Author Archives: mcummins2172

Jesus, the ten lepers and gratitude

13 Sunday Oct 2013

Posted by in Christ, conversion, gratitude, healing

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Conversion begins with a cry out to God, it is continued through acts of faith and it is fulfilled through gratitude.   
In today’s gospel (Lk. 17:11-19) Jesus is continuing his journey toward Jerusalem and he is travelling through Samaria and Galilee.  As he begins to enter a village he is met by a group of lepers – a common reality of the day, lepers scratching out an existence on the margins of society, the edges of towns.  The lepers do not approach Jesus but they know their need, so they cry out Jesus, Master!  Have pity on us!  In one form or another, each one of us can and should make this prayer our own.  Conversion begins with the honest acknowledgement of our need before God and also the trust that our God does indeed care about us and our needs.  The lepers remain at a distance but Jesus does not.  He goes to the lepers.  God is big enough and great enough to come to us in our need, our pain and our isolation but God is also big enough and great enough to not want us to remain there.  
Go, show yourselves to the priests, says Jesus.  Jesus does not heal them there on the spot as he has done in other circumstances rather he asks that they make an act of faith in going to present themselves to the priests.  It is important to cry out to God but we also have to believe, we have to trust that God is caring and merciful and we have to show forth this belief.  If we want to know the truth of a person we should not just listen to what he or she says; we should more importantly watch what he or she does.  Our actions reveal what we believe.  A person of faith is authentically known by the way he or she lives.   
As they were going they were cleansed.  So often we look for lightning bolts, flaming bushes or the rending of the heavens when it comes to things of faith.  We forget that the life of faith is a journey … a daily journey.  It is as we go along in the journey; it is as we make those daily choices that we are healed and converted from that which has held us bound.  God does not need Hollywood special effects to accomplish his purposes.  God’s greatness is found in the subtle, simple ways in which his will is made known and accomplished. God’s will is active all around us; we just need to gain the eyes to see it. 
Maybe this is what happened to the other nine lepers (the ones who did not return)?  Expecting a lightning bolt moment and apparently not getting one they wrote Jesus off and easily attributed their healing to some other cause.  I think this happens quite often.  God’s glory is continually revealed in our midst and yet we fail to notice because it does not fit “our understanding” of how God should act.  Maybe we should let go of “our understanding” of how God needs to act and should learn how to focus on how God, himself, chooses to act.  I think that the latter is the better option. 
One leper does return.  He was a Samaritan.  He glorifies God and throws himself at the feet of Jesus in gratitude.  Where are the other nine, asks Jesus (maybe with a slight chuckle as he is fully aware of our tendency to not see when we choose not to)?  To the one who returned, he says, Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.  “Stand up…,” these two words are truly important.  In sin, we curve in on ourselves, we become hunched over spiritually and we can no longer stand erect in the full dignity in which we are made.  We might look the picture of perfect health on the outside, but (in sin) within we are hunched over and little.  By returning in gratitude this healed leper is not only healed without but also (and more importantly) within … your faith has saved you.  Gratitude fulfills conversion.  God loves us enough to not force his healing upon us.  Gratitude is our opening the door to Christ. 
Conversion begins with a cry out to God, it is continued through acts of faith and it is fulfilled through gratitude. 

The Our Father and Snapchat

11 Friday Oct 2013

Posted by in friendship, friendship with Christ, images, Our Father, Snapchat

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However it might be used or misused; the creators of snapchat know two things very well: images are powerful and friendship is powerful.  The popularity of Snapchat (the smartphone app where people take and send pictures to friends that last just a few seconds) and other similar apps is based on these two foundational principles.   

