The Pods

In today’s readings we see the familiar story of the prodigal son.   It’s something we hear every year and often is the subject of many retreats and reflections.   It’s a great parable, as are all of Jesus’ wonderful metaphors and analogies.   I’ve put myself in the returning sons place before, thinking of all the times I’ve squandered the things I’ve been given or been rude to my parents.   I’ve put myself in the other sons place as he grows angry at those who get what he feels he deserves, even refusing to come into the banquet.   I’ve put myself in the father’s place, running out to meet the returning son and trying to smooth the ruffled feathers to bring in both children under the same roof.   Today it dawned on me, I’ve never put myself into the hands of the man delivering the pods. 

What?  The pods?   It’s interesting that I never even noticed this person until today.   The scripture says “he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but no one would give him any.”   These were carob pods which many people still eat today in place of chocolate. This man in need was asking for food, maybe to more than one person.. But they would not be swayed to give him even the scraps that they fed to the animals to fatten them up.  How often have I been that man? The one who was blessed with so many things, but used them for my own gain?  To me the pods represent those gifts we have been given, not just monetarily but also our spiritual gifts.   The swine represent that which is unclean, that which is sinful.   Am I using my gifts for my own joys?  My own good?  Or for the true good of the other?  When the prodigal son at rock bottom asks me for food, do I refuse to give it to him?  

Saint Frances de Sales said we should seek to grow the good that is in another for their own sake, not ours.  That’s so important in our lives.   To not only stop to recognize the good that is in another, but to spend time helping them to grow in that charity.   That means journeying with them, regardless of their situation.  It also means to “accentuate the positive not the negative.”  That’s a difficult thing to do at times.   It doesn’t mean that we do not share the truth.  It does mean though that we have to meet the person where they are.   That when we find them wallowing in the mud and slime of the world, we are there with the sweet fruit of the Holy Spirit to share with them and feed them.   It means we must stop putting our pearls before swine, feeding our own wants, egos and desires. 

All too often that man-made glory feeds our egos.   We see that conversions are happening, people are having a moment with Christ before our eyes and we think “I did that!”  It is a high!   It makes us want to do it more, frequently not simply for God but because we want that consolation.   We want that good feeling.   The world has invaded the religious sphere with that thought, hasn’t it?  “I don’t like the music.”   “The homily was boring.”  “We always do the same thing, again and again.”  “The pews are too uncomfortable.”  “But baseball!”  There is something to be said about beautiful liturgy.  Music that swells the soul and makes us burst forth in joy!  We don’t need a performer though.   Not a stagehand who doles out the performance and revels in the accolades.  That is just taking these beautiful gifts that God has given us and throwing them on the ground for our own sinful gluttonous demons to devour.  It’s when we truly offer those gifts to the other, for the good of the other, that’s when the prodigal is fed by the hand of God through us.   Then we can journey with them back to the Father’s banquet to join the party as well. 

To do any of these requires humility.   The ability to step outside of ourselves and encounter the other.   To see them standing there begging for some kind of spiritual nourishment.   That’s what the devout life is all about.   Joyfully ‘living out our relationships in love.’    Love is never selfish.   It never serves just the person.   It is rather sacrificial, self giving, and filled with God’s presence.  It is an act of will that puts the other first, and in doing so, draws others to the Christ light that shines forth from us. As a prominent preacher once said: “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” 

His servant and yours,
Brian Mullins

"He must increase, I must decrease."

Rock Bottom.

Rock bottom.   That place that we never think we will hit.   It seems so far away with it's infinite depth in our minds.   Yet, at some point most of us find it.   It is that point where what we thought we would never even think about has become something tangible, something we desire.  For some it's with alcohol.  Some with pornography.   Yet others it comes when a chain of bad decisions has woven a web of poverty and sin.   This is where the son had found himself.   In a foreign land, broke and desolate.   So desperate for food that he was willing to eat the pods the pigs were feeding on.  If you've ever seen a pig in a sty eating, you know that even if the food had been pristine when it was placed in, it is no longer so.   It is covered with mud, feces, and sometimes even blood from the pigs themselves fighting over the food.

That's where he found himself.  In this parable the pigs represent the ultimate in sin.   The unclean.  The untouchable.   No one would even go near them if possible but here the young man is tending them!   Caring for them and cleaning their stalls.   He has taken all the gifts the father gave him and simply cast them away wantonly without care.  The sin in his life has become so great that he is a slave to it... he can't even find food without the sin involved.   To eat the pigs food... was to become one of them.   He is no longer and individual, but a slave to the sin.  He is about to become the sin.   The point in addiction when one has to choose to own the addiction or let the addiction own them.

He then remembers his father's house.   It's comfortable there. Warm there.  Clean there.   Even the lowest in it are treated with good food and kindness.   He wants to go back and be a slave there.   His mind tries to convince him he isn't worthy.. and guess what?  He's not.  Neither are we.   Yet, the moment he turns to go to his fathers house.. his father sees him and runs out to him.   He doesn't wait till the boy gets cleaned up.  He doesn't wait till the filth he has been working in is washed away.   He runs out to him and does it for him.  He has him dressed in fine robes and gives him the signet, the symbol of family.   That's how God sees us, Amen?   He runs out to us in the Sacraments and clothes us in Christ Jesus.   Satan will try to convince us that we are too unclean.   I've heard it said that Satan tries to convince us that a sin is nothing of consequence before we commit it, but after we commit it he will try to convince us that it is unforgivable.

