Food for Thought---III

The Psalms certainly contain food for thought as we navigate through the threat of the corona virus. Here are some possible helps:

Come back, Yahweh, rescue [our] soul[s] (Ps 6:4).
Our strength,come quickly to [our] help (Ps 22:19).
Rise, Yahweh, save [us, our] God (Ps 13: 7).
Our soul awaits Yahweh; he is our help and shield       (Ps 33:20).
Now, break your silence, Yahweh....Do not let them     say, 'Now we have got him down' (Ps 35:22).
Assign your Love and Faithfulness to guard [us] 
  (Ps 81:7.
Verily,God is our shelter, our strength, ever ready         to help in time of trouble (Ps 46: 1).
I rely on you, do  not let me be shamed (Ps 25:2).
Relieve the distress of [our] heart[s], free [us] from     [our] suffering. See [our] misery and pain 
   (Ps 25:17).
Up,wake up, come to [our] defense, Lord, [our]          God, side with [us] (Ps 35: 23).
See, Yahweh is a stronghold when times are hard.       Those who acknowledge your name can rely on         you. You never desert those who seek you,               Yahweh (Ps 9-10: 9-10

Challenges to our Faith

In today's first reading, Daniel 3: 14-20, 91-92, 95,  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are asked to sacrifice to a golden statue that the king set up:  "Be ready now to fall down and worship the statue I have made.....[If you don't", he says to them,] "you shall be instantly cast into the white-hot furnace;and who is the God who can deliver you out of my hands?"  When the three men refuse, the king has the furnace "heated seven times more than usual and had some of the strongest men in his army bind" them and throw them into the furnace.  The King is amazed as he peers into the furnace and sees four men unbound walking around in the furnace.  He asks his nobles:   "'Did we not cast three men bound  into the fire?' 'Assuredly, O king,' they answered. 'But,' he replied, 'I see four men unfettered and unhurt, walking in the fire, and the fourth looks like a son of God.'"  The king then praises God!

I can imagine the king raging against these three men. "How dare they refuse what I ask of them?" As his anger mounted, he increased the heat of the furnace and called forth his strongest men to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  Is that not what our egos do when someone refuses to "worship" us and do what we ask of them? Does not our ego, at that point, become like this furnace heated 7xs greater than usual?  In some cases does not the rage lead to violence of some kind, even murder?

This passage also challenges us to look at the faith of the three men who stand up against the king and do not flinch in the face of death, a horrible death in fact! "There is no need for us to defend ourselves before you in this matter.  If our God, whom we serve, can save us from the white-hot furnace and from your hands, O king, may he save us! But even if he will not, know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the golden statue that you set up."

How strong is our faith in the face of danger? temptation? bullies? wickedness? Do we stand  so firm in our faith that all we need to do is calmly state our position; or do we need to loudly defend ourselves?

St. Stephen's Faith and Ours

Today, Dec. 26, we celebrate the feast of St. Stephen, the first martyr.  "Stephen," we are told in Acts 6: 8-10; 7:54-59, "filled with grace and power,  was working great wonders and signs among the people. Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen, Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and people from Cilicia and Asia, came forward and debated with Stephen, but they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke...[Stephen's debaters] were infuriated, and...ground their teeth at him.  But he, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God....[Stephen's persecutors] threw [Stephen] out of the city, and began to stone him...As they were stoning Stephen, he called out 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."  Like Jesus on the cross, Stephen asked God not to hold the sin of his executioners again them. WOW! A man unafraid to stand up for what and for whom he believed!

Jesus tells us in the Gospels that, like Him, we will meet opposition, that we will be persecuted for our faith and testimony to the Father, just as Jesus was.  We will encounter the cross--misunderstandings, hatred, and an onslaught of  obstacles on our way to eternal life.  Will we, like Stephen, keep our eyes on Jesus! Will we look up to heaven from whence comes our help, as we are told in the psalms, or will we downplay our faith, water it down, to avoid difficulties that are likely to arise from detractors, unbelievers, or those who have chosen other gods? Will we join the "Synagogue of Freedmen, Cyrenians, Alexandrians" of our day and throw "stones" at those who disagree with us?

May we, like Stephen, stand up for what we believe,  especially when others want to debate us. Let us also hold on to God's promise that He will instruct us on what to say when we are dragged before the "tribunals" of our day!  God is with us always!  Let us not be afraid!

