Sharing of the Little We Have

In yesterday and today's first readings, 1 Kings 17: 1-6 and 1 Kings 17: 7-16, we read and reflect upon the ways in which God cared for his prophet Elijah during a famine in his land.  In yesterday's reading, God directs Elijah to inform King Ahab that, at his word, there will be no dew or rain in the country for "these years."  And then the Lord directs Elijah to leave the area, saying to him: "Leave here, go east and hide in the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan. You shall drink of the stream, and I have commanded ravens to feed you there."  The brook where Elijah was hiding ran dry,  so the Lord directed Elijah to move on to "Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have designated a widow there to provide for you."   The widow he encounters is collecting sticks to make a last meager meal for herself and her son, as she only has a small amount of flour and oil. Following this meal, she and her son planned to wait to die. Elijah asked not only for a drink of water but also for a bit of bread and promised her that the "jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth."  She shares the meager means she has and, sure enough, the jar of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, as the Lord had foretold through Elijah.

God took care of His/Her prophets and also takes care of you and me, of all of His/Her children.  What amazes me is the faith of Elijah and of the widow. Elijah has neither food nor water to drink and his Creator and Caregiver provides both, using both animals and a fellow human being to provide for Elijah's need. The faith of the widow is also incredible. She and her son are facing death and only have enough flour and oil to make a meager meal for themselves, much less for Elijah. Yet, she shares with the prophet, who guarantees her that her flour and her oil will not run out "until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth." And she had enough supplies for a whole year!

No matter how little we have, when we share of that little, we always have enough for ourselves!  We may think we have no energy to do one more thing and we do that one more thing and we have energy galore!  We may think we have nothing to give another person and find out that the little we give--our time, our love, our support, a smile, a greeting--is more than enough! Our willingness to give of the little we have may be all a person needs to bear the burden of  loneliness, the heaviness of depression or the  weight of acute grief. 

Storing One's Wealth for Personal Use Only or Sharing It?

In today’s Gospel,  Luke 12: 13-21, Jesus reminds us that our lives do not “consist of possessions,” not that possessions are bad but that such is not what life is about.  Life is about love, loving, and being loved; about caring and showing others that we care, about compassion and being compassionate, about understanding and being understood, about consoling and being consoled, about forgiving and being forgiven. It is all about relationships, about modeling our relationships on the relationships of the Trinity, where all share equally in the Trinitarian resources,  where each in included in the activity of the other and equally contributing, equally rewarded and compensated;  where each Person of the Blessed Trinity is of one in mind, one heart and one spirit, committed to doing good and being goodness in the lives of all humankind, reconciling us to our Creator God.  The Trinity models love.

The core realities of life spiritually, I believe, are faith, hope and love--love of God, love of self, and love of one’s neighbor.  The expression of love is the richest of life’s experiences and transcends all of life.  Of faith, hope and love, only love lasts eternally. Am I using my surplus to show love and concern for others, or am I hoarding it? The use of wealth for the benefit of others enhances love. The accumulation of wealth for its own sake, to “build larger” storage spaces to “store” one’s good, and then say to oneself, as the rich man in today’s Gospel, now I have”so many good things stored up for many years,” I  will rest, eat, drink and be merry” the rest of my life. (cf the parable in Luke 12: 13-21) can be a source of hardening one’s heart toward another’s plight and need for compassion.

What do I do with the wealth with which I am blessed?

Jesus' Unconditional Love

Holy Thursday

Imagine Jesus sharing with you what it was like to gather for the Last Supper with His friends. He says to you:

            (Insert your name)            ,  I knew that my hour had come to return to My Father.  I also knew that Judas Iscariot would betray me, turn me over to the authorities who would condemn me to death.  I knew all of this.  My heart was heavy with sorrow as I watched Satan take possession of Judas' heart. To this very day, those times when Satan deceptively, secretively, and cunningly possesses anyone, I am deeply saddened.  I never stop loving anyone to the very end, hoping that each troubled person will turn to me for help.  Judas had no idea tat I loved him unconditionally. I did not will his destruction. 

My greatest happiness that day would have been Judas' repentance. With the other apostles, I washed his feet. I also shared bread and wine with him at the Passover Supper and addressed him as friend in the Garden. I did not sever the friendship bond; he did.  The  same is true of my feelings toward all humankind, male and female. Our friendship--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit--is unconditional with every person, with you and your loved ones, with you and any of your enemies, with you in good times and bad, in times of darkness and light, when you walk away from me and when you draw close. I love you always, in every place and in every circumstance of your life. I am Your God and there is no other. If you have strayed from Me and My Ways and My Truth and My Life, please return to me. I am waiting to embrace you with love and I will wait as long as it takes. I love you unconditionally. Nothing you have done or will do will change that fact!

Bye, now, my betrayer has arrived. I must leave you for awhile. Remember that I love you!

Thriving, Striving, Serving

In today’s first reading, Jeremiah 17: 5-10, the prophet states: Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose hope is in the Lord. They are like trees planted beside the waters that stretch out their roots to the stream: they fear not the heat when it comes, their leaves stay green; in the year of drought they show no distress, but still bear fruit” (translated into the plural to include both men and women, as Jesus did). 

