Like and Oil and Water, so are the days of our lives.

I moved out of my parents home into a house they had generously given me when I was just shy of eighteen. I remember making many, many mistakes.   One that comes to mind this morning involved being in a hurry to get back to whatever I was doing but trying to cook at the same time.   I decided to deep fry some 'tater-tots' so I could have a quick snack.   In my hurry to get back to the computer, or tv, or whatever it was... I forgot to take off that little plastic cover you put on top to keep the oil from getting stuff in it.  A few minutes later I smelt smoke.  Running into the kitchen I saw fire literally licking the ceiling tile!   I grabbed the thing off the oven and put it on the floor so the fire couldn't touch the roof.   Then I grabbed a glass of water off the nearby counter and threw it in it.   As flames engulfed my face and hair began to dissipate like the morning dew, I realized the truth of the saying oil and water do not mix.

I believe that to be the crux of the message from Jesus in the gospel today.   Some would use this verse to allow anger and hatred to rule in their lives.  To claim that anyone who stands in their way is simply doing so because they are a 'good Christian.'  Jesus is not giving us permission to be hateful.   He is not saying that we can ignore the rest of the Gospel and lose our joy, our kindness and our love.   No, rather He is giving us a dire warning.   That good and evil do not mix.   That often the response to our Christian walk and the message we bear will be an explosion.   That like the oil that splattered on my legs going straight through the skin, people will often blow up and respond with anger and division.   We are to love them anyway... to care for them... even at the cost of our own lives, our own desires.

In today's world were people soften the message of Christ, the cross becomes a thing of the past.   That's not what Jesus demands of us.  These three readings grouped together remind us of the price of discipleship.   That our goal is not one of flowers and rainbows, gentle currents and soft beds, but the discomfort of Calvary.   We are challenged to live our faith with joy amidst persecution, love amidst hate, a friendly demeanor when all others are bearing down upon us.  The early Church realized that Christianity was a call to martyrdom, a call to give up our lives if need be, without rejected the faith.   In all of this they realized that God's mercy was beyond anything we could fathom, but that the call was not lessened by that, but strengthened in the example set forth by the incarnation of God himself and the Way of the Cross.

With Christian martyrs in the recent news, displaced Christians being persecuted and martyred in many nations, and some making the claim that "in this century [we are[ witnessing more shedding of Christian blood than any of the previous twenty"; our eyes turn toward the past and the future.. but we must need live in the present.  You and I in the comfort of America likely will not be called to give our lives for our faith, though it is not out of the realm of possibilities.    The challenge for us at the current moment is: to die to our own selves.   To live our lives in a way that shows us to be servants of Christ.   To look for Him in every encounter with others and ask How can I feed them?  How can I give them drink?  How can I clothe them?  That means both physically and spiritually.   To ever be prepared to give "an account for the hope that is in us." (1 Peter 3:15)  Is there anything standing the way of that?   Anything stopping me from serving the widow, the orphan, the refugee?   The victim and the bully?  Until we become detached from those things which stand in the way of complete abandonment to Christ and His calling, Paul reminds us that we "have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood."  

What is preventing you from being the person you were created to be?  Fix that first.  Work on your relationship with God first and everything else will fall into place.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

A reflection on the readings for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time:  August 14th, 2016.  Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10; Psalm 40; Hebrews 12:1-4; The Holy Gospel according to Luke 12:49-53

Stirring the Flame

Today is the memorial of Saint Justin the Martyr.  A man who lived in the early church, back in the time when the Roman's were having Christians fight to death in the Colosseum.  A time of persecution and hate.  Justin after his conversion began to argue for the Christian faith.  Not argue like we argue today, but to logically and systematically debate with others to show them the truth.  He won over many souls, and failed to do so with others.  Eventually a man, jealous that Justin had beaten him with his logic, reported him to the government and he was martyred for his faith.  We still to this day learn the methods of apologetics, that is not saying we are sorry, but rather giving a defense for our faith.  "Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope." (1 Peter 3:15)

In the first reading for today we have a glimpse into the mindset of Saint Paul.  Paul is being persecuted and in prison, likely to die for his faith.  He reminds Timothy to stir into flame that gift which God has given him, that is the Holy Spirit.  It reminds me of those early movies in which cave men carried their embers with them from site to site.   Someone was in charge of that.  It wasn't a new fire that they were creating, but rather they carried the hot coals wrapped in protective sheets from place to place.  Rebuilding the fire over and over.. slowly coaxing it back to life with the proper fuel.  If they put on the wrong stuff, it would put out the fire.  If however, they used the fuel that it needed.. and slowly breathed into the embers, it would roar to life and produce fire.

