Jesus, a Model of Humility

In today's first reading, 1 Peter 5: 5b-14, St. Peter says to us:  "Beloved: Clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for God opposes the proud but bestows favor on the humble.  So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time." 

Jesus models for us what it means to clothe oneself in  humility. Here is the Son of God hidden in our humanity. He is like us in all things but sin.  Most people, as they encountered Jesus during his short thirty-three years here on earth, did not know who he was, did not recognize him. They even accused him of being blasphemous, claiming to be God but being only a human being like them.  Jesus did not argue with them and, in fact, remained silent before Pilate and his executioners.  We are even told in the Scriptures that Jesus learned obedience from what He suffered and are reminded that we, too,
will learn obedience from what we suffer.  Jesus showed us the way to be fully human, to be humble and obedient to the will of His Father and ours!

Jesus, the Son of God,  is hidden today, as well: hidden in the piece of consecrated bread, hidden in each human being, hidden in all of creation, hidden in the events of our day!  What humility! He does not shout out, claiming to be the One, in fact, doing good through  us, in us, for us and around us.  He does stand up and shout: I DID THAT GOOD DEED THROUGH YOU! WHY ARE YOU TAKING CREDIT FOR WHAT I AM DOING IN YOU, THROUGH YOU AND FOR YOU?  Nor is Jesus offended by our egos claiming credit for what good is being accomplished by God at work in us.

Lord, help us in this battle with our egos. Our spirit selves recognize that it is You doing the good in and through us but our egos, like Adam and Eve's egos, insists on being God!  When we allow our egos to be in control, to assume power that belongs to You and You alone, we lose our sense of peace and the joy of being Your partner, Your companion, Your servant.  Yes, we cast ourselves out of the paradise of cooperating with you!

"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!

Embracing God's Will

In today's first reading, Hebrews 10:1-10, St. Paul speaks about the sacrifices that were offered according to the law in which the lives of bulls and goats were sacrificed in atonement for sin.  "But in those sacrifices, " Paul reminds us, "there is only a yearly remembrance of sins, for it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats take away sins." When Jesus came into the world, Paul tells us, he said to His Father: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; in burnt offerings you took no delight. Then I [Jesus] said, As is written of me in the scroll, Behold, I come to do your will, O God....By this 'will' we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

Jesus, the New Adam, was obedient to God the Father even unto death, unlike the first Adam who chose his will over the will of God!  As the result of Adam and Eve's disobedience, we all participate in the inclination to choose our own will over God's will and thus sin.  In Christ Jesus, the New Adam, we are consecrated to God and empowered to bring our wills into harmony with the will of God, our salvation, our holiness, our wholeness!

In today's Gospel when a crowd tells Jesus that his mother and brothers and sisters are outside asking for him, Jesus asks the crowd:  "'Who are my mother and brothers?' And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of 
God is my brother and sister and mother.'"  In doing God's will--acting justly, loving tenderly and doing good (compare Micah 6:8)--we become brother and sisters and mothers to Jesus and heirs of the Kingdom of heaven!

My prayer: "Jesus, you have given me a body, just as God the Father "prepared a body for you."  You have given me this body for the same reason that God the Father gave you a body, namely, to do God's will here on earth, that is, to be obedient to God unto death. Yes, Lord, I am called to learn obedience from what I suffer, just as you learned obedience from what you suffered. May it be so, Lord. I ask this in your name! Amen!"

"God Sent His Son Born of a Woman" (Gal 4: 4-5)

The Entrance antiphon of today's liturgy reminds us that "God sent his Son, born of a woman, so that we might receive adoption as children" (Gal 4:4-5).  God is father of both Jesus and us, as God is our Creator.  In  taking on human nature in Mary's womb through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus becomes a brother to us and we a brother/sister to Him. As adopted brothers and sisters of Jesus, we share the same inheritance that is His as a human being.  That inheritance is heaven!  And we know the ransom Jesus ultimately paid to open heaven for us--He was obedient to God the Father unto death on the cross. At the end of our lives we, too,  in obedience to God's will, will die with Jesus. At that moment our spirit self, our true selves, will return to heaven from whence we have come, unless we deny God.   If we deny God, God will deny us!  At the  final resurrection our mortal bodies that were returned to the earth in our burial will also rise and enter eternal life with Jesus forever.

