And you can too!

A reflection on the readings for Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time, July 5th, 2016.

Hosea 8:4-7, 11-13
Psalm 115
The Holy Gospel According to Matthew 9:32-38

My wife and I had a relaxing and beautiful Fourth of July.  She, Moira, and I road our bikes around town a couple of times.   First to eat lunch at Subway.  Then to go see Haley at work and get some of the vegan Italian ice she keeps telling me about.  It was a day of peace, reflection and joy.  A day to remember that we are free enough in this country that my wife and I can go riding downtown with our kids and not have to worry about being attacked.   She can wear exercise clothes and not be in fear of her life or being beaten for exposing too much skin.  A day in which we celebrate that freedom, but also have to think deeper.

The readings remind us about something that we often don't think about anymore in our society.   Americans tend to think that freedom means I can do whatever I want, I don't need discipline... if I want this I eat it... if I want that I drink it.   If I like this person I sleep with them.  As long as I do not hurt anyone else, what does it matter?  "You do you, and I'll do me."   That's not freedom though.  Freedom is not giving in to every single whim that your body, your desires, asks you to give in to.   True freedom is being able to say "I know I want that fifth doughnut, but I also know it's not good for me.  So I'm not going to eat it."   True freedom is being able to step back from your situation to ask, Is this good for me?  Is it good for them?  Which action leads to a long term good not a short term pleasure? True freedom must produce fruit.

  The stalk of grain that forms no ear can yield no flour

Though Hosea was talking to a people a couple thousand years ago, he could also very well give the same message to us today in the United States.   We have become complacent.   In our search to make freedom into our deity we have forgotten where we have been, who we were, and why we had become that people.  A Protestant reformer once said that a man should just sin because where there is sin, God's grace abounds.  So he encouraged people to sleep with their chamber maids when their wives weren't in the mood, or to eat till their stomachs were close to bursting in gluttony because somehow that made God's grace even greater.   That just doesn't seem right does it?  Why do evil so that good can come from it?  Rather than do good that good can abound?  When we forget our past... when we forget the things that have happened to us before... we fall into the same ruts.. the same sins... we stop producing fruit that is worth eating.. and become just a stalk of grain that has no ear... no flour... nothing worth eating.. and even what we have?  Is feeding the wrong type of person.

The Gospel reminds us though that when Jesus looks out on us, lost and confused in the crowd, He looks on us with compassion.  He sees us as a flock scattered in the mountains with ravenous wolves seeking to devour us on every side.  He seeks to find us, first and foremost with the call in our hearts.. but secondly by sending the Church to find us.. to guide us.. to give us discipline.. yes discipline.. that we might be truly free.  Sounds almost like an oxymoron doesn't it?  But true freedom comes form discipline.. it comes from putting our emotions, our desires, and our urges on the back burner and asking.. what is the true good that I need to do?  How can I produce fruit?  He calls us not just to be the fruit.. but also to be the laborers of the harvest.  That means that we first have to discipline ourselves.. but then to go out and help others to see the beauty of what Christ has to offer us.. by living it with joy, with peace, and with patience.  He wants to heal us... so that we can go out into the fields and help others to be healed too.

So are you doing that?  Are you working to produce fruit?  Are you trying to help others produce good fruit too?  That's why we Catholics consider it our responsibility to get involved in politics, in education, in all walks of life... why?  Because fruit is there... it's either good or bad... and we must stand up and say "This is wrong."  or "This is right!"  That's a fruit right there!  To stand up against the grain of what society tries to tell you is good and say "No.  That only seems good... and it probably feels good in the moment.. but it leads you to a place that is not good.. and does not feel good."  That's true love..... not just giving others what they want.. but rather giving them what they need.  The harvest is plentiful and abundant and Christ is calling you to go forth and help those who are struggling.. the ones who aren't producing fruit.. the ones who are falling away and starting to lose soil... starting to lose root... and saying Here, let me water you... let me feed you.... Let me serve you the least of these.. the widow, the orphan, the refugee, the sinner and the saint.... let me help till the soil and draw the bucket.... that you too might join me in producing the grain that Christ has sent us to grow...

That's our calling.. not just to think about ourselves... but to try to help every person we meet to come into a living relationship with Christ... to get to Heaven.... because that's the goal isn't it?  Starting with working on ourselves and our families... but then.. going into the world and living in a way that says I am producing fruit and you can too.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."  

Can you do the Robot?

A reflection on the readings for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary time, June 03, 2016.

Isaiah 66:10-14c

Psalm 66:1-7, 16, 20
Galatians 6:14-18
The Holy Gospel According to Saint Luke 10:1-12, 17-20

Society wants to blur the lines between male and female, man and woman, father and mother, man and wife. They want us to be convinced that in order to be equals, we must do things in the exact same way.  As a dad I know that there is something more amazing about a mother's love, something that is sought actively by the children because of it's qualities, because of it's comfort.   Yes, there are differences and I'm not painting all men and women with the same brush.. but I do find that the girls want their mommy when they need comfort and their dad when they need something done.  Mom seems to be kinder, gentler, and more understanding.  Dad is often brash and abrasive, but will defend them with his dying breath.  The image we have in scripture today is of a mother, Jerusalem, Zion the dwelling of the Lord.

Oh that you would be comforted by a mother, fed by her, protected by her and guided by her.  Christ gave us the Church to do just that.  He didn't give us a book, for that matter He didn't write a single word with his own incarnate hand.   Rather He gave us apostles, He gave us the Gospel, which the Church then gave to us in book form.  The Church is our mother, our guide.   She is there not to create tension or punish us, but rather to guide us to that joy and comfort that God promises.  That comfort ironically comes from being disciplined.  True freedom comes from being able to make a choice with your intellect even when your senses and desires try to pull you in the wrong direction.  The Church gives us guidelines on what is good for us, what is going to make us "flourish like the grass." 

Why do we do that?  Not to earn the ability to do miracles, or to revel in the fact that demons tremble at the name of Christ, not even for being a healer or a speaker... or any sort of gift.   Those are secondary to the greatest miracle of all, the miracle of salvation.   That's right, Jesus' mission was not primarily to be a healer.. but to remind us that "in the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those dwelling in the valley of darkness and death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace."  Forgiveness of sins, reconciliation to God... restoration of a broken relationship.  That is the greatest miracle that Christ offers us.  He tells us to rejoice because our names are written in Heaven!  How beautiful a thought, oh how happy a day! 

He sends us out like the disciples.  Into the world to be witnesses to this forgiveness.  Not to be grumbling or complaining about that which we have received or have not, but to accept all things with humility and graciousness.  To pass blessings on those who you meet, wishing them peace!  Yesterday I was thinking about this during Adoration.   As I often do I prayed "God get rid of all that is me, and replace it with you."   I've always thought that a good prayer.  God seemed to say to me, "That is not what I am asking of you."   He doesn't want me to become a mirror image of Him, an automaton who simply does everything the way He does, when He wants, exactly as a robot.   If He wanted that, He'd have made that!   Rather, He wants me to be ONE with Him, as He and the Father are one.   I was bowled over.   He wants me to go out into the world as me, spreading the message He has given me, with the words that my faculties allow me to use.  

That's right, when He sent 72 out, there were 72 individuals.. all working together as one unit to provide one message.   Each one though was an individual, unique, loved by God... created with the personalities and temperaments that God desired them to have.   "He loves me for me!"   Jesus told me to stop using Him as a scapegoat and asking Him to simply take away my free will and instead have some discipline, to work to use the brain, soul and spirit He gave me to become the man I am made to be.   That doesn't mean that all Catholics will ever look the same, or sound the same.. or act the same... but we will have the same message, given with our own unique ability to say it, live it, and pray it.  Are you ready for that?  It's time to stop praying for a supernatural conversion that takes away those things we struggle with, and instead receive the grace that He has been pouring out on us to allow us to bolster our own discipline to grow closer to Him and further away from Sin.  

