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." 

A Rose by Any Other Name

The last few days I've talked about what Ordinary Time is (this post) and how that it begins to order our lives toward Christ (this post.)  That's what our liturgy is about.  The liturgical year is ordered in a way to bring the Christian's prayer life into a basic rhythm, that is to bring it rhythm with Christ.  We've seen in the previous two days the story of Hannah and the birth of her son Samuel.  Today we find the continuance of that story in our first reading.   Hannah had given her child back to God, she ordered her life, every part of it, even her children toward God.  So much so that she brought him to the temple to serve God from a young age.  Today that sounds odd.   Our modern sensibilities think it strange to give a child up, so much so that there is a negative connotation even on adoption.   We need to work on that. Adoption can be a beautiful and much needed way of respecting the life that God has entrusted in our hands.  What Hannah did was not only honorable, it is commendable, as any mother or father of a child called to the vocation of Priesthood can attest to.

Samuel is being trained by Eli in the temple.  Eli has gotten is now old, frail, and blind.  Samuel hears someone calling his name and runs to Eli.  Three times this happen, each time with Eli telling him it was not he who was calling him.  Through discernment, Eli is able to help Samuel realize that God is calling him.  So Samuel goes back to his room and waits for God to call him.  He does, and it begins a relationship with God that changed history. 

What do we learn from this encounter?  We learn first and foremost that God calls us by an individual name.  He knows us personally.  He is not a distant, transcendent God that is not involved in our lives.  Isaiah says it like this, "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine." (Isaiah 43:1)  You and I are unique.  No one else can ever replace us.  The catechism says it in such a beautiful way:

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

Let that sink in for a moment.  Each of us is made in God's image.  Each of us has a name, a label.  Everyone's name is sacred.  Wow.  As a man who was raised in the South, I remember growing up how important a name was.  Even to this day I get furious when someone lies about me.  There are a lot of things that I can handle with grace and humility... but lying?  Dragging someone's name through the mud is a horrible thing.  You are taking that unique individual and attempting to turn them into something they are not.  Taking their label, the one God called them by.. the name He chose through their parents. A sacred icon of the individual... could you imagine how politics would change if we actually lived this teaching of our Church?

Then we come to the Gospel reading.  What does this event here seem to do with Eli and Samuel? Remember, Ordinary time is all about ordering our life toward Christ.  That means when we read the gospel we should be thinking: Ok God you called me by name.  You love me for who I am.  I am unique and made in your image.  I have a dignity and should be respected by all.  How can I draw closer to you? The answer is in the life of Christ. 

A friend and I were just talking about what it means to be human.  For some, human existence is only here.  Only now.  For the Christian existence extends beyond the mere temporal realm and into eternity.  Well, how then can we know what a human is like if we only experience the now?  Through the one human who has experienced both.   In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  That Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  That Word is Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ is the fullness of revelation, because he is the fullness of humanity.  Not just the humanity we know and experience, but the way humanity should be.   The way it was before the fall in the Garden of Eden.  It is through Jesus that we see what our potential truly is, and in being more like Him that we become the fully unique individual that God has created us to be.

You see, concupiscence keeps us from being that person whom God is calling to. Grace allows us to grow into this person.  God loves us just as we are, that is true.  He loves us too much to leave us there.  In Jesus we see a man who heals.  A man who lifts up.  A man who gives of himself in serving the poor and the sick.  In the Gospel he is busy on a Saturday, when most people are sitting around and relaxing, He is going into the homes and making the world a better place.  That is our first example, and a profound one.  It's not enough to just go to Church.   It's not enough to just go and preach or listen.  It requires taking that Sacramental Presence of Christ out into the world and giving of your self to those in need.

Then we see another example.  Jesus goes out alone in the middle of the night hours and begins to pray.  He takes time off to spend time with the Father.  Silence.  One on one time.  Our soul needs and craves this time with God.  We need to take time throughout the day to pray.   Time to reorient, to order our day toward Christ.  That's what is so beautiful about the Liturgy of the Hours.. it reminds us to stop at Morning, Midmorning, Midday, Midafternoon, Evening, and Nighttime to spend time with the Scriptures.  These rhythms are intended to nourish continual prayer(CCC 2698).  To lead the Christian to pray at all times without ceasing.  Just like a habit takes time to form, by praying every day at regular intervals  we draw our soul into singing praise to God continually. 

That's the goal isn't it?  To become so much like Christ that we can receive the grace he pleaded for us when he prayed:

And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. ¹² While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. . (John 17:11-12)

That brings me to my final point for this post.  You and I have a unique name, a beautiful and dignified name.  We also bear the name of Christian.  Our actions, our words, our sins.... they all show the world who we are.  The name Christian shows who we should be.  Are you living up to it?  It is a Sacred Name.   A name that demands respect as a sign of the dignity of the one who bears it.  Are you dragging it through the mud?  Or are you trying to display that dignity for others to see?  Not out of any sort of false piety or egotism.. but rather out of the humility of knowing that you are not worthy of that name.. but God loved you enough to bestow it on you through His son.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"I must decrease, He must increase."