The Entrance Antiphon clearly states that Jesus assumed human nature, entering Mary's womb--human nature and divine nature are united! Our humanity is lifted up to a state of divinity, though we are not God.  We share God's divine nature, as Jesus shares our human nature! What a gift! And what humility on the part of God becoming a human being, just like us in all things but sin!  Jesus shows us the depth, the length, the breadth, and the width of God's love for us and also shows us the way to the Father, the way of loving others and ourselves unto death! Love casts out fear, hatred, lust, envy, jealousy, selfishness, pride, greediness and any other sin that separates us from one another and causes divisions among us! The Gospels give witness to how Jesus fostered union with others, how He loved others and reconciled people with His and their Father God.  We are to do the same!

What delights our God!

In the second reading of today's liturgy, Hebrews 10: 5-10, St. Paul reminds us of when Jesus came into the world, God wanted obedience to His will, not sacrifices of thousands and thousands of animals to appease for sin.  As explained by St. Paul to the Hebrews and to us about Jesus becoming human and what God wanted of him: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight. [Jesus' response:] Then I said, 'As is written of me in the scroll, behold, I come to do your will, O God.'....[Sacrifices and offerings, holocausts and sin offerings] are offered according to the law [and the law cannot save anyone]. Then he [Jesus] says, 'Behold, I come to do your will.'"

We cannot save ourselves. Only Jesus can! By His obedience to God's will we are saved and sanctified. The gift of salvation is freely given to us!  As with Jesus, God does not want sacrifices from us. He wants our obedience to the Spirit's promptings to do good and avoid evil, to forgive those who hurt us and not hang on to resentments,  to ask for pardon, to love and not hate, to act in justice and mercy and not out of revenge exacting demands, such as an eye for an eye.

In  today's responsorial psalm, we pray: "Lord, make us turn to  you; let us see your face and we shall be saved" from Satan's lies and the ways he lures us to turn away from You.

Open to Goodness or Maliciousness?

In today's first reading, Titus 3: 1-7, St. Paul asks Titus to remind the people "to be obedient, to be open to every good enterprise. They are," he says to Titus, "to slander no one, to be peaceable, considerate, exercising all graciousness toward everyone. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deluded, slaves to various desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful ourselves and hating one another." 

As I view the news each night, I begin to wonder what happened to righteous living. I ask myself: "How deluded and foolish have we become, "slaves to various desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful ourselves and hating one another"?  In faith, I know, and I hope you do, too,  a God who is generous and kind. God comes to save us, not to condemn us, we are told in the Gospels. Though I do not see it now, in the majority of the nightly news broadcasts, I know in faith that we will be saved from our foolishness, our disobedience, our delusions, our slavery to "various desires and pleasures, [from] living in malice and envy, [from]  hating ourselves and hating one another."  However, God has promised salvation to those who believe and who turn to Him in truth and in repentance, recognizing one's wickedness and sinful deeds!  Any one of us will be, or have been, given the graces which were given to the good thief on the cross when he acknowledged who Jesus was and turned to Him, begging to be remembered by Jesus when He entered the glory of the Father!  That grace is available to all who believe!  I do!  what about you?

Putting on the Attitude of Jesus

In today's first reading, Phil 2: 5-11, S.Paul users us to put on the attitude of Jesus, who, "though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in  human likeness; and  found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross."

Jesus took on humanity, our humanity!  Jesus left heaven, emptying Himself and becoming our slave.  He worked Himself to the bone, so to speak, taking on and destroying death for our sakes.  Nothing was too much for Jesus to show us the depth, the breadth, the height and the length of God's love for us.  As St. Paul says to the Philippians, Jesus, the second person of the Blessed Trinity,  did "not regard equality with God" something to which He had to cling! He chooses humility. He chooses littleness. He chooses total dependence, as any infant, upon His mother and foster father Joseph! God, the Creator of heaven and earth, totally dependent for all of His needs upon a teenage mother, whom He Himself created and sustained in her existence!  He did not bulk. He did not sulk! He did not rebel! He humbly submitted to Mary and Joseph! Not only that! At the age of 33, He humbly submitted to those who rebelled against Him and had Him crucified like a notorious, despised criminal!

