Identification

August 11: Monday of Week 19 of Ordinary Time, Year A-II:

Ezekiel 1:2-5, 24-28; Psalm 148:1-2, 11-12, 13, 14; Matthew 17:22-27

Thoughts to help us surrender to Jesus expressing himself through us in ministry.

“Give it to them for you and me.” Matthew 17:27

Peter, afraid to stand up against the collectors, said that of course Jesus paid the temple tax. Jesus challenged him: “Do kings take payment from their children or from others?” When Peter said, “From others,” Jesus said, “Then the children are free.”

Then he told Peter to give them double: “for me and for you.” He was making two points:

First, Jesus didn’t need to pay the temple tax; it was his Father’s house.

Second, Peter (and every Christian) is identified with Jesus, with all the rights and privileges that belong to “sons and daughters of the Father.”

And all the obligations.

For example, Christians do not engage in ministry as employees or “volunteers.” As family members, we are just as obliged as Jesus was to be “about our Father’s business” (Luke 2:49). By Baptism we “became Christ.” We “presented our bodies as a living sacrifice to God” (Romans 12:1) to become Christ’s body, so that he might act with us, in us and through us in everything we do. Through anointing with chrism we are consecrated and committed to let Jesus continue his “messianic mission” in us as Prophet, Priest and King.

This means we minister in union with Jesus. Ministry is surrender to Jesus wanting to express himself through our words and actions. It is a mystical experience—of union with Jesus in action.

PRAY: “Lord, do this in me.”

PRACTICE: All day, be conscious of surrendering.

Listening

August 10: Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time:

1Kings 19:9, 11-13; Psalm 85:8, 10, 11-12, 13-14; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:22-32

   

Thoughts to help us surrender to Jesus expressing himself through us in ministry.

“A tiny whispering sound.” 1Kings 19:12

The readings are all about hearing God’s voice—that is, knowing God, because God reveals himself when he speaks.

God spoke to Elijah, not in the power of the hurricane, earthquake or forest fire, but in “a tiny whispering sound.” Some translations say, “a sound of sheer silence.”

The Psalm echoes this: “I will hear what God proclaims—for he proclaims peace… steadfast love and faithfulness.”

God’s voice was in Paul’s “constant anguish of heart” that made him almost wish to be himself “cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people,” if it would bring about their conversion. This was the voice of self-sacrificing love in response to the persecution that eventually killed him.

God spoke most eloquently and definitively in Jesus as he was nailed to the cross: “Father, forgive them….” (Luke 23:34).

God’s words reveal a God of gentleness, peace, “steadfast love and faithfulness”; of forgiveness even as he is being put to death.

We hear his voice when our hearts are listening to silence. We may be in turmoil, tossed about by wind and waves, but when Jesus speaks, it will be with a quiet voice: “Take courage, it is I” (literally, “I AM”—ego eimi—the words he used in John 8:58: “Before Abraham was, I am” (see Exodus 3:14).   

God is all power. He is most clearly revealed in its absence.

PRAY: “Lord, let me hear your voice.”

PRACTICE: Learn to listen to silence.

Defeatable Demons

August 9: Saturday of Week 18 of Ordinary Time, Year A-II:

Habakkuk 1:12-2:4; Psalm 9:8-9, 10-11, 12-13; Matthew 17:14-2

Thoughts to help us surrender to Jesus expressing himself through us in ministry.

“Why could we not drive it out?” Matthew 17:19

Jesus gave his disciples power to “cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast out demons.” That was a power they “received without payment” and were to “give without payment” (Matthew 10:8).

But to exorcise some demons, they would have to pay a price. When they could not drive out one who was casting a boy “into fire and water, to destroy him” Jesus said that kind could not be driven out “except by prayer and fasting.”

To cast out the demons of greed and violence that are destroying our civilization takes a national conversion of mind, through deep prayer; and of heart, through detachment (fasting) from affluence and power. If we Christians cannot bring this about through our ministry, it is just a matter of time before our society self-destructs.

 The conversion has to begin with ourselves. This gives us a goal to aim at.

Francis said in The Joy of the Gospel (84): “The evils of our world – and those of the Church – must not be excuses for diminishing our commitment… Divine Providence is leading us to a new order of human relations… directed to the fulfillment of God’s higher and un-hoped-for designs. Everything, even human setbacks, leads to the greater good of the Church.”

We can cast out the demons. We just have to have faith “the size of a mustard seed.”

PRAY: “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.”

PRACTICE: Dream the impossible dream.

Death Fulfills the Promise

August 8: Friday of Week 18 of Ordinary Time, Year A-II:

Nahum 2:1, 3; 3:1-3, 6-7; Canticle: Deuteronomy 32:35-36, 39, 41; Matthew 16:24-28

Thoughts to help us surrender to Jesus expressing himself through us in ministry.

