About once a month we have a “Faith in Film” night at the Catholic Center.  At “Faith in Film” we watch a film that has a faith theme and then spend some time afterwards discussing the movie.  The last movie we viewed was “The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford”.  Often, when we think of movies with a faith theme we tend to envision movies that portray the glory or triumphant struggle of faith but there are also movies that explore the other side – the reality of sin and its consequences.  “The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford” is one such film I believe.  It is not necessarily an “easy” movie to watch precisely for this reason.  It is a film that explores the psychological and spiritual landscape of sin and its effects.  Within the movie there are many amazing scenes of fall and winter landscapes which visually portray the stark inner landscapes of the film’s characters … landscapes that have been deadened and made barren by violence and sin.

Jesse James, played by Brad Pitt, is not romanticized in this movie.  He is presented as a fully complex character – extremely violent, a killer, yet human and full of paranoia near the end of his life.  Robert Ford (played by Casey Affleck) – the man who would assassinate James – is also presented in the complexity of his humanity.  He does not come off as a hero nor is he meant to.  Both characters are men fully caught up in the twisting and disfiguring reality of sin and violence.

There is a telling scene near the end of the movie where James and Ford are sitting together in a room of James’ home in St. Joseph, Missouri.  The house is quiet and James is staring out the window.  He says, “I go on journeys outside my body and look at my red hands and angry face and I wonder where I have gone wrong.  I’ve been becoming a problem to myself.”  Ford is in a stunned silence.  He does not have a response to this admission of James.  He departs the room and James continues to stare out the window.

It is, I believe, a poignant portrayal of the affect of sin in ones life.  In sin, we become problems to ourselves.  Problems that we, on our own, can neither solve nor riddle our way through.  We are too twisted, too ineffectual and too lost.  We stand in the need of grace.

The first reading for this coming Sunday is taken from the Book of Wisdom.  The first verse of the reading says this, “Before the Lord the whole universe is as a grain from a balance or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth.” (Wisdom 11:22)  In the Gospel reading we are given the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector (Luke 19:1-10).  In the story we are told that Jesus is passing through Jericho and Zacchaeus – a short man – has climbed a tree in order to see the controversial rabbi.  When Jesus comes to the place where Zacchaeus is, he looks directly up at the man and says, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.”  

When I hold these two verses together I find myself envisioning a common cinematic technique – the movement from a grand scene of the universe step by step to a particular place and moment in our world.  The full universe to our galaxy to our solar system past the moon to earth through the clouds to the Middle East to the Holy Land to Jericho to the street to our Lord looking up at this short man in a tree.  From the Lord who views all creation as a grain of sand to Zacchaeus in the tree – it is the movement of grace.  “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.”

As soon as our Lord says this, we are told that the other people began to grumble.  Zacchaeus is a tax collector, he is a man caught up in the barren landscape of sin and violence and the others know this.  He is a sinner, let us not kid ourselves, we must neither romanticize this man before the advent of grace in his life nor reduce him to a funny little children’s cartoon character.  We must see him for who he is, acknowledge the violence of the system he represents and recognize the very real need in which he, himself, stands.  Maybe an equivalent to our day which might bring all this out for us it to imagine our Lord deciding to go and dine at the house of Bernie Madoff.   

But something new has now happened!  Zacchaeus has been a problem to himself, a problem in which he has been trapped and lost, but now, in this moment of encounter with Christ, he does something different.  We are told that Zacchaeus stands there in the very midst of the grumbling and he proclaims to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.”  In the encounter with Christ a new way is found!  The starkness of sin, violence and separation is broken through!  The problem that we become to ourselves through sin is broken through!

“And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.  For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”  In sin, humanity turns in on itself; we become problems to ourselves – a problem that we, on our own, have no hope of solving.  There is a depth to our brokenness that only God can answer.  It is in the gift of grace, the encounter with Christ, that a new way is found … for each and every one of us.

