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."

Turn this mutha out?

Tomorrow is the feast of Saints Timothy and Titus.  These are two of the companions of St. Paul whose conversion we celebrated this morning. These men were faithful to the gospel of Christ and as such were left in charge of communities as presbyters.  Paul challenges them to live upright moral and faith filled lives.  A good example for all of us.

Then we come to the Gospel reading.  So many misinterpret this encounter to be one in which Christ was rude to his mother.   How can that be?  If Christ broke a commandment then he's not the Christ we claim him to be.  In order for this to make sense we have to look at it from the Apostolic teaching that we have received from the Church fathers and through the church.

“Who are my mother and my brothers?”
And looking around at those seated in the circle he said,
“Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of God
is my brother and sister and mother.”

How easy it would be to put our own personal interpretation on this.  To say that Christ was taking Mary's role in salvation history and making it into something insignificant.  Something minor.  We know though that Scripture informs us that Christ was without sin.  For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)  Now in order for Christ to be the man we claim him to be, the propitiation for our sins... he must be this man who knew no sin.  Otherwise our faith, our religion is indeed in vain.  So if he is free of sin, how then could he have been dishonoring his mother?  That would be breaking the commandment which requires us to honor our mother and father, would it not? 

The Church fathers give us a much different view of this though.  In view of the rest of Scripture, in view of the teaching of the Apostles, we find that they did not see this as a moment in which Christ lowered Mary's position.. but rather expanded and fulfilled the Kingdom of God.  Jesus wasn't making the kingdom smaller... he wasn't making his family more refined... he was expanding it. He was showing us a very simple truth.  We are a family.   We are the body of Christ.  We are brothers and sisters.  We have a mother.  We have a Father.   We are one.  What we do affects one another. No man is an island.

In fact, Jesus says something so important to understanding this encounter.   He says "Whoever does the will of God."  Who can we say did the will of God more than the Blessed Virgin and Mother?  She gave an unconditional yes to his plan.   She gave birth to the Messiah.  She raised him.  She nursed and comforted the savior of the world.  If she, of all people, does not fit that qualifier, what hope have you and I?  No, Jesus wasn't narrowing the scope of his spiritual family.. he was broadening it.   He was expanding his family to include all people of faith.   To bring us together as a family.

We see this further expounded at the foot of the cross when Jesus says to his beloved disciple, behold your mother.  Mother behold your son.  Are we not the beloved disciples? How then do we reject Mary from our homes, from our lives?  How do we demean her and pretend she is not part of the spiritual family, as if she were just a box that God used to do something and then discarded.  What kind of loving God would that be?  One which just chose any old person to be the mother of his son?  In fact, we would claim that God makes each of us unique and beautiful.   He creates us with a plan for our lives.  He loves us completely, giving his very life for us.  Why then do we try to say that Mary was just any old person then?   If we are unique, how much more so the woman he designed and chose to be the mother of his son? 

Twenty years ago I would have dismissed any talk of the Blessed Mother.  I'd have told you she was just any old sinful person.  Today?  I will defend her.  Why?  Because I see her for who she truly is.  The new Eve, who gave an unconditional yes to God.   Who received a message from an angel of the Lord instead of a message from an angel of darkness.  I see her as the New Ark of the covenant, a tabernacle of flesh in which resides the true high priest, the true commandments written in flesh, the mana from Heaven.  Indeed, I see her as the disciple par excellence.    She allowed herself to be a conduit of God's grace to the world.  She continually pointed people to her Son.  She encouraged God's will to be done at all times.  She was present when the Church gathered.   She was there at the foot of the cross, weeping for her son but stoic.   Yes, if you want to know what it means to be a disciple?  Learn who Mary of Nazareth is.  

For indeed, she is the Queen of Heaven.  One cannot read Revelation 11-12 and not see her as the woman clothed in the light of the sun, crowned with authority over all of mankind.  You want to talk about a repressive religion?  Find the one that rejects the Virgin Mother.... Find the one that rejects her as important because she's just a woman... that's not my religion.  No Catholicism sees her as the most important human being to exist besides Christ himself. 

What about you?  Have you invited her into your home?  Into your life?  She doesn't replace God.. no... she's just part of the family.   God let's us all do that doesn't he?  He let's us share in his glory.   He wants us to be his hand and feet.  He wants us to be conduits of grace. The same with the spouse of the Holy Spirit, the Mother of Christ.  He is not offended when you show her love.  Rather, I believe he is happy to know that you love her too.  Don't worry... you can't love her more than he does.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"I must decrease, he must increase."