St. Paul begins this passage to the Philippians by asking each of us to have "the same attitude" that is ours "in Christ Jesus."  What attitude? A humble, obedient one by which we do not consider it necessary to cling to glory or significant positions of honor and power, being above others! We are asked to let go of entitlements, as Jesus did, and assume positions of humility, submission, and obedience to a High Power at work within our lives!

The Feast of the Annunciation: Mary's "Yes"

In today's responsorial psalm we pray: "Here I  am, Lord, I come to do your will.  Sacrifice or oblation you wished not, but ears open to obedience you gave me.   Holocausts or sin-offerings you sought not; then said I, 'Behold I come'."

Both Mary and Jesus model this kind of obedience.  Mary, an engaged teenager, and her fiancé Joseph are preparing for marriage when the angel Gabriel visits Mary. "Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you" is how the angel greets her.  He then says to her, when it is obvious that she is shaken: "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and  you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David, his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end."  Mary could have said: "Oh, no thank you. Joseph and I have plans! Besides, I do not know man." But, no! She asks how this is to come about.  The angel says to her: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God." And, again, Mary could have responded:said: "Become pregnant through the Holy Spirit? You got to be kidding! Find someone else, Gabriel. Not me!"  The angel then tells her that her elderly cousin, way beyond childbearing years, has conceived a child and is in her sixth month, "for nothing is impossible  for God." Mary's response: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to  your word." And the angel left her.

Oh, my God. What now? Mary is pregnant out of wedlock and risks being stoned to death!  Solid in her faith, however, Mary says "yes" to letting God control her life. Will you and I let God do with us what He wills or are you and I taking things into your own hands, as did Adam and Eve?

As with Jesus, so with Us

In today's Gospel, John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30, we learn that Jesus did not want to go to Judea because the Jews were out to kill him.  However, given the fact that his brothers went up for the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, he also went to the city but in secret.  Some people recognized Jesus and raised the question: "Is he not the one they are trying to kill?" Yet no one attempted to seize Jesus. "Could the authorities," the bystanders wondered, "have realized that he is the Christ?" Can't be, they reasoned, because we know where Jesus has come from and, "[w]hen the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from."  Jesus, hearing the conversation, cries out:  "'You know me and also know where I am from.  Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.' So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come."

"His hour had not yet come."   Whatever Jesus did, He did with the Father, as He and the Father are one.  "I do nothing except what the Father asks me to do," Jesus says to us in another passage in John. And the time of showing the depth of God's love by the ultimate sacrifice of pouring out His life on the cross had not yet arrived.

Having been baptized unto Jesus' death and having rose to a new life with Christ,  we are Christ's ambassadors sent into the world, also, by the Father to reveal the depth of God's love.  Like Jesus, we reveal the Father's love by a self-emptying, sacrificial love in our service of others. We reveal who God is by loving others as we love ourselves. God's love radiates through us, also, when we are  patient, compassionate, forgiving,  and obedient to what the Spirit is asking of us each moment to bring forth he best in others and in ourselves.

Faith, Trust,Obedience

Today's first wading, Gen. 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18, we are told the story God testing his servant Abraham.  He asks him to take his only begotten son to the land of Moriah and there "offer him up as a holocaust o a height that I will point out to you.  My initial reaction is one of horror!  Then I read on to realize that God was only testing his servant.  After Abraham had prepared the altar, bound his son, and was about to slaughter him, God intervenes, calling out: "'Abraham, Abraham!....Do not lay your hand on the boy...Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son.' As Abraham looked about , he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So he went and took the ram and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.....[B]ecause you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly ad make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore; your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing--all this because you obeyed my command."

