I'm Not Here to Make Friends....

A Reflection for the Daily Readings for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29th, 2016

Acts 12:1-11
Psalms 34:2-9
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18
The Holy Gospel According to Saint Matthew 16:13-19

Over a decade ago I was going through a rough patch in my life.  A broken relationship, a house that was falling apart (mostly my fault), debt up to my ears, and a stagnant job that provided no chance of advancement.   As I worked one day I received a call from a competitors company who had heard of me and wanted to know if I wanted a job.   He offered me a company truck, a gas card, more money on the hour, and health insurance.  I went to my boss who had told me a few weeks before that I was capped out when I asked about a raise, and I said here is what they are offering.  I didn't want to leave, but he didn't counter or even argue.. he just let me go.  So be it I decided.

I started the new job with gusto!  I went in working as hard as my body could manage, as many hours as they'd let me, running jobs from the very start.  One job finished, another.. people didn't like me.  I didn't remind about breaks, I told them when I thought they were slacking, and I pushed them to finish the job as fast as possible.   I was making the company money.  As I told my help when they'd complain: "I'm not here to make friends.  I'm here to do a job."   So I did.  That broken relationship fell completely apart.  The power and water got turned off at home.   I went on the road and stayed in hotels.  As far as I was concerned I was successful, I was who I needed to be.  I even changed my name from Brian to Ken for a while, to show the new me.. the workaholic.   The man afraid to face his life.

CCC 2158 God calls each one by name. Everyone's name is sacred. The name is the icon of the person. It demands respect as a sign of the dignity of the one who bears it.

Eventually a man who had weaseled his way in through a chink in my armor took me aside at lunch.  He said he remembered the me when I first started, the one who sat in his truck at lunch time reading his bible, etc.  He asked me a few questions and I answered them, evening pulling out my trusty 1611 King James bible from under the truck seat (and having to dust it off).   He said there he is, that's the guy I remember.  It was a wake up call.   It was who I was meant to be, it was who God had made me to be.  Not that I started slacking, no I worked just as hard.  I stopped being a wall though.  I let people in to see the real me.   I treated them with dignity and respect, and earned some respect of my own.  Soon we were all friends and though I was still completing jobs as fast as possible... people didn't complain as much, they didn't get angry and go to the office in the evenings talking about how much of a jerk I was... no I was being the man I was supposed to be.

The world wants us to remain in those chains, you know?  That a successful man or woman must be one who puts the job before relationships.  The one who gets the job done with maximum profit regardless of who they offend, hurt or cause to quit.   God wants us to be free from the chains of life.  That doesn't mean we don't work, the opposite is true there.  He wants our yes to be yes, and our no no.  He challenges us to put in our time as efficiently and skillfully as we can... but He wants us to do so with joy!  To be the kind of person that draws others to them, not pushes them away.   To do so though we can't just say "I believe" and then go on living as we have always lived.  We must become a new person, we have to listen to the messenger when they say "get up! get dressed! follow me!"  Notice that Peter's chains didn't fall off till He got up!

God gives us a new name.  A new name means a new start!  I tried to do it on my own, by changing the name people referred to me by and becoming the man I wanted to be.   I wanted to follow in my dad's footsteps and be the foreman that got it done, the one who knew how to get the best out of his men.  I thought that meant intimidation.. but it meant camaraderie.     I thought it meant working without care for those around me, but my dad taught me years later it meant working as a servant to those below you.  Making sure they were safe, cared for, and knowing them.  A man who trusts you, a man who feels that bond.. will work harder for you than a man who lacks those emotions.  I never became a man who sat in the AC while my crew worked.  I hated working for people like that.  I was always right out there with them, pulling cable, running conduit, and digging ditches.  Yes, there were times I had to go to meetings or answer questions.. but in between?  I didn't just stand around talking.. I worked with them.. as a brother, as an equal.

CCC 2159 The name one receives is a name for eternity. In the kingdom, the mysterious and unique character of each person marked with God's name will shine forth in splendor. "To him who conquers . . . I will give a white stone, with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it." "Then I looked, and Lo, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him a hundred and forty- four thousand who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads."

