Radical Gratitude

I'm very excited this morning as we begin our pro-life VBS program.  I wanted to get my assignment and blog entry done first thing and get my prayers in early.  I am glad I did.  The first reading for today reminds me that in all things, it is God who is the source of our provision.  The rain, the weather, all of creation responds to His Word.   What kind of VBS teacher would I be if I did not rely on that simple truth?   It requires though that we be obedient.   Elijah has just made a statement that it will not rain or even dew without his approval, all by the power of the Lord.   He has to do his part though. Elijah has to journey into the area of the Wadi Cherith and remain there.   There the Lord will provide for him by having food brought to him morning and evening.  The Wadi is a stream that has deep hidden areas that provide a place for the persecuted to hide.   Even in God's provisional plan not only has he taken care of his need for food and drink, but provided him a place to remain with physical protection.

Jesus in the Gospel for today continues that theme of obedience and providence.  Mathew is writing to a predominately Jewish audience and theologically is portraying Jesus as the New Moses, the greater Prophet, who ascends the mountain and gives us the Law.   The disciples go up with Him and he proceeds to give them one of the most important speeches in the history of mankind, the beatitudes.  Some try to claim that Jesus did away with obedience, that we no longer have to do anything but profess and believe.  It's not either or, but both and.   Jesus didn't make things easier morally, he made them even more difficult.  He did not 'do away' with morality but required it to be internalized, to become a part of who we are.  They are in fact the road-map to obedience.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.Blessed are they who mourn,for they will be comforted.Blessed are the meek,for they will inherit the land.Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,for they will be satisfied.Blessed are the merciful,for they will be shown mercy.Blessed are the clean of heart,for they will see God.Blessed are the peacemakers,for they will be called children of God.Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute youand utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.Rejoice and be glad,for your reward will be great in heaven.

When we examine and delve into these eight simple, yet very complex statements, we find that they describe the incarnation of God himself, Christ.  His life lived them out perfectly.   Who is more poor in spirit than He who condescended from omnipotence to become a mortal man for the sake of us?  Who mourns more than the God who loves us so greatly that He would die in our steed to prevent us ever being separated from His side?  Who is meeker than the Paschal Lamb whose blood was offered as a propitiation for our sins? Who can dare thirst for righteousness or is more merciful  than He who is justice and mercy itself? Again who can claim to be more clean of heart than the spotless, unblemished sacrifice of God's only begotten Son?  Then who can claim to be more of a peacemaker than  He who tore down the wall that separated Gentile and Jew and restored mankind to the state of grace for which we were created?

Yes, the beatitudes describe Christ the man, but more powerfully Christ on the Cross.   They call us to a radical notion of detachment.   To be free of all the vices and desires of this life.   Power, wealth, pleasure, and honor.   All of which Jesus gave up on the cross.   Who is more powerless than to be nailed to a tree by your hands and feet, to die a slow and horrendous death in the stead of another?   Who has less wealth than the one whose very clothing is being gambled for and given away as you hang naked moments from death?  Who has less pleasure than to experience the pain and agony of thirst and crucifixion in the hot desert air?  Who lacks honor man than He who was King of the Universe to be mocked, spit on, and executed in the death which is reserved for the worst of the worst Criminals.

1717 The Beatitudes depict the countenance of Jesus Christ and portray his charity. They express the vocation of the faithful associated with the glory of his Passion and Resurrection; they shed light on the actions and attitudes characteristic of the Christian life; they are the paradoxical promises that sustain hope in the midst of tribulations; they proclaim the blessings and rewards already secured, however dimly, for Christ's disciples; they have begun in the lives of the Virgin Mary and all the saints.

The beatitudes indeed call us to a radical detachment from this world.   They also call us though, to a radical attachment to God himself.  This attachment comes in the form of obedience.  It starts by emulating Christ.  By being more like Christ, we become more like God.  In living a life of detachment from this world with a radical attachment to God, we rely on Him just as Elijah did at the Wadi.  We count on him for our sustenance,  for our protection, for our comforts and joys.   We cling to Him in times of sorrow.  We seek not our own, but His!  We need not wealth to be happy and joyful, but rather can become generous and loving with whatever we are blessed with.  Yes, these beatitudes are the key to living a life of peace and joy.  The key to understanding them lies in the Eucharist, in the person of Christ, in the Sacraments.  Are you ready to get radical?   I don't know if I am ready for it, but Lord I am willing!  Let's make that our prayer today.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

Thus far a rather uninspiring thing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

Obedience Brings Liberation

There is a phrase that caught my eye when looking at the readings for tomorrow's daily Mass.  It's a strange one to my 21st century American mind.  "The scepter shall never depart from Judah, or the mace from between his legs"  In our culture a mace is either a weapon of war or a bottle of pepper spray designed to incapacitate an assailant.   I had to do some research because I was sure that neither of those accurately portrayed what this verse would have meant to the Jewish mind of the 5th century at Solomon's court.  

The Hebrew word, וּמְחֹקֵ֖ק (ū·mə·ḥō·qêq) is a word that means "ruler's staff" or "law giver."  That's an interesting connotation that scepter has but a deeper meaning.  We have this symbol of the Lion, the King of beasts.   We have the scepter of a ruler.   That symbol is easy to our minds.  What does the staff mean though?  If we look at the other parts of the bible, we see that Moses had a staff.  The "law giver" of course was Moses, he received the Law from God and gave it to the people.  Here we have this image of the King, the ruler of the people, the law giver... always being from Judah. 

That's an interesting thing to tie into the genealogy of the Gospel reading.  We could spend days unpacking all of the amazing things this teaches us.  First and foremost though it shows us something important to understand about Jesus Christ.  Jesus was a direct descendent of Judah.  This would have stood out immediately to those first century Jewish men and women who heard this genealogy.  They would have been looking for a Messiah to fit this requirement.  This prophecy of our first reading points to a coming King, one who is also a Shepherd,  and a prophet.   One to lead his people, guide them, and liberate them.  A shepherd leads with a staff.. a shepherd's crook, the guide and pull his sheep to where they need to be.

What does that mean to us?  How do we apply that to our lives?  We are approaching the octave that leads to Christmas day.   The purpose of these days is for us to take an even stronger look at our lives, at our faith, at our hearts.   Then to ask ourselves:  Is Jesus the ruler of our life?  Are our hearts completely open to our King?  Or are we holding out?  Is there anything standing in His way to come into our hearts.  We are born slaves to our sin.  Jesus comes to liberate us, to lead us as the new Moses out of the desert of sin, and into the promised land.  His kingdom will last forever.  Are you ready to stop trying to lead yourself and allow Him to lead you?  He came to be born to the world.  He came again to appear to his apostles.  He comes again every day to be born again into your heart and to be received in the Eucharist.  He will come again at the end of time to usher in an eternity of peace, love and joy.  Are you ready?

Next comes the challenge.  We are to be like our King.  We are to live to the best of our ability in a way that emulates the life of Christ himself.  Jesus comes to liberate others from sin, form oppression.  You and I are challenged to do the same.  Are you freeing others from that which holds them down?  Are you forgiving them so that they can move on with their lives?   Are you reaching out to the one born down by poverty and helping alleviate that stress by giving of your blessings?  Are you working for justice in the world, pointing with every action towards the Shepherd?  Or trying to do it all on your own?  With all the injustice in the world, all the bigotry, sexism, racial, social and political biases... there is no small amount of work to be done.  Let's not use Christmas to forget these things.. but to call our lives back to that.. by letting Christ be born in our heart, as our Shepherd, our High Priest, our King... to bring about His Kingdom here, as it is in Heaven.

His servant and yours,

Brian