"Now I Know That There Is a God"

In today's first reading, 2 Kings 5: 1-15b, we encounter Naaman, the commander of King Aram's army, a man who was highly esteemed and respected by the King.  So when he developed leprosy, the King was very concerned. A little child from Israel, captured during one of the wars with Israel and a servant of Naaman's wife,  said to said to her master's wife: "If only my master would present himself to the prophet in Samaria, he would be cured of his leprosy."  Naaman went to the King and told him what the little girl had said. The King's response was: "Go!"  He does so and presents himself to the king of Israel, who angrily tears his garment and says: "Do you think that I am a god."  And in his anger believes that the king of Aram is only seeking to quarrel with him. The prophet Elisha hears of the king of Israel's reaction to Naaman and asks that the leper  be sent to him. Naaman goes to Elisha and expects that the prophet himself will meet him and ostentatiously heal him but instead sends a message that he go into the Jordan and bathe 7 times and his leprosy will be healed. Naaman's ego has a fit and, only at the persuasion of his servants does he bathe in the Jordan. He is healed, as Elisha said he would be.  He returns to Elisha and proclaims: "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel."

Am I, are not you, at times, like Naaman. Our egos invariably seek extraordinary treatment. We believe, at times, that we are entitled to spectacular episodes that exalt our egos! And God says "no"! To experience the miracles of our God, the goodness of our God, God's compassion, we may simply be asked to go to a parish mission, to attend a certain liturgy or to go to confession.  We could bulk like Naaman did when asked to submerge himself seven times in the Jordan or, in faith, follow the suggestion given to us by our children, our grandchildren, our spouse or a friend! Or the Spirit might be nudging us to make a phone call to someone whom we may have insulted or to stop at the flower shop on our way home from work and buy a rose for our spouse. Do we bulk and say: "No way! I can't be bothered!"  Insignificant acts may well bring about a "miracle" and give a message to the recipient that God truly exists and is truly a loving, caring, forgiving, merciful God.

When have you said to yourself or to another: "Now I know that there is a God?"  Be the reason another person would make that proclamation!

Do Whatever He Tells You

Today’s Gospel,  John 2: 1-12, features  the wedding feast at Cana. Jesus, his disciples, and Jesus’ mother were guests at this wedding. Mary notices that the bridegroom ran out of wine and brings this to Jesus’ attention. “They have no wine,” Mary says to Jesus.  Jesus’ response seems harsh. He says to her: “Woman, what do you want from me? My hour has not come yet.” Mary then says to the servants: “Do whatever he tells you.”  Jesus says to the servants: “Fill the jars with water.” So they did just that. Jesus then says to them: “Draw some out now and take it to the president of the feast.”  Jesus had turned the water into wine. “The president of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him:  Everyone serves good wine first and the worse wine when the guests are well wined, but you have kept the best wine till now…. This was the first of Jesus’ signs, [through which He] “revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.”

This whole scenario connects with Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection.  At the Last Supper Jesus turns the wine into His blood and says: “Take and drink of this. This is my blood poured out for you.”  On the cross, water and blood gush forth from Jesus’ side when He is pierced with a lance.  And from the cross, Jesus gives Mary to us as our mother, when He says: Woman, behold your son; son, behold your mother.”   Mary is the new Eve, the mother of all humankind, not just Jesus’ mother.

As Mary notices the need for more wine and interceded at Cana, so, too, she is observant of our unmet needs and alerts Jesus.  Jesus did not  immediately respond with an affirmative answer but it is Mary who directs us to listen to Jesus, to go to Him and to do whatever Jesus tells us to do.  Jesus follows the will of His Father and does not act on His own. It is always the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit working together to reveal God’s love, compassion, understanding and mercy toward us, even in the embarrassing moments of our lives when we, too, run out of “wine.”

The Journey to the Promised Land

In today’s first reading, Jos 24: 1-13, Joshua gathers all of the tribes of Israel and  reviews for them all that the Lord has done on their behalf, tracing God’s presence in their lives all the way back to Abraham’s father Terah. He shows them how God stopped the Egyptians in their pursuit of them, delivered them from nations far more powerful than they,and thwarted a curse against them.  “It was not your sword or your bow”; it was not your military might, Joshua reminds them.  “I [the Lord,  Yahweh] gave you a land which you had not tilled and cities which you had not built, to dwell in; you have eaten of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.”

The same is true for us.  As with the Israelites, we are on our way to the Promised Land. As our inheritance as adopted children of God, God has given us a new Jerusalem, a city we did not build, vineyards we did not plant. On our journey here in the wilderness of this earth, God goes before us, leveling “cities,” overcoming powers that  lure us into worshiping false gods:  narcissism, atheistic materialism, consumerism, hedonism,  wealth for its own sake,  the glorification of the body as something to be worshiped, absolute freedom to do whatever we so choose even to assuming that it is okay to violate the rights of the unborn, of the poor and oppressed, of women and children, of immigrants, of persons viewed as minorities, of the earth itself and all that lives on it. 