Get ready? Be ready? Stay Ready?

Tomorrow's first reading is one of the more beautiful expressions of how important it is to realize who Christ was to the Jewish faith, the second Adam.  That's a powerful typology that we must not miss when exploring what it means to us as Children of the most high God.  To really understand this verse, we have to look at what happened in the Garden of Eden. 

If we look at Genesis starting with Chapter 2, we see that Adam was created to work and till the land.  Many scholars indicate that the wording used place Adam as it's guardian, it's protector.  He was supposed to keep bad things from happening, and to make sure good reigned supreme. Then comes the scene all of us are so familiar with.  The serpent appears. He tempts Eve.  Where was Adam during all this?  Right there by her side. He didn't stop her.  He didn't protect her.  He simply stood silently while mankind fell from the grace he had already experienced.

Think about the story here.  God was right there with him.  When the wind would blow He walked with Adam, face to face.  Adam had everything he needed.  He had all these beautiful animals, plenty of plants and seeds for food, this luscious garden filled with beautiful sights, and this gorgeous woman who he lived with and was supposed to protect.   All God asked was that they follow a simple rule.  Adam failed as the protector.  He didn't step up and say, wait.. God doesn't want that.. Eve don't listen to the serpent.  No, he simply watched her do it.. then partook of the forbidden fruit himself... then turned around and blamed God for the whole mess.  "It was the woman YOU gave me."

For just as through the disobedience of one man
the many were made sinners,
so, through the obedience of the one
the many will be made righteous.

You see, Adam's greatest sin, mankinds greatest sin, was really disobedience.  Jesus came into this world to restore us, through obedience.  Through that obedience we receive the righteousness we don't deserve.   That sets the stage for this interesting gospel:

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Gird your loins and light your lamps
and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding,
ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks.
Blessed are those servants
whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival.
Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself,
have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.
And should he come in the second or third watch
and find them prepared in this way,
blessed are those servants.”

What does Jesus mean?  For me he is talking about obedience.  He is talking about stewardship.  He is talking about living our lives in a way that says we believe what we profess to believe.  Stewardship is not just about tithing or giving a donation in the basket.  It's about every aspect of your life.  What you eat.  What you drink.  What you wear.   Where you go.  What you watch.  What you say.   In every action, we should show through what we do what we believe.  If we believe that this world belongs to God.. our actions should show that.   Do we?   Would all of us be environmentalists if we did?   Would we leave the lights on at night if we truly believed it all belonged to God?  Would we buy food based on taste alone? Or on both taste and sustainability?   Would we take our kids to see a movie that doesn't help them spiritually just because everyone else had seen it? 

What about you?  Are you prepared for him at any moment? Too many are out there looking for signs in the heavens, trying to predict the day he comes back... they want us to believe in a rapture that we need to be watching for.  They live in a panic, watching the news for this or that, stocking up to provide for those days they'll have to hide from governments etc... all of this belies what we should believe.  Rather we should get ready.  That is try to live a holy life, with frequent reception of the sacraments.  We should be ready.  Study to show ourselves approved.  Pray constantly, without ceasing.   Again, frequent reception of the sacraments!  Stay ready.  When we fall, and we will.. all of us fail at some point or another.. when we fail, we go back to Christ and start over.. we go to confession... did I mention frequent reception of the Sacraments? 

Just remember, not a single sparrow falls from the sky without God being aware of it... and you.. you are worth more than many sparrows.. you are worth dying for.  You are worth God coming down every single day to allow you to place him in your hands, receive him in your body, and be transformed through the Sacraments into the people he created us to be.   We have our chance to stand up to that tricky snake in the garden and say "hey back away from my spouse... I am a child of God and we won't let you trick us!"  Are you ready?

Get ready.  Be ready.  Stay ready.

In Christ, His servant, and yours,
Brian

The Problem With Sin

We hear it constantly.  People quote to us "judge not lest you be judged."   Their intention is that we should not judge anyone else's sin but rather let them live however they want, and they'll take it up with God later.  There are two flaws with this logic.  First and foremost, they stop quoting that passage where it is convenient.