His servant and yours, 

Brian 

"He must increase, I must decrease." 

Will we never learn?

A reflection on the daily Mass readings for Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

2 Kings 22:8-13; 23:1-3
Psalm 119
The Holy Gospel according to Matthew 7:15-20


It all started with potty training.  I was on a grand adventure in this amazing new world.  My hard headed streak and need to experience things on my own made me see all things as a new challenge that only I could overcome.   So there I was, with my mother trying to remind me that I needed to hang on to the toilet seat to keep it from falling.   Silly person, I know what I am doing!  Then my brother walked away and down came the lid.   The tortured screams of the broken boy, now bruised in places where no man aught be bruised,  who  was so confident and headstrong a second before echoed throughout the walls of the house like shouts in the grand canyon.   You would think that at some point I would have realized that my mother was right....

Then came the stove.  She kept telling me "hot burn baby."  She tried to explain me time and again that when the stove eye was red it was dangerous.   Like Gollum searching for his precious I began to scheme and plan a way to find out why she was hiding this treasure from me.  The eyes of Mordor must have gazed on with bemusement as I pulled a chair from the table to the stove, turned the front eye on HI, and waited in eager anticipation for the glowing relic that had been denied me for so long.   Then I placed my hand firmly on the surface to find that it was hot enough to burn my flesh, why had no one warned me?   After a trip to the doctor, where he informed my mother to first put salve on my burn, and then to spank my butt; one would think that I had now at this point come to understand that my mother was looking out for me...

A fish tank is such a wonderful device isn't it?   Having these carnival fish of ours swimming in our living room reminds me of my first experience with a tank.   My parents set up a tank in our room (my brother and I).   I loved to get as close as I could, pressing my face to the tank and peering in at my new fish friends.   My mother kept telling me I needed to quit pushing my bed over there or I was going to turn the tank over.  So I stopped pushing the bed, maybe I was learning, right?  Instead I would sit on the bed and scoot towards the fish... pulling the bed with me.  Nothing could go wrong now, I wasn't doing what she told me not to do!   A few slight miscalculations on the part of my four year old brain created yet another situation in which things just weren't what I expected.   I scooted, and scooted.. until the headboard pushed right through the glass of the fish tank.   Glass, water, and gasping fish were flooding everywhere!  Oh how wise my mother was, and how stubborn I was turning out to be.

A year or so later, I in my infinite thirst for adventure and knowledge had learned to open the screen door.  Other foolish mortals might pull the handle or push a button... but I had figured out that with my solid five year old body all I needed to do was extend my arms and push with all my weight at a full running speed.  That silly woman who was always nagging at me kept telling me not to do this.  That I needed to stop running into it, and open it 'right'.  Ah, how could she know?  I continued in my newfound bliss to open doors like the brute my father rightly had labelled me.  Then my cousin Michael Paul and my brother Danny locked me in the chicken coop.   I was scared of the chickens.   The rooster liked to jump you from behind when you weren't looking, and the hens would peck you while you gathered the eggs.  There I was locked in, or so they led me to believe.  So I opened the door.. the solid glass door.... with my hands.. and my head.. and my neck.... the neck didn't fare so well.  A trip to the ER and some stitches and I had learned my lesson.. right?

A hundred more stories like this expound my experiences as a youth.  I had a hard head, an adventurous thirst for knowledge, and a confidence that I was always right.   It's an attitude that our youth of today seem to have inherited as well.  Some where along the line we have erred and taught our youth that anything from a previous generation must have been thought up by people who weren't as intelligent, not as gifted at understanding as we are.  That all things that happened two thousand years ago must have been a bronze aged myth and that all of those philosophical musings from even further back are worthless.   We stopped teaching them how to think rationally, and instead began to teach them to regurgitate.

The first reading about King Josiah and the finding of the book of the law remind us that we need to look back sometimes to where we have been, and ask.. where did we go wrong?   After the Babylonians had taken them into captivity the nation of Israel realized that they had been unfaithful to the covenant.  In their zeal to return to God, to return to a time when things made sense, to a time when the nation prospered and the people were at peace.. they began to examine their relationship with God.  In the temple they discovered the book of the law, the rules and regulations about being in that relationship.  "I will be your God and you will be my people."  In order for us to be in a right relationship you need to act like this, God had said.  They realized that the path they were on was the wrong one and they adjusted their course.. to bring them back to God.

The Church in it's infinite wisdom has never stopped living in this way.  There are those who wish for it to remain in the past, to go back to the way things were, and to never talk about anything new.   Then there are those who declare that the Church must progress with the times and look to the future!  As with most things, it's not an either or scenario, but a both and.  We have to look to the past to see our successes and our mistakes.  Only by seeing the damage that has been wrought by this action or that can we hope to not repeat that mistake again.  Only by also seeing the successes that have come from fidelity to our relationship with God can we also see what we need to return to.  At the same time we must have a conversation about society and where it is heading.  That doesn't mean we conform to societies standards, but we need to understand where society is in order to engage with our brother's and sisters in the world.

There are those who want to silence any opposition.  They want only what they are familiar with and nothing to do with the past.  Then there are those who want to go back to the dark ages, with flagellation and oppression. The true Church emerges when we have a conversation about that which is not dogma and we then let God guide us to the truth.  Lately I've been seeing a lot of arguing over pre-marital kissing.  One camp argues that no one should ever kiss before marriage.   Another side argues that you should be free to kiss in anyway you wish, regardless of who or when.  The truth is in between, isn't it?  There are kisses which are pure and loving, that one could give freely without embarrassment to any person in the light of day.  There are other kisses which are clearly meant for lovers, and likely an occasion for sin in the wrong circumstances.   Not having the conversation though prevents us from growing.  We need to talk about these things, both the past and the present, with our eyes on the future.

Our goal as parents, spouses, lay people, and religious is the same.  Help others get to heaven.  As a husband my primary work is to help my family draw closer to God and hopefully lead them to a Sacramental Life.  Jesus reminds us to continually examine what we are hearing.  There are those who will come to you with a message that sounds great, one that hits every bias that you possess, and you hear it and say "This is it!  This is the message I've been wanting!"  Maybe it is.  But what are the fruits of that message?  Have we heard it before?  What were the fruits then?  Too many think that some of these new 'progressive' ideas are unique and original.   Yet, if we look back to previous times we find them to be the same principles and philosophies espoused by Stalin, Hitler, etc.   That's why we can't forget the past... that's why as a Church we look back to how the Church was in the first century and we say "Let's return to this."  Yet, we also look at the world as it exists today and say "This is the language we need to use today to reach out to those who do not yet know Christ."  The Church is rightly called our mother, for she watches out for us and warns us that this action or that can cause harm.

“Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.” ― Edmund Burke

Are you ready to listen?  I for one am tired of being bruised, broken, bleeding on the floor.  I don't blindly follow my religion, that's not what I am saying... but what I do?  I listen.   I converse.  I think.  I study.  I learn.  I heed.   I hesitate when I see an action I've been told is bad for me.. and I look back to history and ask "In societies where this was commonplace what happened?"  "In families where the father behaved in this manner, how did the kids turn out?"  I still cringe every time I hear a toilet seat snap shut.  We should have the same response every time we are tempted to repeat a sin that has hurt us in the past... We can't live there.. and there alone.  If we only live in the past we will be rightly relegated to someone who is not able to exist in the current times... and we can't just live in the future, where apparently truth just dissolves and people are convinced that any action is OK... rather we must live in the present, with our eyes on both, our hearts and minds open to discussion and reason... and then to pray for God's guidance for our Church, our people, and our selves.  It's clear that what we are doing now as a society is not working... maybe it's time to look back, to ponder, and to readjust our course.  Sometimes we need to take two steps back before taking one step forward.. especially if we are one step from the edge of the cliff.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

Shopping Around?

A reflection on the daily readings for June 10th, 2016.

Many years ago I was in a state of limbo.   I had been Church shopping since my conversion at the age of 14.   I knew I was supposed to serve God, I knew that with all my heart.  I just kept finding reasons to go to a new church.  A wrong teaching here, an angry man there, a hypocrite or a holier than thou 'sinner.'  I started out in the Old Regular Baptist Church that my grandfather preached at.  Then someone said something that didn't make sense.  I moved to a Freewill Baptist church and that was good and rewarding for a while.  The music was pleasant, the sermons fiery and full of spittle.  Soon I found another thing that didn't make sense.  On to the Pentecostal church, a holiness church, a snake handling one, eventually a Methodist one for a brief few days and then an Episcopal one.  None of them had it all in my eyes.  I was looking for explosions, miracles, the fiery rain of heaven being called down to the consume an offering.

There I was sitting in a pew at an adoration service for an intention of Pope Benedict many years later.  I had no intention of ever becoming Catholic but I was studying the faith in order to keep my promise to raise my daughter in it, the one I gave at her baptism.  I honestly believed at that moment that I would re-baptize her when she asked for it later at an older age.  Little did I know that something was about to happen to me that I will never forget.  The only thing I would listen to at that point in my walk was the Bible.   Nothing else mattered.  Every answer, every question, everything a man needed to know I believed was contained right there in those pages.  If you couldn't show me?  I didn't want to hear it.  So there I was, playing Bible roulette.  I dunno if anyone else does that, I still do sometimes with Lectio Divina.   I would flip open the bible, point my finger onto a page with my eyes closed, and read a verse.

So here I was contemplating this thing the Catholics called transubstantiation.   They believed that this host up there was God himself,  Christ.  Body, soul and divinity.  Well, unless God told me that himself through the Bible I'd never believe it!  So here I was on the mountain top with Elijah, seeking to see God's face.  I wanted to know God so badly, so intimately that I could see him clearly.  In that moment I decided to flip open my Bible and ask God what he had to say to me.  I closed my eyes, flipped it open to a page, and put down my finger.  It landed in the Psalms:

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.  - Psalm 46:10

I had been Church shopping because I wanted more fire.  I wanted the explosions, the rain, the wind and thunder. I wanted the miracles.  God wanted me to do something I had not been doing... to simply sit in silence and listen.  To find that whispering sound at the mouth of this cave I had hidden myself in and open my heart and mind long enough to truly find Him, in the place I least expected.  In the arms of the Catholic Church, which it turned out were open wide to me with mercy, grace, and love.  Elijah turned his face away to hide it, that he might not see God and die.  Yet, even the Psalmist called out with the same desire that I had, "I long to see your face, O Lord."  (Psalm 27:8b)  How can we see Him though?  How can we look at Him without losing our lives?  Even the great prophets feared looking on God face to face, that His grandeur and glory would be too much for our mortal bodies.

The Incarnation.  God became man that we might look upon His face with no fear of death.   To see who God is and learn more about Him.  The fullness of all revelation is right there in Christ himself.   Then Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, transformed bread and wine into His own Body and Blood.  He gave us that Sacrament that we might be able to come forward again and again and see Him face to face.  Yes, there are miracles.  Yes, there are explosions.  Yes, God comes forward in some of the most amazing ways.  As a friend of mine once said, "Christ didn't come to bring me the fourth of July, he came to bring me Easter."  The silence of the tomb, the power of the Resurrection.    Miracles and physical healing was not the primary focus of Christ's mission.. but a message, one of forgiveness, of reconciliation with God.  One in which their no longer was a wall between the chosen people and the rest of creation, but one body, both Jew and Gentile, male and female.

He is waiting for us there every day.  In the tabernacle, in the consecrated host.   He wants us to come see Him.  To spend time with Him in prayer, at the Mass, and outside of it.  To spend time in Adoration and Praise.  To receive His sacramental presence into our very souls and then go out into the world as changed people.  People who do not just spend Sunday with Him, but every moment of their waking lives.  That take that presence out to those who are still in the cave, still demanding some powerful sign.  "If God would only make this cancer go away, I'd believe in Him."   "If God would appear right now in front of me, then I'd go back to Church."   "If all of God's people were Holy.. then I might return."  He's offering you something even more powerful.. silence... peace... joy in your heart.  Are you ready to give Him a chance?  Are you ready to stop shopping for a new church, pastor, or parish?  Once you find Him, once you let Him speak to you in the silence of your heart, you'll never need more explosive music, a better preacher, or even a softer pew... you'll just need Him and the rest?  Well the rest is just a bonus, the real message is in Christ's presence itself.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease." 

A Fountain of Hope

Today is the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity.   A feast day in which we celebrate the mystery of who God is.  God is one being.  That is something all of the different, major religions descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Christians though believe that though He is one being, one God, He is three co-eternal persons.  That is what we Catholics mean when we say it is a mystery.  It doesn't make sense to us as a 'person' to consider being also part of another being.  Yet, we are much the same aren't we?  My wife, my daughters, and I are all a family.  We are one unit, made up of separate people.   The trinity is more intimate than that.. but the Church has long held that the family, the domestic church, is the visible sign of the trinity and a witness to the faith we profess.

Jesus reminds us that the Holy Spirit will guide us to the truth and will proclaim to us all things that were belong to Him.  That's a beautiful promise that many of us have rejected or forgotten here two thousand years later.  When we look around we find not just one Christian family, but over forty thousand Christian denominations.  All of them claiming to be led by the Spirit, all of them claiming to know the truth, but all of them holding different beliefs.   Just the other day a friend was telling me that at a church they had attended the Pastor had said that all of the miracles in the bible were not real, they legends.   Then another Pastor at another church declared that Jesus did not actually die, but rather was in a state of deep sleep, a coma perhaps?  We see the results of this fracture, this drifting from the truth handed on by the Apostles and protected by the Church Father's, throughout all of our societies today.   From the people who protest military funerals and declare that God hates people who have same sex attraction, to those who say that everyone is saved and you can live whatever hedonistic lifestyle you want to live.

The Church has long taught that the fruit of the Spirit is a necessary sign of His presence in our Church.  In the Morning Prayer of the Divine Office this morning one of the intercessions proclaims: "Come, Holy Spirit, that we may show your fruit in our lives: charity, joy, peace, equanimity, kindness, generosity, long-suffering, patience, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, and chastity."   Isn't that a poignant reminder of what it means to be the body of Christ?   It means to be one, just as Jesus and the Father are one.  That's what we are to learn about the trinity.  That they aren't struggling for glory and honor, but sharing in it.   They aren't breaking ranks to form their own godhead, but rather are one God.