Images are powerful; ask any person involved in the industries of advertising and promotion.  We are affected by what we see and the influence of images remains with us long after the image itself is gone.  This is where we must not be naïve and be honest about the human condition.  What we see affects us.  We are not cameras.  A camera can look on an image of beauty or of desolation, an image that either lifts up the human spirit or degrades it and not be affected.  A camera is a machine.  So often we approach images with the mistaken notion that we are like cameras – we can look on anything and not really be affected.  This is not true.  We are human beings and not machines.  The dynamic of perception works differently within us.  When we look on something, it no longer remains without, we receive it within through the act of perception and when within, it either builds us up or diminishes us.  There is a power to images that should not be underestimated. 
The “stuff” of snapchat is images that people send one to another and the impact of these images are even more persuasive, I believe, because they last just a few seconds.  When you receive a “snap” (a picture) you know this; so for those few seconds you focus all your attention and concentration on that little screen.  I, at least, know that I do.  Literally, in a manner of seconds, I have received that image into my memory which is the core component of who I am. 
Snapchat also knows the power and influence of friendship.  Friends send one another these pictures and texts.  Friends catch the reference, the joke and the meaning being conveyed by the picture.  Sending a snap is an act of friendship, maybe a simple and often silly act but an act of friendship nonetheless.  Acts of friendship build people up and reinforce bonds.  One of my favorite “snap chat buddies” is Sophie.  Sophie is six years old, she is the daughter of some dear friends and I have known her since the day she was born and I baptized her.  When I receive a snap from Sophie’s mom it is usually a picture of Sophie with coloring on it or a picture of her doing what six year olds do.  The last snap was actually a video of Sophie singing why she loves ice cream.  I love every snap I get, they bring me joy and they strengthen my friendship with Sophie and her family.  Acts of friendship are truly important in our lives. 
On Wednesday of this past week we had in the weekday Mass readings the passage of our Lord giving his great prayer, the Our Father, to the disciples (Lk. 11:1-4).  As I reflected on this reading I realized that the Our Father can be likened to a snap chat from Jesus. 
It is an act of friendship.  The disciples approach Jesus with their request.  Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.  The very tenor of the request shows that it had been weighing on their minds for a while and, as a group, they decided to approach Jesus.  Jesus responds and in giving the Our Father he is not just giving his disciples (both then and today) a bunch of words but rather inviting them into a living friendship with him and the Father.  The Our Father is an invitation to live in friendship with God.  Now, we can call God “Father” and we can know that we are never alone and that we are never abandoned.  God is here with us and for us.  The prayer is founded upon and immersed in the language of friendship and relationship!  
Also, the Our Father is more an image given us than a series of words strung together.  It has been said that when we pray the prayer of another person we enter into the very way that person sees the world.  When we pray the Prayer of St. Francis (“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace…) we are seeing the world as St. Francis sees it.  When we pray a prayer written by St. Teresa of Avila we are seeing as St. Teresa sees the world.  When we pray the Our Father … we are entering into the very understanding of Jesus and we are seeing the world as he sees the world!  This is truly amazing and powerful!  When we pray the Our Father we bring within ourselves, if even for just the fraction of a moment, the mind of Christ.  Whenever disciples ask, Lord, teach us to pray… they are in essence asking, “Lord, teach us to see as you see.”  
There is one important way though that the Our Father is not similar to snap chat.  In snapchat, the image disappears.  This is part of the appeal, I believe, of the app.  The Our Father, on the other hand, does not disappear.  Whenever we honestly pray this prayer given us by our Lord we bring it within our very selves and there is remains overtime helping to bind what needs to be bound and loose what needs to be loosed and set free!  The Our Father does not disappear. 
As disciples, we also approach our Lord and ask that he teach us how to pray.  We need to continually learn the Our Father, we need to pray it and we need to live it!  They are words given in friendship by our Lord and they are words that bring us into the very way he sees the world.         

"The poor are the priveleged masters of our knowledge of God…": 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

22 Sunday Sep 2013

Posted by in humility, knowledge of God, poor

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“The poor are privileged masters of our knowledge of God; their fragility and their simplicity expose our selfishness, our false certainties, our claims of self-sufficiency and guide us to the experience of the closeness and tenderness of God, to receive his love in our life, his mercy of Father who takes care of us, all of us, with discretion and patient trust.”  (Pope Francis) 

It is an intriguing parable that our Lord gives us this Sunday (Lk. 16:1-13).  This dishonest steward is clearly not a child of the Kingdom in his actions but rather a “child of this world” as our Lord indicates.  Our Lord is not holding him up as a role model but rather highlighting his shrewdness as a way of prodding us to reflect on our own salvation.  Are we just as shrewd, are we just as determined about living our discipleship, living in hopes of the Kingdom of God as this steward is about securing a place to land after his fast approaching termination of employment?  The steward knew what was coming so he devoted all of capabilities and all of his faculties to make sure he did not end up either digging ditches or begging! 

