor man, Lazarus, even exists. He is so absorbed in himself and his sumptuous pleasures that he is oblivious to the sufferings of someone else. He doesn't refuse to help Lazarus; he is not even aware that Lazarus needs any assistance. His abundance blinds him to everything and everyone else.
So Jesus and the prophet condemn the same selfishness. But Jesus goes considerably farther: at least the rich man in his story wants to preserve his brothers from his own sad fate, and asks that someone go and warn them about what happens to people like him. But this is not going to happen; the reply he receives is, "They have Moses and the prophets; let them listen to them." In other words, they don't need any more instruction; they have what they need. What they lack is the will to follow those instructions. Then the punch line: when Lazarus says, if only someone from the dead would go back and tell them, they would listen, he is told, "NO; if they won't listen to Moses and the prophets, they won't even listen to someone risen from the dead."
Why did Jesus say such a thing? I think it was because of His own experience. He did many truly remarkable things: he instantly cured many sick people, he healed many people who were mentally unbalanced, he even raised a few dead people to life. And yet so many people simply refused to believe in Him. He repeatedly asked his listeners to believe in Him; He showed that he had people's well-being at heart. But so many simply would not believe. They did not want to change their way of life. Jesus urged people to follow Him, and offered them the blessings of heaven as a reward, but they turned away from Him.
There's a clear and vivid lesson for all of us here: we don't need any more evidence, any more instruction, any more enlightenment. We have the words and example of Jesus; we have the testimony of so many saints and martyrs that have followed Jesus faithfully in spite of persecution and suffering and hardship. We don't need any more examples; we need to accept the testimony that has been given. We have more than Moses and the prophets; we have Jesus Himself and all the many saints He has raised up throughout the centuries in so many different parts of the world. We must listen to them.
Surely the Lord wants the same of us: not only that we be willing to help our neighbor in need, but that we be aware of his needs; that we be not blind to the sufferings and deprivations of others, but that we care enough for our fellow man to be alert and sensitive and notice when our help is needed. And we don't need any additional revelation: the brothers in the story had Moses and the prophets; we have Jesus Christ and the Saints!!
Either our faith is the guiding force of our actions, or it is not. To live out of a faith context means to apply our time and our means in support of those who struggle, not only within the framework of our own families but within the wider community. In doing so, our prayer and reflection are transformed into deeds of love that bring hope and unity to those we interact with on a daily basis. In essence, our capacity to be truly human is realized in being the faithful and loving servant of Our Lord.
Faith and love are the dynamic components of a true son or daughter of God. Acted upon, it can color the canvas of life with brightness and joy, and can lend hope to those who so desperately are in need of it.
A superficial reading of the story of Lazarus and the rich man might conclude that it is enough to be rich to be bad or to be poor to be good. A deeper understanding of it reveals, however, that Jesus is teaching nothing of the sort. If, in last week’s Gospel, Jesus warns us that the attitude we take to wealth can destroy our relationship with God, this week He emphasizes how our attitude to wealth can destroy our relationship with our neighbor. And while the attitude in question is a danger for both rich and poor, it is particularly so for the rich. Riches lead more easily to self-sufficiency; poverty leads more easily to dependence on others.
We could describe the wrong attitude to money as having two complementary sides – the two sides of a coin. It opens the door to self-absorption on the one hand, and thus to indifference on the other. The rich man in the parable simply did not notice Lazarus, even although Lazarus was lying at his door – he could easily have tripped over him. The reason he did not notice him was his self-absorption, shown in his daily routine of concern about how he looked and how he ate, fine linen and sumptuous dinners. The rich man shows how easily money can close you in on yourself if the opportunities and the power it gives are used only for yourself. Had the rich man been a poor man, perhaps he would also have been selfish without his money, but his neediness might then have forced him at least to look to other people to help him. Earthly riches can be transformed into heavenly riches if the power they give is put at the service of justice and of charity. Otherwise they can consume the one who possesses them; indeed, the rich man, rather than possess his riches, can become possessed by them. They can eat out his heart and dull his conscience. The plight of the poor, he might contend, is “none of his business”, he does not “want to be bothered” by such matters; he has more important things to worry about. His relationships with others may well be limited to people like himself, making up one great mutual admiration society. One reflects the other as in a grotesque hall of mirrors; they are bonded by their zeal for greed and indulge in subtle games of envy and rivalry. Being someone means having much; those who have nothing are nobodies, so how can the nobodies merit the attention of the some bodies?
In the parable, Jesus records no conversation between the rich man and Lazarus. Self-absorption kills dialogue; the cry of the poor goes unheeded, because the rich man simply cannot hear it. Money has made him deaf and dumb. Money not only divides the haves from the have-nots, it can also isolate the rich man in himself. It should be no surprise that many rich people are also very lonely people, and that their energies, both physical and spiritual, are sapped, not by caring for others, but by their money. As the psalm puts it: in his riches, man lacks wisdom, he is like the beasts that are destroyed. Riches can deprive a man of his awareness of his own humanity and of the humanity of others. He can believe himself a god, and his brother a dog. In so doing, however, he has dehumanized both himself and his brother and he has blasphemed against God. Self-absorption leads to an empty faith, to a form of hope no more real than death is inevitable, and to incurable insensitivity to the demands of love and of justice.