So if you are there, at rock bottom.. or even headed in that direction... now is an acceptable time, today.    Don't wait till tomorrow... or till the bottom of your fall hits you in the face.   Turn to God.  Run to him.   Know that He will make you worthy.  You have to let Him though.   Alone we can do nothing, but with God at our side, whom shall we fear?   Run to the sacraments.   Get to confession where God will cast your sins away to the depths of the ocean.  Receive Christ in the Eucharist where God's compassion will trample your sins underfoot... That's what Lent is about for all of us.  To look at our lives and ask ourselves where am I headed?  What decisions have I made?   Am I going down that road that takes me to another land?  Where I will be hungry and thirsty for God's love?   Or are my feet on solid ground?  

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

A reflection on the readings for Saturday of the second week of Lent: March 18, 2017

Green with Envy

Jealousy.  It's been affecting human kind since the fall, the prime example of which involved two boys and a rock.  It is so normalized in our society that we don't just get jealous of others, we seem to get jealous for others.   Just recently I became involved in a conversation with people about the Diaconate rule that if a Deacon's wife dies he is not allowed to remarry.  It seems people who aren't Deacons are angry of that rule, and even some men who 'used to be' Deacons have simply broken it and remarried.  The primary defense seems to be it's not fair.   One man even compared having a wife to a habit, as if she were just something he was used to being around.   Claiming that he needs that habit so he should be free to remarry... My wife not a habit my friends, she's so much more than that.   She is the other half of me... why does someone think I could replace her with another?   She's not replaceable.  If I am ordained I will gladly make the promise never to marry again, I won't want to.   I will need support from my friends, family, doctors.... You can't replace a person in your heart like that, it doesn't work that way.

In today's readings we see the results of that jealousy being played out before our eyes.  First with Joseph being sold into slavery by his own family, then with Jesus predicting his own death at the hands of the people.  The parable shows the son being killed for his inheritance, trying to take the kingdom by force.   How often we do that don't we?  Decide we know better than the Holy Spirit and the Church established and guided by Him.   "We should do it this way!" "It's not fair."  "Times have changed, so should we!"  Just this morning I read a news article about the president of a college tearing into one of the colleges own alumni in a very demeaning and derogatory fashion.  Why do we do that?   Just like the Pharisees often we don't repent of our own jealousy but instead scheme and plot our way out of it.

Just so with Lent isn't it?   We try to find ways to get around the small amount of fasting and abstinence asked of us by the church.   We humans don't like discipline at all.   Just a few Friday's out of the year and we look for ways around them, especially when it comes to a day like Saint Patrick's day.  Now don't get me wrong, I understand.  It's a celebration day, a Feast day.. but so is Sunday, right?   The problem is we don't just go back to our normal habits on those days, we tend to go overboard.   Using the day as an excuse to eat way to much, drink too much, and party!  When in reality what we should be focusing on is not what is the bare minimum I can do.. but realizing we are in the vineyard of the Lord.. the Church with it's hedge around it, and it's towers and wine press.. and the son has come to be with us... do we return to the Landowner or do we throw the Son out?

The virtue to combat envy is kindness.   It seems so simple doesn't it?  I am reminded of a simple little meme on the internet where a boy is looking into another boys bowl and complaining because he doesn't have as much.  His father takes him to the side and says "The only time you should be looking in someone else's bowl is to make sure they have enough."  Last night I came across an article where refugees from Africa were only being fed 850 calories a day.   I sometimes have that much (or twice as much) for breakfast.   Oh how many of those calories do I wear around my waist while men, women and children starve.   Lord forgive me!  That's why we need that discipline... that Lenten trio of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.  To bring us back to serving Christ in the least of these...

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

A reflection on the readings for Friday of the Second Week of Lent.

Like a deer to running streams

The world is a place where it is very difficult to remain chaste.  From the way many dress, the way we speak, to the advertisements that appear on a computer, the human heart is inundated with opportunities for an impure glance or thought.  Pornography is just a click away and what many years ago would have been hidden behind the counter or in a dark back room is now displayed proudly in the open.  It has become a desert of sorts in which faith is expected to be lived behind closed doors and not out in the public sphere.  I suppose it happens for each generation that their children grow up to be a little more liberal, a little more remiss in their dress, their thoughts, words, and actions.

Today we have this amazing image in the readings of a tree beside the stream of water.  While the rest of the world may be in famine and drought, the tree by the source of drink remains green and still bears fruit.  That to us should be some very clear imagery.   From the rock in the desert that Moses cleaved in two with a staff to bring forth drink to the Israelites, to the water that poured fourth from the side of Jesus on the cross, the bible is rife with expressions of water as both a gift from God and a necessity for life.   Rightly so as the people who lived, and continue to live, in Palestine know the reality better than most of us who have never experienced the life of a desert people.  Water is life giving.  It's necessary.

The beautiful thing about the Church that Christ set up before He ascended into Heaven is that we no longer have to be searching for a drop of grace here or there in the desert of the world.  Rather we can simply go to the stream that flows directly from the throne of God himself.   In a world that despises things of holiness, things of virtue, we need to become those trees that stand by the stream and continue to be green.   We should stand out.  Not because we are trying.  Not because we are wanting to draw attention.   Rather, because in a world where people are thirsting for God, they truly will notice when the 'water' is in your life.   They'll see your happiness.  Your joy.   Your ability to get through things with prayer.   The hope that is yours as a child of God.  They will want that, even if they don't quite understand it.