When I grew up as a Protestant, I began to realize that something was amiss.  As I shopped churches looking for the one that had the truth, I watched as people left one church to form another over some of the most interesting things.   At one point I watched as a church split because one preacher said it was OK to smoke and the other felt it was a sin.. so the congregation split too forming another church just down the road.  Everything else was the same... but that one thing.   Then I sat and listened to that man preach about the ills of tobacco smoke while he spit in a cup from his 'chaw.'   I journeyed from the Baptist faith that I had grown up around into the Pentecostal arena and listened to people shout out in tongues and fall out in the spirit.   I was even known to speak tongues and raise my hands while shouting Amen to the preachers message.   Then one day I sat down because I didn't feel God in it.   Someone turned around demanding to know what was wrong.. and I said nothing, and he declared I was no longer saved because I didn't speak tongues anymore.

"Now there are a variety of gifts, but the same Spirit, and a varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in everyone."    God decides where He goes and whom He saves.  I truly believe that.   I do not know who will be in Heaven with me, but I imagine that there are going to be some Catholics who are truly surprised when they come face to face with some Protestants who also will be in wonder.  Then there will be others whom we expected to be there and we will look down in sadness at their condition.  What I do know without a shadow of a doubt is that Jesus left us a Church to guide us.   That Church wrote the New Testament scriptures themselves.   Yes, God can go outside of the ordinary means of salvation to save anyone he chooses, but if you're standing in a desert with a water fountain next to you, do you take a drink?  Or stumble through the hot sands hoping to find a drop somewhere else?   The Church is that fountain... God has given Peter the keys to the vault of grace and mercy, and it's available to every person who seeks it in earnest.

It's time for us to stop trying to write our own Gospel and be united.  One faith, one baptism, one Church.  Jesus asked his Apostles to do just that, he prayed that they might become one, as He and the Father were one.   What is the bond that connects the Father and the Son?  It's the Holy Spirit. It's love.   Jesus then breathed on his Apostle's and sent them on a mission to evangelize the world.   In the words of Saint Athanasius written in the 6th century (which may seem harsh to some):

It will not be out of place to consider the ancient tradition, teaching and faith of the Catholic Church, which was revealed by the Lord, proclaimed by the apostles and guarded by the fathers. For upon this faith the Church is built, and if anyone were to lapse from it, he would no longer be a Christian either in fact or in name.

It's time to come home.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

The Key to Understanding Others

In our world we tend to place people into boxes of our own creation.  We speak of what they believe, what they think, without ever experiencing that life for ourselves.  In tomorrow's first reading we see a new series of events in St. Paul's life that mirror the trial of Jesus himself.  Most notably the fact that King Herod Agrippa II (the grandson of that Herod in Jesus trial) wants to "hear what he has to say."  (Luke 23:8), and secondly that to Festus (think Pilot) he saw Paul as innocent of charges and it being just a religious dispute (Luke 23:4, 15, 22)   Paul here is being tried by an outsider who then appeals to someone else to help him understand it.   Why Agrippa?  Well because, for better or worse, he was the politically kept "king of the Jews."  Festus here was appealing to someone who knew Jewish custom and belief, or at least enough of it to find out the answers he needed to write a letter to Rome about the proceedings.

How often do we ourselves try to judge others based on what we think while we are truly outside of that situation?  As a protestant years ago I would tell Catholics what they believe and why it was wrong.  How did I know?   I had read things online, or in books, or heard rumors.   I had never even set foot in a Catholic church.   I was an outsider, peering into a world I did not understand, one that was just familiar enough to make it seem like I understood it, but far enough from what I knew that I truly had no foundation from which to judge.  That didn't stop me from doing just that.  Now as a Catholic, looking at my faith from the inside, everything makes perfect, reasonable, and logical sense.  I understand why we do things and what they mean.   I know where to find my answers, and amazingly with our faith we have our beliefs written down for everyone to see.

The thing is, you can't read it from the perspective of an outsider and hope to understand it.  It's like learning a foreign language.  I've been studying Spanish off and on for most of my adult life.  Guess what?  I still don't get it.  I can say simple phrases like: Where is the bathroom?  How are you?  The newspaper is on the table. When I watch Spanish television though I hear these words come out and they make no sense to me.   Phrases, customs, thoughts... abstract ideas... I have to go to someone who speaks Spanish and go OK someone said this, what does it mean?  If I plug it into 'google translate' it just comes out as what I would get if I listen to it, but when I go to someone who knows Spanish, who grew up with it, they can tell me what it means and it's like a light bulb comes on... "That makes so much sense in the context it was used!"

Why then do we try to tell people what they are thinking?   Is it just our human nature?  Maybe.  I've been a Baptist.  I was a holiness Pentecostal for a time.   I was a protestant for a majority of my adult life.  I've been there and I understand exactly why people come at me as they do.  It's not an attack just to attack, but rather it's what we've been taught to do to 'help you.'   Your eternal destiny is indeed paramount.  They want that for you, but the means of getting it can be wrong.  Today, as a Catholic, I still want that for you.  Guess what though?  It doesn't matter what I want.  It matters what God wants and what you want.   So instead of trying to proselytize you into the fold?   I offer a relationship to you with Christ.  It takes two people to be in that relationship, and one of them is you, the other is Christ.   If you want to be a part of this family, great?  If not?  I'll be sad and pray for you, but I can't force anything on you.

I think that's what speaks to me currently about the reading from John in tomorrow's gospel.  There is so much there, from the different words used from love, to the three time denial and three times confessing his love, etc.   For me right now that one little phrase jumps out: "and lead you where you do not want to go.”  Ten years ago I sat in my yard with my friends telling them that I was studying the Catholic faith but there was no way I'd ever be Catholic.   Today?   I am discerning a call to the Diaconate and spreading the Catholic faith in any way I can.  Why?  Because I stopped trying to tell Catholics what they believed and instead asked them.   I got off anti-Catholic Protestant websites and instead began to read the Catechism, the Bible in light of it, and Catholic documents.   What I found is that from the inside, looking at the authentic teachings of that Church, that not only could I see where they were coming from.. I couldn't disagree with them without trying to twist or do back-flips.  

So here I am, with Peter trying to say Lord, you know that I love you.   I too have denied Him at times in my life, hiding behind the walls of my own ego and hubris.   I too have seen that look in his eye when the cock finished crowing and his gaze turned in my direction.   I too will be eternally saying to Christ that I will try to feed His sheep.  Not all Protestants are anti-Catholic.  Some in fact don't even know what they are "protesting."  They've just always been that faith and have never looked outside of it.  That kind of faith is important and commendable.    At some point though when you are in a relationship with someone you have to start learning more about them.  It's not enough to just say I love Jesus, without proving it by trying to learn what He likes, what He doesn't, and why.    The place where almost all of us begin that journey is the Bible.. but the question comes to mind... how can you understand a book written by the Catholic church... without getting on the inside and seeing what they believe?  I promise you.. it will help begin to peel back that veil that St. Paul speaks of and shed a great deal of light into exactly what it is we Catholics believe, and why.

Not only that, but it sets the tone for interactions with other people.  We cannot claim to understand someone if we never listen, if we never let them tell us, and if we constantly project ourselves on to them.  Our society tends to put everyone into their own box.  We try to say that all illegal aliens are like this, all refugees are spies or enemies, and the poor are simply men and women who are too lazy to work.  How do we know that without being on the inside?  How can we claim to know what it's like to be a refugee if we've always lived in a safe suburb?   How can we pretend to know what it's like to be 'dirt poor' if we have an air conditioned home with plenty of food in the pantry?  How can we judge someone as a spy or enemy without first taking time to see where they come from and why?  God doesn't call us to judge where someone is going or their motives behind it.  He only calls us to judge concrete moral actions.  Even then, he doesn't call us to condemn and browbeat those who 'sin', because we all do that.. what he calls us to do is to edify, uplift, feed, clothe, and give drink to those in need.. regardless of who they are or where.