"Let Not Your Hearts be Troubled"

In today's Gospel, John 14: 1-6, Jesus says to His disciples: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith in me."  Jesus says this when He is gathered with His disciples at the Last Supper. He knows that Judas will betray him that very night. He knows that He will be arrested and condemned to death and crucified like an hardened criminal because  jealousy will have consumed the leaders of Jerusalem with the disastrous result of murdering the One of whom they are jealous."Do not let your hearts be troubled."

Think of a time when  your worst nightmare is about to occur and Jesus says to you: "Do not let your hearts be troubled."  First of all,  Jesus knows about which he is talking. He has been there, that is, at the threshold of his worst nightmare.  Second of all, Jesus is God and will walk through that nightmare with you, just as the Father and the Spirit were with Him that night and the next horrible days and raising Him to new life in the resurrection on Easter morn.  Jesus, the Son of God with the Father and the Holy Spirit--the three are one--will take you by the hand, hold you in their arms, comfort you, strengthen you and awaken a courage within you that you never knew you had. You will come through the ordeal and be risen to new life in a way you could never imagine, as you trust in the Lord.  Have you ever said of yourself: "I don't know where I got the strength"? Or, "I have no idea how I ever did that?" An Invisible God was with you, guiding you, upholding you, enlightening you, strengthening you, and loving you!

Faithfulness, Gratitude, Determination

In today's Gospel, Mark 16:9-15, we learn that the first person to whom Jesus appeared after He rose from the dead was "Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons".  Given the fact that she had "seven demons" cast out of her, we may perceive her as someone to "discard," someone with whom to have nothing to do and certainly not one to a believe that she had seen the risen Christ.  That may have been why the apostles did not believe her but it was also true, at the time of Jesus, that women had no legal backing to be witnesses to anything. In fact in many of the Gospel events/stories, women are never counted.  In our own day, women, also, tend to be dismissed, especially by men in "positions". Look at attitudes toward women being elected to the presidency here in the U.S. or women being ordained priests in the Catholic Church, though Jesus included women in His ministry; in fact, as the first to proclaim the resurrection.

Cultural and ecclesial positions cemented in minds for centuries do not, however, dismiss the fact that all persons--men and women, young and old, gay and straight, children and adults, persons of all races--are called, by their baptism, to proclaim Christ, to stand up for their faith just as all the women did in Jesus' time and as did Peter and John and all the apostles.  The culture in which Mary Magdalene lived did not stop her from seeking Jesus in life and in death. The violence she could have faced did not deter her from being close by when Jesus was condemned to death. She followed Him up the hill to Calvary, stood by the cross with Mary, Jesus' mother, and was the first at the tomb Easter morn, unafraid of the guards or anyone else. Fear did not stop her. She became her best self in spite of her culture and its stance toward women.

What about you and I? How strong is our faith? How strong is our desire to draw close to Jesus and be of service to Him?  What gets in our way of becoming our true selves?

God Gives Strength to the Weary

In today's first reading, Isaiah 40: 25-31, the prophet reminds us that "[t]he Lord is the eternal God, creator of the ends of the earth.  He does not faint or grow weary, and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny.  He gives strength to the fainting; for the weak he makes vigor abound...They that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles' wings; they will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint."

Think of the Israelites on their way to the Promised Land. To "the fainting" God gave strength. To the  weak, God made "vigor abound."   Those who hoped in the Lord, renewed their strength. In some cases, they soared "as with eagles' wings; they [ran and did] to grow weary," walked and did not grow faint.  Think of Mary on her way to visit Elizabeth, of Mary and Joseph on their way to Bethlehem. Think of Jesus on His way to Calvary--how did He ever make it to the top of that hill where He was crucified. God provided the strength and the hope and the help He needed along the way. The same with you and me!  As long as we hope in the Lord, our strength is renewed!  I recall my mother saying often: "I don't know how we would make it without our faith!"  For me to this day, my strength is always renewed in prayer, in the times when I set time aside to soak in the light of God's Presence in contemplative silence. What about you?

The Cost of Discipleship

In today's first reading, Acts 14: 19-28, we are told that Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrived to the place where Paul was proclaiming Christ. These Jews won over the crowd and stoned Paul, leaving him for dead. When disciples of Jesus surrounded Paul, he got up.  These disciples with Paul left for Derbe, where they strengthened the faith of others, exhorted them to remain true to the faith. They also reminded the disciples of Jesus in Derbe that they would suffer much for their faith but not to waver.