The gospel reading for this Sunday is taken from Luke 18:9-14.  It reads as follows:

Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of the own righteousness and despised everyone else.  “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.  The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity – greedy, dishonest, adulterous – or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’  But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’  I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The singer Sara Barailles currently has a song out entitled, “King of Anything” and in the song (video found below) she shares an experience that probably most of us have also had to endure.  The struggle of trying to have a conversation with someone who is so thoroughly convinced of their own righteousness that you cannot really get anywhere.  There is a great line in the song that epitomizes this struggle, “…you got the talking down, just not the listening…”

It is this type of stilted conversation, I propose, that is occurring between the Pharisee and God in the gospel passage and guess what … it is not God who is the one convinced of his own righteousness.  The gospel also has a great line which clearly demonstates the inner life and attitude of the Pharisee, “… (the Pharisee) spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God…'”.  The Pharisee is praying to and worshipping himself and not God!  He is caught up in his own delusion.  Because of this he does not even allow God the littlest crack by which to enter into his heart and therefore, despite taking “up his position”, he remains far from God and from the truth of faith and what it is about.

The tax collector, on the other hand, is honest.  His prayer is addressed to God.  He humbles himself and in this humbling he opens his heart to God and he has an honest conversation with the Almighty.  It is the tax collector, our Lord tells us, who goes home justified – righteous in God’s eyes.

There is much that we and our current culture that values yelling and the art of the stilted conversation can learn from the attitude of the tax collector.  I recently heard someone define dialogue (and honest conversation, I would add) as the willingness to find the truth present in the other person’s point of view and the willingness to move beyond self-absorbed individualism.  Truth be told, I think that there are many in our world who, when they are praying to God, are in fact really worshipping themselves … and you do not even have to believe in God in order to do this.  We need to learn the honesty and the humility of the tax collector.

We can remain little kings of our own little kingdoms, or little pharisees convinced of our own righteousness worshipping ourselves or we can be honest.  It is only when we are honest and humble that we truly find our way to God and truly find our way to one another.

      

My last post received a comment from Jim which I think is worthy of consideration and response.  The comment is below.

Thank your for a wonderful explanation of the Pope’s recent statements. He is truely a great man and a gift to our church. You do a fine job of explaining the scriptures as well.



I have an old 2009 issue or Panorama Magizine, an Italian publication. It says that Vatican Bank is being investigated by Italian authorities from the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Banca d’Italia and the Guardia di Finanza over money laundering transactions worth over $200 million through a branch of UniCredit located at Via della Conciliazione across from St. Peter’s Basilica. This bank apparently handles accounts of Catholic religious orders and other Catholic associations using the “offshore” status of the Holy See. In September of this year, I read that the investigation is ongoing. Is there any relationship between these events and the Pope referrences to “Anonymous Capital” and its destructive power? His statements seem timely considering these financial events in the Vatican.


Many blessings in your ministry!

Actually, the amount in question is $30 million and not $200 million.  There is a current investigation launched by Italian authorities into the movement of these monies and if it constitutes laundering.  Part of the complexity of the matter involves the Holy See’s designation as a sovereign state.  The Vatican has expressed perplexity regarding this investigation especially since it has for a while now been involved in an ongoing process of putting in place structures of transparency regarding all financial matters.  We will have to see what the investigation concludes.  Found at the end of this post is a statement issued by the Vatican regarding this matter.

Now, is this matter related to the Holy Father’s warning regarding “Anonymous Capital”.  No, I do not believe so. 

There are a series of books put out by a man by the name of Walter Wink that I would encourage people to read.  The books are: “Naming the Powers”, “Unmasking the Powers” and “Engaging the Powers”.  Wink is a professor of Biblical Interpretation at Auburn Theological Seminary and in this series of books he demonstrates how the biblical terms “powers, principalites, thrones, dominions, etc.” are not just biblical poetic imagery but references to (my definition) “pervasive systems of thought that influence our lives and the life of society.”  When these powers are in correct relation to truth then they are beneficial and good but when they seek to usurp and supplant truth then they become demonic – false divinities.  All the powers of our world must continually be brought before and measured by the truth of the Kingdom of God.