I lived in a run down house in Virginia.  In the basement was this old, rusted out wood stove.  When I first moved in there I put in a gas stove, mostly because of all the work it took to keep a wood fire going.  Eventually, due to bad money management and silly circumstances, I couldn't afford the propane anymore to heat the house (not that it ever really heated it well.)  That winter I collected wood and stored it in the shed.  When I would get in from work I'd have to build a new fire.  Every day I'd come in from the cold and the fire would be out.   It took me most of that winter to learn to bank down the fire, to conserve the hot coals during the day.  Then when I got home I'd slowly build it back up.  A little tinder.   Some soft dry wood.  Eventually some heavy, hard woods to burn through the night.  It took time to learn how to stir that flame, to get it going without putting it out.   It took even more time to learn to be able to keep that flame going during the day.   It was so easy to forget to turn down the draft, close the vents and have just enough coal left to keep it going for the many hours I was gone into the world.

Paul reminds us exactly how to do this with that ember burning in our souls.   At Baptism we receive the Holy Spirit.  The Bible reminds us that the Spirit descended in tongues of flames, transformed the burning bush, and left Moses transformed and glowing that he even had to cover his face.   It is through love and self-control that we fan those flames.  When we sin, when we give in to our desires at any cost, that's when we begin to smother that light, to push that flame out of existence.  It is through saying no to those things which are bad for us, even when we want them so badly, that we slowly feed the fire.   A fire that does not harm us, but warms us and glows within us.. eventually glowing so brightly that others see it in us... drawing us to Sainthood.  The power of love and self-control.   How society wants us to go the other way.   To give in to desire, regardless of the consequence.   To simply do what you want, and let others do whatever they want.. but Christianity calls self-control a power!  How much harder is it to say no than to simply give in?  To be in control of yourself?

When we look back to the example left us by Saint Justin we see him reaching out to the world and spreading the Gospel.  We can look back at his description of Christian worship in the first hundred years of Christianity and be astounded that he describes the Catholic Mass.  For two thousand years we have been worshiping God exactly as the Apostles taught us to do so.  The Church has been teaching us that entire time that we must love God and one another, but also that we must have self control.   This has been handed on for generation after generation.  How then are we challenged to be apologists in the world?  How can we exercise that power of love and self-control?

First and foremost by living a Sacramental life.  Making frequent reception of the Sacraments a priority.  Not something we fit into our schedule once it's full of all the other things, but rather something that goes in first and our schedule fits around.  In receiving Christ in the Eucharist, encountering Him in the Confessional and adoring Him in Adoration; we are strengthened by love itself.   We come face to face with our own sinfulness and are challenged to do more, to do better.   Then we must take that Sacramental presence out into the world and become that presence to those in need.  The world is thirsty, it's seeking help.  It needs us.  That doesn't mean you have to go out and preach on the street corner, though there is nothing wrong with that.   What it does mean is that you have to fan those embers, feed them with love and good works, avoiding that which is ungodly and sinful.

This morning I was wondering how I might fan those flames.   How can I help the Holy Spirit grow in me by opening myself more fully to Him?  I stood in the grocery line waiting to pay.  A few people ahead of me stood a woman who was buying some groceries.  As they rang her up she ran her card.  Once, twice... three times.   It was denied.   "I just put money in here, what am I going to do?"  She was on the verge of tears.  I've been there.  I've had to have them hold the groceries till I could go home or to the bank to get cash, or even put back things to afford them.  I've been without food, and more importantly I know that feeling of draining you get when you realize everyone is looking and hearing.   Is it pride?  Sure some.  It's not a feeling though that I envy or want for anyone else.  Out of my mouth I heard the words: "How much is it?"   I didn't even mean to say it, it just came out. She said $19 something.   I said I got it.  I went up and paid for it.  The look on her face was worth more than $20.   She began to cry.  She said you don't know what this means and ran from the building with her two small bags of food.

That's how we fan the flames.  By giving in and letting Him speak through us.   By being a living Sacrament that shows the Living God.   By speaking, acting, loving in the way that Christ would to a world so much in need of that touch.    Are you ready to stir that flame?   To learn how to keep it burning even when we go out into the world?  Do you realize how precious and absolutely necessary it is to protect and guard it to keep it from going out?