“Never again shall the wicked invade you; he is utterly cut off.” Nahum 1:15 or 2:1

Promises, promises… In truth, Israel was invaded again repeatedly—and is inviting destruction today by relying totally on force and retaliation instead of on God.

And we ourselves are invaded constantly by bad desires and thoughts. Jesus says we won’t be delivered unless we accept to “lose our lives.”

We did that when we accepted to die with and in Christ at Baptism. Then all of our sins—past, present and future—were “taken away,” annihilated when we went down into the grave with him and rose as a “new creation” (Romans 6:3; 2Corinthians 5:17).

But the physical results of sin, including the attitudes and inclinations “programmed” into us by our infected culture, will not disappear until we say “Yes” to dying physically. That “Yes,” in which we surrender ourselves to death in total faith, hope and love, is our final purification.

Then in unqualified truth, “Never again shall the wicked invade us.” Everything evil will be “utterly cut off.” We will have “life to the full” in total union with God.

In the meantime we give and receive ministry in hope. We keep our eyes on the “end time,” when we will “know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,” and “be filled with all the fullness of God.”

That is the mantra that motivates our ministry.

PRAY: “Lord, deliver us from evil.”

PRACTICE: Die to yourself through love.

The Interior Life

August 7: Thursday of Week 18 of Ordinary Time, Year A-II:

Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51:12-13, 14-15, 18-19; Matthew 16:13-23

Thoughts to help us surrender to Jesus expressing himself through us in ministry.

“I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts.” Jeremiah 31:33

All our senses are trained outwards—to see, hear, taste, smell, touch what is outside of us or comes to us from outside.

But there are “interior senses” also. We can “see” what is in our minds and hearts, and “hear” what God or his Spirit is saying to us. We can “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). “Wisdom” is defined as “a taste for spiritual things.” We speak of the “odor of sanctity,” and Paul calls us the “aroma of Christ,” who “spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him” (2Corinthians 2:14). We are “touched” by things that move our hearts; we call them “touching.”

All this says we can know, be aware of, truth and goodness that are inside of us, and recognize them by our interior reactions. If we pay attention to our hearts.

God promised he would “place his law within us, and write it upon our hearts.” If we listen to our hearts, we will not believe those who interpret God’s laws in a way that makes him a monster. Or think keeping all the laws makes us Christian when our hearts are crying for “more.”

And in dealing with others we will let our hearts speak in our words and actions. This is ministry.

PRAY: “Lord, speak to my heart.”

PRACTICE: Listen to your heart. Be aware of feelings.

The Vision

August 6: Feast of the Transfiguration  

Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14; Psalm 97:1-2, 5-6, 9; 2Peter 1:16-19; Matthew 17:1-9

Thoughts to help us surrender to Jesus expressing himself through us in ministry.

“The mountains melt like wax before the Lord.” Psalm 97:5

The essence of “Fear of the Lord” is proportion. Imagine fear without the emotion of fright. What is left? Perspective. How great, powerful, good, wise, loving God is compared to us. This “Fear of the Lord” gives joy, hope, confidence, encouragement. God is great beyond all imagining. And he is on our side.

What the disciples got on the mountain was a glimpse of Jesus in his glory. Later, when they felt fear of human beings, when the obstacles to their ministry seemed insurmountable, or the weight of their own sins and weakness was crushing them, all they had to do was remember the vision. The answer to all their problems was, “Jesus is Lord.”

“The mountains melt like wax before the Lord.” All fears, obstacles, problems and preoccupations “melt like wax” before the vision of what Jesus really is; what he is able to do for us, wants to do for us, is doing for us, whether we see it or not. In the awareness of who and what Jesus is, all mountains are reduced to molehills.

Jesus rose from the dead. He conquered sin and death. He said, “In me you may have peace… I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). He is God the Son. His Father is our Father. His Spirit is enlightening, empowering the hearts of all who believe.

PRAY: “Lord, it is good you are here.”

PRACTICE: Keep him in the picture.

False Judgments

August 5: Tuesday of Week 18 of Ordinary Time, Year A-II:

Jeremiah 30:1-2, 12-15, 18-22; Psalm 102:16-21, 29, 22-23; Matthew 15:1-2, 10-14

Thoughts to help us surrender to Jesus expressing himself through us in ministry.

“Not what enters, but what comes out of the mouth defiles.” Matthew 15:11

Some Pharisees and scribes asked Jesus, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands when they eat a meal.”

Big deal. The same critics needed to “clean up their act” more than to wash their hands. Jesus said the filth that matters is in the heart: “evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.”

Later (chapter 23) he went into what corrupted the Pharisees’ hearts: keeping details and externals of the law, but neglecting “justice and mercy and faith.” Laying heavy burdens on the shoulders of others; loving places of honor at banquets and titles of respect: all we summarize as “legalism, clericalism and triumphalism.” They were blind to the distortion in their hearts.