Am I saying that the Holy Father is referring to Wink’s books here?  No, I am not.  I do not know if he is even familiar with these books.  But I am saying that the books can help us get into what the Holy Father is saying about the false powers of our world, their influence and how they must always be held accountable before the Kingdom of God.

The attitudes, practices, mindsets and philosophies that all contributed to the economic collapse and to our being at the precipice of world-wide financial catastrophe – which we still find ourselves dangerously near to – must be acknowledged and named and judged according to a renewed understanding of the common good.  These are the “anonymous powers”.  The forces of the market must be held accountable to the common good and the dignity of the human person.

Earlier today I heard a news story on the radio regarding a woman who, due to our troubled economy, had her salary cut.  Because of this she fell behind in her mortgage payments.  She went to her lending agency and was able to renegotiate her mortgage.  She felt good and hopeful.  Three months later she found a note attached to her front door saying she had been evicted and her house had been sold.  Her lending agency had failed to do the proper paperwork verifying that her mortgage had been renegotiated.  She was caught up in a system beyond her control.  She went to the foreclosure court to argue her case but the judge found in favor of the lending agency.  She now no longer has a home.  This is an injustice filled with biblical overtones.  “The Lord hears the cry of the poor, blessed be the Lord.”

Near the end of the excerpt of the Holy Father’s talk (which I shared on the previous post), Pope Benedict refers to the “simple faith” that remains the greatest strength of the Church against the flowing river of the anonymous and false powers we find ourselves in the midst of in this world.  The faith to believe in God, to do the right thing and to care for the other person.  The opening hymn for tonight’s evening prayer expresses very simply and beautifully, I believe, this simple faith.  I will quote it to end this post.  It is a hymn we should all sing and truly take to heart during these times. 

For the fruits of his creation, 
     Thanks be to God;
For the gifts to every nation,
     Thanks be to God;
For the ploughing, sowing, reaping, 
Silent growth while men are sleeping, 
Future needs in earth’s safe keeping,
     Thanks be to God.

In the just reward of labor,
     God’s will is done; 
In the help we give our neighbor,
     God’s will is done;
In our world-wide task of caring
For the hungry and despairing,
In the harvests men are sharing,
     God’s will is done. 

For the harvests of his spirit,
     Thanks be to God;
For the good all men inherit,
     Thanks be to God;
For the wonders that astound us,
For the truths that still confound us,
Most of all, that love has found us,
     Thanks be to God.  

(Below is the statement from the Vatican I made mention of above.)

ZE10092303 – 2010-09-23

Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-30463?l=english

VATICAN SPOKESMAN ON BANK INVESTIGATION

“Holy See Reiterates Its Desire for Complete Transparency in the Financial Operations”

VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 23, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Here is a statement from Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, regarding the investigation into the Institute for the Works of Religion.

The statement was published by the Financial Times.

* * *

Sir, The Institute of Religious Works (IOR) has returned to international media attention in the wake of a surprise investigation by the Procurator’s Office in Rome (“Vatican backs bankers in laundering probe”, September 22).

Given that the activities of the IOR take place at an international level, and that its president is well-known in the world of international finance, it is appropriate that I should seek to avoid the spread of inaccurate information and to ensure that no damage is caused to the institute or the good name of its managers.

The IOR is not a bank in the normal definition of the term. It is an institute that administers the assets of Catholic institutions, who aim to further a religious and charitable apostolate at an international level. The IOR is located within the territory of Vatican City State, beyond the jurisdiction and surveillance of various national banks.

Its particular status means that its position in the system and the regulations of international finance require a series of agreements to establish the procedures necessary for the Holy See to be included in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s “white list” – this is especially true in light of the new norms laid down by the European Union to combat terrorism and money laundering.