Wow! What faith! What trust! What obedience!  You provided the ram for the holocaust! No way did you intend Abraham to kill his only begotten son!  But it seemed like it at first! I was appalled, Lord! Appalled! "How could you?" I asked myself!  And you really didn't! How truly you can say to a me: "My thoughts are not your thoughts nor are my ways your ways."

How many times when things get tough do I not lose faith and trust and, yes, obedience! How often do I not abandon going to the "Moriahs" that God asks me to go to, testing my faith, my trust, my obedience!  And how often I fail the test! I forget at those times who God really is--a God filled with compassion, love, mercy, a God who has got my back! He had a plan for a holocaust that would save me forever: His only begotten Son death and resurrection. As Jesus climbed the hill to Calvary carrying the wood, as Isaac carried the wood up the hill in the land of Moriah,  He was the lamb to be sacrificed. There was no other!  It was Jesus' obedience unto death, Jesus' trust in the Father unto death and into the resurrection, Jesus' love even through death that restores my obedience, my trust, my love of God. In Jesus' death, I, too, die; in His resurrection, I, too, rise to new life!

God as God; God as Bridegroom

My meditation this afternoon began with the phrase "My Face is shining upon you, beaming out Peace that transcends understanding," from "Jesus Calling"  by Sarah Young.  I was regretting some of my behaviors and attitudes that I consider sinful and the Lord said to me: "Your sins are as far from me as the East is from the West.  I see you cleansed of sin by the blood of the cross, when, as I was dying, I poured my purifying blood over you!  I see you in that light day after day, night after night!  You are cleansed, made whole, healed, though you do not yet experience your healing or purification in its entirety. That will only happen when, believing in Me and repenting of your sins,  you enter eternity as my beloved daughter redeemed in my blood and accepting this free gift from a God who loves you and everyone else unconditionally.  As you journey through this vale of tears where Satan roams seeking souls to devour focus on Me, strive to do good every day empowered by My graces and you will be safe, as Sarah Young says in the mediation she offers in Jesus Calling on this date."

In the liturgical readings for today, the second week in Ordinary Time, we encounter a  just God, one who demands that His will be followed, that we do what God asks of us. In 1 Samuel 15:16-23, we are informed of Saul's disobedience when the men of his army, following the defeat of the Amalekites,  took the "best of what had been banned, to sacrifice to the Lord there God in Gilgal."  Samuel says to Saul: "Does the Lord so delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obedience to the command of the Lord?  Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission than the fat of rams. For a sin like divination is rebellion, and presumption is the crime of idolatry. Because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he, too, has rejected you as ruler."  Notice the words:  "rejected you as ruler."  Saul does not say that the Lord has rejected Saul as a person.  Saul as ruler was replaced, as we learn later in the Scriptures.

In today's Gospel, Mark 2: 18-22, Jesus shows us another face of God, one who celebrates life with us.  The Pharisees are troubled by this and asks the disciples of Jesus: "Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?"  Jesus answers: "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?"  We see a God who joins us in our celebrations, is intimate with us, dances with us when we celebrate, rejoices with us when we are rejoicing, and honors us with His presence.  This is the side of a caring, loving, generous God, a God who is not rigid and demanding.

Yes, God wants our obedience to His commands. He wants us to recognize that God alone is God and we are persons wondrously made by our God:  God's masterpieces but not God Him/Herself.  Unlike Adam and Eve, who wanted to be God and followed their wills that were contrary to the will of God, we are to be submissive to the desires of our Creator God!  God leads; we follow!  Adam and Eve failed in that, as did Saul and so many others.  You and I, at times, also fail in being faithful to the directions God sends us each day. The "sacrifice" God asks of us is the submission of our wills, praise and thanksgiving from our lips,  and love from our hearts.

Help me, God, recognize you as God and myself as your daughter/son, as your servant or handmaiden, as Mary and Joseph, whom we just celebrated this Christ season, did!

Called to follow Jesus and Accept His Invitations

In today's Gospel, Mt 4: 18-22, we join Jesus as He walks by the Sea of Galilee. He sees two brothers, Simon and his brother Andrew.  They are casting a net into the sea, as they were professional fishermen. It was through this profession that they provided for their families. Jesus calls to them: "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of [people]." Peter and Andrew leave their nets and follow Jesus. As we walk along with Jesus, Simon and Andrew, Jesus spots two other brothers, James and John, fishing with their father. He calls to them as well.   "[I]mmediately they,[too,] left their boat and their father and followed" Jesus.

