"If God is for Us, Who Can be Against Us" (Rom. 8:31)

Today the Church celebrates the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul.  We read, in the first reading of the liturgy, Acts 12: 1-11, about the miraculous intervention of Peter being freed from prison.  “He had been taken into custody and put in prison under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each…. [P]rayer by the Church was fervently being made to God on his behalf….Suddenly the angel of the Lord stood by him and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and awakened him, saying, ‘Get up quickly.’ The chains fell from his wrists.”  The angel then asked that he follow him out of the prison and they did so in front of all of the guards who were rendered powerless.

We are told in the Gospel of today’s liturgy that Christ built His Church upon “rock,” the rock of Peter and “the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”   The Church is built upon God’s plan, a Foundation that will stand forever.  Hell shall never prevail against God’s will!  We need to hear, I believe, what God said so often to the Chosen People: “I am God; there is no other” (Is 45: 5

God’s plans will never be destroyed. Those who attempt to relegate such into oblivion will never succeed any more than did the Egyptians succeed in making powerless God’s plan to deliver Israel from slavery in their day.  The Egyptians certainly tried! Neither was the plan of God destroyed during the Chosen  People’s wanderings in the desert or their mingling with pagan gods or during their exile from Jerusalem, from the Presence of their God in the Temple. God is God; there is no other.  The Chief Priests and Scribes and leaders of the Jewish people attempted to destroy the will of God by putting Jesus to death—God raised Jesus from the dead: the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church, against God’s plan for our salvation.    Neither will the plan of God be obliterated today by the false gods of our times: possessions, pleasure, power.  God’s authority will not be usurped by the authority of those in power today. God says to us, as He did to the Egyptians: “I am God; there is no other.”

Confidence and Transparency

In both of today’s readings, Gen. 17: 1, 9-10, 15-22 and Mt 8: 1-4, we witness two people being transparent with the Lord.  The result is amazing, revealing how God relates to persons who are humble, sincere and open in their communication with the Lord. A mutual confidence and caring exchange occurs. In Gen. Abram laughs when God says that Abram, now 100 years of age, and Sarah, 99, will bear a child. Abram says to God: “Bless Ishmael instead.”  God does so9 but also blesses Abram and Sarah, keeping His covenant with them.  In the Gospel, a leper, an outcast of society, approaches Jesus and says: “If you wish, you can heal me.” And Jesus does just that.

Normalcy is ignored and/or transcended in both cases.  It wasn’t normal for a couple to be fertile in advanced years nor was it, according to societal norms in Jesus’ time for a leper to approach Jesus or for Jesus to enter into a relationship with a leper.  Both the leper and Jesus ignore these norms and God’s compassion to the lowliest of people is revealed.

How confident am I in approaching the Lord and honestly expressing my concerns?  Do I wish to be healed?  Do I ask that others be blessed? If not, why not?

Taking Things into Our Own Hands: The Consequences

In today’s first reading, Gen. 16: 1-12, 15-16, we have the story of Sarai giving her husband permission to have intercourse with her Egyptian maidservant Hagar, because “the Lord has kept me from bearing children.”  Abram and Sarai take things into their own hands instead of trusting and relying upon the Lord,  who promised them that their descendents would be as numerous as the stars in the sky or the sand on the seashore.  Following her pregnancy, Hagar begins to treat Sarai with disdain and lord her pregnancy over Sarai. Sarai blames Abram for Hagar’s abuse. He dismisses it as her problem: “Do with her whatever you like.”  Sarai, in  turn, abuses Hagar, who runs away to get escape the consequences of her bad behavior that Sarai reciprocates.  God communes with Hagar, expressing his concern and counseling her to deal with the situation she has created by returning to Sarai. 

How easily to get ourselves into a mess when we take things into our own hands and then take steps to avoid any responsibility for the mess that we have created.  There are consequences to abusing anyone, to lording it over others, to entertaining and acting upon jealousies.  Note, though, that God does not abandon any one of these persons and He does not negate His promises. The covenant stands that He made with Abram and Sarai.  Hagar, too, is given protection, is counseled, is shown care and concern from on high. 

God has a plan for all and that plan will not be thwarted because we choose to do things our way instead of waiting upon the Lord.  In what ways, we need to ask ourselves, do we take things into our own hands, arrange to escape the messes we have created in our relationships, act upon jealousies and forget God’s covenant with us?

"How" Lord will your will be accomplished in me?

In today’s first reading, Gen. 15: 1-12, 17-18, we reflect upon Abram’s questioning of God: how is it ever possible that my descendants will be as numerous as the sands on the seashore when “I keep being childless….See, you have given me no offspring.”

Our complaint will vary: “Lord, how can_____________ be; you have not given me _______.”  Abram follows God’s instructions to offer sacrifice and praise.  Not trusting that his offering of sacrificial animals is safe on the altar, Abram stays with them throughout the evening, falls into “a trance” and is enveloped by a “deep, terrifying darkness.”  It was at this occasion that God makes His covenant with Abram. 