At Confirmation we choose a Saint who lived the Gospels in a way that speaks to us.   It isn't that we want to become that Saint.. but that we want to follow the same path they did when they were alive.  I chose Saint Francis of Assisi.  He was the kind of man I want to be like, one who showed Christ so fully in his life that other men followed Him.   One who lived life in a way that said I believe what I say, I have the courage of my convictions.  That kind of life strengthens us, it nourishes us.. to be strong enough to do what Saint Paul was speaking about in his letter to Timothy.. to pour ourselves out like a libation.   This life is not an easy one.. it means giving up attachment to all things in life.  It means getting outside of ourselves and letting Christ live through us.  It means living a life with a new name.. a name giving to us by God himself.

Saul was one of the worst persecutors in the Early Church.  He literally ripped people from their homes and turned them in, if not standing by while others stoned them.  He thought he was doing right, he was trying to make a name.  He was getting the job done.   Jesus appeared to him and said "Get up.  Follow me."  Saul became Paul and after years of contemplation became one of the greatest evangelizers to the Gentile Nations.   Simon when left to his own devices would come to deny the lord three times, to flee from the scene of the cross, to raise a sword in anger... Jesus gave him a new name, again "Get up!  Follow me!"  When he began to live the name that Jesus had given him, he became Peter.. the rock, the one who was given the keys to the Kingdom.   The man who when he was crucified asked to be crucified upside down because he didn't feel worthy to hang the same way as Christ.

They, like you and I, failed when they tried to live by their own name.  When they tried to write who they were on their own terms, even when it seemed right in their own estimation.   It was only when they accepted the name given to them by the Word, by He who through which everything was made, both visible and invisible, that they began to live life in Christ to its fullest.  To be poured out like a libation for their fellow man and to enter the Kingdom of God on God's terms.   Are you trying to set the terms?   Are you trying to give yourself a name?   Or are you letting God work through you to build up the name He has written for you eternally in the heavens?

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease." 

Slack Jawed Apostles!

Tomorrow we celebrate the Ascension of Our Lord.   Jesus spent 40 days spreading his message to his disciples.  40 days in which he taught them, encouraged them, and prepared them for their mission.  Then after 40 days, he was changed.  He was lifted up before them into heaven and went on to the next leg of his mission.  I imagine from the response of the two men in white garments that the Apostles were standing there with their jaws ajar gazing into sky, unable to believe what they had just witnessed.  "Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?"   Why aren't you out instead doing what he instructed you?   They were still waiting for that push, that courage that comes from receiving the Holy Spirit.

The thing is, God has left us this amazing blueprint here of what to do once we do get that courage, that joy.  He said "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  Such a simple plan, with such strong meaning to me.    Start here, where you are.   Move to where you have been, the places that are familiar to you.   Then, spread out in where you are uncomfortable, where you've never been, where no one has.    To the ends of the earth... everywhere.

Jerusalem.   The city of God.   The place where one would expect the message to take root first and foremost... but so much stands in the way.   It's the root, the center of the Jewish theological mind.  The place where God resides, the home of the temple.  God tells us that the temple, the area around it is where we must evangelize first and foremost.   Paul lets us know that we are the temple of God.   In this great scheme of things, God has charged us with changing our self and our immediate environment first.   Bloom where you are planted.   We must make the Gospel a part of our immediate lives, not just a superficial thing on the surface, but truly permeating our very existence.

Samaria and Judea.  The world in which they have traveled already.   Jesus walked with them through this areas teaching them, preparing not just them but all who would listen.   To me that speaks of the Church itself, our Christian community.   One of our greatest needs is to help evangelize and re-evangelize those who are already a part of the 'flock'.   To claim to be Christian and not be a part of the community is to distance yourself from the truth of the Gospel.   We must allow our joy to overflow to all of those people who we meet in our own church homes.   Our fire will set them on fire.   Let them see the Gospel in your participation.  "You show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works."

