Have you lost focus?

Several years ago my wife found some discounted tickets from Rockford to Arizona for a price we could not pass up.  So our family packed our things and flew the miles to the warm desert state to visit family and experience the world.  It was one thing to see the desert, the cacti, and the grand canyon in pictures.  It was another to experience the true majesty of God's creation in person.   To walk in the sand and heat, to see the sites and even to rest in the shade.   One day during the trip we went swimming at a pool.  Laying there in the shade I watched as the kids laughed and giggled.  Moira was almost two years old.   Her sister was watching her by the steps in the shallow end and her mother had gone to the bathroom.  At some point I dozed off.  I woke to a strange sound.  I don't know if it was Julie yelling or the bubbles in the pool, but when I jerked up I saw that Moira was no where to be seen and her sisters were over by the deep end.

It turned out Moira was under the water.  We got to her before she could drown, but to this day she still has a fear of getting water in her eyes.  I'll never forget those few moments of panic though.  Those moments when I thought my daughter was gone.  The fear of thinking my center, the person we were living for, the child we had been so intimately connected with for two years was possibly gone from our lives.  I can't imagine what that must be like for a parent.   To lose their child first.   It shouldn't be that way, right?  We all expect our kids to out live us, to be there until after we ourselves have passed.  Too many parents experience that right now in their lives, and my heart goes out to them.

In the readings for today, it is even more poignant that these widows had lost not just their child, but their only sons.  In a world where women have no rights, where they must be cared for by their husbands and their children in their old age, this was her center... her focus.. her only hope.   This child would be the one who would make an income for the family, provide them a home, give his mother a life.  Instead her hope was gone.  Her husband was already gone, any other sons as well, and here the last of the lineage was dead before her.  How angry these things make us, don't they?   So much so we blame God for them.  Why God?  Why do good things happen to good people?  Why pain? Why suffering?   Why death?  The widow of Zarephath had the same response.  "Have you come to me to call attention to my guilt and to kill my son?"

It's easy to do that isn't it.  Elijah in response did what we are all called to do.  He got on his knees and he prayed for the boy.  He gave his heart into it, groaning and begging God to make a change.   To restore hope, joy, peace.   He stood in the gap for the widow, bringing back her life to her.   Her focus was restored with the life of her son.   She knew then that Elijah was indeed a man of God because he spoke the "Word of the Lord."   That's a key to remember as well.  Our "yes must be yes and our no, no."   Our word must be truth, we must speak the Gospel as it is, not deviating or trying to make it our own.. it's not ours to change.  God has given it to us in His plan, His way.   We hand it on in the same manner.

Then comes the scene in the Gospel where Jesus performs a similar, but more astounding, miracle.  Unlike Elijah, He does not ask for permission to take the son into His arms, but rather puts His hand on the son of His own desire.   He informs them not to weep and then instead of needing to pray for God's intercession, He simply speaks "I tell you arise!" and it comes about.  The people realize at that moment that history has just changed.  This man is more than just a prophet, this is a man who speaks with authority.  "God has visited his people!"  This widow has been restored, given back her hope, her focus, the thing that makes life worth living.  

I imagine that is similar to what I felt when I saw Moira's head surface, spitting out water and gasping for air.  Relief, concern, but above all hope.   Peace.  That is what Jesus is offering to us today.  Every day we lose focus.   We lose some hope.   The world tears at us and Satan prowls around seeking to destroy us.  The news is depressing, kids reject their parents and their faith, and even the music is filled with drugs, violence, and degrading imagery.   We can encounter Him the same way the widow did, in person, directly, through the Sacraments.   In Reconciliation and in the Eucharist, we come face to face with Jesus who declares to us "Do not weep."   He then can restore to us that which was our focus, that which was lost.   He places himself in our hearts that we might be complete again, that we might have hope for eternal life, that we can know we are cared for and taken care of.   We are no longer on our own, He is with us.