Let’s be honest.  How often do we just coast along when it comes to the matters of faith?  It’s enough to go to Church once a week.  It’s enough to say a prayer every now and then.  It’s enough to give a little something to charity.  It’s enough to be a nice person.  “It’s enough…” – the professed creed of a minimal approach to faith!  “I believe” gives way to “It’s enough…” – a common profession in our day.  Christ will not settle for “It’s enough…”  Christ wants belief because only in belief is life and the Kingdom found!  Christ wants us to have “true wealth”!  Not necessarily silver and gold and the good things that this world affords but the true wealth that endures – relationship with God himself and the joy and salvation which can only come from that!   

How might we gain this “true wealth”?  Where might we find it?  The parable points the way.  The steward went to the debtors and dealt generously with them.  He had them cut the amount that they owed the master.  Debtors are those “in debt”.  They owe.  They stand in need.  Generosity toward “debtors” is generosity toward the poor and the needy.  They are the ones who cannot pay and the ones who stand in need.  Generosity toward debtors saves our lives and our future – individually and collectively.    

But someone might say, “It was the master’s wealth to begin with!  The steward never had a claim on it.  How can we give generously of that which we do not ourselves own?”  What one thing do we have that has not been given us by God?  Did we give ourselves life?  Did we give ourselves creation, air to breathe, water to drink?  Did we give ourselves the intelligence to acquire knowledge and gain skill?  Did we give ourselves the lives of our loved ones and our friends that we hold dear?  Can we determine even the length of our own days?  All is gift!  We never had nor ever will have an honest claim on it!  We are all debtors and God’s gratuitousness exceeds all of our limits!  We can give of the master’s wealth because God is generous. 

“The poor are privileged masters of our knowledge of God; their fragility and their simplicity expose our selfishness, our false certainties, our claims of self-sufficiency and guide us to the experience of the closeness and tenderness of God, to receive his love in our life, his mercy of Father who takes care of us, all of us, with discretion and patient trust.”  

Being a Christian is not about being a hero.  Christ was not a superhero nor were the original apostles and disciples nor any of the saints.  God has no need for superheroes.  Being a Christian means learning the honest truth that it is indeed more blessed to give than to receive.  What does this mean?  It means that when we honestly encounter the poor we are “blessed” by coming face-to-face with the truth of who we are and who God is.  We are blessed when the illusion of our selfishness, false certainties and self-sufficiency is held up to the light of reality. 

“The poor are the privileged masters of our knowledge of God…”   

Hating for Jesus: Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

08 Sunday Sep 2013

Posted by in cross, discipleship, following Jesus

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Courtroom scene from “Amistad”
The film “Amistad” is based on the true story of a Spanish slave ship that ends up washing ashore in New England after the slaves kidnapped from Africa were able to mutiny and take control of the ship.  The United States of America had just been established as a country and therefore was quite weak on the international scene.  The plight of these slaves becomes a political hot potato and a legal battle as the current presidential administration would like to send them back to Spain and not rock the boat with the Spanish monarchy while others are fighting for their freedom.  “Are these men free and if not, who do they belong to?” becomes the primary question. 
To help ensure that it gets its way the president’s administration sees to it that a young, up-and-coming judge is assigned to the case.  The president’s man on the case makes it known to the judge (who happens to be a Catholic) that if he finds in favor of Spain and in support of the Administration then his career is set.  For a young judge and a Catholic in Protestant New England this is his ticket!  The case begins and as things progress you begin to notice that the conscience of the young judge is prodding him to the point where you see him enter a church the night before the final judgment is to be given in the case.  He walks in, blesses himself with holy water and goes to knell in prayer before a crucifix.  The next day, to a packed courtroom, the judge finds in favor of the slaves, thus ensuring their freedom and return to Africa.  The president’s man stares at the judge and walks out of the courtroom.  By siding with the slaves the judge knows he had destroyed his career and all his aspirations but he knows it was the right thing to do.  
It is a serious thing to follow Christ and it should not be entered into lightly because to follow Christ means to go where he has gone and it means to embrace the cross just as he embraced it.  This is why our Lord in today’s gospel (Lk. 14:25-33) gives us the image of the builder and the king contemplating battle.  Both men had to truly consider and calculate out what they were contemplating.  It is a serious thing to follow Christ. 
In many ways to follow Christ means to break with how one has lived in the past, how one has lived relationships and how one has gone about all facets of one’s life.  This is why our Lord gives us these very powerful and stark words of “hating” ones mother and father, brother and sister in order to truly follow him.  The power of the word means that everything, every part of one’s life must be re-oriented by and toward one’s relationship with Christ.  Nothing can be left out or hidden away.  But to follow Christ never leads to anything but more life and more love.  As one turns to Christ in his or her life, one is able to love family, neighbor and even the stranger in a deeper and more authentic way.  
The judge giving his verdict
The judge in the story of Amistad witnesses this graced dynamic of truly following Christ.  Just as he comes to “hate” what others have promised him – the success and the power, even probably everything he had worked for and aspired to up until that moment – he is able to know an authentic joy in doing that which was the right thing to do.  He gained a joy that no one could ever take away and he gained new brothers and sisters in the freed African slaves!  
Paul in his letter (Philemon 1:9-10, 12-17) is calling Philemon to the same graced dynamic on behalf of the newly baptized, runaway slave Onesimus.  According to the law of the time Philemon was perfectly in his rights to have Onesimus killed but Paul is saying that now through Christ things are different and he is inviting Philemon to “hate” the old ways of retribution and violence and now recognize how everything must be oriented toward Christ and turned toward Christ in his life.  …Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother, beloved especially to me, but even more so to you, as a man and in the Lord.  So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me. 
It is a truly serious thing to follow Christ.  In fact, it is the most serious thing one can ever do.  All things which separate us from Christ must be “hated” so true life in all of its depth and breadth might be found and known.