Pope Francis condemns the “spiritual worldliness” of those who “trust only in their own powers and feel superior to others because they observe certain rules or remain intransigently faithful to a particular Catholic style from the past. A supposed soundness of doctrine or discipline leads instead to a narcissistic and authoritarian elitism. Instead of evangelizing, they evaluate and label others. Instead of opening the door to grace, they put all their energy into controlling... They are not really concerned about Jesus Christ or others” (Joy of the Gospel, 94).

Ministry is heart to heart.

PRAY: “Lord, show me my heart.”

PRACTICE: Look in more than out.

False Confidence

August 4: Monday of Week 18 of Ordinary Time, Year A-II:

Jeremiah 28:1-17; Psalm 119:29, 43, 79, 80, 95, 102; Matthew 14:22-36

Thoughts to help us surrender to Jesus expressing himself through us in ministry.

“You made this people trust in a lie.” Jeremiah 28:15

Where would you feel more secure: holding tight to your seat in a boat, even in a storm, or jumping out into twelve-foot high waves because a voice that might have come from Jesus invites you to walk on the water?

Scared Christians resist change. People who seek security in stability (aka rigidity; aka legalism, clericalism and triumphalism) are still fighting against the reforms Vatican II called for. They persecute innovators and abhor the thought of an innovative Holy Spirit. They prefer stagnation to challenge any day. When Jesus, attacked by the Pharisees,  called for “fresh wineskins” for the “new wine” he came to give, they killed him for it (read Mark 2:14 to 3:6).

Pope Francis wrote in The Joy of the Gospel (49): “My hope is that we will be moved less by the fear of going astray, and more by the fear of remaining shut up within structures that give us a false sense of security, within rules which make us harsh judges, within habits which make us feel safe, while at our door people are starving and Jesus does not tire of saying to us: ‘Give them something to eat.’”

Jesus said, “If you love me, feed my sheep!” (John 21:17) Ministers keep looking for more effective ways to do that. Pharisees cling to the status quo.

PRAY: “Lord, make me an instrument of your love.”

PRACTICE: Keep asking: “How does this nurture people?”

Feed the Hungry—And Those Who Should be

August 3: Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time:

Isaiah 55:1-3; Psalm 145:8-9, 15-16, 17-18; Romans 8:35, 37-39; Matthew 14:13-21

Thoughts to help us surrender to Jesus expressing himself through us in ministry.

“All you who are thirsty, come.” Isaiah 55:1

There should never be hunger on earth. There are enough resources to feed everyone, if we were all as concerned about the whole human race as about our own families. Faith in God the Father tells us we are all one family. We forget that.

We should be even more concerned to feed those who hunger for God; especially those who do not know they do. An authentically human life cannot survive on bread alone. Now that the Bread of heaven is available on earth, those indifferent to it are not in touch with the insatiable hunger of their own hearts.

How can we help them?

First, be so different they approach you with questions.

Second, observe people. Ask indiscreet questions. Find out who is searching and who isn’t but ought to be.

Third, intervene. Offer unsolicited advice (like “Stop!” before someone runs into a car). Lend a book. Invite a friend to Mass. Pray with someone in trouble. Talk about God as predictably as others show you pictures on their smartphone.

What passes for discretion is really indifference. And fear. Just extend the boundaries of “politically correct” inquiries. What would you ignore in your sister? Are you your brother’s keeper? Already asked and answered.

PRAY: “Lord, let me give them something to eat.”

PRACTICE: Watch Jesus at Mass giving himself to people in Communion. Be his “eucharistic minister” to everyone you meet.

The Mystery of Ministry

August 2: Saturday of Week 17 of Ordinary Time, Year A-II:

Jeremiah 26:11-16, 24; Psalm 69:15-16, 30-31, 33-34; Matthew 14:1-2

Thoughts to help us surrender to Jesus expressing himself through us in ministry.

“In truth it was the Lord who sent me to you.” Jeremiah 26:15

Ministry is an experience of union with God.

First, because ministry is often so disappointing and dangerous that, to persevere, we need the support of knowing, “in truth it was the Lord who sent me.”

More deeply, we know God never just “sends” us. We minister as Christ’s living body on earth. He ministers with us, in us, and through us. If not, there is no point in getting out of bed.

When Jesus sent out his disciples, he told them, “Go make disciples of all nations… And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the world.” The name God gave him—Emmanuel—means “God with us.”

The soul of ministry is to let Jesus express himself in and through our physical words and actions. This is the mystery that makes ministry a “mystical experience.”

By faith we share in God’s own act of knowing. By expressing our faith we let God share his truth with others as he did in Jesus: in human words and actions. When God’s words are made flesh in us, the “Word made flesh” is visibly among us.

It is Christ’s love, made flesh in our actions, that comforts the afflicted, drives out demons, heals wounds in the sinning and sinned against, and gives “life to the full.”

PRAY: “Lord, be with me. Let me be with you.”

PRACTICE: Speak and act consciously as Jesus.