Turning toward God, Not Away from Him

In today's first reading, Jeremiah 7: 23-28, the Lord says to us through the prophet: "Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk in all the ways that I command you, so that you may prosper. But they obeyed not, nor did they pay heed. They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me."

Have you, have I, have we turned our backs on the Lord and walked away from Him? Or do we turn our faces to the Lord and in faith walk with Him and toward Him?  In hope and in faith and in love, do we keep going forward no matter how difficult the journey might be? Or do we return to "the flesh pots of Egypt," to our whims, urges and impulses, walking away from doing what we know is right and choosing the easier path that makes no demands upon us? When challenged to go forward, do we say to people, either in word or action: "Leave me alone. I've done enough! I'm too tired. I'm too old! I'm too young!"

No matter what, God always walks along side us on the journey of faith, giving us the strength, the courage, and the wisdom we need to move forward!  Not only is God with us on our way to heaven, so, too, are all the saints, those who have gone before us and those here on earth making the journey with us to our eternal homes! And furthermore, the angels, especially our guardian angel, walks with us as well!

Lord, forgive us for the times when we have turned our backs to you and give us the strength to turn back to you again and again in faith, hope and love!

Choose Life

In today's first reading, Dt. 30:15-20, we are told that God has set before us life and death. "Choose life,...that you and your descendants may live, by loving the Lord, our God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him."  Yesterday a young man chose death by killing 17 young men and women. This young man is allegedly mentally ill.  He was allowed to legally purchase an automatic weapon and was determined, according to a face book message, to become a professional school shooter.  Why, I ask, are automatic weapons sold to anyone and are we not choosing death by allowing such purchases to occur?  Automatic weapons certainly are not used to kill deer or other animals sought for food!  They are used to kill people! I ask myself the following questions: So what goes here? Is it that producing and selling weapons of mass destruction puts millions of dollars in the pockets of the rich? Is it that allowing every human being to possess a gun, for any reason,  also creates millions of dollars of profits in corporations that produce these weapons? Is it that gun lobbyists promise millions to politicians who, in turn, refuse to pass gun legislation lest substantial donations diminish? I also wonder whether we are refusing to learn from, and listen to, other countries where only those in law enforcement, those in the military and those hunting game for food possess guns and where there is nothing of the violence we see in our country?  I ask: is it that citizens in those countries are a priority, not making millions and making the rich richer at the expense of the poor and at the expense of victims of gun violence,  both those who lose their lives and families and friends who mourn these losses?

In today's first reading, Dt. 30: 15-20, Moses says to us:  "Today I  have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments of the Lord,  your God, which I enjoy on you today, loving him [by loving and protecting others], and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statues and decrees [do not kill and, I would say, do not promote killing],...the Lord, your God will bless you...If, however, you turn away your hearts [from what is right] and will not listen, but are led astray and adore and serve other gods [greed, consumerism, materialism, gluttony, lust, wealth accumulated illegally, through deceit and corrupt choices, and at the expense of the poor, etc.], I tell you now that you will certainly perish...."

Is the United States on the path of destruction, courting death and doom, promoting death, intentionally or unintentionally? Am I, or you, on a path that depletes life by our disobedience, our refusal to follow the voice of good spirits prompting us to do God's holy will,  to love as God loves, to be compassionate as God is compassionate? Are we on a path that shows a lack of concern for the rights of all people, all races, all genders, all nationalities, the rich and the poor, immigrants and non-immigrants, the young and the old? Am I, are you, living lives of rebellion against what we know puts us in right relationship with God, with self and others?

"Chose life...by loving the Lord, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him" (Dt. 30:19).)

"Be Not Afraid"--God is with You

In today’s Gospel, some Pharisees approach Jesus and say to Him: “Go away, leave this area because Herod wants to kill you.”  Jesus replies:  “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and I perform healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I accomplish my purpose. Yet I must continue on my way today, tomorrow , and the following day, for it is impossible that a prophet should die outside of Jerusalem.”  Jesus then addresses Jerusalem, saying: “…Behold, your house will be abandoned. But I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

In the thick of a dangerous world, Jesus trusts His Father. He knows that people are plotting to kill Him. His faith in His Father does not waver. He does not flinch in the midst of threats on His life.  He continues doing the work that His Father has given Him to do as He approaches Jerusalem where He will be put to death but rise again in triumph to secure our salvation.