The question is, are we being a tree that bears fruit? The world is laying at our door step begging like Lazarus, covered in the sores of it's own sin.   The hounds of hell revel as they lick the wounds of iniquity and decay.   Are you offering life?   Or are you shutting yourself inside with the treasures you've been given, feasting on the grace of God without sharing it?  A quick test is to simply read the twenty fifth chapter of Matthew.   Jesus will remind you quickly that what you do for the least of these, you do for him.   How are we treating the refugee?  The widow?   The orphan?   The people with intellectual disabilities?  Our neighbor?  Our children?  Our spouses?  Is our tongue a weapon of life? Or death?  As Moses said to the people in the desert, Christ says to us now:  I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God, obeying his voice, and holding fast to him. For that will mean life for you.   (cf. Deuteronomy 30:19-20)  Plant yourself firmly in the stream of the Church, make time for prayer, avail yourselves of the Sacraments, and then go out into the world and share the gift you've been given with those who so desperately need it.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

A reflection on the readings for daily Mass, Thursday of the second week of Lent: March 16, 2017.

Around The Water Cooler

Jealousy and gossip have a way of poisoning the mind and making things seem different than they might actually be.   Years ago I was working for a company that had several employees who were just never happy.   Every time I was around them they would complain and gossip about the boss and office workers.  They always had a story about this or that thing that was being done, or this or that person that was being treated better.  It wasn't long before I too began to be unhappy with my job.  I'd go to work sad and have no real desire to do anything other than get a paycheck.   It wasn't that things had changed.. it was still the same job, doing the same thing, for the same pay.. but somehow I was beginning to hate it.  Eventually I left to work for another company.   The funny thing was my situation was almost identical, almost the same pay, same kind of people, same kind of 'office politics', but I was happy.  

Jeremiah suffered from this same sort of human interaction.   People didn't like the things he was doing either, so they plotted to kill him.   Instead of looking to their own hearts and changing their ways, they wanted God on their terms.  So they poisoned the minds and hearts of those around them until they too were angry with Jeremiah instead of at their own sin.  It's a horrible thing to have those who you love, those whom you want the best for, turn on you and hate you for your faith.  Our world encourages it though these days.   The shows on television show fathers to be bumbling fools who are always oblivious to what is actually going on, and mom for the most part is absent or some sort of psychopath.   The kids are often the heroes, or the only ones capable of doing anything.   It's a slow sort of poisoning that enters the mind and changes our thoughts.. much like the gossip of my coworkers years ago.

In the Gospel the disciples are mumbling with jealousy at the request of the two sons of thunder to be at Jesus right and left hand.  He had just announced that he was going to be killed in Jerusalem but instead of being sad, or trying to build up each other to courage, they begin to grumble about honor and their place in the kingdom.  Isn't that just like us humans?  To become indignant at the actions of others instead of looking inside at our own failings?  That's when Jesus gives us the key to ending jealousy, the key to breaking the cycle of poisoning.  The antidote if you will.   Humility.  "Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."

As Catholics we should not participate in such things as work place gossip, but rather work diligently and joyfully.  That's hard to do sometimes isn't it?   It is even harder when we have one of those other workers who consistently berates the management or moans and complains about things.   St. Francis de Sales in his work "Introduction to the Devout Life" tells us that when we see this sort of thing happening we should do something.   Either speak up about it, walk away, or in some way show the person you don't want to be part of such negativity.   That doesn't mean when there are legitimate issues that we should not speak up for peoples rights, or even go to management with ethical issues and complaints.  What it does mean is that what comes into us, comes out of us.   What we watch, what we hear, what we see... all form our memory, which is what our other faculties act on.   We should be ever mindful of that.. be it television, radio, or workplace conversation.  That way we can emulate Jesus Christ in all things in a way that is proper to our own vocations.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

A reflection on the readings for daily mass on Wednesday of the second week of Lent, March 15, 2017.

Diamonds out of Dust

Justice.   It's a word we throw around quite a bit.  By it we often mean simply fair.   If other people can do it, so should we be able to.   If it hurts someone else we should not be allowed.  So on and so forth.   It has a different meaning though that is just as important if not more so.   The Latin word justus gives the subtle flavor of 'what is due.'   What we deserve.   Now that changes things quite a bit doesn't it?   Especially when we talk about divine justice.   What exactly do I deserve?  Nothing at all.  Or rather, nothing good anyway.   If we truly got what we deserved from God we would be in trouble.   "The wages of sin is death" after all.

That's not what He gives us though is it?   No, rather he blesses us in abundance.  I remember sitting on the bank of the Mississippi river last year meditating on that very thought.   The sun was coming up over the trees in the distance.  Birds were chirping.  Off in the distance I could hear the faint echo of a barge as it pushed it's way against the mighty river to deliver all the goods and services we have at our fingertips.  I had a glass of cold lemonade in my hand that was sweating in the warm summer air.   Little insects were flying back and forth from the flowers and the breeze was just enough to make the warm, moist air pleasant and cooling.   All of this was given to me, a man who didn't deserve it.    I thought to myself "Man, this scene would be perfect if a deer would walk out of the woods right now."

Ah, that's the rub isn't it?  We always think we can one up God.   He had given me a scene from a romance novel to woo my senses and call to my heart and all I thought of is how I could make it better.   He still loved me.   Knowing the kind of person I was, a man fickle and demanding, He still chose to give me that scene to show me how much He loved me.   That's the truth about God's justice is that it is tempered with mercy and love.   What about our justice?   In today's reading, Isaiah reminds us that we are to make justice our aim, especially to address wrongs and help the widow and orphan.   That's because God shows us that though justice has the notion of what is due, what is merited and what is deserved... God's justice doesn't rely on our merits.. but on the merits of Christ.  