To the ends of the earth.  This is the challenge to go out into the world and spread that message to everyone else.  It's not a mandate to beat people over the head, there is such a huge difference in proselytizing (what we are not to do) and evangelizing (what we are to do.)  We are not so much trying to convince people, not so much trying to argue them in, as we are introducing them.   We are inviting them into a relationship with the living God, with the person who has changed our lives.. with the man/God who we have encountered in our own Jerusalem, who we have loved, worshipped, and shared with our faith community, and now who our hearts are so enamoured with that we cannot hide him... love does not hide and bury, it shouts from the rooftops.. to anyone who will listen.

So where are you?  Each of us is at a different stage on the walk, each of us has walked a different length of time, and each of us has a different distance to go... but you gotta start somewhere... It's been 40 days... in 10 more we will celebrate that moment when the Holy Spirit descended on these men who huddled in fear in the upper room, afraid of their own crosses.   At that moment these men will burst forth, and all but 1 will go to their own martyrdom.   You received that same spirit at your Baptism.   Are you ready to rise above all that is holding you back?  The Kingdom of Heaven does not have to wait until the end of time.  We ourselves can be lifted above all those fears that make us think we can't do this.  It's time for us to grasp that sanctifying grace we have received in Baptism and Confirmation.. and which pours out through the Sacraments every time we take advantage of them... to embolden us with joy, determination, and grace of our own to spread the Gospel, even to the ends of the earth.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

Thus far a rather uninspiring thing

Tomorrow is the feast of Saint Agatha.  It's interesting that when we see her story we find that the Church has chosen two readings about two very different Kings, contrasting them as book ends.  What do Kings have to do with this amazing woman from the mid 3rd century? I think that in order to find that out we have to explore a bit of both her story, and theirs.

We see in the first reading King David is being lauded as the ultimate of Kings.   His Kingdom was the one where everyone had food on the table.  Israel was prosperous.  They were winning their wars.  Things were going so well in his time that he didn't even bother to go out and fight, just letting his commanders do it for him.  He was indeed the kind of King the people wanted when they demanded God give them a human one.  David, though, was far from perfect.  David was a man who had sinned terribly . He took another mans wife in adultery and then had that man killed.  David was confronted by the Prophet Nathan who used a parable to show David just how bad his sin was.  Nathan did not mince words, he told David that he was the man who had done wrong. 

Then we see in the second reading King Herod.  Herod has successfully bartered peace with the Romans, though at a great deal of cost to the freedoms of the people.  He had rebuilt the temple as well.  Was a good man? Probably not, but as far as King's go he wasn't the worst.  The Jewish people weren't starving to death by any means.  Herod too had his problems.  He had taken his brother Philip's wife as his own.  Just like David, Herod was confronted by a prophet.  John came to him in no uncertain terms and told him his sin.

Both kings had sinned.  Both kings had taken a woman to be their wife that they should not have.  Both were confronted by prophets.  They both had completely different responses.  King David repented of his sin, poured out his heart to God and begged forgiveness.  Herod?  Well he locked John up and treated him like a play thing, eventually beheading him.  One turned to God, the other to the world.   I think that is part of our first lesson. 

Through our Baptism we are consecrated as Priest, Prophet and King, right?  So if we put ourselves in the place of the Prophet in each of these pericopes we ask ourselves, are we fulfilling that role?  Are we standing up to those in charge?  Or are we simply trying to get by.   That doesn't necessarily mean to the King or the President, but there are people all over who are in positions of authority.  We as prophets are called to deliver the word of God, in season and out of season, when it's welcome and when it's not.  The challenge is to do so in love.  Pope Francis recently said that we cannot begin to speak about the justice(judgement) of God without first talking about his mercy.  Are we living that in our role of prophet?  Are we making sure to take a stand and deliver God's message to the world?