Before Jesus suffered His death and triumphed over evil in His resurrection, He left us His body and blood in the Eucharist, food to nourish us, to keep us alive in famine, to feed us during times of drought so that, at those times, we can continue to bear fruit.  Those who hope in the Lord, who put their trust in God, will never be disappointed.  We have been given rich soil in which to root our lives: the sacraments, the Scriptures, communal worship, loving and helping our neighbors, and forgiving both ourselves and others when wronged.  During difficult times, we will be able to bear the heat of the day, rejuvenated at the springs of everlasting water.  God has given us the law of love, a law that, not only delights those who practice it but also transforms their whole being into the person of Christ. We become Christlike, bringing good news to the poor, unlike Dives in today’s Gospel, Luke 16: 19-31, who feasted without sharing his food with Lazarus, a poor man lying at the gate of his home, a poor man “covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table.”

Truly, “blessed are they who hope in the Lord” (Ps.1) and serve those in need, especially within one’s own family but also beyond.

Today is the second day of a busy students' retreat. The Scripture passage that the students are reflecting upon is Mark 10: 17-22, the story of the rich young man who comes to Jesus wanting to know what more he has to do to inherit eternal life. He addresses Jesus as "good" and Jesus asks him why he addressed Him that way, as only God is good. Thus Jesus reveals his true identity to the  young man. Jesus tells him that he needs to keep all of the commandments. The young man says that he's done that all of his life. Jesus tells him that one thing is missing, namely, that he needs to sell all that he has and give the money to the poor and then come follow Him. The wealthy young man walks away sad because he prefers his wealth to following the Lord's directions, to developing an intimate relationship with the Lord and sharing "his wealth" with those less fortunate than himself.  Jesus, too, must have felt very sad, as he "was filled with love" for this man.

Every day, you and I, like this young man, are free to walk away from the Lord's invitation to "sacrifice" for a greater good, to give to "the poor" who want of our time or whose well-being depends upon our willingness to share "our riches" with them.  "Go, sell all that you want to possess exclusively for yourself alone and share with others in love and care and forgiveness. Go, sell all and give of your "wealth"--whatever that "wealth" might be--and give to "the poor, whoever those persons are in your midst today.

The faith journey

Today, I am directing a retreat at UW-River Falls, WI. The theme of the retreat is “Sometimes you have to go to Jerusalem as a Christian.”  The Scripture reading chosen for today’s reflection is 1 Kings 17: 7-16.  Drought has ravished the land. The Lord says to Elijah: “Up and go to Zarephath in Sidonia, and stay there. I have ordered a widow there to give you food.” As Elijah enters the city, he meets a widow gathering sticks to prepare a last meal for her son and herself before they die.  She is asked to share the little she has with Elijah. She is hesitant. Elijah tells her that Yahweh has promised that the “[j]ar of meal shall not be spent, the jug of oil shall not be emptied, before the day when Yahweh sends rain on the face of the earth.”  She does as Elijah suggested and, lo and behold, the “jar of meal was not spent nor the jug of oil emptied, just  as Yahweh had foretold through Elijah.”

 When you and I think we have absolutely nothing to share or  we are at the end of our rope, there are no more choices left to make, we want to give up totally or simply lie down and die, the Lord says: “Up and go. Don’t just sit here.  Don’t give up.  I have ordered so and so to meet your need, to restore you to life, but you have got to be willing to work  for it. You have got to be willing to leave your “poverty” and seek the more from those who can assist you.

The journey to fullness of life always  involves a dying, a letting go, a  giving and a receiving. If we cling to what is when what is is no longer life-giving—the well has run dry, so to speak-- if we wallow in self-pity, we will continue to feel famished, unmotivated, stuck. On the other hand,  if  we assume responsibility in “finding the widow” in relocating to another “place,” be that a physical move or a psychological/spiritual move, following  Elijah’s example, we will thrive in God’s goodness and grow in our trust of Divine Providence.  The faith journey is learning over and over again to trust God’s invitations to get “up and go to ‘Zaraphat in Sidonia’” or to give of the little we have to help others even when we think we have nothing to give.    

Wanting to be right with God!

In today’s Gospel, Mt 19: 16-22, the rich young man, who faithfully obeyed all of the commandments, approaches Jesus, wanting to know what more he has to do to gain eternal life. He, obviously, knows that something is missing but doesn’t know what. It seems that this young man is busy accumulating brownie points, if you will, keeping track of his accomplishments, checking off a list, so he can assure himself that he is doing everything right. Jesus knows that this man is attached to his riches, to his accomplishments, to his pride. “Go sell all that you have and give it to the poor,” Jesus tells this man. His riches are not only of material origin but also rooted in his pride of what he has accumulated, what he actually does own and his efforts in becoming a rightful owner: doing everything right. He lives that way also in relationship to God. He wants to know what more he has to do. Eternal life is not about what you and I have to do. It is about relationships: a personal relationship with Jesus and right relationships with one’s neighbor, especially the poor and needy. The rich young man in today’s Gospel was not willing to let go of any of his riches for the sake of the poor. He was too attached to his wealth. That is who he was. No way was he going to let go of his materials things, of his accumulated riches, to focus on relationships. Of what is God asking you and me to let go for the sake of meeting another’s need today: That person’s need to be heard, to be understood, to be affirmed, to be comforted? That person’s need for a meal, for school supplies, for whatever?