I am left when several questions: Do I strengthen others in the faith or do I weaken other's faith by my lack of love and compassion, by my impatience, by my judgmentalism? Do I make life difficult by my grumbling or complaining when I encounter difficulties?  Do I realize that discipleship is costly? And, do I realize, that, like Paul, I sometimes need other disciples to help me get up when I am down?

Jesus tells us before returning to the Father that, like Him, our journey of faith will encounter hard times.  Many times, the difficulties we encounter are unexpected: friends and family turn against us or we are shunned because of our beliefs. Doors are closed in our faces when we think that what we are doing is something to be welcomed or appreciated, or, at least, not blocked.

Jesus says to us not to be afraid, for He has conquered the world, that is the ruler of this world, Satan. We, too, empowered by the Holy Spirit, will overcome the world of sin, of selfishness, of fear--of all that is not of God. And, like Jesus, we will learn obedience from what we suffer,as did St. Paul, St. Francis of Assisi, Mother Frances Streitel, the Foundress of my religious community, to name a few.

These are my beliefs! What are yours?

"Made Glorious in God's Sight" (Is 49:3, 5-6)

In today’s first reading, Isaiah 49: 3, 5-6, God says to us through  the prophet : [You are] made glorious in the sight of the Lord,…God is now [your] strength.” That gift is confirmed in the second reading of today’s liturgy, 1 Cor 1: 1-3, where St. Paul reminds us that we “have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…”In today’s Gospel, John 1: 29-34, John the Baptist points out Jesus to us, saying: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world….[H]e is the Son of God.”

May you and I ponder the fact that we “are made glorious in the sight of the Lord.  If I truly believe that,  then nothing else really matters!  And if I remember that God is my strength, then, too, nothing else matters.  When I do not remember these realities, I can easily become flustered, even in the face of minor realities affecting my life.

I have  a greater possibility of remaining calm in today’s troubled world when I take time to ponder God’s Word and sit in God’s Presence every day!  When I do not take time to seek the Lord in personal prayer on a daily basis, it is easy to get swept away in frantic activity. Calling upon the Lord’s name is an essential element of growing in holiness—that is my responsibility. God has done His part: He has sanctified me in Christ Jesus. I have to seek God in quiet, personal prayer and devote time to serving the needs of others  for that holiness to grow in me!

With, in, and through the Power of the Spirit, All Things Are Possible

In today’s first reading, Acts 9: 31-42, Peter, totally transformed by the outpouring of the Spirit upon him at Pentecost, is an instrument in the hands of Christ, healing the sick, the paralyzed, raising those who have died and proclaiming Jesus’ resurrection. He is doing everything in the name of Jesus, the Son of God, the Holy One whom he had denied, whom he had challenged when He spoke of going up to Jerusalem to be killed by the chief priests and leaders of the people, the man who jumped in to the waters to walk to Jesus and sunk out of fear of the elements, the one who chopped off the soldier’s ear, and the one who locked himself in the upper room out of fear of the Jews.  Now, baptized in the Spirit, he feared no one and never said “no” to Jesus again. He opened his mind, his heart and his will to the Spirit of Christ leading him, strengthening him, challenging him to act in His name without fear, without giving in to weaknesses, without pride, knowing, beyond doubt, that only in Christ Jesus is his salvation and only in Christ Jesus does he do the will of the Father.

The same is true for us. Apart from Jesus, relying upon our own strength, we, too, will challenge God, complain against God, begin a project and abandon it when the going gets tough. We, too, relying only on ourselves, are prone to deny the Lord in crucial circumstances or to engage in behaviors that are contrary to what God expects of us. On the other hands, with Jesus, nothing is impossible because we are acting as ones dependent on grace and grace alone. We, too, will get across the troubled waters of our lives only when we humbly call out for help. We will leave our comfort zones only because we are empowered by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, sent my Jesus, to take possession of our minds, our will, our hearts. 

Stop to Listen!