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Matthew 7:1-5

Notice that it begins with admonishing people not to look at anyone else's sins when they are living in sin themselves.  Someone who is looking at pornography at night in his room alone should not be judging someone who they find out has been drunk the next day.  It also reminds us to judge with mercy, and kindness.   The 'measure we give will be the measure we get.'  If we judge harshly?  So will we be judged.  If we judge with great mercy and understanding?  So will we be judged.  That's an important note....

But the most important thing is that at the end of this verse Jesus tells us "then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."  What does that say?  It says that judging is something we must indeed do.  But as John reminds us, we are not to judge by appearance, but with righteous judgement.  Why?  Why would Jesus instruct us to judge others?  Isn't sin just a personal thing?  Isn't it between me and God alone?  After all David said "against you alone have I sinned."  

The thing to realize though is that we are Christians, and as such we have a theology of the Body of Christ.   We are one body.  Once we are baptized into Christ we are one living organism, one creation.   We are the Church.  St. Paul says it wonderfully when he compares us to body parts and

reflects that just because one body part says to the other "I don't have need of you" it doesn't remove the reality that it's still part of the body.

Think of sin as a cancer.  Cancers always start with one cell type.  They originate somewhere.  The lungs for instance.  Lung cancer is a horrible condition.  It tears the lungs apart first.   Yeah, if you are the lungs and I am the heart.. why do I care?  It's your cancer.  The problem with a cancer is it spreads.   It doesn't just remain in one spot.. but eventually if untreated, begins to eat away at the entire body.  In the south there is a saying for someone dying of cancer, "She's plumb eat up with it." It may have began with only one organ, one spot.. one member of the body.. but it hurts the entirety of it.  Eventually causing other parts of the body to be cancer riddled too until it tries to kill the body.

The second is that sin is never a private matter.  We may hide it.  We may do it behind closed doors.  We may only do it when no one else is around.   It still affects our lives.  It still changes us, and spreads.  Look at our society itself.  2000 years ago it was unheard of to be an adulterer.  Now we have entire reality shows dedicated to watching men and women cheat on each other.  The more sin we accept, the more it spreads, the more it draws society (and its members) toward death.  That's why Saint James tells us "confess your sins one to another."   I believe sincerely that is also why Jesus gave his apostles the power and authority to forgive sins.  Today we have confession, where that same authority is being used freely to forgive us when we fail; with the condition that we are trying to do better.  Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief.

Could have? Should have?

My wife and I were having a wonderfully deep conversation as I drove her in to work this morning
about the concepts of gluttony and sin, and how they could apply to diet cost and expenditure.  We then began to talk about the general judgement, what it might be like at the end of time when we all stand before Jesus and our lives are examined.  I've heard some say it might be like a big screen TV that all of the universe can see as our lives our played out, both good and bad.  While I think it will be beyond comprehension and beyond anything we can imagine or express in words, I began to wonder out loud in our conversation what it might be like indeed.

Imagine if not only your life played out, but superimposed over it was what could have been... no that's not the right word,not what could have been, but what SHOULD have been.  Those times when you did wrong and sinned, imagine if superimposed over that were what would have happened had you done what God was urging us to do instead.  The image of us stuffing our face in the middle of the night superimposed with the child that should have been fed instead.  The image of us stealing covered with the image of us giving generously of our time and talent.

All of this covered not with our emotions and thoughts at the time, but with the sorrow of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at our choices, and of the pain caused in the world by them.  How much different our lives might be if we were to think of each action as a prayer to God, thus "praying at all times without ceasing."

After my wife went into her work I began to play the divine office morning prayer as the sun was rising over the hills behind me, and this verse stuck out: Never let evil talk pass your lips; say only the good things men need to hear, things that will really help them. Do nothing that will sadden the Holy Spirit with whom you were sealed against the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, all passion and anger, harsh words, slander, and malice of every kind. In place of these, be kind to one another, compassionate, and mutually forgiving, just as God has forgiven you in Christ.

How appropriate.

The Eyes of a Child

The other day I was attacked by a ninja in my own home. I'm pretty sure that Dustin Gurntz had something to do with it, because I've  been told he's definitely the ninja. I had left the house to get our youngest off the bus and in the interim our other daughter devised an ambush. She gathered a large sloppy snow ball, and hid inside the house with it. As we walked in I began to take off my coat and smoosh.. upside the head with a big, cold wetness. I glared... I laughed... I giggled... then I warned.  "When you least expect it, I'll get you back."