On the other hand, we have two Kings in the stories as well.  How are we responding to that word when delivered to us?  When the prophets in our lives come to us pointing out our mistakes are we turning to God in sorry and repentance?  Or do we reject them?  Are we going to be remembered like King David who constantly tried to do God's will, a man after God's own heart?  Or will we be remembered as Herod?  A man who lived a life of hedonism and pleasure, one who was supposed to be an example for the people, but rather did not point to God at all with his life.  The King of Israel in the old testament was described as the following:

he must not acquire many horses for himself, or return the people to Egypt in order to acquire more horses, since the Lord has said to you, “You must never return that way again.”   And he must not acquire many wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; also silver and gold he must not acquire in great quantity for himself.  When he has taken the throne of his kingdom, he shall have a copy of this law written for him in the presence of the Levitical priests.  It shall remain with him and he shall read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, diligently observing all the words of this law and these statutes,

Saint Thomas Aquinas told us there were four typical substitutes for God.  Power, wealth, pleasure, and honor.  Here in this one verse we see that God has declared that a King shall avoid all four of those.  Power - You will not get amount of horses.  Horses were a sign of military power.  Wealth - the King shall avoid gathering great quantities of silver and gold.  Pleasure - He shall not have a great deal of wives, but he is supposed to remain monogamous.  Honor - The king is required to consistently read the laws and statues, observing them in humility to remember that all glory belongs to God.

We can learn a great deal from that.  God showed us early on in Scripture that these four things were dangerous to our spiritual health.  Jesus encapsulated them in the sermon on the mount when he gave us the beatitudes.  The beatitudes are the antidote to those spheres of influence.  So much so that Father Barron says that the beatitudes point directly to Christ on the cross.. a man with no power.. no honor ... no wealth.. no pleasure.. he in his manhood is helpless and nailed to a cross.. he though the King of glory is treated as a common, unclean criminal.  The creator of the universe, he who made gold itself.. does not even have his own clothing left to boast.  The inspiration for the Song of Songs is here in pain, beaten, hungry, thirsty and in pain.  Yes, Christ on the cross teaches us that lesson... but that brings us to our last role, Priest.

Who is the Priest?  Jesus is the High Priest, our example.   Herod and his friends were asking a very powerful question... they were trying to figure out who Jesus was.  They were confused by him.  Some thought he was a reincarnated prophet, others simply a new one.  The incarnation confronted them with that question though... Who is Jesus?  What is he worth to us?  What does his existence mean to us? 

Saint Agnes believed so strongly that Jesus was worth dying for, that she went to her death after much torture to protect her virginity out of a promise to him.  She was surely tempted to give up to those spheres herself.  When they were asking her to give in and have sex?  She turned down the momentary pleasure for the Kingdom of Heaven.  When they threatened to kill her and tortured her?  When they offered her a spouse with wealth just to give in?  Oh how easy it would be to give in for the honor of being restored to our former place, not to be treated as a fugitive.  Oh how tempted might that rich man been on top of it.. if I just do this... I'll live... I'll be fine... When they berated her and made fun of her.. sent her to a brothel to be abused and raped, would she have been tempted to regain her honor by just giving in?  She chose the cross.. she chose death.

That's true power.  That's true honor.  That's true wealth!  How much more pleasure can one have than to be a part of the beatific vision? We, too, are challenged to be counter cultural.  Being so intent on Jesus on the cross that we go forward with that as our goal.  Giving up everything else.  Focusing intently on carrying our own cross, to our own Calvary.  There is no resurrection with the cross.... there is no Christianity without the cross.  We must become Christ in the world.  As priests, prophets and kings... we are to reach out into the world.. wagging our fingers in the face of those in charge and saying this is what true Justice is.  Feeding the poor, the widow, the orphan.  Helping the refugee.  Visiting the sick and those in prison.  Being a good king who avoids wealth, power, honor and pleasure to rather provide protection, hope, and love to all those we are responsible for.. and we are responsible for everyone.  Remember who asked "Am I my brothers keeper?"  Finally, leading the way by pointing to Christ.. by learning who Christ is ourselves, spending time with Him and with the inspired word, and then leading others to understand who he is.  That question, "Who is Jesus?"... the answer to that question has the power to change eternity for everyone you meet... But you've got to invite them into that world..

"You may be the only bible that someone ever reads." 

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

Wishy Washy.