From the day of his appointment as president, and in accordance with the mandate he received from the highest Vatican authorities and from the IOR inspection committee, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi has been working with great commitment to ensure the absolute transparency of the IOR’s activities, and its compliance for the norms and procedures which will allow the Holy See to be included in the white list. To this end, intense and fruitful contacts are ongoing with the Bank of Italy, the EU and with the competent international bodies: the OECD and Gafi (or Financial Action Task Force).

It is for this reason that the Vatican Secretariat of State expressed its perplexity and amazement at this investigation by the Procurator’s Office in Rome, which has come at a time in which this commitment is being clearly shown and these contacts are being made in order to reach lasting solutions as soon as possible.

The nature and aims of the transactions under investigation could have been clarified with great simplicity, being cash transactions the beneficiary of which is the institute itself, on accounts it holds at other credit institutions. The current problem was caused by a misunderstanding (now being examined) between the IOR and the bank which received the transfer order.

Thus the Holy See reiterates its complete confidence in the managers of the IOR, and its desire for complete transparency in the financial operations the institute undertakes, in accordance with the procedures and norms required today to ensure the security and transparency of transactions in the field of international finance.

Father Federico Lombardi,

Director, Press Office of the Holy See, Vatican City

  

            

Recently at the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East, Pope Benedict offered an impromptu address to the gathered bishops regarding the false powers of our world.

Some commentators noted that while the first English-language accounts of this talk listed the pope’s warnings on terrorism, drugs and violence as ‘false divinities that must be unmasked,’ his primary warning, interestingly, did not make the list: the evil of ‘the anonymous capital of our day that enslaves man.’

In contrast, Italy’s, Corriere della Sera, immediately headlined this as its front-page story: ‘Pope: Anonymous capital’s power to destroy threatens the world.’ (With the sub-headline being: ‘The Pope sets his sights against the irresponsible financial power that places man in slavery.’)”

Below is an excerpt from Pope Benedict’s talk followed by a video clip from Catholic Television of Pope Benedict calling for an awareness of the common good in the work of economics.  (In his address, the Holy Father makes use of the imagery found in the Book of Revelations to structure and bring forth his thought.)

And this process of loss of power (of the false gods) continues throughout history, spoken of in Revelation chapter 12; it mentions the fall of the angels, which are not truly angels, they are not divinities on earth. And is achieved truly, right at the time of the rising Church, where we can see how the blood of the martyrs takes the power away from the divinities, starting with the divine emperor, from all these divinities. It is the blood of the martyrs, the suffering, the cry of the Mother Church that makes them fall and thus transforms the world.

This fall is not only the knowledge that they are not God; it is the process of transformation of the world, which costs blood, costs the suffering of the witnesses of Christ. And, if we look closely, we can see that this process never ends. It is achieved in various periods of history in ever new ways; even today, at this moment, in which Christ, the only Son of God, must be born for the world with the fall of the gods, with pain, the martyrdom of witnesses. Let us remember all the great powers of today’s history, let us remember the anonymous capital that enslaves man, which is no longer in man’s possession, but is an anonymous power served by men, by which men are tormented and even killed. It is a destructive power, that threatens the world. And then the power of the terroristic ideologies. Violent acts are apparently made in the name of God, but this is not God: they are false divinities that must be unmasked; they are not God. And then drugs, this power that, like a voracious beast, extends its claws to all parts of the world and destroys it: it is a divinity, but it is a false divinity that must fall. Or even the way of living proclaimed by public opinion: today we must do things like this, marriage no longer counts, chastity is no longer a virtue, and so on.