His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease." 

Politics and Religion...

A friend of mine reminded me of how easy it is to get drawn into the political turmoil that is being made even worse by our American mainstream media.  While not necessarily always false, too often they are simply portrayed in a way that is either negative or makes a single scapegoat out of a situation that has not only a much more varied and nuanced truth but also has the involvement of many people.  We do have to be aware of who these people are, and what they've done.. but we also have to bring into the arena compassion and not forget the dignity of that person.  Am I defending any of the candidates?  No.  I personally am not a fan of the political stance of either of the front runners.  Simply reminding myself that kindness is paramount and that we must check our sources diligently to find the truth.

In tomorrow's Gospel Jesus reminds of us of that as well.  “I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me."  Jesus sent the Apostles with a unique mission that we too take on, but they fulfill in a specific and distinct office.  These Apostles were chosen to initiate that mission, to be the first to evangelize the world, and to go forth with the authority of Christ himself to forgive sins and baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  They were sent into the world to teach the word of truth.  Christ is that word, it is in him that we understand exactly what their mission was and exactly what our mission is.

Jesus is the Father's Emissary. From the beginning of his ministry, he "called to him those whom he desired; . . . . And he appointed twelve, whom also he named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to preach." From then on, they would also be his "emissaries" (Greek apostoloi). In them, Christ continues his own mission: "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." The apostles' ministry is the continuation of his mission; Jesus said to the Twelve: "he who receives you receives me."   (CCC 858)

How then do we see the Christian church divided?  The Apostles appointed successors, of that we see the truth in the appointment of Matthias. (Acts 1:12-26)  Eventually these became known as Bishops and the Chair of Peter as the See of Rome.   For 1000 years there was only one church, the Catholic church.   Then men started breaking off of it and making their own version, deserting the teaching of those Apostles.   The very Gospel which Paul declared we should reject even if "an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed."  (Galatians 1:8)  How do we justify that in our own minds?  I did myself for many years, mostly because I was unaware of history.   Mostly because I had spent all of that time only reading a book, a book that belonged to the Catholic church, without listening to the author.  That would be like taking a book on science, reading it and then ignoring the writer when he tells me I got it wrong.

Why is it important?   Because in Jesus Christ we have the fullest revelation of God.. the final revelation of God... everything we need to know is in that revelation.  If that is true, if we truly believe that Christ is the Son of God and that He Himself is a part of the trinity.. then knowing Him.. being in relationship with Him, learning about Him... loving Him is paramount.  We can't know Him if we don't get the full story, if we don't realize He is more than text on a page.. but a living person.   He didn't stop being man when he went to Heaven, and he didn't stop being God when he came to earth.  He will be the same person for eternity, and the Apostles knew Him, walked with Him, learned from Him.

In Jesus Christ, the whole of God's truth has been made manifest. "Full of grace and truth," he came as the "light of the world," he is the Truth. "Whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness." The disciple of Jesus continues in his word so as to know "the truth [that] will make you free" and that sanctifies. To follow Jesus is to live in "the Spirit of truth," whom the Father sends in his name and who leads "into all the truth." To his disciples Jesus teaches the unconditional love of truth: "Let what you say be simply 'Yes or No.'"  (CCC 2466)

Jesus is that Word of truth.   So take advantage of that.   Begin to read and study history, both secular and Church history.   Look at the writings of early Christians and see what they believed.   Find your way to one of successors of the Apostles,  of which only the Catholic churches can claim an unbroken line of succession directly to one of the twelve themselves.  Then open yourself to the reality that Christ has poured himself out into our lives through the Sacraments of those churches to bring us into full communion with Him and the Father.   "I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one."  What more perfect description of communion can you get?  Than to receive Jesus Christ himself; body, soul and divinity; into your very body? All too often people smear the Catholic church and drag it through the mud.. but it's time.. it's time to check your sources and to see exactly what we believe.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

Tear Down the Wall

When I was fresh out of college money was pretty hard to come by.  To try to make ends meet five of us moved into this one trailer and pooled our monies to make things happen.  It was an interesting thing.  On the surface one would have called us a community.   All of us professed to be Christians and attended church a few times a year.  We even talked from time to time about the Bible and listened to religious radio on lunch breaks when we could.  The thing was, we shared a home.. but you wouldn't say we were sharing much else.  One of us even had a shelf that contained their stuff.  I remember once when the brother of one of the guys living there drank something off the 'shelf'.   All of us gasped!  That's the 'shelf'!  You're in trouble!  Sure enough, when that roommate came home the first thing out of their mouth was, "Where is my stuff!"

That's a far cry from the ideal isn't it?  In the first reading for today's daily Mass we can see what the early Christians considered the ideal community.  Everything they had was in common!  They shared it all.  There were no shelves, no 'hey that's my shirt', everyone sold any money they had and the community leaders distributed it evenly so that none were lacking in need.  It's easy for me to look back at that living arrangement and pick it apart and say hey, we didn't meet that ideal at all did we?  Yet, if I'm honest, looking at any household today we can often find similar situations.  Someone upset because someone else wore their shirt.   Someone mad because their phone is dead because someone was playing on it when it was supposed to be charging... someone upset because the last thing of ice cream is gone and they didn't get any.   Pretty standard for any family isn't it?

The interesting thing about this reading from the history of the early church is that it's talking about an example for them to look up to.  Barnabas, the son of encouragement, lived in such a way that they felt we should all learn from him.  He sold what he had and brought it to the Apostles to distribute as they saw a need.  As a man who greatly admires Saint Francis of Assisi this truly touches my heart.  How many of us are willing to do that?  We complain every time we turn on the radio and someone is asking for money.  You can see the eyes roll and hear the sighs at times when a priest gets up during the year for the Diocesan Stewardship Appeal.  "There they are asking for money again."   "Why is it everytime I come to church they want more cash?"  "Don't they have enough?" Or better yet, "Why don't they sell everything in the Vatican and give it away to the poor!"  (Ask me about this last one sometime, my answer may shock you.)

Imagine though, another situation... if every one of us who professed to be Christian... gave like we should?  If we opened up our bank accounts and gave 1%, 2%, 10%... 100%?  What if instead of trying to pretend we own the money we earn.. we rather acknowledge that it was all a gift from God?  Then we put our money, our time, our talent, all of it... where our mouths were.   If every person in our Parish gave 10%?  I imagine we'd never have to ask for money.   Rather, we'd see a need and meet it.   This year we saw a need, $6,700 dollars... and we met it.   It took some time, but through some sacrificial fasting, prayer and almsgiving we are going to be able to build a well.  That's beautiful!  That's marvelous!  That's the way it should be!

Yet, there is something more that must be faced.  Lent is not a time to simply change for a season, and go back to who you were before.. No Lent is a time of metanoia, transformation, changing from bad habits to good... Lent is over, but the giving should just be starting!  That's why we as a Parish are looking at raising even more money, giving throughout the year and not just during the penitential season leading up to Lent.  Maybe we'll build a house?  Feed a village?  We are still discussing this as a pastoral council.

The Gospel reading talks about the wind.   The word there for Spirit and Wind is the same word! The breath.... the wind... the Spirit... the word has the connotation of presence.. of life.   When someone is unconscious you put a mirror under their nose to see if they are breathing.. with breath is life.  That's a powerful thought.  Jesus is there in the tabernacle.. breathing.. waiting for you.  Where he is.. life is.   Where he goes.. life goes... Where he is rejected? Life is rejected.  In the Eucharist is all of the life force in the universe.. the ultimate wind.. the ultimate Spirit... God himself. So you are given that gift.. that life.   You receive into you the breath of God.. something that cannot be contained but is greater than yourself.   Are you going out into the world with it?  Are you breathing life?