Tomorrow's readings for daily mass contain a hard message, a challenging message. During Advent it is important that we get those challenges to the way we are walking our faith.  All to often, when we are honest with ourselves, we are failing to walk the walk and talk the talk.  We get tied up with the minutia of life.  Christmas shopping needs to be finished. Gifts need to be wrapped.  Company Christmas parties to attend.  Last minute cooking and cleaning before guests and family arrive.  Travel plans to be made.  So many things going on.   It's easy to get tied up in all that.  To not be able to see the forest for the trees.  Advent reminds us to slow down.  That all of these things can be good, but they aren't the focus, they aren't the reason for the season. 

Jesus calls out the head honchos in the Gospel passage.  He gives them a parable with two sons in it.  One son says he'll do it and doesn't.  Another says he won't, but later does.    He wants to know which one of those sons did what the father wanted him to do.  The one who did what he asked of him, even though he said he wouldn't.    John the Baptist had come to them preaching repentance, a way of life.  They didn't listen to him.  Even when the people that most Jews of the time thought were least likely to hear the voice of God began changing their lives, began following Jesus, the chief priests and elders kept on in their obstinacy.  They who had given an oath to God, they who had studied the law to see what God asked of them, they who knew the Scripture in and out... had said "Yes we will do" and then did not.   Those who had sinned, had fallen away from God... had initially said No to religious life... turned their hearts to God and were being saved.

How many times have you and I turned our back on our promise to God?  We have given an oath, a promise to God.  Some of us have done so at Baptism.  Others at confirmation.  Some have received an Altar call in some church or another.. some of you might have simply prayed a sinner's prayer.. all of these are a promise.. to try and live the Gospel.  To us Catholics, it's a promise to live the Gospel of the Apostles.. as handed on through their disciples to the Church.    That's a serious oath.  A serious promise.  How many times have we failed to live it?  How many times have we said "yes" only to then not do. It's not too late... to be the one who initially said no, the one who wasn't doing.. and then turned and did it anyway.

The first reading and the Psalm remind me of Saint Francis and his way.  My wife and kids kind of roll their eyes at me when I begin talking about Saint Francis.  I'm passionate for his message, for the way he lived the Gospel.  I get excited when I speak of him.  I feel the urge every day to be more like him, because I feel that Saint Francis truly lived the Gospel the way Jesus challenges us to do so.  In being more like him, I feel I will be more like Christ.  That's a lofty goal.  One I am likely not worthy of.

In the reading from Zephaniah we see the prophecy of the day when Jesus was to be born, and an image of the day when Jesus will come again.  God tells his people that on that day they will not need to be ashamed of their sins, their failures... their initial no... He says:

For then will I remove from your midst
the proud braggarts,
And you shall no longer exalt yourself
on my holy mountain.
But I will leave as a remnant in your midst
a people humble and lowly,
Who shall take refuge in the name of the LORD:
the remnant of Israel.
They shall do no wrong
and speak no lies;
Nor shall there be found in their mouths
a deceitful tongue


He says that the people of God will be humble and lowly.  That's a hard calling.  Society tells us to be the opposite.  To be proud.  To build ourselves up.  Rich. Wealthy. Powerful.   They shall be humble.  Lowly.  Honest.   That is our goal.   That was how Saint Francis lived his life.  More over, that is how Jesus Christ lived his earthly ministry as well.   Then the Church in her wisdom ties this message to the responsorial Psalm,

When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
The Lord hears the cry of the poor.

During this time of Advent it is time to look back on our lives.  When we are going out to have lavish dinners, filled with presents and gifts, drinking and reveling... remember all of this can be good and lovely.   We cannot forget though the poor, the downtrodden, the lonely.  That brings me to a story I read last night about Saint Francis.  (Rolling your eyes and huffing yet?)    His monks had set up a feast for them around a holiday.  They had obtained (borrowed?) fine dishes, a table cloth, lots of food.   They had spent time organizing this meal.  It was full of small excesses, things you and I wouldn't even thing were fancy.  To those who lived the lives of Saint Francis friar's minor... they were extravagant.   Saint Francis came into the room where they had set a place for him at the head of the table, and he walked to the fire place.   He took out a spoon that had been dropped in the ashes, a beaten and poor spoon... he took the hat of a beggar and placed it on his head and sat down in the dirt and grime of the floor.  He ate his dinner as the poor.. as the ones who were being forgotten.. as the poor Christ might have done. 