These ideologies that dominate, that impose themselves forcefully, are divinities. And in the pain of the Saints, in the suffering of believers, of the Mother Church which we are a part of, these divinities must fall, what is said in the Letters to the Colossians and to the Ephesians must be done: the dominations, the powers fall and become subjects of the one Lord Jesus Christ. On this battle we find ourselves in, of this taking power away from God, of this fall of false gods, that fall because they are not deities, but powers that can destroy the world, chapter 12 of Revelations mentions these, even if with a mysterious image, for which, I believe, there are many different and beautiful interpretations. It has been said that the dragon places a large river of water before the fleeing woman to overcome her. And it would seem inevitable that the woman will drown in this river.  But the good earth absorbs this river and it cannot be harmful.

I think that the river is easily interpreted: these are the currents that dominate all and wish to make faith in the Church disappear, the Church that does not have a place anymore in front of the force of these currents that impose themselves as the only rationality, as the only way to live. And the earth that absorbs these currents is the faith of the simple at heart, that does not allow itself to be overcome by these rivers and saves the Mother and saves the Son. This is why the Psalm says – the first psalm of the Hour – the faith of the simple at heart is the true wisdom (cf Psa. 118:130). This true wisdom of simple faith, that does not allow itself to be swamped by the waters, is the force of the Church…

Do you think the Holy Father is trying to tell us something?
 

There are two gospel passages regarding John the beloved disciple that I find intriguing.  Both passages are found at the end of John’s gospel.  The first passage regards the empty tomb.  It is Mary of Magdala, in the twentieth chapter, who is the first to find the tomb open and empty.  Fearing that someone had stolen the body of Christ she runs to Peter and John.

And she said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don’t know where they have laid him.”

Peter then set out with the other disciple (John) to go to the tomb.  They ran together but the other disciple outran Peter and reach the tomb first.  He bent down and saw the linen cloths lying flat, but he did not enter.

Then Simon Peter came following him and entered the tomb; he too, saw the linen cloths lying flat.  The napkin, which had been around his head was not lying flat like the other linen cloths but lay rolled up in its place.  Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and believed. 

The theologian Hans Urs Von Balthasar has a wonderful take on this passage.  Both Peter and John in this chapter of John’s gospel represent different facets of the Church.  Peter represents the authoritative, hierarchical nature of the Church while John represents the mystical, contemplative side.  Both facets need one another and interact with one another.  The mystical, contemplative may reach the mystery first (as John reached the empty tomb ahead of Peter) but here it waits (and this is important) for the hierachical and authoritative side to catch up and enter first.  In the ways of faith, there are disciples (men and women) who are ahead of the curve but their discipleship is not just demonstrated in being ahead of the rest (“Hey, look at me!”) but also in the awareness of being part of a larger whole, which is the Church.  We go to Christ and we encounter the mystery together.   

Now, the second passage builds off of the symbolism found in this first passage.  This passage comes in the twenty-first chapter of John.  The risen Lord has just asked Peter three times if he loves him.  Following this exchange we are told that,

Peter looked back and saw that the disciple Jesus loved was following as well, the one who had reclined close to Jesus at the supper and had asked him, “Lord, who is to betray you?”  On seeing him Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, what about him?”  Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain until I come, does that concern you?  Follow me.”

Because of this the rumor spread in the community that this disciple would not die.  Yet Jesus had not said to Peter, “He will not die,” but “suppose I want him to remain until I come.”

Throughout the history of the Church there have been, and will continue to be, men and women whose authority comes not from the authority of apostolic succession (which is indeed fundamental and at the heart of the structure of the Church) but from the authority of reclining “close to Jesus at the supper“.  The Church needs the authority of the saints just as much as it needs the authority of the magisterium.  Sometimes the two come together – we find this is the enduring witness of the episcopal and papal saints of the Church – but they do not have to. 

Sometimes those whose authority comes from reclining on the breast of Christ will not immediately be recognized and may even be questioned by the rest of the Church.  “Lord, what about him?” asked Peter.  Sometimes these men and women (and we have seen this in the history of our faith) suffer at the very hands of others in the Church but it is precisely here that another important aspect of those whose authority comes from reclining close to Jesus is demonstrated – just as much as they love Christ, they love the Church.  This aspect is indeed worthy of reflection and, I believe, an important witness to our time with its attitude of cutting losses and moving on. 

