Walking in Jesus' Footprints

In today's first reading, Jeremiah 18: 18-20, Jeremiah's enemies are plotting against him, saying to each other: "Come, let us contrive a plot against Jeremiah....[L]et us destroy him by his own tongue; let us carefully note his every word."  The Pharisees do the same toward Jesus, that is, listen to His every word, hoping to hear something that will justify their plot to kill Him.  They believe that they have succeeded, but death has no power over Jesus. He is raised to life on the third day, as He tells His disciples in today's Gospel, Matthew 20: 17-28: "Behold," Jesus says to them,  "we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and he will be raised [from death] on the third day."

The twelve don't get it. As they are walking along, James and John, through their mother, approach Jesus and ask to be seated on his left and right in His kingdom!  Jesus says to them: "'You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?' They said to him: 'We can.' He replied: 'My chalice you shall indeed drink, but to sit at my right and at my left, this is not mine to give...'"

Seeking first and second place is pretty common.Wanting to be privileged is written , it seems, in our genes.  Such desires, even to this day, lead to killing one's competitor or opponent--physical death or death of the spirit, or of the will to live or one's ability to secure jobs that will allow a person to adequately support his/her family.  We see these sinful behaviors and attitudes at work when we watch the evening news!

Applying this Scripture passage to our personal lives, in what ways to we act as James and John and their mother?  Are we arriving to be above others, missing the point of Jesus' teachings that we are here to serve others, not to be served; that we are called to pick up our crosses, as He did, and through the cross, experience resurrection?

"Shake the Dust from Your Feet"

In today's first reading, Acts 13: 44-52, prominent women and leading men stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas "and expelled them from their territory." This past week a Catholic priest was fired by Speaker of the House, as his message of passing legislature that benefits the rich and poor alike was labelled "too political." Whatever the reason for the expulsions, Paul and Barnabas "shook the dust from their feet in protest" against their persecutors and moved on.

All of us, from time to time, will encounter those who oppose the good we want to promote, will   reject our stand for justice, and, in fact, will persecute us for our commitment to the Gospel. There will be times when, in spite of having put forth our best, we will need to shake "the dust" from our feet, forgive those who oppose our actions, let go and let God, and move on.  Given the obstacles placed in our way and a clear messages of being  unwelcome and in fact "expelled from [the] territory," we need to open ourselves to God's invitation to move on to other  "territories." This may mean moving on to a different ministry/job, letting go of a certain relationship and/or, in short, changing our determination to get what we want from "soil" that is unproductive, knowing that God has a future full of hope planned for us (See Jer 29:11)! But without letting go of and surrendering the past to God we will not know that future!

Happy New Year Lived as Mary Lived

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and the Octave of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Mary.

Mary was about 14 or 15 when she became the Mother of God! It was typical in her day and culture for young ladies to marry in their early or mid teens, though the child born of her was conceived, not via man, but via the power of the  third person of the Blessed Trinity, the  Holy Spirit, "for nothing is impossible for God" (Luke 1: 37), as Mary said to the messenger of God when she uttered her "yes" to being chosen to bring Jesus into existence as a human being, as the Incarnated God made man.

A teen mother! A holy mother! A mother whom the angel Gabriel greeted with the words: "Rejoice so highly favored. The Lord is with you" (Luke 1: 29).   The Lord was with her first in the womb and then throughout her life to the point when she stood beneath the cross of her dying Son, when she witnessed the resurrection of her Son from the dead, and then in the Eucharist given to her and us at the Last Supper when Jesus blessed the bread and "gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body which will be given for you; do this as a memorial of me.' He did the same with the cup [of wine] after the supper, and said, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood which will be poured out for you.'" Jesus, as Mary knew and pondered, is the Lamb of God sacrificed once and for all for the sins of the world,  a sacrifice that does not need to be repeated as was the sacrifice of lambs in the Old Covenant. Jesus died once and for all and Mary was there saying "yes" to God's plan of salvation, yours and mine.

Throughout her life, Mary pondered the mysteries surrounding Jesus' birth and her virginal motherhood, the flight into Egypt and return to Galilee, Jesus' childhood, adolescence and young adulthood, His meeting with top theologians of His day in the Temple at age 12 and baffling them with His Wisdom,  His ministry and teachings, and His sufferings, death and resurrection; and the sending of the Holy Spirit on the first Pentecost, that is, the birthday of the Church that was begun on that date and continues throughout the centuries to this very day!  Mary is "the Church," a sign of the presence of God in our midst, a woman full of grace and a vehicle of grace for all, as is the Church itself.

With Mary, may we grow in the fullness of grace by staying close to Jesus, living a life of faith, hope and love and thus pondering the mysteries of God being revealed in all of the events and relationships of our lives and in all of creation; in the particulars of health and sickness, successes and failures,  moments of peace and unrest, good times and"bad", joy and sadness, ecstasy and love.