Syria and Peace

07 Saturday Sep 2013

Posted by in Culture of Encounter, dialogue, encounter, peace, President Obama, Syria

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In each of the four gospels we have the account of Jesus at the end of his earthly ministry in the garden of Gethsemane when the crowd comes to arrest him.  We are given the scene of one of his disciples either preparing to draw a sword and defend Jesus against the encircling mob or actually drawing the sword and severing the ear of a servant who was present.  John’s gospel specifically identifies the zealous disciple as Simon Peter. 

For our purposes here it is helpful to reflect on Matthew’s account.  

While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people.  Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I shall kiss is the man; seize him.”  And he came up to Jesus at once and said, “Hail, Master!”  And he kissed him.  Jesus said to him, “Friend, why are you here?”  Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him.  And behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest, and cut off his ear.  Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place: for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” 

This disciple (whether it was Peter or not, I cannot say) was not a bad man.  He had a love for Jesus.  He did not want to see Jesus hurt nor an injustice toward Jesus committed.  He wanted to defend the master and teacher who had done nothing but preach God’s love and mercy and the coming of the Kingdom.  His motives were honest, yet from our Lord’s reaction we can see that his action fell short of the mark and he did not yet fully understand what the Lord was about.   

Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place: for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” 

Our Lord, even as he faced his own death, shows us that there is another way; that we do not have to give in to the sad and tired logic of violence, war and retribution.  In Christ and in the in-breaking of God’s Kingdom there is the ever new possibility of peace, restored relationship, honest encounter and even friendship.  As Pope Francis, a disciple of Christ Jesus, recently said in his Angelus message, “War never brings peace.  War begets war!  Violence begets violence! … Peace is a treasure of all humanity!”  Jesus reveals to us that there is truly another way – there is an ever-new logic of dialogue and encounter.   

We have all been witnessing the increasingly brutal cycle of violence in Syria.  All of us have been horrified by the gratuitous loss of life and the new revelation of the apparent use of chemical weapons by government forces.  We all want to “do something” to stop this horror.  No person, honest in his or her humanity, can deny that this is just plain wrong and evil.  

President Obama and the members of Congress (like that disciple in the garden of Gethsemane) are good people.  They are good people who want to “do something” to end the violence that is ripping Syria apart.  But more violence is not the answer that is needed at this moment.  A different way is needed and the gospel points out this way. 

Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place: for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.”  

There is another way and we need to give this other way a chance!  The work of diplomacy, negotiation, humanitarian aid and dialogue is neither a sign of weakness nor a form of isolationism.  Dialogue is the furthest thing from isolationism – it is the willingness to truly seek out and encounter the “other” wherever and whoever he or she might be.  The way of encounter acknowledges that we share a common humanity with shared hopes and dreams!  The way of violence denies a common humanity.  Violence and resorting to the mechanism of violence to achieve ones goal is, in fact, the true isolationism.  It is, in essence, stating, in very stark ways, “My way or no way!”  It is also (and I believe that this is at play in the current situation) a way of assuaging ones tranquility and sense of having “done something” while not really having to encounter the other because when we encounter we might ourselves have to change.  The thought of bombing Syria can be likened to the decision that the only way to solve the domestic abuse situation next door (which everyone in the neighborhood is painfully aware of) is to throw some hand grenades through the front window!  What is the priority here?  Is it the good of the Syrian people and the country of Syria or is it our own peace of mind?  True encounter demands that the good of people always comes first, even above our own sense of tranquility.    