At our worst, life, too, at times, becomes this terrifying darkness.  Hopelessness can set in and seem to take a forever hold on our lives.  God seems to have abandoned us to our worst fears.  However, God is faithful even when our hopes seem dead.  God is with us in our despair, just as much as He was with Abram in his agonies.  God triumphs even when we have no inkling how His plans for our well-being or that of our families, our societies, our communities, our church, our world will be realized. In our darkest moments, as with Abram, God makes and/or renews His covenant with us in and through and with Christ Jesus, our God and Savior.

Lord, I pray for the faith of Abram. May I have the courage to "stay with" that of which I am afraid, knowing that you will come through for me.  May I cling to You and your promises in the deepest darkest moments of my life.  You are God and there is no other!

Belief in an Abundance

In today’s first reading, Gen. 13: 2, 5-18, we read the story of Abram and Lot being “very rich in livestock, silver, and gold.” The flock and herds and tents of both were so great that “the land could not support them if they stayed together; their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together.” So Abram says to Lot: “Let there be no strife between you and me, or between  your herdsmen and mine, for we are kinsmen. Is not the whole land at your disposal?  Please separate from me. If you prefer the left, I will go to the right; if you prefer the right, I will go to the left.”

As I reflected upon that passage, I realized that when I am “fighting” with another, it is a sign of my lack of faith in the Lord’s ability, desire and power to fulfill my needs, to take care of my religious community, for instance, and its needs for new vocations and for whatever else my province needs to thrive. God is a generous God. There is an abundance of graces available to meet our needs for ongoing conversion, for future ministry, for an increase in membership or for new membership (not necessarily in huge numbers but sufficient for the work/ministry to which  God is calling us).  In my personal life, when I am “fighting” with another for whatever I want or believe I need, then, too, I am functioning from a position of lack, not believing in abundance, an abundance readily available to me through God, my Savior and the Creative Energy and Power at work in my life on a daily basis.

If we—the church, the nations of the world, municipalities, governing bodies of all sorts, members of families, corporations throughout the world--are going to work out of our differences, we need the faith of Abram, knowing that there is enough for all and that all can be part of the decision-making process (Abram included Lot and his family, Lot and his herdsmen). We need to be able to let go, as Abram did, be willing to compromise and be concerned that our neighbor’s needs are met, knowing, in fact, that ours will be met as well. What a difference we would make in the world of today, if we functioned with the faith of Abram and practiced his negotiating and compromising skills, in inclusivity of others in the decision-making process! How "rich" my life would be if I operated from the stance of faith in God's abundance.

Preparing the Way for the Lord

Today we celebrate the Feast of St. John the Baptist.  John’s mission was to prepare the way for the Lord, “to turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God” (cf. Luke 1: 5-17). John would go before Jesus and turn people’s “hearts toward their children and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to prepare a people fit for the Lord.” 

The Lord says to us:

(Insert your name), that, too, is your mission.  As a I turn your heart back to me when you stray in disobedience, so, too,  are you--more so by example than by words—to be an instrument of grace by which others turn back to me as well.

(Insert your name),  just as I was at work in the lives of Zachariah and Elizabeth, who were faithful Jews and were looked down upon by their own people—not having children was considered a punishment for sin—so, too, am I working as Savior and God in the lives of people today who are committed to their faith.

Just as I sent John into the world to “prepare a people fit for the Lord,” so, too, do I send people today into the church of today, into families, into government, into all segments of society to prepare a place for Me.  I continue to raise up prophets today.  I continue to send “John the Baptists” into today’s wilderness to prepare for my coming, my presence in the world in order that my Father’s  will is accomplished.

I call you to be a significant part of this mission.  How you live--what you say or leave unsaid, what you do and do not do, prepares the way for Me to enter into another  person’s life. You are a means of salvation, a light that shines in the darkness, a voice that sounds in the wilderness of today, as much as  John the Baptist was in his day.

What is my response to the Lord’s invitation?

God, our Deliverer

In the antiphon of today’s responsorial psalm, Psalm 34, we are told that  “From all their distress God rescues the just.”  Our journey here on earth is one of learning that fact by seeking  the Lord above all else: to seek the Lord in our joys and sorrows, in our triumphs and failures, in our anxieties and our moments of confidence, in sickness and in health.  We need to discover that to which the psalmist gives witness, namely, that when we seek the Lord, the Lord answers us and delivers us from all our fears.  The psalmist reminds us that “[w]hen the poor one called out the Lord heard and from all his distress he saved him.” 

 Do  I approach the Lord as “a poor one”?  Do I even recognize my poverty (my spiritual poverty, that is)?  Do I come to the Lord in my distress or do I medicate my distress with addictive use of drugs and alcohol, food and sweets, gambling and shopping, Internet surfing or watching TV, running from one relationship to another and another and another, or whatever addictive behavior I use to numb out?  It is easier to run from our discomfort than to examine it in prayer.  The choice is ours: to call upon the Lord of hosts, a warrior, a comforter, a redeemer  or to seek comfort in ways that simply repress the pain, a pain that resurfaces with a vengeance the next time we are hurt.

What is your choice?