With Mary,  may we, in all that 2018 offers, ponder the mysteries of God in our lives, saying in faith: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit exults in God my Savior; because he has looked upon his lowly handmaid [servant]" (Luke 1:46).

Happy New Year!

Being Born from Above

In today’s Gospel, John 3: 7b-15, Jesus tells Nicodemus that he “must be born from above,” that “the wind blows where it wills,” that we “do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Furthermore, Jesus reminds us in this Gospel that  “just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” 

I looked upon this passage in light of my experience of having little or no energy on some days and then again having a surge of energy.  Being the person that I am, I have a very difficult time not having the energy which I need to accomplish what I want to accomplish on a given day. I entered into the following conversation with my mother, who is in heaven:

Mom, this lack of energy is getting to me. But I am ashamed of complaining about it. Look at what you endured with your cancer.

Dort (the name I was called as a child), I understand your complaint. It is difficult to not have the energy you want in order to do what you feel called to do. Be patient and compassionate toward yourself. Cultivating these virtues is significant in living as Jesus lived, that is, saying “yes” to God’s will in accepting circumstances beyond your control.  It is not about what you accomplish or how productive you are that matters in life. It is the interior life of faith that matters uppermost.

Thank you, Mom.

Dort, God is taking you on the most important of journey of your life, that is,  the journey of faith and trust in God, your Savior.  It is the way of humility and love.  This is the time for you to grow in your understanding of what it means to walk by faith, not by sight.  It is the time to believe in the “blowing wind” of the Spirit  doing the will of God in you, in others and in the world.  You see It and then you don’t.

This is the time in your life to ascend in faith, looking upon Him whom we have pierced and nailed to the cross. Look upon Him who is redeeming you in the circumstances of life and inviting you to descend into your lowliness and lack of energy.  Low energy: testing your faith. High energy: affirming your faith.

Mom, this is difficult. 

Dort, “you must be born from above”  (Today’s Gospel: John 3: 7b-15).   That, Dort, is what God is doing in you now.  It is not your work but His. On occasion, God opens your eyes to realize that He is doing more in you now than you can imagine. Trust God, Dort. Trust Him!

Faith Alive

In today’s first reading, 2 Kings 19: 9b-11, 14-21, 31-35a, 36, we hear the story of how Hezikiah, King of Jud, handled the news of impending disaster.  Sennacharib, King od Assyria,  was planning to attack Judah, the Southern Kingdom of Israel, to do to them what had been done to the Northern Kingdom: disperse them, exile them from their inherited land and destroy the Temple, their place of worship.  Hezikiah went to the Lord and prayed:

“O Lord, God of Israel, enthroned upon the cherubim! You alone are God over all    

the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the heavens and the earth. Incline your

ear, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see! Hear the words of Sennecherib

 which he sent to taunt the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid

waste the nations and their lands, and cast their gods into the fire; they destroyed

 them because they were not gods, but the work of human hands, wood and stone.

Therefore, O Lord our God, save us from the power of this man, that all the kingdoms

of the earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God.”

Hezikah’s prayer was answered and 185,000 men of Sennacherib’s army died that night. Sennacherib retreated.

Your response might be: “What magic!” It was not magic. Hezikiah was a God-fearing person, a man who lived by faith.  He expected to see God in the events of his day.  If we live by faith, we will  also see God at work in our lives and in the world of today. If we do not keep our covenant with God, if we do not rely upon God, if we do not look for God, we, obviously will not find Him nor will we see Him at work in our lives. Disaster will be disaster period and not something out of which God brings a good.  Chaos will be chaos and chaos alone, not something out of which order will emerge in God’s time with our cooperation and reliance upon God.

Choosing to be faithful

Today’s Scripture passage is about a Maccabean mother and her seven sons who refused to violate the law and were put to death. Each of the sons were tortured as their mother watched. When her youngest son was faced with accepting the lavish gifts the king would bestow on him if he obeyed, the mother encouraged him to remain strong in his faith.  Though none of us will likely be faced with torture or death, yet every day we are invited to die to self and rise with Christ in small, heroic ways.  For instance, the Spirit invites us  1) to stand up for another who is being bullied by gossip, 2) to not entertain ourselves or other others by gossiping ourselves, 3) to tell the truth when tempted to be deceptive,  4) or,  when another is promoting her/himself with grandiose descriptions of how better his/her way is from ours, we can choose the way of humility rather than bringing this person down by countering  with our own personal grandiose accomplishments.  To realize by our behaviors that any good we do is God acting through us is an attitude that will give us the courage to sing God’s praises and “die” to singing our own, being the queen/king others worship and choosing to worship only God.  Will I, like the seven sons and the mother, serve God or self today in the little things that contribute to heroic choices made out of humility and from a stance of faith?