We receive from God what Christ deserves.   That means beautiful days to sit and relax in perfect still moments.   It means gifts of food, family and friends.   The real rub though becomes seeing God's perfect moment in the rain with a flat tire.   Seeing the proverbial deer coming out of the woods while in the E.R. with a kidney stone.   Being thankful as we watch someone passing away with cancer or having a radical sense of gratitude as we watch our bills pile up and credit cards get maxed.   It's knowing that what we are receiving, no matter how horrible it may seem at the time, is simply better than we deserve and in some way is forming us.   When we are under pressure, as the song goes, He is making diamonds out of us.   Then in response offering every person we encounter not what we think they deserve, but rather treating them the way God treats us... as if they were Christ standing right before us.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."


A reflection on the readings for Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent, March 14, 2017.

Holy, Holy, Holy!

Recently I was reading an article on an evangelical website about a street preacher in Bristol, England who had been arrested for 'preaching the Gospel.'   Eventually there was a trial and he was forbidden to go back to the same place and spread the word.    That's alarming.   Is it true though?   Was he really arrested for preaching the Gospel?   I'm not so sure.  After reading many other articles it became apparent that it wasn't what he was doing as much as how he was doing it.  He would purposely seek areas were the people he was condemning frequented.   His speech was often interlaced with disparaging remarks and hateful rhetoric, all the while declaring that if he received hate, well that's what Jesus said we'd receive, right?  It began to remind me of some of those sects that we have/had in America.   (The branch Davidians, West Boro Baptist, etc)

In today's reading we see something that reminds us that this is not the way the Gospel goes.  Yes, truth must be shared and no, we should not be door mats that everyone can walk on.   However, Jesus changes the tone of Leviticus 19:2 to bring out something very important for us:

Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy Leviticus 19:2 NAB
Be merciful, just as [also] your Father is merciful. Luke 6:36 NAB

That's a very subtle shift in phrase that makes a huge difference in understanding.   Jesus reminds us that to be like God, to be made in His image, is to be merciful. It's not enough to just emulate God in action our very heart has to change.  We have to have that internal conversion,  not just an external configuration to rules and regulations.  

Last night I spent a few hours re-reading the Letter to the Hebrews.  In what I consider one of the greatest treatise on apologetics ever written, the author let's us know that this is exactly what the new covenant is about.  Where the old covenant simply configured a people on the outside to look like God's people, Jesus established a new one that changes the heart itself.  When we are changed, when we are filled with God on the inside, when our hearts realize what God has done for us and how little we deserved it... how then can we turn and berate others for being unworthy as well?  It reminds me of the parable of the servant who was forgiven of a very large debt and immediately upon his release demanded and refused to forgive someone who owed him far less.  That's not to say we shouldn't speak the truth, God forbid!  It means we must do so in love.. for the good of the other.. and to show them in our words, actions, and thoughts the merciful love of the Father.

That's what Confession is all about.  If we truly understood this Sacrament of God's mercy and love we'd be running to it.  The lines would extend outside the Sanctuary and into the streets.  Instead we find less people going and even fewer who believe they should need it.   It's not a have to.. it should be a want to.   In the confessional we encounter Christ in all his glory.  In Hebrew there was no word for 'very'.  Instead they repeated a word to indicate it's degree.   Amen, Amen meant this is really the truth.  When describing Christ in his glory they would say 'holy, holy, holy.'   That is Holiness in perfection.   That's who is there... but taking Jesus own queue we can also see that in the confessional we can describe our King, our Lord, as 'mercy, mercy, mercy."

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

Special Needs?

I've spent the week working with a group that serves those people in our community who have intellectual disabilities and many who do not speak using standard verbal communications.   It's been a very powerful exercise in both my understanding, my willingness to change, and my need to get out of the way and let that person speak for themselves.  During this time we watched a video about a certain Martin Pistorius who had lived trapped in his own body for many years.   It completely floored me.   I am going to share that now, please watch it:

How different the interactions with these beautiful souls became after watching that video.  Instead of seeing them as people who couldn't learn or couldn't communicate.. I saw them as people I just wasn't able to understand.   It really isn't them that have a problem as much as we who expect them to be just like we are.  I've always viewed them as images of pure joy, people blessed with the ability to love unconditionally.   I still do... yet now I know under that surface is an intelligence that in many ways could be greater than my own....Before I almost had this notion in my mind that they weren't 'smart enough' to know better.. that unconditional love was a result of not understanding what the world was like.. naivete even.  It is truly I who was naive.   

Often when we are in these situations we seek to be Christ.  We want to get out of the way and allow Christ to work through us on these individuals... even asking God to 'heal them' and make them 'normal.'   Yet, we don't take the moment to think that in reality.. it's Christ looking at us from them, with a pure love that is neither unintelligent nor naive... a love that loves us.. despite our shortcomings... despite our lack of empathy... even despite our arrogance and ego.   A Christ who can be transformed before us into the splendor of heaven if we just take a moment to look for Him in their eyes.   To take a moment to listen with more than our ears.. but with our eyes.. our hands.. our soul.  