Then He challenges us to go out into the world with Him.   To reach out to all of those others who have been widowed by their existence.   All of those who have lost hope, who have no one to care for them, who need food, drink, friendship.   To take that Sacramental presence we receive and become life givers, hope bringers, messengers of peace and joy.   It's only when we become little 'Christ's'  that we can even hope to manage that.   Not to go alone, but to bring Him into every interaction, every thought, every deed.  Mathew 25 tells us exactly how to do that.

Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,  I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’  Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink?  And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee?  And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’

So are you ready for that?  To feed the hungry, cloth the naked, welcome the refugee among you, give water to the thirsty, visit the sick and prisoner?    The world is filled with people who are imprisoned by their own vices, their own sinful natures.   It's our job as Church to go out and give them a reason for our hope.  To meet them where they are, and love them so much we never leave them there.   Instead we journey with them toward eternity, seeking to eat the wedding feast of the lamb with them by our side.   Make a friend, be a friend, and bring that friend to Christ.  We have work to do Church!

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

My Testimony From the Desert

Every time I read about Queen Esther I am struck by a particular scene from the movie One Night with the King.  It's the pivotal moment of the movie and of the history of the Jewish people.  Here this young woman is faced with a difficult and terrible dilemma.  She can remain silent and watch as her people are exiled and murdered, or she can go before the King of Persia and beg for his mercy.  Either way she is in danger of death.  To go before the king unannounced in this country was to be murdered, unless the King extended his scepter to you to forgive your intrusion.

As we read that first reading we see how she prepared for this moment.  She went down prostrate upon the ground, not just her but also all those with her, and they prayed for God's guidance and protection.  She gives us an example of prayer that I think is often over looked.  She asks God to guide her speech and her actions.  She realizes that she could very well die, but even in her fear she declares that God is her only help, her only recourse.  Let me share with you that dramatic moment from the movie that always sticks in my mind:

Esther trusts the King.   She walks up the steps even with all her fear, with her anxiousness.  She takes one step at a time never doubting that God will protect her.  That even if the earthly King doesn't extend his scepter to her the great and all powerful King will.  Often times in our lives we don't understand what God has in store for us.  While we can try to guess, the truth is that we see through a veil.   God is and always will be at the core mysterious, beyond our mortal comprehension.  Abraham had to take the steps up the mountain with Isaac at his side, trusting in the King.  Noah had to load his family in an ark and watch the world be destroyed by water, trusting in the King.  Moses had to lead his people through the towering walls of water to the other side, trusting in the King. You and I, no matter what life brings, must take one step at a time... knowing that even if we don't understand, we can trust in the King.

Jesus reminds us though in the Gospel that Esther's first step was the most important one, she consulted God.  She prayed! Jesus tells us that what we ask we will be given.  He reminds us that God is our Father.  Our relationship with him is an intimate, a personal one.  He isn't just some transcendent deity who is not involved in our mortal affairs, but rather he's our daddy, our Abba.   Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asked for a loaf of bread, or a snake when he asked for a fish? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him. How often we think that way though don't we?  Our faith in God is often marred with our own fears, our own doubts.  We worry that God won't give things to us in a way that is good for us, or that he won't give it to us in a way that we will enjoy.  Yet, God always gives us that which love requires to make us grow. 

Esther was a prototype for us.  She was a glimpse of things to come.  Of another woman who stood before the King giving complete and utter trust to his plan, to his protection.  The blessed Virgin Mary.  She walked each step regardless of her fears.   She took on a role in salvation history that no other human has done, with the danger of losing her own life.  As she stood at the foot of the cross watching her only son suffer and die a horrible death, she trusted that God was giving her bread from Heaven, not a stone or snake.  Oh how we should wish to be like that!

Are you ready for this?  To march up to the doors of those doubts, those fears, those temptations and thrust them open.  To storm the castle of your life and march up the steps to the King, not in arrogance but in quiet confidence of his provision?   That's what Lent is about.  Today's readings remind us of the first pillar of Lent, prayer.  As we journey through this desert together let us pray for strength, for confidence, for trust, and maybe even more importantly: obedience.  May we through the discipline of lent grow to be more like Esther and Mary, to trust in the mysterious ways of God so fully that even threats of mortal danger will not dampen our unconditional yes to his plan.


His servant and yours, Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."