Finding Favor with the Lord

In today's first reading, James 3: 13-18, St. James asks us whether we are wise and understanding and then says to us:  "...[S]how your] works by a good life in the humility that comes from wisdom."   There is no way to do this if "bitter jealousy and selfish ambition" dominate our hearts. How do we know whether these motivations have entered our hearts? Their presence reveals itself when we give in to boasting and abandon truth. In James words: [D]o not boast and be false to the truth. Wisdom of this kind does not come from above but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice."  And we see the effects of jealousy and selfish ambition every night when we listen to the nightly news.  Our country has stooped, I believe, to a new low where selfish ambition is applauded and rewarded, where earthly wisdom darkens our minds and hearts and will. Yes, there is a aura of the demonic clouding, I believe, the U.S. Every kind of disorder and...foul practice" are the order of the day, it seems.

But what about you and I personally? Because we live in this kind of climate does not exempt us from taking James words seriously!  You and I as Christians are called to be wise and understanding, to live "a good live in the humility that comes from wisdom, divine wisdom that is, not earthly wisdom.  When you and I act from divine wisdom, we are relying upon the Holy Spirit for guidance and strength to make right choices, to follow, in the words of today's  the responsorial psalm, Psalm 19, "the law of the Lord."  Only God's laws and decrees are "trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple,...rejoicing the heart,...enlightening the eye....The ordinances of the Lord are true, all of them just."   With the psalmist, we pray:  "Let the words of my mouth and the thought of my heart find favor before you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer."

Beginnings and Endings

Today’s readings, Revelation 14: 14-19 and Luke 21: 5-11, speak of the end time and what will precede that time. We are warned not to be deceived into thinking that the end time is now. Rather, believe that, yes, the end times will come but preceding such a time, there will be wars and threats of war. There will be natural as well as man-made disasters,  chaos and disorders of every kind.  We have a choice of focusing either on the darkness or the Light, on the disasters or ways to help those who are victims of a disaster. We can choose to be people of the Light or of the darkness, people of hopefulness or hopelessness, people filled with love or hatred of any of its forms . 

As we approach the end of the Church year and begin Advent this coming Sunday, we are challenged to take stock of our lives.  Are we personally ready to begin anew? All of life, as we know it,  is about endings and beginnings. Every morning the Lord gives us another day to begin anew in making the world a better place, in bringing light into darkness, hope into despair, love into hate-filled situations.  Each day we have new opportunities to right wrongs we may have done or to forgive wrongs others may have done against us. Each day  we are given opportunities to have our eyes and ears and hearts and minds and wills open to the Lord at work in the midst of our lives and the lives of others and to use us as His instrument of doing good in our world.

What choices will you and I make today?  What will be our focus? In what ways are we being challenged to begin anew?

Chaos, Woe and Darkness: Invitations to be Creative or to Accept Help

In today's first reading, Isaiah 45: 6b-8, 18, 21b-25, Isaiah makes the statement that God forms "the light" and creates "the darkness", that God makes "well-being" and creates "woe."  My response to the Lord was: "Lord, I have a difficult time believing that darkness and woe (the woes of illness, of war, of violence, and so on) come from You. The Lord's response may sound something like this:

Dorothy Ann (or your name), chaos, woe, and darkness are all part of life, as is order, blessing/joy, and light.  Chaos, woe and darkness are not such for Me. They are opportunities, challenges, and obstacles which, overcome, lead to life anew.  They are opportunities that call for your creativity, that invite you to collaborate with others.  Nothing is really awful or a failure but are temporary blockages to something more profound like discovering My help, My strength within you and others to make things better or to right wrongs.  Your depleted energy, for example, which indicates that your brain is healing, is a blessing that teaches you to respect an injured part of your body and to be attentive to need, your own and others.  Human need, weakness--yours or others--is a time when I, your God, rain down strength and healing from My storehouse of gifts.  It is also when I inspire you to offer help or, if  you withhold what you could do, to realize your stinginess and sinfulness.