Standing Up for What Is Right

We can learn a lot from today’s first reading, Philemon 7-20, in doing what is right.  Paul sends a letter to Philemon, a slave owner, asking that he accept back a slave who had run away from him. Such an offense back then—slavery was legal—meant being severely punished for running away. The punishment imposed upon a runaway slave was to be a deterrent for anyone thinking of defying a slave owner.  Philemon’s slave had converted to Christianity under Paul. Paul sends the slave back to his owner, which under the law he must do, and writes: “I urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment, ….to welcome him as you would me. And if he has done you any injustice or owes you anything, charge it to me….”  

 

Both Paul and Onesimus do what must be done under the law. Paul begs for mercy for Onesimus, whom he has grown to love deeply. Like Onesimus, we, too, have and will experience the ravages of slavery, of laws that impinge on our  or others’ freedoms, laws that needs to be taken off the books, so to speak, as slavery has been in some countries. Even though slavery has been formally abolished and is no longer legal in some countries, slavery still exists in many forms today throughout the world and in our own lives as well. Sometimes we are slaves to sin and selfishness. Sometimes, we are slaves to pathologies within, to a lesser or greater degree. At other times we are slaves to our negative moods.

Whatever forms of slavery we encounter, may we, like Paul and Onesimus, have the courage to face truth and stand up for one another, encouraging love and forgiveness, asking that we do not cement other people, or ourselves,  to  past mistakes and thus refuse to acknowledge that they, or we, have grown and have found Christ, our Savior.

God's Respect for Our Freedom

In today's first reading, 1 Samuel 8:4-7, 10-22a, the people ask Samuel to appoint them a king to rule over them, like other countries have.  Samuel is upset at their request and goes to the Lord to complain about it.  God says to Samuel: "Grant the people's every request. It is not you they reject, they are rejecting me as their king."   Samuel warns the people that a king has the right to "take your sons and assign them to his chariots and horses, and they will run before his chariot. He will also appoint from among them his commanders of groups of a thousand and of a hundred soldiers. He will set them to do his plowing and his harvesting and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will use your daughters...He will take the best of your fields, vineyard, and olive groves, and give them to his officials. He will tithe your crops and your vineyards, and give the revenue to his eunuchs and his slaves," and much, much more! The people still insist on having it their way!

God lets the people choose their will over His, as He does to this day.  How often do we not reject an authority figure, not realizing that the difficult time that we give someone in authority is actually a rebellion against God as our Ruler, our King!   Moreover, how many persons absolutely reject the advice and ignore the warning of their parents, grandparents and other adult family members, church leaders, community leaders and get involved in things that will lead to their own slavery, to their own downfall and misery beyond all telling!

Lord, forgive me for the times I reject Your authority over me that is revealed to me by persons in leadership of any kind. Forgive me for the times that I let pride guide me and insist on doing things that are ultimately not for my good or for the good of others affected by my decisions.  Have mercy on me when I insist on my way and reject Yours!

Delivered from the Fear of Death

In today’s first reading, Hebrews 2: 14-18, St. Paul speaks about  our intimacy with one another and God’s intimacy with us. “Since the children share in blood and Flesh, Jesus likewise shared in them, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the Devil, and free those who through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life.”  What does Paul mean by “through fear of death has been subject to slavery all their life”?  Perhaps we will come to an understanding of that statement by reflecting on Jesus’ life.  Because Jesus did not fear death, He did not coil from doing His Father’s will.  He revealed the imminence of the Kingdom—the Kingdom of heaven is in your midst—through his actions: healing the sick, casting out demons, forgiving sins, making the deaf to hear and the blind to see, feeding the multitudes, calming the sea and so much more.  Jesus was not afraid even though his actions and words ultimately led to His death. Had he been afraid, He would have hidden from the scribes and Pharisees, kept quiet so as not to arouse their anger and jealousy.  In spite of the risks, Jesus fulfilled His mission here on earth to make the Father known and to destroy the Devil.  Mary, His mother, also risked her life as did the apostles.  