If you and I gathered our families around us, going back several generations, what would the list of   blessings look like, I ask myself.  What false gods are we following? From what powerful “nations ”-- snares of the devil--has/ is God  rescuing us?  

The miracles God worked for the Israelites God will work for us in the 21^st century. I believe that! What is your belief? I pray for the grace that you and I have the courage and the wisdom  to cooperate with the Lord in bringing about the salvation of the world in some small way by our efforts,to avoid evil and  lead people to Jesus at the foot of the cross.

Authority, Faith, Miracles

In today’s Gospel, Luke 7:1-10, we are given the example of a centurion, a foreigner, believing in Jesus’ power to heal his slave, or anyone for that matter.  Not feeling worthy to approach Jesus, recognizing Jesus’ authority and power, he does not personally come into Jesus’ presence but asks his elders to take his request to Jesus.  The centurion recognizes the importance of authority and respects authority. He himself, in fact, occupies a position of authority. He tells  Jesus that his soldiers go where he tells them to go and that his slaves do what they are asked to do.  Jesus was amazed at the faith of this centurion and says: “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”  And when the centurion’s messengers returned to the house, “they found the salve in good health.”

Am I respectful of authority? Do I recognize the importance of authority or am I resentful of persons who have authority over me? Does my attitude toward authority get in my way of believing in the miracles that come from being cooperative and forgiving, of praying for those in authority, especially for those whose commands I find difficult to carry out?  Does my resentment of authority and my exaggerated importance of my own authority obstruct my openness to Jesus’ authority to heal, to do the impossible in my life, in the life of others, in the church, the world, the society in which I live?  In other words, am I the centurion or one of the Israelites in today’s Gospel story?                                 

More miracles! More revelations! More challenges!

Yesterday we reflected on the test Elijah put to the prophets of Baal.  Through Elijah, Yahweh revealed that the only true God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the God who created heaven and earth, the God who freed the people from slavery in Egypt, and who covenanted with Israel, His Chosen Ones: “…of all the peoples on earth, you have been chosen by Yahweh, your God, to be his own people “(Dt. 7:6).  Yahweh alone is [your] guide; no alien god for him” (Dt. 32: 11). 

The miracle on Mt. Carmel—Yahweh sent down fire to consume Elijah’s sacrifice whereas the prayer of the god of the 450 prophets of Baal did not respond to their same request—is followed by the miracle revealed in today’s first reading:  the drought is lifted over the land and its fertility restored. In the N. T., we meet Jesus giving the sermon on the Mount and sharing with us ways in which each of us will be transformed and made more fertile: don’t even use abusive language with others, don’t enter into communion with the Lord in the Eucharist when your communion with others is severed by anger, resentment, and/or revenge. Go first to your brothers or sisters to seek reconciliation and forgiveness. Then return to the altar of God. 

Jesus raises the bar for His followers and challenges us to be compassionate, understanding, and forgiving; in short, to love others in the way the Father loves us.

Do my behaviors, I need to ask myself, reflect this covenant? Is my life being transformed by the sacrifices I am giving to God through the way I relate to others and to myself? Do others see this transformation taking place in me, as they witness the way I love and respect others and myself, forgiving myself and others when we offend each other? Do others say: look how that family loves one another? Look how those women/men religious respect one another and seek reconciliation with each other?

Patient Response to Life's Difficult Moments

In today’s first reading, Acts 16: 22-34,we read about Paul and Silas’ arrest, being beaten with rods and put in chained shackles.  They are treated cruelly, shamefully, disdainfully. It is night. No bed. No comforts.  They turn to their faith and spend the night singing, thanking and praising God. Suddenly an earthquake shatters the prison, breaks open their chains and they could be free men. However, they do not escape. The jailor is terrified of his fate when he discovered the prison doors wide open, the chains broken. In his desperation he  is about to commit suicide when Paul yells out: Don’t harm yourself!  God uses Paul and Silas’ heroic faith and love to save the jailor and his family, who turn to Christ, are baptized and minister to Paul and Silas, taking them to his home; treating their beaten, bruised bodies and giving them a meal.

As I reflect on my reactions to things in my life that are irritating, humiliating and distasteful on a much smaller scale than what Paul and Silas went through, I am humbled as I reflect upon their faith response.  I rant and rave at much smaller injustices, far from turning to the Lord in prayerful praise, as Paul and Silas had done.  When life throws me “a curve ball” or all hell breaks loose on my efforts, what if my response flowed out of my faith instead of my anger, my demand for just treatment or my insistence on being treated righteously.  What miracles the Lord could perform!