Violence begets violence.  War begets more war.  God calls us to a new way.  When we were lost in sin and turned away from God; God came to encounter us, God came to seek out our friendship.  Peace belongs to everyone and is ever possible because when we had turned our backs on God, God came to us in peace.  This is the “serene and sure vision” of religion that must be brought to our world and brought to all people, including those good people who out of a desire to “do something” would draw the sword.  How often must we draw the sword?  How many times?  When will it end?   

At the Meeting of Prayer for Peace in Sarajevo (September 11, 2012) Professor Andrea Riccardi – founder of the Community of Sant’Egidio – offered these words.  (The “serene and sure vision”, I would hold, is the vision of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane and it is what we have to give to the world and it is a vision our world desperately needs.) 

Let us look at the future without fear!  Let us prepare the future in friendliness among peoples.  Let us look at the future without being paralyzed by past fears!  We need courage and hope to prepare a future of life together in peace.  Let us forfeit all prejudices, the preaching of hatred.  We can build the future, educating women, men, the youth to peace: for only peace is holy, and living together reveals the will of God and the equality of all people.  Equality that is rooted in God himself.  For whoever kills a man, but also whoever hates or despises a human being, strikes God himself!  Religions can be foreseeing.  We can convey a new conviction to everyone, a conviction developed in contact with the sorrows of many and the experience of peoples: war is evil, violence can never be justified in God’s name.  Dialogue can help resolve insurmountable problems.  We have a serene and sure vision: it is an ancient and very new vision.  We are a reference point – the spirit of Assisi is – in the plurality of our religions: a reference point of peace. 

Before we rush to “do something”, before we rush to bomb Syria, let us spend some time with our Lord in the garden of Gethsemane and let us learn his way. 

This is what Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
In days to come,
The mountain of the LORD’s house
shall be established as the highest mountain
and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it.
many peoples shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the LORD’s mountain,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may instruct us in his ways,
and we may walk in his paths.”
For from Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
and set terms for many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
One nation shall not raise the sword against another,
nor shall they train for war again.
House of Jacob, come,
let us walk in the light of the LORD!  (Is. 2:1-5)

St. Augustine and Miley Cyrus

28 Wednesday Aug 2013

Posted by in dignity, hypocrisy, image and likeness of God, Miley Cyrus, St. Augustine

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Feast of St. Augustine (Homily given at Notre Dame High School for the all school Mass)


The word “hypocrite” has its origins in a Greek word meaning “actor”.  If you have ever seen an ancient Greek play you will remember that all the actors wear masks, you never see an actor’s real face.  A hypocrite is someone who puts on a false appearance, someone who wears a mask.  Often, we use the term “hypocrite” in relation to people who put on a false appearance in terms of seeming to be religious or in terms of seeming to exemplify a certain virtue.  When hypocrisy is revealed we know how harmful it can be.  Jesus also knew this.  This is why in today’s gospel (Mt. 23:27-32) he chastised the hypocrisy of the scribes and the Pharisees.  But hypocrisy can come in a wide variety and in many forms.   

Some of you may have seen Miley Cyrus’ act at the MTV Video Music Awards recently.  I did not see the show.  Since I have moved to Chattanooga I have decided not to have a TV and even when I did have a TV I did not watch MTV.  (I remember when MTV first came out and when they actually played music videos.  Now, I don’t know what MTV is really about.)  Anyway, so many of my friends were talking about it the next day on Facebook that I pulled it up on YouTube and watched it.  Now, I do not necessarily have anything against Miley Cyrus.  She seems to be quite talented which, to me, makes it all the more sad that she felt she had to perform in such a way but as I watched her performance I was just struck by the hypocrisy of it all.  For whatever reason (maybe to move beyond her Hannah Montana image or to prove she is an adult) Miley chose to deny her dignity and on a national stage belittle herself and her worth. 
 