Today’s first reading, 1 Samuel 15: 16-23, is a continuation of what happened when Samuel went back to sleep and when hearing his name called a fourth time answered: “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” God had a message that He wanted Samuel to deliver to Saul.  To get Saul’s attention, he said to him the next morning: “Stop! Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”

As I reflected upon that passage, I realized how often I do not stop. I plunge into the day’s work. I move forward full speed into what I was bent on doing.  Sometimes, many times perhaps, I need someone like Samuel to say to me: “Stop! Let me tell you something that the Lord wants me to share with you.”  I may still keep right on going: “I can’t listen to you now. I am busy.”  Or, I may say to myself: “Who does this person think he/she is to tell me what he or she believes the Lord wants me to hear. I will go directly to the Lord myself. I don’t need an intermediary.” Or more blatantly, I might say to myself: “No one tells me what to do!”

Pride precedes the fall! I need to pray for humility to listen! And, if this person is telling me something I already know, I need humility to say: ‘Thank you!’  The person does not need to know that I already got the message and am working on the very thing she or he was bent on telling me “for my own good.”  I also need to pray for the gift of courage and the strength to choose humility and what humility asks of me in my interaction with people each day!  I think of a professor who said to us counselors: “Act dumb and ask questions!”  What if, instead of bulking when I do not want to hear what another is saying, I truly listened, acted dumb and asked questions.  Would that not build the other’s self-esteem, strengthen our connection and, yes, transform my “water” into “wine”?

God Is in Our Midst

In today's first reading, Is 35: 4-7a, the prophet says to those whose hearts are frightened: "Be strong, fear not!"  I think of all of the people in the world whose hearts are filled with fear: those escaping countries ravaged by war and/or violence of any kind, those fleeing, or trying to flee, their human captors  (six traffickers, slave labor, drug lords, out-of-control addicts of any kind), those trying to free themselves from a variety of addictions, those terrified for the lives of their children and/or of themselves because of those addicted to anger and unjust behaviors,  and so on!  "Here is your God," Isaiah says, "he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you."  "When", we ask, as we watch the news and hear of the evil that seems to have gripped our world,   will "the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared," as Isaiah tells us. When will "the lame leap like a stag,... the tongue of the mute...sing"?  When will "[s]treams...burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe." When "will [t]he burning sands...become pools, and the thirsty ground, springs of water"?  When, through grace,  we change our behaviors and attitudes that create these kinds of realities in our our world!

We know, in faith, that everything Isaiah says will become a reality in the resurrection of the dead, in our resurrection.  In the meantime, we live with the reality that the "weeds" will grow along side the "wheat," as it also did for Jesus during his earthly sojourn.  He did not escape violence,  hunger, famine, nor will we!  However, we have the assurance that God walks with us through the deserts of life, endures the violence with us and gives us the strength to endure and the hope to persevere in our faith until the end of our lives here on earth.

It is our responsibility to do what we can in assisting others in need, to bring justice to our world, to free those oppressed in any way and to bring hope to the hopeless, as we, too, build up hope within ourselves through our relationship with Jesus, by drinking at the well of Living Waters,  feeding ourselves with the Bread of Life, nourishing ourselves with the Scriptures and strengthening our resolve to become instruments of reconciliation and forgiveness through the sacrament of reconciliation.

Yes, we are called to follow Jesus' example and rely on the Lord, who makes us strong and quiets our fears!

Bringing Strength to Others

In today's first reading, Acts 18: 23-28, Paul is traveling through "the Galatians country and Phrygia, bringing strength to all the disciples."  Today, God has given each of us a "territory," through which to travel: our families, our religious community, our parish community, our civic community.  What will I bring to those with whom I interact? Hope or hopelessness? Joy or sadness? Comfort or misery? Peace or discord? Mercy or mercilessness? Forgiveness or revenge? A humble disposition or a self filled with pride? Love or hate? Warmth or coldness? Acceptance or rejection? My strengths in the Lord or my weaknesses? A God-centered approach or self-centered narcissism?

Paul and those traveling with Him as missionaries encounter a "Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, an eloquent speaker,...[who] was an authority on the Scriptures."   With an ardent spirit, he instructed the people in "theWay of the Lord ," speaking and teaching accurately about Jesus, though he only knew John's baptism.  When Pricilla and Aquila, missionaries with Paul, heard him, they took him aside and explained to him "the Way of God more accurately."

Note the role of women in missionary activity, in spreading the news about Jesus, in explaining "the Way of God."  Also note Paul's inclusion of women in the work of spreading the Gospel, speaking about it, instructing others about Jesus.  And all Pricilla and Aquila did, Paul did, and Apollos did led others "to believe through grace."

All is grace! And all are called to be proclaimers of the Good News! What role are you playing to make Jesus better known? to bring others to Jesus?