For a few days she flinched when I'd walk past her waiting for the snow ball, or the tickled attack. I never gave it to her, I simply waited. Then tonight, she fell asleep on the couch.  You all know where this is going right? I did what my father would have done, what all of us men for generations do, I got a big bucket, filled it with snow and dumped it on her in her sleep.

It was priceless! For about 20 seconds.. till I heard a earthshaking, crying scream. It was coming from to her left, it wasn't even her crying. She was shaken of course, but she wasn't as torn and demolished as the young 6 year old girl standing next to her who informed me it wasn't funny for me to make Sarah cry. My daughter, my youngest child, stared at me tears streaming down her face.. looking at me as if I were a stranger.  My world was shattered. I had scared her. She trusted me to always do good, and here I was... being probably the worst example my children could have.

Later I apologized to Sarah for dumping the snow on her and made her a promise. I would never, ever do it again. Haley laughed and said but he didn't promise either of us!  I agreed, and we all went towards the car to go get some food. Moira asked me to stay inside with her while she switched to her boots and that's when it happened. That's when God spoke through my little girl to me, with eyes looking at me with wisdom beyond their years, she informed me of my error.

"Daddy, you know you promised Sarah you would never do it again. That means you promised all of us. God is inside each of us, and you promised God that you would never, ever do it again." How many times have I sat in a room with a prayer group and reminded them to try and see God in each person they meet? Yet until this morning it had never dawned on me that when I promise someone.. I'm not just making a promise to them, but to God.. and thereby to every person made in God's image as well. Goodness doesn't just stop with the individual.. it's a communion... a community.  Did Jesus have this in mind when he said make your yes, yes and your no, no?

She looked at me with those piercing eyes for what seemed like an eternity. Then she looked down at her shoes, and when she looked back up it was happy go lucky Moira, as she danced out there in her snow boots informing me, "And I'm glad that God made feet!"

In that small moment, that instance I was taught something that Jesus told us 2000 years ago, but a lesson we learn again and again.

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"  And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them,  and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me;  but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,  it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. 

Mathew 18:1-6

..

How often we allow our studies to make us feel important and powerful.   We study theology, we study the bible, we study psychology and sociology.   We then think we have figured out God... but simple truths, they are seen by 6 year old's when a bucket of snow is dropped on their sister... a 6 year old who reminds us that it's not funny... In a society where our television shows ask us to tease one another and play jokes on each other... she reminds me that I am to be good always.   That when I sin against one of these... I am sinning against God himself.

It brings a whole new meaning to that simple phrase that David penned in his anguish, many years before the birth of Jesus, doesn't it?

Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy steadfast love; according to thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.  Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!  For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in thy sight, so that thou art justified in thy sentence and blameless in thy judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.  Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.  Fill me with joy and gladness; let the bones which thou hast broken rejoice.  Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right* spirit within me.  Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.  Then I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners will return to thee.  Deliver me from bloodguiltiness,  O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of thy deliverance.  O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. 

Psalm 51:1-15

Just a little bad?

Dying flies spoil the sweetness of the ointment. Wisdom and glory is more precious than a small and shortlived folly. - Ecclesiastes 10:1

We as Christians often encourage our children to do the right thing. That's part of our vocation as parents. We are supposed to be teaching them right from wrong, and how to make the right choice. Yet, today's society seems to be teaching anything in moderation is OK. Is that really true?

When we teach our children about stealing, we tell them it's wrong. Should we tell them, but hey if you're going to steal.. make sure to do it with a mask on, and only steal things worth less than a certain amount so it's not a felony? Of course not that's absurd. We believe stealing is wrong, so we tell them not to steal at all.

When we teach our children about drugs, we tell them it's wrong. Should we then tell them, but if you're going to do drugs, make sure to use a clean syringe, or stick to safe things like Marijuana? Of course not. We tell them drugs are bad, and they should avoid them always.

When we teach our children about sex outside of marriage.. why then do we tell them, if you're going to do it, use a condom? We should be teaching them to not do it at all!  Why is it clear to us that telling them that when they do it, to take precautions not to do it too much? Isn't that in fact telling them that we expect them to do it anyway?

If we truly believe it's wrong to have sex outside of marriage, then we should be teaching abstinence, not 'birth control.'