Ladies, because Miley Cyrus is a role model (whether she chooses to admit this or not), because she is someone you grew up with, she also belittled you.  This act fundamentally said that all you are is an object, something to be used for the pleasure of another.  That is a lie.  You are no one’s plaything.  You have a dignity and a worth and if others ever try to deny that then to hell with them! 
 
Gentlemen, this act also belittled you.  Basically, it said that this is all you are about and that this type of activity is all you want from a woman and that it is also all that you are capable of.  It said that there really is no dignity or virtue in being a man.  This also is a lie.  Don’t settle for this lie. 

So, MTV has Miley and her crew up on stage dancing around with stuffed bears on their backs.  (What was up with that?  Who thought that was a good idea?)  Who do we have?  Well, we have a crusty old bishop from North Africa! 

St. Augustine lived in a time very similar to our own.  The security and peace of the great Roman Empire was unraveling at the seams.  There were many voices in society and culture competing with one another and not connecting.  The social institutions were just no longer working.  In the midst of all of this; Augustine was asking the question, “Where do I find God?”  God was certainly not in the diminishing strength of the empire nor was God in the structures of society.  In the best sense of the term, Augustine turned inward and he realized, building on the very beginning of Scripture that we are each made in the image and likeness of God, that the best place to find the reflection of God was within our very selves.  That, by God’s grace, once we move beyond our fears and hypocrisies, we can recognize within ourselves a dignity that is truly undeniable because it is a reflection rooted in God himself!  Augustine, throughout his life, proclaimed the healing mercy of God’s grace and that how in receiving that mercy we are healed and our dignity is restored.  Augustine was no hypocrite.  He did not need to put on a false appearance.  He trusted in God’s love.    

So, after MTV and Miley we are today presented with Augustine – a crusty bishop from North Africa.  His words to us today: “Remember your dignity.  Don’t be a hypocrite.  Don’t settle.”         

Jesus, the Narrow Door and Humility: 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

25 Sunday Aug 2013

Posted by in Culture of Encounter, encounter, humility, the Narrow Door

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In today’s gospel (Lk. 13:22-30) Jesus is on journey toward Jerusalem, toward the cross and the resurrection, and he is passing through many towns and villages.  At one point someone asks him; Lord, will only a few people be saved?  The question witnesses to a common assumption of the time that salvation was dependent upon belonging to the “chosen people” or to the right group – be it social, religious or ethnic.  (The question might actually have come from someone troubled by this understanding and so he or she asks our Lord for his opinion.)  This raises a valid question for us; even if we might not say that salvation is dependent upon belonging to the right group, how often do we act and live our lives like this is so?  How often might we distance others from our lives or isolate ourselves from others who are different, who have very apparent needs that might make burdensome demands on my life and time (i.e. the poor, the immigrant, the mentally-handicapped, the elderly)? 

The Kingdom of God that Christ comes to inaugurate allows for no such separation nor limitations.  The Kingdom of God is found and revealed in the moment of encounter with the other in his or her need and likewise when we, ourselves, stand in need.   
Our Lord responds, Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.  Jesus then goes on to give us the image of the master of the house who locked the door to his house thus leaving some people locked outside.  Both “gate” and “door” are images of encounter – where walls and fences separate and divide, gates and doors allow for encounter and moving beyond supposedly set and rigid boundaries.  
Our Lord describes this gate as “narrow” in contrast to the way of self-focus which is very broad and open in our world.  It is easy to live life focused solely on self and on one’s own needs and in many ways we are encouraged to do this and even applauded for doing so.  Yet the gate of the Kingdom is here described as anything but open and broad.  It must be noted though that the narrowness of this gate is not due to a limited love on the part of God, nor a desire on God’s part that only a few be saved.  The gate is “narrow” in the sense that it requires a deflation of our egos in order to fit through!  Big egos, a life lived with a focus solely turned inward on self will not fit through this gate nor do such attributes even allow for honest encounter with God or even with another person in the first place. 
“While on this earth … humility,” wisely advised St. Teresa of Avila.  Cultivating humility in life allows for the letting go of self, of resentments, of pride, of indifference that is necessary in order to “fit through” and enter the narrow gate of encounter with another and the Kingdom of God.  
The narrowness of the gate into the Kingdom of God does not reflect any limit on the part of God’s love rather it points out those limits within our very selves that block real encounter with God and with one another.  
While on this earth … humility.  
Strive to enter through the narrow gate…    

The divisive love of Christ: 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

18 Sunday Aug 2013

Posted by in compassion, God's love, love of God, love of neighbor, peace of Christ

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“Peace cannot exist without a strong and passionate love.”    