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

Salted with Fire.

Salted with fire.  Jesus uses some interesting words in the Gospel for tomorrow. The image of salt puts us in mind of food.  It reminds us that salt is necessary for life.  It's also a natural anti-bacterial, a preservative.  It brings out the flavors of the food while at the same time killing germs that might make it spoil.  Fire also is something we use to cook, but much more.   It does indeed purify, but it can also kill.   It warms but can also burn.  It's dangerous but intrinsic to the survival of man.  Without fire we would still be living only in the tropical reasons eating only fruits from the trees.  Fire improves life but anything it touches changes.

Both of these images remind us of something that changes us, cleanses us.   Both can hurt but both are beneficial as well.  Anyone who has ever gotten salt in a wound knows that it stings!  Yet, it also helps to kill the germs.  Spiritually both of these images indicate a cleansing, albeit maybe a painful one.   A cleansing that every single person will go through, not just the good and not just the bad, but every one of us.  The thing is, we have heard this image before throughout the history of Christian theology.  "God's love is an all consuming fire."   "We are the salt of the earth."  The image of the burning bush comes to mind.  It did not consume the bush, but it transformed it.   The ground on which it stood was then holy ground.   So in God's case the fire  doesn't consume everything... but it does change everything it touches.

St. Paul tells us the parable of man whose house was burnt to the ground, and he declares he was saved as by fire.  The only thing that made it through were the gold, precious gems, and precious stones.   All of the wood, hay, and stubble was destroyed in the process.  I think that's the image that Mark wants us to envision in today's reading.   Those things which are from heaven, those things born of charity (love), are what will remain after the house burns down.   Those things which are not of heaven; selfishness, ego, hatred, anger, addiction, disordered attachments; these things would be consumed by the fire.

I have heard God's love described as an all consuming fire that is fueled by sin.  Just like a log that you throw on the fire, the more sin, the more the flames burn.   In light of our belief as Catholics that explains Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory like this:   Those who refuse to let go of their sin cling to it in the life after this.  They have no desire to let go of it and the more they are washed by the love of God, the more it burns, the more it hurts.  So they run for eternity trying to get away from the love of God, hating him more and more... instead of just letting the sin go.  Those who die with some attachment to sin but are on their way to heaven must be pure before entering.  So they bear the burning... while trying to let go of the sin.  Until the sin is burnt out, until there is no more fuel... they simply must endure it as they grow closer and closer to God's love.  The greatest ache they experience is knowing they are on the way to see God.. but their own sins, the things they did not let go of in this world, that is what is keeping them from going directly to him.   That is purgatory.  Not a new place, not another chance.. but a process by which you are cleansed by God's burning love.  Then those who are pure, those who have no attachment to sin, have no need for purification.. those we call Saints.. because they are right there in Heaven with God.

James in the first reading gives us a laundry list of sins.   He condemns those with wealth who do not help those in need.  Those who cheat the poor.  He declares all the ills that we today know as Social Justice.  This is the fuel.   These are the things which make God's love flare and burn.   It's only when we allow him to purify us, to cleanse us.  To let the Holy Spirit transform our hearts and our minds until we no longer hold on to those sins.. and the sorrow, the remorse, the bitter conscience... is replaced with love, joy, faith, and hope.  That's what the Sacraments are all about.   Letting God's love wash over us.   It may not always be pleasant, but it's cleansing.   It may not be something we want to go through, but it's necessary.

Jesus uses some hyperbole to talk about the need to cut off those things which cause you to sin.  The Church Fathers have long seen these parts of the body as symbols for intimate friends.   Jesus is calling us to examine our friendships... that it's better for us to walk into Heaven without that person at our side.. than for us to follow them down a path that leads to both of our destruction.   He declares that it is better to have a millstone tied around our necks than cause a child of God to sin... that goes for us.. and for them.  I think that's the challenge today.   To ask ourselves, in what ways am I being held back?  What fuels am I holding on to?   What do I need to let go that God's love might flood over me and purify me?  Are there any poisonous, caustic relationships that I am in that I need to take a break from? Remember salt enhances flavor, it brings out the nuances of what is already there.   It's time for us to remove those things which are unpleasant to the taste, and replace them with that which will last forever.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease." 