Some people have told me that when they enter the Catholic church they feel a presence.. like someone is there.. even when the Sanctuary is empty as far as they know.   That's Him.  That's the breath, the wind.. the Spirit..  That is Christ's presence in the tabernacle.. it is tangible, you know he's there.. I have never experienced that in any other church.  Yes, I've found beautiful prayer spaces.  I've enjoyed uplifting concerts.  I've prayed with men and women of many faiths and denominations.... I've never been in any of those churches empty and felt the presence I feel when being before the Eucharist.  That brings me to one other thought... When people meet you, when they pray with you, when they visit you or you visit them... when you converse, when you share, when you break bread together... do they feel His presence in you?  Are people aware of the breath of Christ, the Holy Spirit, in your life?  When you go from Mass at the end, when you are dismissed by the priest or Deacon.. they say "The Mass is ended, go forth glorifying the Lord with your lives."   That's not a dismissal to go back to your old way of life.. it's a challenge to go forth into the world as a living tabernacle, a temple of God... when people are in your presence they should know He is there too... it should change you... and they should know by your actions, words and deeds that you are a Catholic and a disciple of Christ.

So, the question becomes: "If you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

Studying about that good ol' way

Isn’t it interesting how difficult we make our relationship with God to be?  For 2000 years we’ve constantly tried to change the teachings of the Apostles.  The Catholic church has held consistently to those teachings, so much so that if you read Justin Martyr and his apology on the Mass written in the mid second century you see almost exactly the same Mass described as you would see in a Catholic church today.  We always want something more though don’t we?  It needs to be more traditional or more progressive.  It needs to be more reverent or more folksie.  It needs to be ad orientem or ad populum.  We never seem content to hear the simplicity of the Gospel, the simplicity of what the Church truly asks of us.

I kind of see us in the man Naaman who in tomorrow's daily reading is coming to Jerusalem to be healed.  He has gotten this dread disease, leprosy.  Someone has informed him that the God of the Jews is able to heal, and so he ventures to their kingdom.  He finally is sent to the Prophet Elijah.  Elijah doesn’t even bother coming out of his abode.  Instead he sends a message to Naaman, “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will heal, and you will be clean.”  Naaman is furious!  This man didn’t even come out and perform a ritual over him!  He didn’t even bother to speak to him or do anything flashy.  He didn’t send him on a quest to find some long lost item, or to slay a mythical beast… all he said was, “Go wash in the water.”   He begins to list off all the reasons he shouldn’t… first and foremost, his preconceived notion that he and the land he comes from is better than this land.  He lists the rivers that he would rather wash in, the ones he thinks are more beautiful, more worthy.  

Aren’t we a great deal like Naaman?  Jesus gave his Apostles the authority to forgive sin.  Then he gave the chair of Peter the authority to bind and loosen all things.   The Church hands us the Sacrament, instituted by Christ, of reconciliation.  All you have to do is come and confess your sins, say a penance, and your sins will be forgiven.  Do we trust in that though?  How many have walked away over this very thing?  How many times have we come out of confession and said, “All he gave me was a short prayer, I need more.”   We don’t trust in the simple words of the Church when it prophesies to us this is all it takes to be healed.  We instead try to make it more difficult, I need to go to this place or that place, have this special holy priest do my confession instead.. we shop.. we shop for priests.. we shop for churches.. and eventually, some of us shop for denominations.

Notice that in the Gospel the people again reject Jesus because of where he is from.  They reject him as a Prophet, and in the process again reject his condemnation.  “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”  “What? Wash in the the Jordan? There are thousands of better rivers back where I am from.”  Jesus offers us a simple message.  Love God.  Love your neighbor.  Then we say, that can’t be enough.. The message we have received from the Church doesn’t have enough of me in it.. it’s too much to believe in the simplicity of the message.. to believe that someone so ordinary, so familiar.. just a carpenter from Nazareth could dare to have a message that required us to forgive, and move on.  Jesus tells them it was those with faith, regardless of their background, regardless of their ties with the Jewish people.. who were healed, who were saved.

How about us?  Do we see it as only us?  Only those coming from our part of Christianity as being saved?  Only the Catholics?  Only the Protestants? Only the ones who wash in this river, but not the other?  I say to you that a stream came from Nazareth of clear, living water.  A stream that all we have to do is wash in, and believe in, and follow… and our sins are forgiven.  We need to trust in his waters, in this simple message, that God’s mercy transcends all of our human notions.  We must evangelize.  I am not saying that we shouldn’t talk about our faith.. but it’s not so much about book learning, memorization or rote prayers.. as it is about a relationship.  That’s what Christ is offering.. that’s what Naaman was learning.... when we do what we need to do be in this right relationship.. then we will be healed… Regardless of who we were, or who we are being at the moment… God’s mercy will wash over us and cleanse us.  Then we must take that knowledge out into the world and say with those who believe, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Adonai!”  Are you ready to wash in the water?  Are you ready to give your life over to God?  

To be in a relationship means to spend time with someone.  To love them. To care for them.  To do the things that makes them happy.  If I do things my wife doesn’t like me doing, then our relationship is injured.  If however, I learn what makes her happy.. and sacrifice some of those things which I might think I enjoy, to make sure she’s happy.. then our relationship will flourish. It is only when both parties are sacrificing for the other, that everyone's needs are met. The thing is, in our relationship with God, everything that makes him happy.. will make us happy too.. Cause that’s what he wants.. happiness.. not robot movements, or automatons who do things without emotion or thought.. but genuine love.  God lived this principle in the person of Christ to show us the ultimate sacrifice, the true genuine love, of giving of oneself completely. Our faith is the response, our sacrifice the response. So let’s use what time we have left in Lent to grow in that love.. to fast from those things which are harmful to us, and to add in those prayers and activities which help us to grow in covenantal fidelity to the Lord.

His servant and yours,

Brian

“He must increase, I must decrease.”

Can't Help Falling in Love

The readings for tomorrow's daily Mass are so rich and beautiful that I am not sure I can do them justice with mere words.  There is so much there, so many lessons.  The story of Saint Paul is such a powerful testimony that it should make all of us as Christians find hope and beauty in the mercy and grace of God.  We see a man who previously had been binding and capturing Christians, abusing and torturing them, leading them into prison and even sometimes killing them; being blinded and led by Christ into a prison of darkness, one of Saul's own doing.  Then being freed by the Holy Spirit and led out by hand to serve God and bring his message of salvation to the World.  There is no doubt about it that Saul of Tarsus was a major influence on how we as Christians understand our faith today.