This Sunday’s gospel (Lk. 12:49-53) presents us with this truth for our consideration.  Christ speaks here as with a sense of urgency!  I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!  What Christ brings to us is not a theory or a proposal but the very fire of God’s love!  This fire has a name: compassion.  At one point in Matthew’s gospel we are told that when Christ looked out on the vast crowd he had compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.  And how great is our Lord’s anguish until it is accomplished!  Our Lord burns with the love of the Father which is the love of compassion!   

Unfortunately, in our world, this love can be obscured and even suffocated.  The violence and indifference of our world can suffocate compassion.  Even we disciples can suffocate compassion when we turn from the invitation of our Lord to follow solely our own priorities and interests.  It is easy to resign ourselves to the world thinking, “well, that is just the way things are…”   

But, the Lord continually comes to us and says, I have come to set the earth on fire… Do you think that I have come to establish peace on earth?  No, I tell you, but rather division.  True compassion, when lived and witnessed, shocks us because – if even just for a moment – it forces our gaze away from ourselves and toward another.   

This is the divisive peace that our Lord brings to the earth.  The peace of the gospel is not the world’s peace – peace as a nice, reassuring intimacy and justification for isolation.  Christ did not come to the earth to defend the peace of our little self-centeredness; rather, he came to hold forth the call of love for others, for compassion.  Christ did not come to defend the peace of the rich man who did not notice the starving Lazarus at his door, nor did Christ come to defend the peace of the priest and the Levite who avoided the man lying helpless on the road.  This is not peace.  Rather it is avarice, meanness, insensitivity and just plain sin.   

Peace cannot exist without strong and compassionate love! 

The peace that Christ brings is divisive!  It divides us from our self-centeredness.  It divides us from our insensitivity to the needs of others.  It divides us from attitudes of resignation and withdrawal.  It shifts our focus and our heart toward the other in his or her need.  It will not allow us to resign ourselves to a comfortable, yet ultimately life-denying, sense of isolation. 

The fire that Christ brings to earth is the fire of God’s compassion.  It continues to burn and it continues to purify! 
 
Lord, enkindle in us the fire of your love!  

(Some thoughts in this reflection are borrowed from Bp. Vincenzo Paglia’s reflection on this Sunday’s readings.)

The Assumption of Mary and authenticity

15 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by in Assumption of Mary, authenticity, discipleship, wholeness

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“King of the Hill” is a television cartoon series that tells the story of the Hill family.  It is a comedy but the episodes often make very good points to reflect upon.  There is one episode where Bobby (the Hill’s teenage son) happens to be at a skateboard park one day when he is introduced to a youth Christian evangelist.  This guy skateboards, he has tattoos and he plays in a Christian rock band.  He invites Bobby to his ministry and Bobby quickly gets immersed in it.  At first Hank and Peggy (Bobby’s parents) are thrilled.  Bobby is involved in church stuff!  But then they start to have concerns.  Bobby is staying out too late with this crowd but it is okay because “it is for the Lord”.  He begins to separate himself from his longtime friends.  He stops attending church on Sunday with his family because it is just too boring. 