Look Into the Light

Most people who know me, know that I used to be a commercial electrical foreman.  One of the first things I would do on a construction site would be to get up some sort of lighting.  The first lesson I learned out there in the field was that it's very hard to have quality work if you can't see what you are doing.  It was amazing though how much detail came out when you really lit up the place.  A counter might even look pretty decent with the lights off, then you turn them on and the dirt and grime of the construction process was evident at a glance.  Then I began to see some shady practices that went on out there in the world of commercial sales.  Customers would request certain 'temperature' bulbs for certain applications.  One large food supply store would ask for red tinted bulbs in the meat section to make the food look fresher.  A package of ground beef with a slightly grey tinge would take on a nice, even red hue when placed under these lights.  Another would ask us to lower the wattage in the kitchens so that it wasn't as easy to see the imperfections or lack of cleaning.

That brings me to a spiritual reality that works on those same lines.  The closer you get to light, the easier it is to see imperfections.  The closer you get to the purity of God? The more obvious the filth and dirt in our souls becomes.  That's what sin is really, it's a marr, a missing of the mark.. a dirty spot on our soul.   If you read any of the writings of the Saints you'll see that as they drew closer to God, they felt worse and worse about even the smallest smudge.  After all in a relationship shouldn't we feel bad about the slightest of infidelities?  There are two reactions though that one can have.  One can draw to the light, see the smudges and be convinced they need to clean it up; or one can flee from the light and go for those things which they prefer to the effort it takes to carry their cross.

We humans are fickle things aren't we?  Most of us know exactly what we need to do to be closer to God in our lives.   We like those things though that feel good, that reward us temporally and physically.   We have that pesky concupiscence that makes us want power, pleasure, honor, and wealth.  Christ in the beatitudes challenges us though to put those things in their proper place.  To instead draw closer to the light, to examine any and every log that we might find in our own lives before ever considering to look for even a speck in someone else's.  

Today's Gospel reminds me of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  All too often people run from Confession.  Why?  Jesus says it very plainly: For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed.   We don't want the light to expose what we've done.   In our basements, in our private times, behind closed doors, when not everyone sees.  We fear what the Priest might say or think about us, or even at times we cling to that sin.. the one we don't want to give up.. the one we know we should.  That's pretty much the definition of Hell isn't it?

You see, our faith teaches us that Hell is a choice we make.  It also teaches us that God is an all consuming fire.   Fire burns.  What does God burn?  He burns out the sin.   The Sacred Scriptures tell us that God is a refiner at the furnace, purifying us like gold or silver.  He melts us down and slowly removes the dross.  Someone once told me that the way a refiner knows that the gold or silver is ready is when he can see his own reflection in it.  Think about that for a moment.. when God can see not us in our actions.. but His Son, Jesus Christ.  What happens though when we don't let go of sin? It burns.... I truly believe that for those who have any attachment of sin, that's what happens after this life.  Those who die with no sin attached?  Straight to Heaven.   Those who have an attachment but want to let go of it, and want to cling to God?  Purgatory.  Those who refuse to give up the sin?  Hell.  For eternity God's love washes over them trying to remove this sin from their soul.. this stain... and it burns... but they hold on to it and blame God for the burning.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.   It is God's hope that by sending his Son, the light itself, into the world that it would help every single person to see the areas of sin they needed to work on and remove them from their lives.   That's what the Sacraments are all about.   Confession cleanses us, it allows us to walk into the light and say Lord, give me the grace to remove those things that being in your presence makes me aware of.  Then the Eucharist, oh that marvelous and beautiful Sacrament that is the sign of our faith!   In it Christ himself comes to us and washes over us with his love and embrace.  I am never more aware of my sins than when I come up that aisle to receive Him into my body.  I trust though, that as I draw near to the purest of all lights, and as even the smallest speck of venial sin glares at me, and the demons of this world call out to me and tell me I'm not worthy... I place it all at the foot of the cross and say, "You are right.  I'm not worthy.  I just trust my Savior."  As John said, "Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned."

So ask yourself this morning what is standing in your way?  Like the Apostles in the first reading, each of us has a prison that we've been locked into.   God has been sending his angels to us in the dark night of our oppression to open the doors and to send us on our way to tell others about this life.  What is your prison?  What is holding you back?  What sin has you locked behind it's doors preventing you from living that life of joy, freedom and faith that comes with the grace of God?  Let Him open the doors.  They are locked but God holds the key, and He Himself handed that key to the Church.  Go receive it for yourself in the Sacraments.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."