When Jesus calls us to follow Him, do we, also, leave everything behind to follow the Lord? Do we recognize that Jesus is not just an ordinary man but that there is something about this person that we cannot resist accepting His invitation to attach ourselves to Him, to follow His instructions and grow in intimacy with Him and in building up the Kingdom with Him?  Is our faith strong enough to trust the Lord's calls throughout the day? Or are we like those persons who, later, Jesus invites to a banquet and who conjure excuses for not accepting the invitation, as we read in Luke's Gospel (Lk 14: 18-20): "I have bought a piece of land and must go see it. Please accept my apologies."   "I have bought five yoke of oxen and am on my way to try them out. Please accept my apologies." "I have just got married and so am unable to come."  If we refuse  Jesus' call, what excuses do we make? 

Glorifying God

In today's first reading, Romans 5: 12, 15b, 17-19, 20b-21, St. Paul reminds us that, just as sin came into the world through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, so, too, did righteousness come into the world through Jesus, the Incarnate  Son of God, who was obedient to the Father even unto death.  Psalm 40, speaking of Jesus, says: "Sacrifice or oblation you wished not, but ears open to obedience you gave me. Burnt offerings you sought not; then said I, 'Behold I come.'  In the written scroll it is prescribed for me, to do your will, O my God, is my delight."

You and I are made righteous through the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Because of Jesus' obedience to His Father, and ours, grace overflows into our lives, as Paul also proclaims:  "Where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through justification for eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."  When you and I admit our sinfulness and acknowledge our neediness of God's overflowing graces,  and when we submit our will to the will of God, those graces are poured out upon us in an abundance that only God is capable of bestowing upon us.  May God's generosity lead us to say, with the author of Psalm 40: "The Lord be glorified."  And may that glorification of God become a reality by our words and deeds in the everydayness of our lives!

"Behold, I Come to do Your Will"

In the first reading of today’s liturgy, Hebrews 10: 1-10, we  are reminded that “Sacrifice and offering [God]  did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you took no delight. Then I said, As is written of me in the scroll, Behold, I come to do you will, O God.”  Sacrifices and offerings are offered according to the law.  These sacrifices do not take sin away and God does not delight in them. God wants us to follow His will.  In today’s Gospel, Mark 3: 31-35, Jesus proclaims that those who do the will of the Father are mother, brother, and sister to Him.  We enter into an intimate relationship with the Trinity when we seek and do God’s will.  Grace flows abundantly into us and through us to others when we are in harmony with what God asks of us. It was through Jesus carrying out the will of the Father, being obedient unto death, that we have been saved, sanctified, and reconciled to our God.  External sacrifices and offerings do not have sanctifying or reconciling power. Obedience to God’s will does, as Jesus modeled for us.

Lord, may I have the strength to sacrifice my will to you through an obedience  that leads to my giving  loving, caring, compassionate service to others and recognizing you as my Sovereign God, my King and Master, my Bridegroom, the Shepherd of my soul, my God and my All!

Jesus' Authority

Today’s first reading, Hebrews 2: 5-15, speak s of the “son of man” being made, “for a little while lower than the angels,” being “crowned…with glory and honor,” and “all things” being subject “under his feet.”   In today’s Gospel, Jesus visits Capernaum with his followers, enters the synagogues and teaches “with authority and not as the scribes. In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit,” who cries out: “What have you do so with us, Jesus of Nazareth. Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebukes the demons and says: “Quiet! Come out of him!” The demon submits to Jesus’ authority.  In other parts of the Gospels, nature submits to Jesus when He orders turbulent weather to cease threatening the lives of His disciples.  Diseases of all kinds also submit to Jesus’ healing authoritative powers.  Death itself submits to God’s authority and Jesus overcomes death in His Resurrection and returning to the Father’s glory!  So, too, will we!

