Being Found by the Lord

In today’s Gospel, Jesus goes to Galilee and there finds Philip. Jesus says to Philip: “Follow me.”   Philip, in turn, finds Nathaniel and says to him: “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth. Nathaniel asks Philip: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip does not argue but says: “Come and see.”  Jesus sees Nathaniel coming “toward him and said of him, “Here is a true child of Israel. There I no duplicity in him.”  “How do you know me,” Nathaniel asks.  “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel,” Nathaniel responds.  “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this…Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man.”

Just as Jesus found Philip, so, too, does He find you and I. He says to us, as He said to Philip: “Follow me.”  What do you and I need to leave behind to be truly following the Lord. And once we have begun that journey, do we, in turn, invite others? Do we, like Nathaniel, ask: “What good can come out of Nazareth?”  What  good, do we ask, is there in following the Lord: going to church, practicing the faith, saying prayers as a family, teaching our children the faith, reading the Bible, speaking up for justice and right, reaching out to a needy neighbor, volunteering at a food pantry or a soup kitchen, being involved in parish activities? 

Perhaps we do not realize that everything we do in the name of the Lord and for and with the Lord prepares us to see “the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man,” and on us at our last hour!

Waiting for Peace

Today’s readings, Jeremiah 14: 17-22 and Matthew 13: 36-43, are awesome! Jeremiah cries out to the Lord, distraught over the destruction he sees in his country: people are being killed, left to rot in the fields. People are starving in the cities.  Wherever he looks he sees the effects of evil.  Sounds like Jeremiah is living in 2016: every day, on the news, we hear of individuals being gunned down,  stabbed, beaten (whether that be physical, verbal, or emotional).  Every day children are abandoned, neglected,  abused, sold into slavery, become victims of the sex industry or drug traffickers. Every day babies are killed in their mother’s womb. On and on and on we see evil, that is, we witness  people ensnared by Satan’s deceptive maneuvers, lured into becoming wealthy by any means or avoiding inconvenience or sacrifices that are part of life here on earth.

  

Like Jeremiah, we could ask God: “Have you cast Judah (us) off completely? Is Zion (insert the name of your city, country, State) loathsome to you? Why have you struck us a blow that can not [it seems] be healed? We wait for peace, to no avail; for a time of healing, but terror comes instead.  We recognize, O Lord, our wickedness,” or do we?

And God says to us, through Matthew 13:  28-30,   Do not pull out the weeds, those doing evil in the world,  because “when you weed out the darnel you might pull up the wheat with it. Let them both grow til the harvest; and at harvest time, I shall say to the reapers:  ‘First collect the darnel and tie it in bundles to be burnt, then gather the wheat into my barn.’”  In Matthew 13: 41-43, Jesus says to us that at the end of the ages:  “The Son of man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of falling and all who do evil, and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. Then the upright will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.’ Anyone who has ears should listen!”

Are we listening? And, what am I doing to bring about healing: to decrease wickedness, to lessen violence (verbal, physical, emotional, spiritual) in my relationships, to bring about peace in the world, that is, in the family, in my religious community, in the parish, in the municipal or civic community in which I live?

Jesus' Hour Had Come

In today’s Gospel, John 13: 21-22, 36-38, Jesus is “reclining at table with his disciples.”  He is “deeply troubled” and says: “Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”   Imagine Jesus’ sorrow.  My mind goes to situations in which a criminal is fearful of being betrayed. Jesus is no criminal yet one of His own is about to hand him over to those who are plotting to crucify him. I think of King David being pursued by his son Absalom, who, also,  is seeking to put his father to death. Jesus, our King, is, in a sense, pursued by His Father to reveal the depth of their love for you and me. Each person of the Trinity is eager to reveal the willingness of the Son of God to die in our place. Out of their love for us, the Trinity gives one of their own to sacrifice his life for the exoneration of each human being from the claws of death, which we call sin.

When the apostles heard Jesus’ message that one of them was about to betray Him, they frantically begged to know which of them would do such a thing. “It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.” He gives the consecrated bread to Judas. At that moment “Satan entered him.” Jesus says to him: “What you are going to do, do quickly.” Judas leaves. “It is night.” Darkness seems to have triumphed. So even more urgent is the act of redemption, Jesus, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, giving His life to save us from the kind of night that engulfed Judas.