These men and women don't need to be fixed, they need to be understood.   We need to find ways to interact with them in their language, finding out what their wants and needs are.. who they want to live with and don't... who they want to love and who they don't want to be around...To do that we must be spend time with them.   We must love them, care for them, assist them, and above all be present to them.  

Then we have to stop thinking of them as 'them.'   They are part of us.   They aren't a community over there, and our community over here... We are community.   Too many expect parents with children who express themselves in alternative methods to keep them at home, or to avoid any place where 'adult' behavior is expected... How narrow and rude our focus when we try to exclude those who don't speak the same way we do just because we feel uncomfortable in the way they speak.   We must integrate every person into our community, giving each person, regardless of mental ability the same basic choices that you and I enjoy.  Only then will we not only begin to see the light of Christ shining from them in an opportunity to love, but also begin to transform ourselves to where we can look on every person with the love of God. 

His servant and yours, 

Brian 

A reflection on the readings for Mass on the Second Sunday of Lent, March 12, 2017. 

A Dialogue with a Pope

A reflection on the book "Called to Communion" by Pope Benedict the XVI.

In a recent bible study we were discussing Blessed John Henry Newman and his writings on the philosophical concepts of assent and certitude. During that conversation we had a real life demonstration of what those mean as two of the women involved began to vocally and emphatically declare purgatory a nonsensical idea. To those ladies it did not make sense because it didn’t feel like the kind of thing the God they had in their minds would do to someone. After a lively discussion in which many different metaphors and similes were used to try and elaborate the reality of purgatory to them both, they still could not assent to the teaching. They also remained obstinate in the fact they refused to do anymore reading on the subject and were just ‘too old to change.’

That seems to be the attitude of the American society as a whole as of late, and it has definitely infiltrated the ranks of the Catholic church in America. The entire notion impinges on something that many do not take seriously, the authority of the Church itself and more especially of the chair of Peter, to ‘bind and loosen.’ Pope Benedict in his book Called to Communion goes as far as to say that the very words used by Jesus as he installs Peter as the Prime Minister of His Church has “cosmic and eschatological significance.” Peter, much like these two ladies in my bible study, has moments of both the Spirit and the Flesh. So much so that we see a cycling of both in the very narrative in which Jesus hands Him the keys. In one moment Peter's statement that Jesus is the Christ is attributed to ‘not the flesh and blood, but the Spirit. Then a few lines later as Peter decries Jesus destiny to be crucified in Jerusalem, Peter’s statement is of flesh and blood and Jesus labels him a satan, and tells him to get behind him.

This simple illustration of what it means to follow the Spirit reminds us that every man makes mistakes. When we leave the Church up to our feelings, up to our emotions, we too often stand in opposition to God’s plan, to which we must be reminded that we should ‘get behind Him.’ Feelings, while valid and important, can often lead us to do things that God himself has shown us to be wrong. That’s why, as we tried to teach the two ladies in the study, assent is just as important if not more important than certitude. In realizing that the Holy Spirit is in charge of our Church we must, even when we do not understand, assent to those teachings that are Dogma and doctrine. It does not mean we cannot discuss them, elucidate on them, or further understand them. It does mean that we must at some point submit and say “I just don’t understand, but because it has been revealed to the Church as Tradition, I assent to it and hope one day to find certitude.”

That is why the notion of the Church as a living memory is so valuable to me. Pope Benedict writes so eloquently when he says “In both her Sacramental life and in her proclamation of the Word, the Church constitutes a distinctive subject whose memory preserves the seemingly past word and action of Jesus as a present reality.” The living, organic nature of a Church that exists throughout all of time but still expresses itself in the moment, is a powerful thought. While still a mystery beyond human thought, finds a way to elucidate the very nature of what it means to be Church. It’s not enough for my own personal thoughts, feelings or interpretations to reveal what God has in store for all of mankind. They must match both the written and oral Tradition of the living Church, as it is stored in the Sacred Deposit of faith. Tradition, Scripture, and the Magisterium; along with the lived out experience of the people of Faith throughout all of Christendom, must be in agreement with those things we now start to ponder.

That’s what it means to be in Communion with the Church. It’s popular today to use the phraseology “I’m Catholic but” or “I’m Catholic, except for.” There is this notion that has steadily gained grown since the time of the reformation that somehow it’s merely a personal relationship with Christ and Christ alone. When we examine the Scriptures and the lived experience of the Church fathers we find that is simply not true. Christ came to give us a Church, a gathering. In that Church he established the Twelve, representing a new Israel. With a new Israel He established a new center of worship, a new temple, His own Body. To be in Communion then means not just in communion with God and God alone, but with God and God’s community.

It’s funny though, that even though many will agree with that statement, they mean clearly the community they can see and feel. For many parts of the Christian world the idea of Church is merely those alive. That discounts how many Christians have lived before and their experience of God and understanding of His revelation through the Incarnation of Christ. It is only when we begin to encounter Christ on His own terms that we begin to see the truth of what Christ has intended. A Church with the authority to make proclamations, safeguard the truth (both oral and written), and bring people to life with both Jesus and His Body. That’s what it really boils down to: God and us, not just God and me. It is a personal relationship yes, but not just personal.

The danger of what these ladies are attempting to do, is that heresy often breeds heresy. Deviation at one point of doctrine often leads to a collapse of even more. We have seen that with the 40,000+ denominations in Christendom today. What began as a reformation that had many important reforms in mind, became over time a dissolution of the faith till in many ways certain denominations no longer even resemble the faith that the Apostles handed on to their followers. When we decide that we are the sole decider of what is authentic faith and that our emotions are the guide, we make ourselves to be God. We then find ourselves no longer in communion but at an arm's length, and potentially no longer even part of the body, but an outsider looking in and hoping to be chosen when the teams pick sides.