If we love Christ then we must love the Church.  What kind of friend would say to a friend, “I love you but I hate what you love.”  Christ loves the Church, his heart beats for the Church (even in all of its continuing need of purification) and it is precisely the ones who recline at the breast of Christ who know this truth.  They hear it in the very heartbeat of Christ.  They love the Church enough to even suffer at the hands of others in the Church if need be and to suffer from the actions of others in the Church.  They will not leave because they know that we go to Christ and we encounter the mystery together.  We are indeed part of something bigger than ourselves and these blessed men and women witness this truth to us. 

Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain until I come, does that concern you?”  There have been and continue to be men and women in the Church whose authority comes from reclining near Jesus at supper.  John has much to teach us.  Thank God for these beloved disciples and for the fullness of their witness! 

                

One summer, as a seminarian, I participated in an Appalachian ministry program in Kentucky and during that same time period I was reading some of the writings of St. Teresa of Avila – the saint whose feast the Church celebrates today.  One quiet afternoon I was taking a “siesta” in my room and I had a vision, a dream (I am not sure which) where I was standing on the bank of one side of a river.  There was a bridge that spanned across the river, but I had no desire to cross it.  On the other side of the river there was a beautiful woman standing in a full white habit.  She looked at me and smiled.  Now, again, was it a dream or a vision or just my imagination running wild – I don’t know – but, it has been at least eighteen years now since that summer afternoon and I still remember that smile and it brings with it joy and peace.

St. Teresa is one of my favorite saints.  She lived a life devoted to Christ and the Church (even as some in the Church held her in suspicion).  She was strong willed and intelligent.  Today, recognized as a Doctor of the Church, she offers a profound wisdom founded in a deep knowledge of grace working in the human condition. 

Today’s second reading in the Office of Readings is a brief excerpt from one of her writings.  As I reflected on the reading I was struck by the very simple admonition, “Keep Christ near”.  This must be a profound truth for each disciple of Christ.  No matter what circumstance, situation or season we find ourselves in; we must keep Christ near and in this we will know God’s blessings, protection and strength.

If Christ Jesus dwells in a man as his friend and noble leader, that man can endure all things, for Christ helps and strengthens us and never abandons us.  He is a true friend.  And I clearly see what if we expect to please him and receive an abundance of his graces, God desires that these graces must come to us from the hands of Christ, through his most sacred humanity, in which God takes delight.

Many, many times I have perceived this through experience.  The Lord has told it to me, I have definitely seen that we must enter by this gate if we wish his Sovereign Majesty to reveal to us great and hidden mysteries.  A person should desire no other path, even if he is at the summit of contemplation; on this road he walks safely.  All blessings come to us through our Lord.  He will teach us, for in beholding his life we find that he is the best example. 

What more do we desire from such a good friend at our side?   Unlike our friends in the world, he will never abandon us when we are troubled or distressed.  Blessed is the one who truly loves him and always keeps him near…

Below, is a clip of the Taize version of Teresa’s poem, “Eficacia De La Paciencia” (“Efficacy of Patience”).  Often known as “Nada te turbe”.  Truly, they are words to live by. 

Nada te turbe,
Nada te espante,
Todo se pasa,
Dios no se muda,
La paciencia
Todo lo alcanza;
Quien a Dios tiene
Nada le falta.
Solo Dios basta.   

Let nothing trouble you,
Let nothing scare you,
All is fleeting,
God alone is unchanging.
Patience
Everything obtains.
Who possesses God
Nothing wants.
God alone suffices. 

I believe that it is Cardinal Francis George of the Archdiocese of Chicago who has observed that we live in a time when “everything is allowed yet nothing is forgiven”.  It is a sad state of affairs that we find ourselves in (very harsh and isolating) and also a tragic predicament that witnesses to the impoverishment of our times and, despite all our protestations to the contrary, our impoverished understanding of the human condition.