Dying is always a part of rising to new life, to the life of grace, goodness,  and righteousness, to engaging in acts of kindness ,  justice and reconciliation.  To do good means dying to our fear of taking risks. Dying means  moving outside of our comfort zones.  We may see a child being bullied or a co-worker berating another employee or the boss, do we leave our comfort zone and take action on behalf of the other person.  Dying may mean coming home at night and helping one’s spouse with tutoring/mentoring/ guiding/ helping a child with his/her homework instead of hiding behind the newspaper in one’s easy chair.  Dying may mean doing an errand for another person at the end of a busy day or it may be as simple as getting up from the table to do the dishes after the evening meal.

What does dying mean for you/for me? Are you/am I willing to leave a comfort zone to be a life-giving presence to others?  Or do we resist dying  and, instead,  cling to that which is easier to do, which,  in some case that is nothing at all?

God of Compassion and Full of Mercy

Today's readings, Daniel 9: 4b-10 and Luke 6: 36-38, both speak of God's mercy and compassion, reminding us that our God is a "great and awesome God, ...who keep[s His] covenant toward those who love...[Him] and observe...[His] commandments" (Daniel 9: 4b-10) .  We are also reminded by Daniel that "compassion and forgiveness" belong to our God.  In the responsorial psalm, Psalm 79, we ask God to dispatch his mercy and compassion quickly, "for we are brought very low" by our wickedness.  We live in a world wrought with such crimes as human trafficking, forced slave labor, drug trafficking and myriad other forms of corruption.  Every day, children, adolescents, young adults, male and female, are sold or seduced into the sex trade, into labor camps, into the use of illegal drugs.  Persons are kidnapped and/or outrightly sold and sacrificed for their organ parts.   Every day families flee from the violence of war and the ravages of poverty to protect themselves and their loved ones. Every day, somewhere, adults, in all walks of life,  sink further and further into patterns of corruption, worshipping the idols of materialism, consumerism, hedonism and the likes!

In the responsorial psalm of today's liturgy we pray: 

Help us, O God, our savior, because of the glory of your name.
Deliver us and pardon our sins
for your name's sake.
Let the prisoner's sighing come before you;
with your great power free those doomed to death--
the death of all those criminal acts named above.
Then we, your people and the sheep of your pasture,
will give thanks to you forever;
through all generations we will declare your praise.

At every Mass, Jesus comes down upon our altars as Savior and Lord, as the One who purifies us, strengthens us and claims us as His own. At every Eucharist, Jesus renews His covenant with us--yes, God empowers us every day to be "merciful, just as..[our] Father is merciful" (Luke 6: 36). Every day we are empowered to say "no" to Satan and the evil spirits that roam this earth for the destruction of souls. That is why millions also resist Satan's evil ways and follow Christ. 

What a "great and awesome God" walks beside us, dwells within us, beckoning us to resist evil and empowering us to do so!

Jesus Shares in Blood and Flesh to Secure our Freedom

In today's second reading, we are given the following message:  "Since the children share in blood and flesh, Jesus likewise shared in them, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the Devil, and free those who through fear of death have been subject to slavery all their life" (Hebrews 2: 14).  "Who through fear of death have been subject to slavery all their life," what could that possibly mean? People scramble here and there, for this or that, compulsively consuming drugs and alcohol to the point of becoming unconscious, delirious, numb. Other people slavishly seek one experience after another, get involved in one sexual encounter, then another and another and another; run here, run there, seeking more and more material goods, larger paychecks, more yachts and summer homes, more and more expensive vacations, more clothes, more gadgets. Others are desperate to look younger and younger, going under the knife for face lifts and tummy tucks and what have you to defy age, to remove wrinkles and liver spots. Are we, in fact, afraid of death, afraid of advancing toward eternal life, afraid of going to Jerusalem with Jesus, unsure that our resurrection will be glorious?

St. Paul says to us in 1 Cor 2: 7-11, "It is of the mysterious wisdom of God that we talk, the wisdom that was hidden, which God predestined to be for our glory before the ages began. None of the rulers of the age recognized it; for if they had recognized it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but it is as scripture says: 'What no eye has seen or ear has heard, what the mind of man[woman] cannot visualize; all that God has prepared for those who love him, to us, though, God has given revelation through the Spirit, for the Spirit explores the depths of everything, even the depths of God."

Is it that we are failing to explore the depths of life that we live on its surface only, living to get drunk or to numb out with material things, tummy tucks and face lifts or whatever the world offers as THE way to be fulfilled, actualized, made popular and powerful? Are we ignorant of THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE, and thus slaves to a fear of death?