It's so easy to forget them isn't it?  Even those monks who lived a life of the poor forgot the poor for a moment.  They were ready to sit and eat at their fancy table.  Francis did not want to forget, so he made a tangible reminder.  He embraced poverty in a radical way that challenged us.  As you prepare for your own celebrations, don't forget them.  We still have people starving in our own streets.  We have men and women in nursing homes that have been forgotten.  That have no visitors.   We have poor families that will have no gifts for their kids.. fighting to keep their homes, fighting to keep their lives.   We have refugees from other countries.  How many of those are forgotten already?  How many have dismissed them completely?  They have been made out as terrorists.. as them... they.. the enemy.  Sure some of them might be bad people.. some of them are widows.. orphans. 

We've made a promise.  We have an option this Christmas.  We can say yes, and mean it.  We can say no.. and change our mind and do it.  Or we can say yes, and do it.  I vote yes.. do it.  As Shia Labeouf would say, "Go ahead. Just do it!"  Consider ways that you can keep Christ in Christmas.  Not just the word.  Not just the tree and gifts.  Not just the nativity scene, though all of these are good things.  Keep the entire Christ in Christmas.. in each of the people out there in need.  Remember, whatever you do for the least of these.. you do for Him.  Find a way that you can give a gift to someone in need.   Invite someone to Church that hasn't gone in a long time.  Tell someone you are on the way to a communal penance service, and if they want to go they can ride with you.  Find someone you haven't checked on... reach out to them.  Look in on the elderly, the home bound, the bid ridden.  Invite someone to Christmas dinner that doesn't have a family anymore.  Give a hug.  Feed someone. 

Remember this list? 

The Corporal Works of Mercy

To feed the hungry;

To give drink to the thirsty;

To clothe the naked;

To harbour the harbourless;

To visit the sick;

To ransom the captive;

To bury the dead.

That's a real good place to start.    It's the year of Mercy.  It's Advent.  Let's get started! The Blessed Virgin Mary gave an unconditional yes to God.. no buts.. not ifs... Is your Yes unconditional?  If not, like the Son in the story.. we've said No... but it's not too late to change our mind, and go do what the Father has asked of us.

His servant and yours,

Brian

Are you ready to give an account?

In tomorrow's Gospel we see the king giving to each of his servants a gold coin.  Each of them receives one coin and is expected to do his best with it.  One gains ten coins in interest, and he is rewarded with being put in charge of ten cities.  Another gains five coins, and he is put in charge of five cities. Then comes along another servant who hid the coin in a place where no one could take it, and brought it back later.   He didn't even invest it in the bank.  The king was furious with him and took the one talent and gave it to the one who already had ten. 

What are we to make of this?  In Mathew's Gospel the gold coin is called a talent.  We can see that a little better when we think about talent's and abilities.  To some are given few talents, to some many.  Some of us are teachers.  Some of us are administrators.   Some of us are musicians.  Some can sing.  Some are good with numbers.  Some good with cleaning.  God gives to each person many abilities and 'talents.'  He reminds us that all of them are to be used for His glory, for His kingdom.  We will be asked to give an account of how we used those talents. 

We aren't asked to provide the same amount of fruit, or even the same kind of fruit.. but we are asked to bear fruit.  God has given each of us gifts.  Through our baptism we are given the Holy Spirit.  The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  We are challenged to go out with these talents, with these fruits and to spread them into the world.  We are called to be joyful.  How do we increase that talent?  By bringing joy to others.  We are called to be kind.   We increase that by being kind to others and teaching them to be kind in return.  Each of the fruits requires us to go out, using the natural talents we have been given, to spread the fruits of the spirit into our world. 