Ash Wednesday!

It's Ash Wednesday.   A day in which more than a billion people have the opportunity to receive Ashes on their forehead in a reminder that yes, they too are going to die one day.   A reminder of the verse from Genesis 3:19: "By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, Until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dust, and to dust you shall return." (NAB)   Lent officially begins today.  A season of penitence in which we Catholics are reminded of the three pillars: prayer, fasting, and alms-giving.  It's not surprising that the readings for today's Mass are somber reminders of the need of repentance, of metanoia (an internal change of direction) that comes from an encounter with Christ, our Lord.

In the first reading of Joel we see him speaking to a people who have been devastated.   In this post-exilic period, the people were beginning to look beyond just a hope of a restoration of the people to their ancestral home, but towards an eschatological reality.    An extreme famine had destroyed much of their food and a swarm of locusts have overrun their land.  The people saw this as a punishment from God to be followed by a "great and powerful people" who would once again take over their land.   Joel reminds them that the problem is that people are just being outwardly men and women of God, but inwardly they have not changed.  God reminds us again and again that conversion is primarily a matter of the heart.  As the great Saint Paul has said time and again, "without love you are just a clashing cymbal or sounding gong." 1 Corinthians 19:1

A clashing cymbal.   Years ago I was in the high school band as a percussionist.   I'll never forget the times in practice when I knocked over a cymbal or dropped one.   The eyes of the band turned at glared at me.  The sound was more than just annoying, it was grating on the nerves.   Especially after it had happened more than once!    That's kind of where we find ourselves as Christians for much of the time these days.   People don't want to hear the message anymore because it's just being shouted and ringing out like a cymbal dropped in a quiet room.  It's not that we should stop sharing the message!  It's that we must needs be visibly and spiritually changed by it first before anyone else will believe that there is anything to it.

That's what Lent is all about and the readings are loud and clear in their call to us to be authentic in our worship.   Whether you find comfort in praying a rosary, silent meditation, or a walk through nature... the purpose of that is not to let others see you doing it, but rather for you to grow in faith, and just as importantly in love.  God is not interested in empty shows of piety.   He wants to see love from us.  Love for our neighbors, our enemies... even ourselves.   What happens when an entire people live out the life of authentic faith? Joel tell us "Then the LORD was stirred to concern for his land and took pity on his people."   What a beautiful thing indeed!

St. Paul reminds us that today is the time!  Not tomorrow, not next week, but that NOW is an acceptable time.  The day of the Lord is not just an eschatological realty, but it's present here and now.   All of us are going to die.   Who is next?  Maybe a morbid thought.... but in reality we don't know.   Any of us could be the one to go.  Are you ready?    Is your life the kind of life that you want it to be?   Are you the kind of person that God has created you to live as?  If not?  How do we have that metanoia experience?   Prayer.  Fasting. Almsgiving.  It's not enough to do just one or the other.   We must spend time with God.  It's a relationship.   At least 15 minutes a day.  Don't aim for the minimum.  Aim for a relationship!  You wouldn't just spend 15 minutes with your spouse or your boyfriend/girlfriend, would you?   No, a real relationship requires time and presence.  

Fasting..  that's not very popular in our culture unless you are trying to lose weight.   It's a reminder to you though that what is truly important is not food, not coffee, not soda, not the gym, not even the social media that makes you feel so warm and fuzzy... but rather God.   Fasting is all about saying to yourself you know what?  I've let this become too much of my life and I need more of God in there.  Therefore I'm going to do less of this, and more of God.   Almsgiving is the natural response to that.   When you fast from coffee?  Don't replace it with dandelion tea.  It's against the very nature of fasting to get rid of one thing and replace it with another that is just as expensive or enjoyable.   No, when you give it up take that money and give it to someone who has less.   The widow, the orphan, the refugee.  

Then Jesus reminds us that we aren't to simply do it to be seen.  No this is a matter of internal change.  It's a matter of living a life that draws us closer to that true contemplative experience, that union with God that our hearts crave and call for.   It's replacing all the things that stand in the way until prayer is not something we do just a few minutes a day.. but something we do with every waking breath, with every heart beat.   I am not there, but I so want to be.. and I know there are clear things that are in my way.  Do I have the courage to remove them?  Here is my prayer for Lent.   I wrote this as part of an assignment for the Diaconate and I want to share it here for all of you.   Feel free to use it, to remodel it, to change it to make it more personal.  Praise God if it brings you one step closer to Him.

Heavenly Father,

My spiritual life reminds me of that old rose bush in front of my friend Paul’s house.  Every year Gail comes by and prunes it back until there is nothing left but a few nubs, yet every year it begins to grow and blossom.   As Lent approaches I am painfully aware of the pruning that needs to be done yet again.   Every year I grow closer to you, and every year I allow other things to begin to creep in again.  Give me the courage and will to again reflect on my life, on my focus, and on those branches that need to be cut back, or even completely removed.  Guide me closer to you in all things.  Help me to bring you fully into all areas of my life, and into all relationships.   I want to blossom with fruit worthy of one who you call son!   Infuse me with your Holy Spirit in such a way that my meager branch can begin to resemble the true Vine, that those who know me might know Him.  