The thing that was missing in Saul's life was truly charity.  He had zeal for God's word, we see that for certain.  He had studied under Gamaliel.  He was truly an educated man, a Pharisee of Pharisees.  His pedigree was immaculate and without error.  His actions though were not of a man who loved others, but rather of a man living with zealous fear.  You know, when your way of life is threatened you immediately lash out at others?   We do that a tremendous amount in our society.  We lash out at the different.  We abuse and put down the other.  The strange.  The them.   We want our comfort zone.  We want things not to change.  Every generation is guilty of this.  The thing is though, charity is the thing we need most.  It is that which Jesus talked about when he said the greatest commandment was to love God, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.   Charity is love.  It comes from the Latin word Caritas, which means love for your fellow man.  The Church has declared that "Charity is the soul of the holiness to which all are called: it "governs, shapes, and perfects all the means of sanctification."  (CCC 826)

It goes further than just going to church on Sunday.   This Sunday at Mass we heard the beautiful reading of Saint Paul where he declares that we are the body of Christ and that we cannot just reject each other off hand.   We need each other.  The thing about a body is it, it needs certain things to function.   We need a brain.  We need lungs.  We need certain parts and without them we will surely die.  St. Thérèse Of Lisieux said "If the Church was a body composed of different members, it couldn't lack the noblest of all; it must have a Heart, and a Heart BURNING WITH LOVE. [..] LOVE, IN FACT, IS THE VOCATION WHICH INCLUDES ALL OTHERS; IT'S A UNIVERSE OF ITS OWN, COMPRISING ALL TIME AND SPACE - IT'S ETERNAL!"  (CCC 826)  We can do an awful lot of things without love, that's for sure.  What we cannot do is claim to be Christian, claim to be a part of the body of Christ without it.  Without it.. we are just a noise.. (1 Corinthians 13:1) an irritant.   A resounding gong, a noisy cymbal.  There was nothing I hated more in band than when one of us percussionists dropped a cymbal on the floor.  The sound was grating, irritating, everything ground to a halt. 

How then do we find love?  First and foremost we find it in the Sacraments of our Holy Mother Church.  It is through these sacraments that we encounter Christ in the fullest possible way.  It is in reconciliation that the fullness of God's mercy is loosened by the promise made to Peter, whatever you loosen shall be loosened, whatever you bind shall be bound. (Matt 16:19)  It is through the Eucharist we receive Jesus himself; body, soul and divinity; into our own bodies to guide and change us.  To make us more like Him, to fill us with his love.  In Baptism and Confirmation we receive and are strengthened by the Holy Spirit to guide and lead us.  The Holy Spirit, whom Christ the head pours out on his members, builds, animates, and sanctifies the Church. She is the sacrament of the Holy Trinity's communion with men. (CCC 747)

Yes, you and I are called to love.  We are called to more than just a weekend visit with Christ.  We are called to apostleship.  We are called to be intentional disciples.  In the Gospel reading we see Christ commissioning his disciples to go forth and preach the Gospel.   This Gospel was to be the source of all saving truth and moral discipline. (CCC 75)  More so, the signs and miracles that accompanied them testified to the power of their calling and to Christ's presence with them through the Holy Spirit.  It testified to God's love for mankind, all of mankind, and to the fulfilment of Christ's promise that he would be with them all ways.  (Matt 28:20)

All of us are called to this apostolic mission.  That's what it means when we declare at Mass that we believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.  It is a universal call, one rested on the authority and mission of the apostles.  We are called to do the same in our own station of life.  Not just the priests.   Not just the nuns.  Not just the deacons.  Not just the pastoral ministers.  Every single one of us.  In fact, the Church believes so strongly in the call of the lay faithful that it declares that "The apostolate of the pastors cannot be fully effective without the laity."  (CCC 900)  It is through you and I that we see the world begin to change.  We are challenged to engage in temporal affairs and directing them according to God's will (CCC 898).   We are out in the world.  It is up to us to bring Christ into our environment.  Into our families.  Into our work places.  Into our politics.  Challenging the world to a higher moral standard.  In every action, and every thought.   We are in the world but not of it.  We still have an obligation to our fellow man to bring them the good news.   To protect those who cannot protect themselves.  To bring about policies that protect the unborn, the widow, the orphan, the refugee.   To help the homeless, feed the hungry, cloth the naked, give drink to those who thirst. 

The Catechism tells us that the Church is like the moon. (CCC 748)  She has no light of her own.  She simply reflects the light of Christ.  You and I are the Church.  If all we do is receive the Sacraments?  We are like a black hole.  We take and take.  We never give back.  We are not full of love.  Rather we are parasites, trying to draw on God's grace for our own selfish reasons.  Rather, we are to be reflecting, sharing, pouring over.   Our joy should be so beautiful and powerful that when someone looks at us they see that light of God shining out and ask, what is it that they have?  How can I get some of that?  It is in giving that love becomes full.  It is when our Church, you and I, are so filled with love that we become a part of that universe.  An eternal universe.  One that transcends time and space.  God is love.  If we do not have love?  We are not part of him.  Oh how I long to be part of Him!  How I long to serve him completely and get my ego, my self, out of the way.  My mirror has smudges... oh Lord grant me the grace to clean them off.  Let me be a pure reflection of your glory, for I am a poor one at best. 

What about you?  Are you a mirror?  Or do you suck in all the light you can get never offering it to the world?  With everything going on right now; political rallying, march for life, primary elections, war, refugees dying trying to flee those wars, natural disasters, snow storms on the East coast, flooding, theft, vandalism, and so much more; are you pouring out God's love to help those in need?  Remember, as Mother Theresa said:

“At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. We will be judged by "I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in.”

I don't know about you.. but I have work to do.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

All The Kings Men

The Saint for Today was Saint Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury.  Father Don Ahles recommended that we watch the movie Becket(1964) if we had never seen it.  That seemed like something fun to do, so I spent a few hours this afternoon downstairs laying in a comfortable warm bed watching a movie off Hulu.  It's a very interesting story indeed.  One with intrigue, suicide, murder, love, hate, politics, religion... all put together into a true tale that speaks of the problem with mixing Church and State.

The story of Becket is very interesting.  You have the English King, Henry the Second, who has invaded and taken over the Saxon lands.  He has appointed Thomas Becket, a Saxon, as his regent, the man with all the power behind the throne.  They went around carousing and painting the town red together.  King Henry was not satisfied with the power he had and craved more.  The one institution standing in his way?  The Catholic church. 

Eventually the Archbishop of Canterbury, being an elderly man, passes on to the next life.   King Henry thinks he has a brilliant plan, so he appoints his best friend and confidant (who just happens to be an Arch Deacon) to the post.   Thomas begs him not to, but the King is adamant.  So here this man who has been living for self pleasure is now appointed one of the most important figures in the Catholic church of England.  At first things go well until Thomas experiences a true conversion... and begins to actually work for Christ.   That brings things to a head.  Eventually thorugh much political leaning and such they become enemies, and some of the Kings men decide to kill Archbishop Becket.  They march into the sanctuary during vespers and run him through.

I could not help but be reminded of Simeon's words from Night Prayer in the divine office, which happens to be the Gospel reading for today:

“Lord, now let your servant go in peace;
your word has been fulfilled:
my own eyes have seen the salvation
which you prepared in the sight of every people,
a light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.”

Who would have thought that someone like Thomas Becket would have not only committed his life to God, but also have become a Martyr of the faith?  This man who spent his time drinking, sexing, and partying with the King, would eventually stand up to him and die for his flock.  What can we learn from this?  What lesson is there for us to learn? I think there are many indeed.  The one though that stands out is the need for a good examine, a proper look at the end of the day, to determine if we too are living the life that we need to be living.   Are we working to bring about God's will?  Or living for our own pleasures?   As a man who has lived a sordid past, I find myself sometimes reminiscing about the past.  Are we ready to let it go?  Is there anything standing in the way of Christ being born into our lives?  Are we ready to go in peace?

There is that word... it's been coming up so often lately.  Peace.  We, like Simeon, have seen Christ lifted up before our hearts.  Simeon yearned for Christ so much that at the sight of him, he felt his life was full, he had seen all he needed to see... he was ready to die.   Do we realize how great a gift the Eucharist is?  To receive Christ?  To see Him lifted up before our eyes?  Are you at peace? I pray that like Elisha's servant my eyes might be opened, that I might see the host of heaven gathered around us.  Lord I belive, help my unbelief.