For each of us that looks different.  For parents it means educating your children, loving them, being patient with them, teaching them what Catholic life really looks like.   For grand parents, it means being there for your grand children and helping them to learn how to live out their baptismal calling.  For teachers, it means being patient and kind in your classroom and fostering an environment where the fruits begin to flourish.  No matter what we do; farmer, electrician, doctor, lawyer, homemaker, dentist, accountant, etc... we are to use those skills that God has endowed us with to help bring about His kingdom right here.

As we approach the end of the liturgical season and head into the season of Advent, we are reminded by the readings that we should be ready.   These readings talk about the great event at the end of time where God will ask us to give an accounting for what we have been given.  To those who much has given, much is required.  "With great power, comes great responsibility."  Such simple words from a comic book character, but they ring true to us as Christians.  Do you think of the power you've been given?  God himself has come to reside in you.  Are you sharing him with others?  Or hiding him in a handkerchief?  Don't be afraid of losing your joy.  Don't be afraid that someone might steal it.  Rather, realize that with the gifts of the spirit, the only way to keep them... is to continually give them away. 

So let's go for it.  Find someone today to share one of these fruits with.  Use your natural, God given talents to do so.   Share some love.  Some joy.  Some kindness.  Watch that fruit blossom and grow, that at the end of our temporal lives we can hear him say "You have been faithful in this very small matter, well done my good and faithful servant."

In Christ,
His servant and yours,
Brian

It is good that we are here!

Last night while I was out exercising with my 8 year old daughter I began meditating on the readings for today's Feast Day. To be fair, there are myriads of different messages and a vast plethora of

theological and typological things happening. So much so that you could really reflect on just about anything and find something deep in the imagery and events of those excepts from scripture. My daughter, however, in her youthful innocence said something (which I'll write about a little later) that triggered me to think about this statement of Peters.  "Rabbi, it is good that we are here!"'

  If we look back to earlier in this passage we find that Jesus has already informed them that some of them will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming on a cloud of glory. That sounds like a very positive thing indeed. Yet, it also infers that some of them will have died as well. Facing our own mortality is never easy. Then Jesus goes on to start describing what must happen in Jerusalem, that he must go down to die a heinous death. How horrible to hear your friend, your teacher, your brother; speak of their own death in such terms.

 Then as the Holy Spirit and the glory of God is revealed in Jesus at this moment, we see that the apostles were terrified! How terrifying indeed, for it proves that not only is Jesus the Messiah, but everything he said is going to come to pass! Peter blurts out something that is a good thing, but also shows our mortality. "Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." Why would Peter want to do this? Well it was a holy moment to be sure, and what had just happened was something amazing. I am sure he was awestruck. Also, his fear had something to do with it. Peter did not want to go back down the mountain. Going down the mountain meant facing Jesus death and betrayal. Going down the mountain meant leaving this glorious moment, where the true gory that Christ is due was revealed. Going down the mountain meant facing his own death, his own inner demons, as well.

 Why would I think of this as my daughter and I were jogging around the block? Something she said struck me as profound for her young age. We were talking about how when we jog around she really enjoys it, because she gets to see new things. She isn't always in the same spot. Then I mentioned that her mother and I had talked about going to different parks and recreational areas so that we can see new spots while we exercise. Then my daughter said the strangest thing, "Yeah but we don't want to go to Japan or China."

 I said, "Why not there? I am sure there are many beautiful gardens and things to see in those countries."

 She replied, "Because in some places there I can't say that I love Jesus! They might kill me!"

 I explained to her that while that was true in some parts, that there were many places in those countries were she would be free to talk about her love for Christ. I also explained that there were many people in those countries who also loved Jesus, and were willing to speak about it even if it meant being hurt.

 You see, just like my daughter, I'm often afraid to come down off the mountain. While some people are called to cloistered life in a monastery or nunnery, many of us are laypeople. It is our job to be the domestic church. To go out into the world and to spread the light of Christ as we go. Our environment doesn't change, rather we are to change our environment. In the second reading, Peter talks about his experience on the mountain top. "You will do well to be attentive to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts." Peter reminds us that by the virtue of our baptism, we have received the Holy Spirit, and we too are lights in the world. We are not supposed to place those lights under a basket, but on a hill for all to see.