We need, once again, to learn the art of forgiveness – both how to forgive and how to accept forgiveness.  Forgiveness is the key to peace.

In his little book, “Pathways to Relationship”; Bishop Robert Morneau shares two helpful quotes regarding the “machinery of forgiveness”.

Hannah Arendt had discerned that this (mercy/forgiveness) was Jesus’ most endangering action because if a society does not have an apparatus for forgiveness then its members are fated to live forever with the consequences of any violation.  Thus the refusal to forgive sin (or the management of the machinery of forgiveness) amounts to enormous social control.  [Walter Brueggemann]

Forgiveness is the answer to the child’s dream of a miracle by which what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is again made clean.  The dream explains why we need to be forgiven, and why we must forgive.  In the presence of God, nothing stands between Him and us – we are forgiven.  But we cannot feel His presence if anything is allowed to stand between ourselves and others.  [Dag Hammarskjold]

Below is a video that speaks to the power of forgiveness.

  

“Do we love God?” This is the question that the Gospel reading for the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time with the story of the one leper who returns puts before us. It is an important question and one that each sincere disciple must reflect upon. We might believe that there is a God; we might turn to God in moments of crisis or struggle but do we love God?

It is fair to ask, “how does the one leper in today’s gospel (Lk. 17:11-19) evoke this question for our reflection?” He does so by returning. “And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.” By this simple act of returning the one leper expressed his gratitude and demonstrated his honest desire to enter into relationship with God. He is not content to just hold God as an “interesting concept” in life nor is it enough for him to just receive the help needed in struggle and then walk away (although it seems to have been enough for the other nine … at least at that moment in their lives). Rather, he returns.

Actually, the movement of “returning” links each of the readings for this Sunday. We have just examined it in the Gospel reading. In the first reading (2 Kings 5:14-17), we are told that after carrying out the prophet’s instructions by washing himself in the Jordan river and being healed, Naaman then, “returns with his whole retinue to the man of God.” Also, to give thanks.

In the second Letter to Timothy (2 Timothy 2:8-13), we are told, “Beloved, remember Jesus Christ…” and all that he has done and all that he has won for us. To “remember” in this regards is to return – to come back once again to Christ, to place ourselves at his feet and to give thanks. “Remember Jesus Christ…”

Yes, it is possible to live ones life keeping God at a safe distance as an interesting concept to ponder every so often or only to turn to God when in need but for a disciple of Christ this just cannot be. Discipleship, by its very nature, implies relationship. It implies the willingness, vulnerability and humility to love. Do we love God? For a disciple the answer must always be “yes” – a full “yes” said in the knowledge and acceptance of all that love implies.

This call to love God can truly be frightening because we both know our own unworthiness and we know the infinite goodness of God. But here it is helpful to remember an important dynamic of true love – love perfects itself. Despite all our shortcomings, sins and failures; even the slightest return, even the littlest movement of love on our part is met with the immensity of God’s love and it is in this supremely unequal exchange of love (bit by bit) that we are a little more perfected, a little more healed and made whole. Lord, set me free; that I might draw closer to thee.

To the one cleansed leper who returned – who made that choice to enter into relationship and to love God – our Lord said, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.” The other nine did not hear these words because they did not return to give thanks but the one who returned did. “Stand up”, or in other words, regain your dignity, your knowledge that you are a child of God and live now in this reality. When we love God and allow God to love us we gain the truth of who we are.

Reflection Point: Spend some time praying with and reflecting on Luke 17:11-19 and the image found above. Do you recognize the choice to return even as others rush on by? What might this say about your desire for God? Give thanks to God for his blessings.

I am off to the Prayer for Peace in Barcelona!  So, no new posts for a week.  Check out the video updates of the Prayer that will be posted on the Community webpage (http://www.santegidio.org/).  In the spirit of the gathering here are some thoughts by Pope Benedict on the value of interreligious dialogue.