His servant and yours,
Brian

Come on In Boys, the Waters Fine

Tomorrow's Gospel is a beautiful repeat of the reading for Sunday.  Though one could go on into a great deal of depth into this reading, I find myself being drawn instead to the first reading, from the beautiful and poetic Song of Songs.  One would be making a grave mistake indeed to treat this as some sort of history book or eye witness account.   Instead, we look at it for what it is.  Poetry.  Grand and genius poetry at that.

As Christians we look at all of Scripture to learn what we can learn about our relationship with Christ, with God.  So when we read this poem we should imagine ourselves, the Church, as the bride.  Then the lover, the King, we look at as an image or type of Christ.   So what does this interesting selection, one that is available for use at weddings, seem to say to us about our relationship with Christ?  About his relationship with us?

Hark! my lover–here he comes
springing across the mountains,
leaping across the hills.
My lover is like a gazelle
or a young stag.
Here he stands behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
peering through the lattices.

Oh the beauty of this image.  I think it may be lost to us living in the cities and suburbs.  The image is that of young love.  Wild, free.  The energy of youth, the fleet foot of someone who is sure of their actions.  A gazelle or stag move with grace, precision.  They are filled with confidence.  Here this young lover peers through the lattice, into our world.. into our lives.. just hoping to get a glimpse of the one he loves.  Seeking us out wherever we might be... wherever we might hide.  That is our first lesson.  God is pursuing us.  He wants to show us how much he loves us.  He wants to see us, even if we aren't particularly trying to see him.  He goes over any terrain, any obstacle, to try and be a part of our lives. 

Then the poet writes: Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come!  Not once, but twice.  God is enamored with us.   Unlike society with it's airbrushed pictures and plastic personalities, God loves us for who we are.  So much so he calls us beautiful and bids us to be a part of his world.  He wants us to be in communion with him.  Not just a superficial love, but a love that allows us to receive eternal life.  A love pure and strong, like the love of our youth.  Do you remember when you fell in love for the first time?  How strong it was?  How nothing else seemed to matter?  Oh but God loves us that much for eternity...  He still woos us like a young lover, still loves us so much so that he is willing to do anything... whatever it takes.. even give up his life, just to be loved in return.

“O my dove in the clefts of the rock,
in the secret recesses of the cliff,
Let me see you,
let me hear your voice,
For your voice is sweet,
and you are lovely.”

My dove.  Rock pigeon is likely what it refers to here.  Either way, mourning doves and rock pigeons have something in common.. they both mate for life.  They are monogamous.. they never choose another mate while their mate is alive.  God here is calling out to the church as one he trusts.. one who is his and his alone.  Fidelity.  Then he says that our voice, our prayers, are sweet to him.  We are lovely to him.    Isn't that beautiful?  Doesn't that poetry just tell you how much God loves us?  I imagine that is why they tied this again to the story of Mary's visitation in the Gospel.  Mary is also an image of the perfect disciple, an image of what it means to be Church.  One could even imagine God saying this words to her directly.  The one who said yes to him, with complete abandon.

We are almost to Christmas.  For weeks now we have been looking to see how we can prepare our hearts for God to come live in them, for Christ to be born into our world, into our hearts gain, from day to day, second to second, breath to breath.  Today we are reminded how much God wants that.  How much God wants to be a part of our life... that he is seeking to be one with us, looking into our world... longing to spread his mercy and love into our lives.  Even when we hide.  Even when we go through a dry spell, or when things seem to go wrong.. when things seem so horrible that we think it's even too late to pray about it.. God says "Speak to me my love.  Your voice is sweet, and you are lovely.  Let me see you."  Don't try to hide in the recesses of the cliff... he wants to see us...  As St. Paul said, "Miserable one that I am! Who will deliver me from this mortal body? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. "  Yes, the one who will deliver us from our habits, our fears, our sinfulness... that is the one who woos us.. the one who begs you to spend time with Him. 

Are you doing that?  A good way to do so is through Confession.  Now is the right time of year for that.  Monday night at our Parish they are having a communal penance service for Advent to help people prepare for Christmas.  At 7:00 P.M. we will gather together to call out to God in repentance and hope.. and he will say "Your voice is sweet and you are lovely."  As Delmar said in my favorite movie, "Come on in boys, the waters fine." 

His servant and yours,
Brian

Feast of Saint's Simon and Jude

What does it mean to be chosen by God?  Tomorrow we celebrate the feast of two people who not only where chosen by Christ but also suffered martyrdom for their faith.  What can we learn from these readings?  How do they apply to us as Catholics today, 2000 years after they were recorded?

While looking at the first reading I wanted to ask myself, how does that apply to me?  The reading talks about the Apostles being the foundation of our faith.  That the church Jesus left us with was built on them as the base.  That's an important thing to us as Catholics.  We are an apostolic faith.  That is we believe in the teachings of the Apostles, as handed down through their successors, and recorded in the Scriptures.  So we hold to those teachings, we trust in them and we try to live as the Apostles did.  We listen to their testimony about who Jesus is and what that revelation means to us as humans.   We learn from them more about our relationship in this covenant of love that unites us with God as his people.

There is an important thing though to notice in that reading.  The Apostles are indeed the base, the foundation of our faith.. but Jesus is the Capstone.  It is Jesus himself that holds us together in our faith.  Without a capstone an arch, a building, a pyramid.. they all fall.    The capstone holds all the weight. It is the 'key' to the entire structure.  That shows us a very important thing.  We are not a people of the book, we are a people of God.  The book is part of the foundation, it was given to us by the Church, by the apostles.. but the key, the key to the Church, to understanding the book, to our faith in it's entirety is a person.   The person of Christ.  It is through him, through his support, through his guidance and his spirit that we are lead to not only understand our faith (and our book) but also to be able to follow it.  When we try to do things on our own, our flesh gets in the way.  That is why we keep falling into the same sin over and over.  We don't turn it over to God and let him take it away, we try to fight it on our own.  "I got this" we say.  It's only when we humble ourselves, humble our own egos, that we begin to say "I don't have this Lord. I am struggling.  I need you to help me."  We have to make him the Capstone of our lives, so that he holds us together.  Without him, we ourselves fall apart.

Just as the Gospel reading reminds us that Jesus personally called each and every one of his 12 Apostles, even Judas who would betray Him, he also calls each of us into a relationship.  He wants us to step out of our world, out of our comfort, and to build a temple for Him.  A temple of living stones,  all support and held together by Jesus Christ himself.  He has been calling us since the moment of our birth, are we ready to listen?  Are we ready to turn it all over to him? Or will we just sit where we are, afraid to respond?  It's ok.  You don't even have to move.  All you have to do is make Him the Capstone, and he will lead you out. 

The LORD will fight for you; you have only to keep still. - Exodus 14:14 NAB

"Be still and know that I am God," the Psalmist reminds us.    Elijah stayed still in the cave.  He listened for God and found him in the silence.  God has been reminding me over and over to be still, to listen for Him, and then do what He guides me to do.  So my challenge to you today, is to get in some quite time.. some 'still' time with God.  Find a quiet place, away from the sounds and influences of the world, and spend some time just listening for God's voice.   Find an adoration chapel, a Sanctuary to sit in with the reposed Christ, or even just a quiet corner in your home and say "Speak Lord, your servant is listening."  Then be Still.   Listen for His call.  Realize he has already called out to you, he has already chosen you, he is just waiting for you to realize how much you mean to him.

In Christ, His Servant and Yours,
Brian