Power, Divinity, Wisdom and Strength

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and divinity, and wisdom and strength and honor” (Rev. 5:12).  Jesus, the Lamb of God who was slain, is  God’s wisdom, divinity, power, strength and honor.  Jesus is God, one with the Father and the Spirit. “Out of His fullness  we have all received grace upon grace “( Jn 1:16).   His giving and loving is without end and was planned from the beginning of the world. In His creation of humankind love was shown. In our rebellion and disobedience, love was shown, as God covenanted with us to save us from sin and death by sending a Savior: Jesus, the Christ.  “No  one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,” we read in today’s Gospel, John 15: 12-17.  In verses 34-35  of Chapter 15, Jesus says to us:  “A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Jesus does not only command us to love one another as He loves us, He  also gives us , in the sacraments, in the Scriptures, in the indwelling of the Trinity within us, the ability, the power, the support, the love, the wisdom we need to love as He loved. Truly, as we pray in the responsorial psalm of today’s liturgy: “…[Y]our mercy towers to the heavens, and your faithfulness to the skies. Be exalted above the heavens, O God; above all the earth be your glory” (Psalm57)!

Lord, today, may each one of us, by the way we love as you loved, reveal your faithfulness and your glory working within us. May we allow your power, divinity, wisdom, strength and honor bestowed on us through the Word and sacraments,  become stronger by the choices we make today to love when we are most inclined to walk away from the challenge. I ask this in Jesus’ name.

Peace as Related to a Firm Purpose and Trust

In today’s first reading, Is. 26: 1-6, the prophet states that the Lord keep in peace those nations who trust in Him. That also means that the Lord keeps a family, a person, a parish, a city at peace when those entities/persons trust in the Lord. When I go “bonkers,” when I lose my peace, it is then that I am not trusting in the Lord but in myself, in other human beings, in materials things that have no power to save or to right a wrong or quell the opposition.  The strength of my trust may very well be in how I react when meeting opposition, encountering difficulties, experiencing setbacks or glitches in my “armor.”

Isaiah, furthermore, states, of the Lord, that “[a] nation of firm purpose, you keep in peace.” I might compare when my purpose is strong and when it is weak. If my purpose is strong, I am then determined to find God, to discern God’s will. I rely on God alone and am open to, humble about, considering the opinion/input from others, knowing that each person has a significant part of the truth.  My purpose is weak when I am seeking self-aggrandizement, power over others; when I am  pursuing my will or relying on self apart from God and when, pridefully, I discard the insight from others or avoid listening to others altogether.

The consequence of operating from a weak purposed , in the words of Isaiah, is that the Lord will humble me and tumble me from the “high places” where pride leads me. I will be brought low, tumbled to the ground.  My pride will be leveled “with the dust”; it will “be trampled underfoot” (compare Isaiah 26: 1-6). In the words of today’s Gospel, when my purpose is weak I am building my house on sand. When it is strong, I am building upon a firm foundation, the Rock who is God.

Who is this Messiah?

This week the first readings of the liturgy are from the prophet Isaiah.  Yesterday, in chapter 11: 1-10, Isaiah tells us that “the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a Spirit of counsel and of strength, a Spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord, not by appearance shall he judge, nor by hearsay shall he decide, but he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land’s affected. He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips.”

This means that Jesus is filled with the Spirit of the Father, that He is filled with wisdom and understanding of who we are and who we are becoming. Jesus knows when we are separated from Truth, Justice, Wisdom, Wholeness, Understanding and Holiness. Jesus sees our needs and responds wisely, lovingly, compassionately, justly and with strength against Satan, against all that is not of God in our lives.  Jesus comes filled with knowledge of the Father’s will for our salvation, reverencing, respecting, honoring the Father’s plan for our redemption.  We also know that Jesus does not judge us by appearances or by hearsay.  What an awesome God!

From this Scripture passage, we also know that the poor will be judged with justice, that God will decide aright for Blacks and Whites, Native Americans and Asians—all races, persons of all sexual orientations, persons of any religious denomination. Jesus will strike down the wicked: those abusing women and children, those abusing boys and men, those involved in any crime--human trafficking, slave labor, the sex industry, corruption and deceit of any kind.  God comes in power!

As a disciple of Jesus, what am I doing to bring justice to the poor, to right wrongs among us? How do I alert people to the coming of God’s kingdom? To the coming of the Messiah?