Totally Exposed to the Lord!

In today's first reading, Hebrews 4: 12-16, St. Paul reminds us that the Word of God "is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart. No creature," St. Paul warns us, "is concealed from  him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account."

Those are strong words!  You and I are "naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we render an account."   Everything about us--every thought we think, every word we utter, all of our actions and omissions--is known to God! The same is true for people in highest positions of leadership throughout the world.  No one is concealed from God.

Our consolation, St. Paul tells us, in this passage,  is that  Jesus is able to "sympathize with our weaknesses, [for He, too, as a human being,] has been tested in every way  [like us], except sin." Therefore, "we can confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help." My prayer for all humankind is that we do just that so that we receive the help we need to repent, to turn from evil and do good and to believe in the Gospel!  The time is now!

Discipleship: Its Challenges, Hopes, and Fears

In today’s Gospel, Mark 6: 7-13, Jesus sends his disciples out in twos to spread the Good News, to heal the sick and cast out demons.  Sometimes they succeeded. At other times they did not.  On the Lake of Geneserath, when they encountered a storm, they  doubted that Jesus cared that they could have drowned, as He was soundly asleep in the stern of the boat. Awakened by their frightened call, Jesus quieted the raging waters and confronted them on their lack of faith.

The apostle’s faith and trust in the Lord would continue to be tested.  One of them denied Jesus; another betrayed Him.  All of the apostles doubted the resurrection and, except for John, ran away in the heat of the battle. No one but John stood beneath the cross on Calvary. In the Garden of Gethsemane, the three apostles that Jesus took with Him fell asleep during His agony. 

Sound familiar?   We, too, walk that same journey of faith. At times, we do not succeed. Our efforts leave no results that we can see. We fall asleep, inattentive to that which calls out for our love, our caring, our encouragement!  Doubts assail us. Our faith is shattered from time and time as we encounter setbacks, failures, and challenges that baffle us. When I fail in these ways, I wonder what I would ever do if I faced persecution, martyrdom, torture for the sake of Christ. Some of our fellow Christians do and are being tortured, persecuted, martyred as I write this. Lord, I know, you stand at their side. You also stand at my side through the daily experiences of every day. When I am weak, You are strong.  I believe that even when my faith seems buried beneath the “rubble” of life. I believe that, Lord, even when, like the apostle in that terrifying storm, I cry out to You:  “Don’t you see I am about to die in some way, that I am desperately in need of your intervention”. Even when I say: “You have abandoned me, Lord,” I still, deep down somewhere in my being, I believe.

Trusting the Lord in Times of Disaster

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the apostles that He will be handed over to evil persons who will kill him.  In three days, He says, He will come back to life. They do not, at all, comprehend what  He is talking about. In fact they immediately begin arguing who is the greatest among them in what they thought was a kingdom here on earth  of which Jesus would become King.  Jesus then describes that to be a participant of His Kingdom, we are called to be servants of all, not persons who lord it over others, and that we are to assume the attitude of a little child. A child is completely dependent upon one’s parents to meet all of his or her needs. How utterly dependent upon God am I? To what extent do I assume being a servant of all?  Today’s first reading, Sirach 2: 1-11,  spells out in detail what it means to a servant of the Lord:

 

“My child, if you aspire to serve the Lord,

prepare yourself for an ordeal.

Be sincere of heart, be steadfast,

And do not be alarmed when disaster comes….

[I]n the uncertainties of your humble state, be patient,

since gold is tested in the fire

 and the chosen in the furnace of humiliation.

Trust [God] and [God] will uphold you,

follow a straight path and hope in [God].

You who fear  the Lord, wait for his mercy,….

hope for those good gifts of his,

everlasting joy and mercy….

Love [ God] and your hearts will be enlightened….

Compassionate and merciful is the Lord;

He forgives sins, he saves in time of trouble,

and he is a protector to all who seek him in truth.

How, in the Lord’s name, you might be asking, can you think of God as merciful in light of the tornadic activity tearing across the country.  Why, you ask, would God allow such destruction.   I am to ‘prepare myself for an ordeal”  and “not be alarmed when disaster comes!” Are you crazy, might be the question.

Discipleship is not a piece of cake.  Jesus tells us in the Gospels that in the world we will have troubles, as He did and no servant is greater than his/her master.  God does not cause evil to happen. God does not send tornadoes or earthquakes or tsunamis or any disaster, natural or otherwise.  Those things simply happen on this earth when conditions are in their favor.  God is there to comfort through responders, to show His mercy through neighbors, to reveal His compassion by an outpouring of help to victims, to restore order in the chaos through persons who offer to clean up, through those who give assistance in rebuilding. God weeps with those who weep.  God suffers with those who suffer.   Heros and heroines will come forward in the most devastating of circumstances—God is at work through them.   

Good being challenged

In today's Gospel, Luke 11:15-26, the crowd accuses Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the Prince of Demons. Jesus comes back with: "If I drive out demons by Beelzebub,by whom do your own people drive them out (Luke 11: 19)?  We know that Satan will not prevail and that Jesus will cast Satan out of existence.  Just as Jesus, while he walked this earth and confronted injustices of all kinds, was tested by crowds who challenged the source of His work, so, too, will we be tested and challenged by others who are threatened by the good we do and by who we are.  We need to hold fast to our faith, as, in today's first reading, Gal. 3: 7-17, Abraham held fast to his faith. He did not succumb to idolatry, to the evil around him.  He trusted God even to the point of sacrificing his son--a practice by the pagan nations of his time. God did not sanction this pagan practice. So when Abraham was about to follow this practice, God intervened and, with power, commanded Abraham not lay a hand on the boy.  Isaac lived!  Truth prevailed. There are things going on today that God does not sanction either--things Jesus challenged in his own culture and for which he was put to death--his ways, his truth threatened the powers that reigned during his time here on earth. There are truths today that threaten powers that be. The truth  that comes from the Spirit of God will prevail in the long run, however.  All evil will be put to death, even evil disguised as a good, will be crushed.