In the responsorial psalm of today’s liturgy, Psalm 8, we pray: “You have given him [your Son] rule over the works of your hands, putting all things under his feet.”  Jesus is  Master of the lives of government leaders, members of Congress and of the Supreme Court. He is Master of the members  of ISIS, of every person sitting in our prisons, of all of those planning good or evil things in this world.  He is Master of your life and of mine.

Am I co-operating with Jesus’ authority or resisting it? Am I submissive or obedient to the authority God has given Jesus or am I rebelling against it. Jesus shows us the way to the Father, as He Himself was obedient to His Father even until death!  Will we follow Jesus’ example? Will we accept salvation in Christ Jesus?

Obedience to God's Requests of Me

In today's first reading, Gen 22: 1-19, God asks Abraham to go to Moriah to sacrifice his only son, whom he loves.  Abraham obeys and sets out for Moriah. As they reach their destination, Abraham places the wood upon Isaac's shoulders and they proceed up the hill. Isaac says to his father: "Father, where is the lamb to be sacrificied?" Abraham replies: "God will provide." As Abraham is about to sacrifice his son, God intervenes. "Do not harm the boy." Abraham looks around and in a nearby bush a ram is caught. He sacrifices the ram. God says to him: "I now know your faithfulness and commitment to Me." Isaac, of course, symbolizes Jesus, who will be the unblemished Lamb sacrificed for our sins, the sins of the world, as Jesus will carry His cross up the hill to Calvary. The cross is the altar upon which Jesus gives His life, pours out His blood, for our freedom from the slavery, not of Egypt, but of sin! How obedient am I to what God asks of me? Jesus was obedient to the point of death. What about me? To what is God asking me to die in order to be free in His grace?

Be It Done unto Me according to Your Will, O God

Today we celebrate the feast of the Annunciation, the angel announces to Mary that she has been chosen by God to be the mother of the Son of God, sent  into the world, not to condemn it but to save it. Her womb will be opened by the Holy Spirit and will receive the Son of God, who will take on our humanity.  Mary, hearing of God’s plan, says:  “Behold the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your  word.”  What do you and I say when “an angel of the Lord” announces God’s plan for us? Are we willing, as Mary was, to have it done to us according to God’s word, or, like Adam and Eve, do we follow our own will and set God’s aside?

Only by God’s intervention would humankind be saved from eternal darkness, from separation from God that was caused by our disobedience. Jesus’  obedience and Mary’s’ would change that for us.  Paul says to us in Hebrews 10: 1-10, the second reading of today’s Mass, “It is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats takes away sins. For this reason, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me” in Mary’s womb. “[I]n holocaust and sin offerings you took no delight. Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll, behold, I come to do your will, O God.”  Paul continues:  “By this ‘will,’ we have been consecrated [made holy, made whole, sanctified] through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all.”  Nothing you and I do makes us right with God. Only Jesus can do that and He did by  being obedient to the Father unto death.

How obedient am I to God? Whose will am I following? God’s? or my own?  Do I want to know? If so, I need to sit at the feet of Jesus in solitude and let the Spirit open my mind to the will of God for me.

Jesus' Obedience to His Father's Will

Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me: The Challenge of Obedience to the Father’s Will-- We are fast approaching Holy Week!  Jesus was very much aware that the hour was approaching for Him to go to Calvary, where He would surrender His life to the Father on the cross for the salvation of the world. I call His obedience to the Father unto death  the third aspect of His call.is His The first aspect, as I perceive it, was his obedience to the Father when He left the glories of heaven, not clinging to equality with God but becoming fully human, entering the womb  of our Blessed Mother. The second aspect, from my point of view, was His obedience to the Spirit when he left home, was baptized by John, led into the desert to confront Satan and then into his active ministry of giving service to others  that ultimately led the third aspect of His call, being put to death by those threatened by His way of life, His Truth and His  teachings.