 We must experience "metanoia," a fancy Greek word meaning a complete turning around of our lives(almost a turning upside down or inside out), until we too shine with the glory of Christ. We are not supposed to spend all of our time behind closed doors. Our religion does not end when we leave the Sanctuary. We receive Christ in the Eucharist, then we are charged to go forth and share the good news with the world. We must be transfigured, and conformed to Christ so fully in our lives, that the very places that we journey can become small reminders of the glory of Christ, and in our own way help bring God's Kingdom right here to the now.

 How about you? Are you ready to come down the mountain? Are you being transfigured by the Holy Spirit to shine your light into the darkness of the world? Are you ready to be the hands and feet of Christ?

The Problem of the Eunuch..

Tonight I saw someone wondering about something that I too wondered about many years ago.  You see I grew up in a church that taught people that Baptism was nothing more than a symbol.  It was kind of a public declaration, a promise ring of sorts, that you did when you were 'saved'.   You did it not because it did anything to you, but to show others that you were converted.   Not only was it only symbolic.. but you could do it as many times as you wanted, until you finally actually stuck with it.  Baptism was basically the same as saying, "Look at me, I am a Christian."

Tonight after reading some others asking themselves why get baptized then, why would Jesus command it? Etc if it were only a symbol... it struck me that there is a fatal flaw to the reasoning that it's just a symbol.  That flaw lies in the story of the the Ethiopian Eunuch in Chapter 8 of the book of Acts.

Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this scripture he told him the good news of Jesus.  And as they went along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What is to prevent my being baptized?”  Acts 8:35-36

One has to ask themselves some logical questions and get logical answers.  That's what I love about being Catholic.  We reason things out (and people have been doing so for 2000 years.)  So what is going on here? Well the Eunuch has realized he needs someone to teach him about the Scriptures, and God sends someone along, an authority, to help him understand what he's reading.  After Philip explains it all to him, the Eunuch wants to be baptized.  Why is that a problem to 'symbolic' baptism? Well let's reason out why the Eunuch would want to do so, and why would he be excited by the prospect?

The Eunuch it says in a previous verse is had "come to Jerusalem to worship."   The Eunuch was not allowed in with the Jews, because he wasn't a Jew.  He was a gentile.  That posed a problem for the Eunuch because he was a God fearing man. The Gentiles, as you see from the image, were not allowed in the inner areas of the temple.  They could approach but not go inside.  Then the women were a little closer to God, then the men even closer, then the Priests actually in his presence.  So to 'get closer' to God, the Eunuch would have wanted to be a Jew.

There is a problem there.  He can't be a Jew.  Why not?  Well he lacks the proper equipment to be circumcised.   That means he can never become one of the children of God, one of the chosen race.  The Jewish people didn't see circumcision as just a symbol, they saw it as making you one of them.  Literally becoming one of God's people.  "I will be your God, and you will be my people."   Circumcision then was something the Eunuch would have wanted badly but could never do.  He would always be an outsider.  Always in the outer court of the Gentiles, never one of the 'in crowd.'

Why then would baptism seem like something he would want? Because he realizes that there is nothing preventing him from becoming part of the Body of Christ.  He doesn't say to Philip, hey thanks, I believe.  He rather says, "Here is water, let's do this!"   He's excited because God has just made a way for any man, not just the ones who are 'complete' in their body, but even those who have been disfigured can now become part of the family of God.  He can become of the Children of God now, via Baptism.  Baptism meant something to him, because it was more than a public confession.. it was a Sacrament!

More verses to read and study: Matthew 3:16; Matthew 28:19; Mark 1:8; Mark 16:16; John 3:5; Acts 1:4-5; Acts 2:38; Acts 8:16; Acts 8:36-38; Acts 11:16; Acts 16:15; Acts 16:33; Acts 18:8; Acts 19:3-6; Acts 22:16; Romans 6:3-4; 1 Cor. 12:13; Eph. 5:25-26; Col. 2:12; 1 Peter 3:20-21,