Oh, the mercy and the love of our God. This is the hour for which Jesus became man. This is the hour when Jesus will be glorified and we with Him. The gates of heaven will be reopened to humankind, the gates that had been closed when Adam and Eve followed their own will instead of God's.  What will you and I do when tempted by Satan, as was Judas in his betrayal and as was Peter in his denials of Jesus. Judas leaves Jesus. Peter stays.  What will you and I do in moments like these?

Mary's Faith Journey: Her Questioning and Ours

Today we celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  The Gospel tells the story of Mary and Joseph taking Jesus up to the temple on his 12th birthday. Jewish boys, at that time, become a bar miszvah, "literally a 'son of the commandment(s).'   He can then perform all the mitzvoth and is required to do so with full responsibility for his religious behavior. When the boy is first 'called up' to the Torah, symbolic of his attainment of majority, the father utters a blessing commemorating this transition to adulthood."  Following the ceremony, Jesus stays behind in the Temple. Mary and Joseph leave Jerusalem, thinking that Jesus is in the caravan with the other parent.  He is not!  Mary and Joseph spend three terrifying days looking for him, Mary no doubt recalling Simeon's prophesy that Jesus is destined to be the cause of the rise and fall of many in Israel and a sword [of sorrow] will pierce her heart.

We read about the terror any parent goes through when a child is abducted, kidnapped, lost.  Mary and Joseph are no exception.  They find Jesus after a three-day search and Mary says to Jesus: "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety" (Luke 2: 41-51).  And Jesus responds: "Why were  you looking for me?"  That response must have baffled Mary and Joseph, I would think. The Scriptures tell us that "they did not understand what he said to them."  He left the Temple and returned to Nazareth with His parents, and "was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart."

We next meet Mary in the Scriptures when she and "his brothers come looking for him"(Mt. 12:46). Rumors  were such that his relatives wondered whether Jesus had lost his mind--had he gone crazy, being so involved in his ministry that he did not take time to eat. And finally, the next appearance of Mary is beneath the cross, where Jesus says to her: Woman, behold your son; Son, behold your mother"--all of us are entrusted to her care and she becomes the Mother of the Church!

Mary's faith journey was anything but simple or easy. Every parent knows Mary's pain and the burden  and responsibilities of parenthood--they do not disappear when a child enters adulthood.

The question we may want to ponder is: what does Mary teach us about parenthood, about being there for a  child, or anyone,  in trouble, about dealing with life on God's terms?

Seeing God at Work: What's My Reaction?

In today's Gospel, Lk 11: 14-23, Jesus "was driving out a demon that was mute, and when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed." Others accused Jesus of casting out demons by Satan's power. From Jesus' question to his objectors, "By whom do your people cast out demons," it is obvious that there were individuals among the objectors who also had the power to cast out Satan.   I can imagine the objectors saying to themselves: "Who is this guy? He is not one of us!He's not authentic!  He must be under Satan's influence!" 

Satan's goal on this earth is to create division, to cause chaos, to lead people to mistrust God at work in ourselves and in others.  The snare Satan sets for us is to engage in behaviors, in conversations, that pit one person against another, that leads others to question the authenticity and the motivations of another.  We may not be aware of  why we believe that "'nothing good' can come from the source which we are opposing.However, many times, when God is doing good in another, we are faced with mystery.  The response that brings about unity is one of reverence and awe, gratitude and affirmation; in short, behaviors flowing from our spirit-self, not from our egos. The ego always wants to be the center of attention, the one on the pedestal, the one who is right and the other wrong. The ego, as the egos of Adam and Eve, wants to be a god unto itself and does not believe God's promptings anymore than Adam and Eve did. Satan plants a doubt and says, in effect: "God really did not say you couldn't eat of that fruit. It really is not true that you will die. No, God knows that you will be like Him if you eat of it." And we know the rest of the story. We, too, get caught in this game of pretending to be God, always right and never wrong in our relationships with others, as with the objectors of Jesus doing good by the power of the Spirit working through  Him.

Humility in the face of God at work in another, especially if I do not like that person or believe what that person believes,  or if I perceive that person in competition with me, does not come easily.