Hank decides to talk to Bobby.  He goes to his room and notices Bobby’s toy box.  “What’s this?” asks Hank.  “Just a box of my old toys.” answers Bobby.  “Oh, yeah,” says Hank, “Here are the toy soldiers your mother and I bought you for your fifth birthday.  Here is that card game you got into in the sixth grade and here is your mitt from little league.”  Looking at all of this Hank then turns to his son and says, “Bobby, I know that you are caught up in the rush of this Christian group but I don’t want to see your faith become just another thing discarded and left behind in this box.” 
My dear friends; strive for the faith that endures!  Is there a place in the life of faith for energy?  Yes!  For enthusiasm?  Certainly!  Should we always strive to connect faith with where we are in life?  Definitely!  But faith is not a gimmick and a gimmicky faith really does not go very far.  It sputters out rather quickly often leaving one feeling abandoned and played.  Strive for the faith that endures!  Why is this important?  Because it is only the faith that endures that can lead one to authenticity. 
Mary, besides being the mother of Jesus and the Mother of God – a name which only she in all of human history can claim and also, besides being a disciple and someone in need of a savior – like each of us – was fully authentic.  Mary’s faith endured.  Mary’s faith endured the question of the Archangel Gabriel’s announcement.  Mary’s faith endured all those silent and probably extremely common silent years of Jesus’ life.  Mary’s faith endured the hurt of hearing her son ask, “Who is my mother?  … The one who does the will of my Father.”  Mary’s faith endured the pain of her son being mocked, whipped and put to death.  Mary’s faith endured the cross.  Mary strove for a faith that endured.  
Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, reminds us that Christ has been raised from the dead (body and soul) and that all of those who belong to Christ will also be raised from the dead – body and soul.  Mary already shares fully in this: body and soul … the fullness of who we are … the authenticity of who we are.  
In one form or another we are all cracked, in one form or another we are all broken, yet we all have deep within us a yearning for a wholeness that we cannot escape.  This is faith as the “remembrance of the future” (“memoria futuri”).  The yearning itself gives testimony to the truth that we are indeed meant for wholeness because why would we have a yearning for that which we could never possibly achieve?  The assumption of Mary reveals God’s answer to this yearning of the splintered human heart.  
In Christ, wholeness and authenticity is possible. 
We can begin to know it today.  We can begin to live it now.
Strive for the faith that endures!     

Teach us how to pray – Teach us how to love: 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

28 Sunday Jul 2013

Posted by in authenticity, freedom, love, love of God, love of neighbor, prayer

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In order to love one must be free.  Love can neither be forced nor contrived.  For love to be authentic it must be freely given and freely received.  This is love’s dynamic and yet, just as love depends on freedom love, itself, makes us freer.  In John’s first letter we are told that perfect love casts out all fear.  Love creates true freedom.  In this Sunday’s second reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Colossians we are reminded of this salvific fact.  Christ, out of love, took on our sinfulness, “obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims, which was opposed to us, he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross.” 

In Christ we have been set free but this is not a freedom to do whatever we please.  This is not authentic freedom rather; it is a misuse of freedom.  The freedom we gain from the love of Christ is the freedom to enter more deeply into honest relationship with God and with one another.  This freedom begins in the very knowledge that in Christ we are loved beyond measure – each and every one of us.   

The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were many but at the heart of these sins was the abuse of relationship, particularly the abuse of the visitor, the stranger.  This sin is brought out all the more in contrast to the passage directly preceding that about Sodom and Gomorrah (last Sunday’s readings).  In last Sunday’s passage Abraham welcomes the three visitors, he honors his relationship with them and he treats it as a sacred reality to be respected.  The people of Sodom and Gomorrah, on the other hand, do not.  Their sin is great and grave.   

It is easy to judge Sodom and Gomorrah and hold ourselves superior but I wonder if one of the factors of their sinfulness is a factor also present in our own day and time – a life lived in distraction.  John Garvey, in an article he wrote entitled, “A Tree Full of Monkeys: Why the Soul Needs Silence” makes a good observation: 

It takes effort to be clear about the moment we are in.  It requires taking time … We need, through practice, to be made aware of what is wrong about ordinary waking circumstances; it takes effort to do this … it matters, especially in a time when distraction and ideological reinforcement matter more to the culture than sober clarity does.  This inattention disrupts our lives at every level – religious, political, aesthetic … Prayer (silence) can begin to make us feel what is directly underfoot, can help us begin to understand where we really are, in the presence of the sacred… 

A life of distraction, a life of inattention inhibits freedom and therefore hinders growth in true love and honest relationship and (if left unchecked both in lives of individuals and of society) can be a contributing factor in the abuse of others – those who are indeed our brothers and our sisters.  For this we will each have to give an accounting before the judgment seat of God.  To love, one must be free.  A distracted life is not a free life. 
 
It is worthy to note that in this Sunday’s gospel (Lk. 11:1-13), after our Lord gives us the Our Father, he goes on to further explain prayer by use of three images specifically based in relationship and attentiveness – the attention of one friend to another in need, the willingness to trust in relationship with God and therefore to ask, to seek, to knock and the attentive love of a father to the needs of a child.  Let us not fool ourselves.  Love can easily and sadly be compromised on all levels and in many ways.  The mind can easily become a “tree full of monkeys”.  The soul needs silence and prayer not just for sanity but also to safeguard freedom, honest relationship and attentiveness to the needs of the other. 

The disciples’ request, “teach us to pray” is another way of asking, “teach us how to love.”