This and all things I ask in the name of your Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

His servant and yours,

Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

A reflection on the readings for Mass on Ash Wednesday: March 1st, 2017

A little leaven goes a long way

Many years ago I decided I was going to learn to bake bread.   I had fond memories of watching my mother bake fresh yeast rolls and beautiful tiered wedding cakes.   It always seemed so easy to transform the basic ingredients into the yeasty goodness that I adored.  A quick search on the internet yielded a recipe for a basic loaf of rustic, crunchy bread.   I dashed to the store to gather the ingredients I would need, already picturing a slice of still steaming bread slavered in butter.   I couldn’t wait to bake my first loaf.

I measured the ingredients carefully and kneaded them diligently for the time prescribed.  Knowing that baking is as much science as it is art, I wanted to leave nothing to chance.  The dough looked just as I remembered and after letting it rise, punching it down, and rising it again, I was beginning to get very excited.  The hardest part was waiting for the loaf to come out of the oven.   The smell was filling the house with that fresh baked bread scent and I didn’t want to eat something else!   So I waited as patiently as a man who likes to eat can wait.  Finally the timer went off and I opened the oven and pulled out the first loaf of bread I had ever made.

It was a strange looking Frankenstein of a creation.   Lumps and bumps covered its surface.  Well, I imagined to myself, I bet it still tastes good.   I was wrong there too.   It was a strange texture and yeasty beyond imagine.   I must have done something wrong.  I ate some of it and then throwing it in the trash went back to the recipe.   After several more runs, several more failed loaves, and even a digital kitchen scale in hopes that it was simply a matter of accuracy, I called in the calvary.   It only took a few minutes on the phone with mom to find out that I didn’t need to add all those ingredients to self rising flour.. It already had the leaven in it.  I needed plain flour or bread flour.   Simply getting the recipe right made all the difference and it wasn’t long before I was making crusty breads, yeasty rolls, and buttery biscuits.

In today’s Gospel that is the message that Jesus is trying to convey to his disciples.  Mark is always hard on them.  In his writings they are always dense and obtuse, they never get it.   They just don’t understand.   He’s trying to teach them about the ways of the world in contrast to the ways of God.  So he gives them two extremes.   The Pharisees and Herod.   They then think he’s angry because they didn’t bring bread.  

The funny part is of the three primary sects of Judaism of first century Palestine, the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes, Jesus has more in common with the Pharisees belief wise.    Their religion is filled with all the laws of Moses.   They believe in life after death.   They tithe and teach others what it means to be in relationship with God.   Jesus continually points out that they have lost the part that matters most, love.   Their religion has become hollow, empty.  It’s all the on the surface and never actually changes a man.  

Then you have Herod, the king.  Herod was a hedonist who loved pleasure.   Though he was the king by title, he wasn’t setting the example of what old testament kings were supposed to be.  They were supposed to be pillars of strength and leaders of the religious community.  Sure, they made mistakes and were sinners just like the rest of us.. But Herod, he just did what felt good.  He did whatever he enjoyed, even if it meant going completely against what God had given us in the Scriptures.

Jesus taught us a path that is more in the middle.   He did not condemn religion, but rather told people to do what those on the chair of Moses said, but not to act as they did.   He reminded us that our hearts had to be in it.  That it wasn’t enough to hit the bare minimum but to go further, beyond.   That our religious rules were there to guide us to a relationship with God.  “I will be your God, and you will be my people.”   God gave the Israelite people six hundred and thirteen rules to help show the world that they were different.  If you want to be in relationship with me, here is what I will do for you and here is how you will behave to show the world.  Above all though, was the need for love.

A little yeast goes a long way.  It’s tempting to go with the flow.   To do those things which feel good.  To lump in with society.   In the current political realm we no longer argue on facts but we simply go with emotions.  “This feels good.”  “This makes me happy.”   Love is more than that.   Love does have emotions with it, but it’s also an action.. A choice.    Love does not give someone something just to make them feel good, it gives them what they need to be good.   We can’t allow our religion to interfere with the good we can do, and at the same time we can’t simply flow along with our emotions and do whatever we want.   We have to live our religion out in love.   

Saint Valentine knew this.  He lived it.   When he was imprisoned for converting people to Christianity, he could simply have gone along with the rest of society and things would have been fine.   He even formed a relationship with the emperor and became friends.   Shortly after he tried to convert the emperor.    The emperor was enraged and sentenced him to death.   The emperor demanded Valentine renounce his faith and Valentine refused, ending his life.   That’s what it means to live out our faith.  It would be easy to simply become lumpy, to take on all the things that feel good, that reward us emotionally.   It is also easy to go along in a rut, to do things so often that we stumble through our prayers not really paying attention to them.   Both will do us great harm.  

The only way that we can become what God intended us to be, to be fully Human, is to let God do the baking.   To allow our faith, our religion, to show us the way to live in relationship with Him.   That means being in relationship with each other as well.  Our rules are there to guide us through the process, the Church shows us the right ingredients to make the perfect dough, and a life of love gives us the perfect temperature and environment to rise and perfect us.  The Holy Spirit, the flame of love, does the baking.   If we just trust, follow, and obey; oh what an amazing offering of bread God can turn us into.

His servant and yours,

Brian

“He must increase, I must decrease.”

A reflection on the readings for February 14, 2017: Valentine’s Day.

A wound that takes time to heal

I remember as a young child one of our dogs had gotten bitten by a snake.  It had this wound on it's side where the flesh had ripped that just would not heal.   For weeks that wound had to be cleaned out and taken care of.   What I remember most was the smell.   It was festering and foul.  Eventually, with enough care, the dog healed and was fine.   It took diligence though.   If the wound wasn't cared for it would get worse.   Left to it's own devices the infection would have simply killed the poor animal.