Riches are indeed a blessing from God, if they are not obtained unjustly or employed selfishly. Moses and the prophets made it increasingly clear to the children of Abraham that the Lord alone is the inheritance of His people. Amos rails against the self-satisfaction of the rich and lays at their door the blame for the terror of Israel’s exile. Even after the return from exile, the heart of the Jewish establishment exacerbates the patience of God by again falling into the idolatry of riches. The rich wanted the prophets killed, silenced, besmirched. They would not listen to reason, they would not budge from their stubborn materialism, they would not understand that the harsh judgment of the prophets was intended to bring them to their senses and convert their hearts back to the Lord. Indeed, the rich even expected the prophets to bless them and their questionable deeds! Would they have listened if Yahweh Himself had appeared to them? The rich man in the parable seems to think so. In his lament to Abraham he says: “if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.” But Abraham responds: “If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead” – that is, Christ Jesus Himself.
So what about today? Who are the self-absorbed rich? Who are the poor? Who are the prophets to whom the world does not listen? It is difficult to give names and addresses; Jesus Himself speaks only in the abstract of “a rich man.” Perhaps, however, we can speak of the rich man collectively. Without wishing to over-simplify, we can at least raise the question about the distribution of wealth on our planet. Certainly, many poor nations do not help themselves by their own socio-political structures and actions, but do the tools of international commerce and trade, of international money markets, give them a realistic chance to emerge from their poverty? Are wealthier nations self-absorbed, not because their citizens lack generosity, but because the international system does not favor the development of the poorer nations? To be sure, there are many initiatives and discussions on these matters which have been taking place for decades, as well as many, generous actions on an ad hoc basis, but does the effective, political will exist among all to change the system itself to be more just? Are not many of the tensions which exist between nations due to injustices between them? Terrorism is surely a perverse manipulation of religion, ideas and people, but has it not also been fed by the injustice of commerce and trade? Is it realistic to expect people to abandon terrorism when the incentives to do so are lacking? Force may contain the violence, but only true justice will replace it with true peace.
When I first came to Washington DC, I was warned not to travel in the eastern districts of the city at night because of possible violence. I recall once seeing a documentary about poverty in the world’s capital at a few hundred yards from Capitol Hill. It would be trite to apply simplistically the parable of the rich man and Lazarus to the west and east of Washington DC, but the point is that we may well have Lazarus on our own doorstep, as we may well have people who are absorbed in themselves being indifferent to his plight. No-one wants Lazarus to suffer, but to be relieved; no-one wants the rich man to be condemned to the under-world, but to be saved.
So we need prophets, nationally and internationally, who will seek to pierce the deafness and dumbness of unjust structures and of the men and women who sustain them. Clearly, however, in order for the prophets’ mission to be successful, whoever those prophets may be, each of us in his or her own life needs to take this parable of Jesus to heart. Each of us can do a little to prove that the prophet’s call can change a heart and a life. Jesus achieves the salvation of all through the salvation of each. If each of the some 300 people here would pledge to banish self-absorption and indifference from his or her own heart, chances are that we would affect 300 more, and so on. Some of you may be in positions to try and influence the structures to which I referred, be it through education, diplomacy, politics or law. We cannot just knuckle under and say: ‘it’s impossible’, and give in to a kind of pseudo-realism which is in fact made up of a combination of resignation, cynicism and laziness. No wonder people do not see Christ in us, if we will not truly and perseveringly believe in the power of Christ to change us, and the world through us. Prophecy is not just about screaming reproaches. It is about witness, seeing Christ’s priorities through in perseverance, sweat and tears. As the rich man was self-absorbed in his purple garments, we Christians can be self-absorbed in our religious garments; we can become complacent and comfortable in our catechism, self-indulgent in our sacramental piety, arrogant and indifferent because of the dogmatic certainty of our faith. But these things do not exist to make us feel jolly good about ourselves. They are tools given to us to make us heralds, apostles, prophets, witnesses of the power and the grace of Christ to the world, to this world. The very gifts our faith gives us will condemn us if we do not use them for the glory of God in the service of our neighbor.
This city, and any city, this world, past, present and future, are the stage on which the parable of the rich man and Lazarus continues to engage us. We must each ask, and answer: where is the rich man in me? Where is the prophet in me? Where is the Lazarus at my door? The Gospel must upset us before it can console us. Jesus does not tell us bed-time stories, but challenges us to make radical decisions in response to the wisdom of His Cross and in response to our own visceral need to find out who we truly are. The Gospel challenges our fears, small-mindedness and self-concern. It gives us the faith of Mary: nothing is impossible to God. It will not do to complain how difficult it all is, or how tragic our personal life has been. We must not try and fit the Gospel into our lives, but fit our lives into the Gospel. When you take major decisions in your life, do not ask first, “what do I want to do?’, but, “how can I choose a life-commitment, a profession, a change of life, which will best enable me to live and witness to the Gospel?” Any question you ask yourself must first find its answer within the mind of the Gospel. That is what it means to be a prophet. That is how we can change our world. That is how we can break through the deafness of the rich man. That is how we can know that the one who has risen from the dead will sit us down with Abraham and Lazarus at the feast of the Kingdom and serve us the unfading riches of His glory.