The world today is no different than in Jesus’ times. People are plotting to kill other people, to put Christians to death, to kill those they disdain or whose beliefs differ from their own.  To people whose lives are in danger, Jesus says:  “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Can you not buy two sparrows for a penny? And yet not one falls to the ground without your Father knowing. Why, every hair on your head has been counted. So there is no need to be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Mt 10: 28-31).

  We live in a dangerous world. That is true! But it is no more dangerous than the world in which Jesus lived. In faith, let us, like Jesus, continue “today, tomorrow, and the following day” performing the works God has given us to do in building God's Kingdom of love, justice, truth, mercy and forgiveness. And no matter what danger approaches the horizon of our lives, may we anchor our faith in the Lord, who alone will save us and give us the strength we need to continue trusting God, our Father.  May we walk in the Light, seek the Light and be the Light in the darkness that surrounds us!

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!

Walking in a Manner Worthy of the Lord

Today’s responsorial psalm, Psalm 139, acknowledges that God has searched me and knows me and that there is nowhere or  way, in the long run, that  I can actually flee from God’s presence.  However, I can spend a lifetime closing my mind to God’s messages and refusing to look for God in my experiences.  Yes, I can spend my life’s energy avoiding the “empty tombs” of my life, avoiding the darkness to find the Light, climbing “Mount Tabors” and refusing to come off the mount (of pride, self-righteousness, erecting tents for myself and like-minded individuals. I can also spend all my energy making excuses when confronted  by the Lord.  For example, like Jeremiah, I can try to shut out God’s call to be a prophet by saying:  “I am too young, Lord.”  Like Isaiah I can object to God’s will by saying: I can’t do what you are asking; I come from a people of unclean lips.” With  Peter  I can say: “Depart from me, O Lord, I am a sinful [person].”  Like the apostles on the road to Emmaus, I can leave places with which  I do not want to deal, places that rattle my comfort zone.   Like Paul, who persecutes others different from Himself and following other beliefs, I can mount thrones of passionate pursuits that leave me blind, as I resist interventions.  Yes, we can run from our experiences  in whatever ways we choose to run from them even to the point of death. How sad if we turn to Truth only on our death beds!

In today’s first reading,  1 Thes 2: 9-13, Paul confronts the Thessalonians, “insisting that [we] walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls [us] into his Kingdom and glory”—so, too, are we invited to “walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls [us] into his Kingdom and glory.” That means facing our truth, a truth that comes to us in being open to others, especially to those persons, perhaps, whom  we avoid in our personal lives.  In order to walk in a manner worthy of God, we need to bare our souls to the Lord Himself, facing our “demons,” going into the darkness  of our lives to find the Light, coming down from our “Mount Tabors” and walking with Christ to that place where we die to our sinful ways (our  pride, our lusts for power and control, our selfish ways, our self-righteousness, etc.) and resurrect to new life in Christ Jesus. And, finally,  as did Mary Magdalen, we need to  enter  our “empty tombs” to encounter the Risen Christ and risk being fully transformed by Him, no longer afraid to take the message of the Risen Christ to whomever we are sent.

Being Filled with Knowledge of God's Will

In today’s first reading, Colossians 1: 9-14, St. Paul prays for us, asking that the Lord fill us with knowledge of God’s will and that we  walk in ways that are worthy of the Lord and fully pleasing to Him.  We are capable of fully pleasing God only because Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead to new life, ascended to His Father and dispatched the Holy Spirit to be with us until the end of time.

 With Jesus, we, too, have died to sin and rose to new life in Him, with Him and through Him in our Baptism,  at our Confirmation, and by our participation in the Eucharist and the sacrament of Reconciliation. The God-life within us and in the world is secured by the Power of the Holy Spirit, with whom we are cooperating when we do what is right and just in God’s eyes, when we follow God’s commands and seek to do His will. 

We see the power of God operative in human life in the story given in today’s Gospel, Luke 5: 1-11 where Peter and his companions cooperate with Jesus.   Jesus gets into Simon’s boat and asks him to move out a short distance from the shore. From there He teaches the crowd and, when finished, asks Peter to row out into the deep waters and lower their nets for a catch. Peter tells Jesus that they have been fishing all night long and caught nothing but at His command will again lower the nets. The catch is so great that their nets were being torn and they needed help getting the fish into the boat. Two boats were filled to the point of sinking. Seeing this, Peter falls down before the Lord and says: “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

Can anyone of us not afford to partner with Jesus and obey the will, the commands, of our God?