Our country has some deep spiritual wounds.   America has become a broken and wounded animal.  We have an infection that runs deep under the surface of our streets.   There is a tension that has become evident in the recent riots, the heated rhetoric, and in our political discourse.  Left to it's own devices it will fester and grow until it eventually kills the animal.   The wound must be tended.   It must be cared for.   It must receive the proper medicine.  To do that we must face the wound head on.  We must know where it is, and what caused it.

This wound too began with a serpent.   As the story goes, it began in a garden with two people and an apple.  It began with pride.   A pride that mankind has been struggling with ever since.  A pride that tells us that one person is better than another.   One which gathers up our own gall, causes us to speak out to the other without recognizing their dignity.  To not trust.   To build up walls, both physical and mental.   A pride that prevents us from going out of our own comfort zone and listening with an earnest and open heart to the other side.   A pride that hides behind it something just as sinister... fear.   Fear of the unknown, the other, 'them.'   A fear that causes us to demonize the opponent until we believe them to be pure evil.  Then in turn they do the same to us, until there is nothing left in common, only anger.

The scripture is clear today what the antidote is to this disease, this festering wound that we bear in our veins.

Share your bread with the hungry,

shelter the oppressed and the homeless;

clothe the naked when you see them,

and do not turn your back on your own.

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,

and your wound shall quickly be healed; 

[...]If you remove from your midst

oppression, false accusation and malicious speech;

if you bestow your bread on the hungry

and satisfy the afflicted;

then light shall rise for you in the darkness,

and the gloom shall become for you like midday.

It is really that simple.   The antidote to fear and pride is humility and trust.   Trust in God.  Trust in each other.   Not to label the other as an enemy, but to reach out to all of mankind.   To stop being so angry.  To stop listening to those things which are made up, to the gossip and opinion columns.. but instead to use our own mind and ears to hear what is truly being said.   No more spreading rumors or lies.   Feeding the hungry, receiving the refugee and the orphan, the veteran and the widow.   A man recently revealed that in our country we have trillions of dollars of untapped natural resources... and yet we worry about who is getting taking care of first.   Why not take care of everyone?  To be light of the world is not to choose which darkness to get rid of it... it's to get rid of all of it, for all people.  The ones in our backyard yes!   Yet, also the ones on the other side of the world as well.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

A reflection on the readings for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, February 5th, 2017. 

A Deserted Place

It is tempting isn't it?  To withdraw and remain inside.  With all the interactions we have in this world of instant communication, sometimes I just want to give up that part.  It would be very easy to get rid of the smart phone, to even exist without a phone at all.   Turning off Facebook would be an easy fix for a great deal of it.   All one has to do is click a few buttons and their account is gone.  Our society encourages us to take time for ourselves.   Often ministry is compared to an adult on a plane with a child, at least I've heard that many times.   If the oxygen mask comes down, put yours on first!  If you were to lose consciousness there would be no one to help the child, right?

Today's Gospel reading even shows Jesus telling his disciples to take some time away from everyone else.   They are so busy from the pressing crowds that they haven't even had time to eat.   So they get in a boat and they begin to head for a deserted place.   A place of rest.   A place of recovery.  That's important from time to time isn't it?  I remember how relaxing it was last year to go on a silent retreat with some of my Diaconate brothers.   To get away from all the technology and pressing needs of my life, and to just sit on the riverbank and listen to God speak to my heart.   It's tempting to want that for every day, is it not?   Every day to be one of joy, contemplation, relaxation.

Except in the Gospel they never get to the deserted place.   By the time they get there all the crowds have already found out where they were going, and have gone there ahead of them.  Jesus doesn't react the way we might.   "Turn the boat around! I'm so tired of these people following me everywhere!"  Celebrities have been known to punch cameramen in the face for their constant intrusions, and most of the time I empathize with the celebrity not the cameraman.  When the 'paparazzi' of Jesus time show up, he instead has a different response.... his heart was moved with pity for them.

Notice the entire Gospel is about Jesus worrying about everyone else.   He didn't leave the first crowd because there was too much going on... he left it out of worry for his disciples.  Come away and rest awhile. Then when he sees the crowd seeking, again his heart is moved with pity for them.   Never once does he think of himself.   That is the challenge isn't it?   For me to stop thinking of my needs, my relaxation, my wants... and to instead think of others first.   I pray that St. Francis prayer every morning:

That I may not seek so much to be consoled, as to console. 

To be understood, as to understand. 

To be loved as to love.

That's the point of the Parent putting the mask on first.   They aren't doing it for themselves.   They are doing it so they can help the child.   They are thinking of the child first.   So yes, get away when you must.. but don't be gone long.  There are those who need you.  Those who are seeking Jesus and you may be the only Bible they ever read.   Don't be upset when you get to your deserted place and find people already waiting... because that's when your heart should move with pity and say "How may I serve you first?"  I am not there.  I want to be... I want to be so poured out that nothing is left in me, but Him.    Run to the Eucharist, that's where you find the strength to do that... Run to confession.   Run to the Sacraments!  Run to Christ!  He'll lead you to the place where verdant pastures fill the horizon and water flows from sacred streams... and that is often right in the middle of our hectic lives.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."


A reflection for the readings for Mass on Saturday, February 4th, the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time.  Lectionary 328