Obedience to the will of the Father:  Jesus learned obedience from what He suffered, first of all, not clinging to equality with the Father (cf Phil 2:6) but becoming like us in all things except sin; second of all, in His active ministry, doing only what the Father did  (“…the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees the Father doing and whatever the Father does the Son does too. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does himself… [John 5: 20]); and third of all, surrendering to His crucifixion and death on the cross, when, in Gethsemane, Jesus says to His Father:  “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, let your will be done, not mine” (Luke 22: 42-43).

Our call also has a three-fold aspect:  we  learn obedience from what we suffer, first of all,  by not clinging to our own wills, as though we are a god unto ourselves, as we strive to become our best self already as children and adolescents; second  of all, “by doing nothing” by ourselves but turning our eyes to the heavens, seeking the Father’s will in all things, especially in  regard to our chosen  ministries/careers by which  we choose  to serve others and the make the world a better place and by entering into the “deserts” we need to enter to  wrestle with Satan and confront his lies; and third of all, seeking the guidance of  the Spirit to make a right decision  in terms of our vocation in life (marriage, single life, or religious life) and saying to the Father, as Jesus said: “[L]et your will be done, not mine.”

Living out any aspect of call will entail carrying the cross of surrendering our will to the will of our Father, as Jesus did.  Will we take up our cross, as Jesus did? Will we take up our cross, as   Mary did all the way to Calvary’s hill, where, with Jesus, she, too, surrendered to the Father?  

To whom, to what, are we surrendering our lives? Let us use these last days of Lent to seriously consider these questions.

Jesus' Endurance for Our Sake's

In today's first reading, Hebrews 12: 1-4, St. Paul speaks about Jesus' endurance of the cross, "despising its shame," and then taking his seat at the right hand of the Father in eternity.  Many times, much suffering accompanies our following of Jesus, our obedience to the voice of the Holy Spirit directing us throughout the day. We may be called upon to walk away from gossip or to refrain from gossiping or, even, to confront such behavior among our co-workers, family members or friends. The Spirit  may challenge us to be honest, humble, kind, outgoing and solicitous for the good of another when we want to promote ourselves.  Or the temptation to sin may be even greater: committing adultery, stealing from our employee in some way, not really doing a full day's work, for instance, or abusing a child, a spouse, an elderly person, physically striking them, or verbally or emotionally abusing their spirit, killing their initiative or spontaneity, crushing their self-esteem, crippling their self-confidence.

Jesus confronts sin. His challenges of the evils of His day led to His crucifixion and His dying a shameful death on the cross, being obedience to the Father's will that Satan be overpowered by Good. Jesus destroyed sin by doing good and by His obedience.  He was restored to life in the resurrection and now sits at the right hand of the Father where He intercedes for us, as we, too, struggle with evil.  It is through Jesus' intercession to the Father on the cross itself--"Father, forgive them; they know not what they are doing" when cooperating with evil, when following Satan's lies--and in heaven that we, too, triumph over evil in our world and in our personal lives. 

Jesus' Humility and Obedience

In today’s first reading, Phillippians 2: 5-11, Paul reminds us that Jesus became a slave for us. To whom was Jesus a slave? To God the Father, who sent him into the world, not to condemn it but to save it.  Jesus was obedient to the Father unto death, teaching us to follow the same path. In His humility, as the Son of God, Jesus did not cling to His equality with God. He left the realms of heaven, came to earth taking on our humanity to show us the way to the Father, the way of obedience to the Father’s guidance through the power of the Holy Spirit, the way of love by laying down His life for the sake of each human being.

As a woman religious, I have vowed obedience, the obedience modeled by Jesus. I believed, and believe, deeply that the Father communicates His will for me through my superiors, my fellow Sisters, the Church, the Constitution of my religious community and, yes, within myself as well. Priests believe the will of God for them is communicated through their bishop. There is a security in this, though never easy. I also have to learn day by day that the Spirit directs me even in the smallest of things, in the most insignificant of decisions: “write that letter”, “ call that person”, “ leave your office and go home so you are on time for communal prayer, a communal meal, and spending time with your sisters,” “stop playing card games on your iPad and do spiritual reading, consciousness exam, and pray compline.”  How willing am I to become a slave for Jesus’ sake, being obedient to the Spirit’s lead?  How willing are you?