Confidence in God through Christ Jesus

In today’s first reading, 2 Cor. 3: 4-11, St. Paul shares the confidence he has through Christ toward God—a confidence each of us has as well.  God has given us the qualities needed to be ministers of a new covenant, the covenant of the spirit.  Moses was qualified by God as a minister of the letter of the law, the old covenant given on Mount Sinai and written in stone.    The “letter brings death,” Paul tells us. The spirit “gives life.”   The law condemns us. The spirit does not.  We have an example of the latter—the law bringing death—in the Pharisees, whom Jesus confronted many times. Paul himself was practicing a law that brought death to people until his conversion on the way to Damascus.

 

Each of us has a choice to be involved in “the ministry of righteousness,”  or of being a minister of the old covenant,  adhering to the  letter of the law, as did the Pharisees, as did Paul until his conversion, using the law to condemn others. In other words, like the Pharisees and like Paul before his conversion, we can choose to stand on a pedestal of self-righteousness, depleting life instead of giving life.   Or, we can acknowledge the Righteous One as our Savior, who alone justifies and glorifies those who walk humbly with their God (cf Micah 6:8) doing what is right in God's eyes, following the law of the Spirit. That is the confidence of which Paul speaks .

What choice are we making?

Jesus: A "Yes" to All God's Promises

“For however m any are the promises of God, their Yes” is in Christ Jesus.  “Therefore, the Amen from us also goes through him to God for glory.”  Jesus is God’s “Yes” to all of His promises.  As disciples of Christ, we, too, are a “yes” to God in Christ Jesus.  It is Jesus who gives us “security” and who has “anointed us in God; he has also put his seal upon us and given the Spirit in our hearts as a first installment” (2 Cor 1: 18-22).

Wow! Jesus is God’s Yes to all of His promises: the promise of eternal salvation, the promise that Satan’s head would be crushed, the promise that we would become one with the Father and the Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus, the promise of eternal life forever ; the promise that, in Christ Jesus, we would conquer Satan and not be  eternally exiled from the Lord; the promise of the Holy Spirit poured out upon the entire Church and each of us, taking up His dwelling place within our hearts forever; the promise of being  our Light in the darkness of this world, the promise of the Way to the Father; the promise of healing  by God and transformation in God!

Jesus said “yes” to God the Father in all things: leaving the glory of heaven and coming to earth, becoming a human being like us in all things but sin, being sin for us (2 Cor 5:21); becoming the Lamb of God and being slaughtered on the cross to take away all sin; rising from the dead, sitting at the Father’s right hand interceding for us and sending us the Spirit to teach us all things that He taught us while on this earth, and, at the end of the world, returning to take us where He is in life eternal!

Am I a “yes” to God or a "yes" to the world and its pagan values? Am I a “yes” to God or a "yes" to Satan, who is prowling this world seeking someone to devour in his lies? Am I a “yes” to living a life of integrity, honesty, love, compassion, mercy and forgiveness? Am I a “yes” to living a pure life, a moral life, a life of virtue/goodness/justice for all? Am I a "yes" to being faithful to the Lord, to others, to the Spirit within me?

The Beatitutes' Blessings

Mt 5: 1-12: The Beatitudes: “Blessed are you, (your name), the Kingdom of heaven is yours when you realize your dependency upon me, when you know that you are my creation, my possession; when you realize your creatureliness and my transcendence, imminence and indwelling, when you are obedient to the directions of the Spirit that I whisper from within you and around you and through others. The Kingdom of heaven is yours when you assume a listening, respectful stance toward others and are sensitive to the feelings of others, the fragility of the esteem of another, the other’s need for affirmation and support. The Kingdom of heaven is yours when you do not lord it over others, are meek and humble of heart.    

Blessed are you, (your name) when you mourn when others are suffering loss: the loss of a loved one, the loss of valued possessions, the loss of dignity and respect, the loss of self-esteem and support, the loss of freedom.  Blessed are you, (your name),  when you mourn these  things and take steps to restore loss self-esteem, offer support to “weakened knees” raise up fallen heart and allow others to grieve their losses.

Blessed are you, (your name), when you are meek and humble of heart, you will inherit “solid land”; you will not sink into the “mud” of a disgruntled, angry, proud heart.

Blessed are you, (your name,) when you show mercy; mercy will be shown to you.

Blessed are you, (your name), who are pure of heart, when the purity of the Spirit within you transforms that about you that is less than what God intends it to be. As your heart grows in purity, so, too, do your eyes see more clearly where and when God is present or absent. Yes, you will see God at work when your heart is pure.

Blessed are you, (your name),  when you keep the peace by being peaceful within and without, when you seek to resolve conflict peacefully rather than avoiding it or pretending peace has not been compromised by your behavior or speech or negative attitudes. When you strive to restore peace peacefully, people will then call you a woman/a man of God.

Blessed are you, (your name), when, standing up for what is right, when acting justly, when showing mercy, when being forgiving, when acknowledging Me, you are persecuted, ridiculed, “stoned” with disparaging words, your reward in heaven for speaking the truth and doing what is right will be great.

"Take this Medicine!"

In today’s first reading, Tobit 11: 15-17 we have the continuation of the story of Tobit and Anna, whose son Tobiah just married Sarah, the daughter of Raguel.  Anna is eagerly awaiting her son’s return from the wedding , anxious to meet her new daughter-in-law, no doubt.  The angel Raphael is accompanying Tobiah on his return home. On the way the angel directs Tobiah to anoint his father’s eyes with fish gall and is certain he will see again.  “Tobiah went up to [his father] with the fish gall in his hand, and holding him firmly, blew into his eyes. ‘Courage, father,’ he said. Next he smeared the medicine on his eyes, and it made them smart. Then, beginning at the corners of Tobit’s eyes, Tobiah  used both hands to peel off the cataracts.” That took a lot of courage, trust and faith on Tobiah’s part as well as on the part of his father.

You and I might object and say to the angel “Do what? You’ve got to be kidding! I’m not doing that to my father.  He will think I am crazy! I’m not a physician. And what if that makes his eyes worst. He will then blame me.”  How often when God send His messengers to us to guide us in a certain way do we not object!  The suggestion itself “smarts” and, many times,  we do whatever we need do to avoid the pain to ourselves or to another. Perhaps someone needs to hear the truth that what he/she is doing is wrong, will lead to bad consequences for his/her family or for oneself, such as smoking marijuana or abusing alcohol or other drugs,  getting into pornography or keeping company with so and so and on and on. 

Doing what is right, many times, involves pain in the same way as bringing a child into the world involves pain. New life demands sacrifice. New beginnings are not easy!  Am I willing to undergo pain for a greater good? How strong is my faith and trust when I am directed to take a step that is difficult to take?