Sow Hope With Hope

Sow Hope With Hope

Wednesday: Sixteenth Week of the Year: July 20, 2016

Year II: Jeremiah 1: 1-10; Psalm 71:1-17; Matthew 13:1-9

The Responsorial Psalm alerts us to look for hope in Jeremiah, whom we will read for the next two weeks: “I will sing of your salvation” (Psalm 71).

Jeremiah 1: 1-10 first calls Jeremiah himself to have confidence as God’s minister: “Have no fear… because I am with you…. See, I place my words in your mouth!” But the call to confidence also extends to us. Jeremiah is sent, not just to “root up and to tear down,” but above all “to build and to plant.” Ministry from God is always a ministry of promise, a ministry that gives hope based on confidence, not in what we can do, but in what God intends to do.

Typically, the role of the prophets was to identify the cause of whatever diminishment of life and happiness the people had brought on themselves (and the cause was always a failure to believe and follow God’s words) but also, out of their divinely-inspired knowledge of God’s steadfast love and fidelity, to give hope with the promise of deliverance. “Repentance” in the Scriptures is a joyful word, because the call to repentance is always accompanied by the promise of the gift of a new level and richness of life that only God can give. This is what every Christian minister should keep in mind when calling people to change.

Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed … A new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.¹

In Matthew 13: 1-9 Jesus says his words are like seeds sown to give life a “hundred or sixty or thirty-fold.” The power of God is in his words. Jesus said it: “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” And the early Christians referred to his teaching as “the word of life.”²

But God does not save us unilaterally. We have to cooperate. The survival and fruitfulness of the seed — even of God’s word — depends on the kind of ground that receives it. We need to keep this in mind as ministers: not just to avoid becoming discouraged with ourselves, but also to remind us to teach people how to prepare their hearts to hear God speaking to them, and how to make his words bear fruit in their lives. The attitudes and values implanted by the “beaten path” of culture, often unrecognized, can make us impervious to Jesus’ words. Listening only superficially, without deep thought, can keep his seeds of life from taking root. Attachment to the passing but present gratifications of this world can choke out our initial responses. As workers in Christ’s vineyard we have to break ground, water and hoe to make the environment in which we minister “rich soil” as well as sow seed.

Initiative: Give God’s life: Be a “priest in the Priest.” Without discouragement keep “singing of salvation.”

Footnotes:

¹Ezekiel 18:31; 36:26.    

²John 6:63; Philippians 2:16; 1John 1:11.

“Christ in You: The Hope of Glory”

“Christ in You: The Hope of Glory”

Friday, June 24,  2016

Feast of the Birth of John the Baptizer.

Isaiah 49:1-6; Psalm 139:1-15; Acts 13:22-26; Luke 1:57-80

What Isaiah 49:1-6 says of the prophet, the Scripture also says of John the Baptizer” “The LORD called me before I was born, while I was in my mother’s womb he named me.” Before John was conceived the angel Gabriel told him, “Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.”

God said Isaiah would be “my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” And the angel said of John, “He will be great in the sight of the Lord… even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God… to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:13-17).

Don’t we wish God would say this of someone today? Someone who would be raised up to renew the Church, bring back all the lapsed Catholics, and shine as a “light to the nations,” to bring salvation “to the ends of the earth”?

That person is, in fact, alive on earth today: a human being, doing just what God promised. It is Jesus Christ in his human body, speaking human words today that are divine, doing human things today that are divine, achieving human results today that are divine. It is Jesus alive, present and active in his risen body on earth, the Church. It is Jesus present in you.

The name “John” comes from the Hebrew name Yochanan, meaning “Yahweh is gracious.” We begin almost every Mass recalling “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” given to each and all of us. That “grace” is the “favor of sharing in the divine life of God.” We have “become Christ.” Jesus is continuing to save the world by acting with, in and through us. The Responsorial (Psalm 139) should echo constantly in our hearts: “I praise you for I am wonderfully made” — and remade by dying and rising with Christ in Baptism.

In Acts 13:22-26 Paul quotes John saying to those who were overawed by him, “I am not the one you imagine me to be. He is coming after me, and I am not fit to undo his sandal.” Jesus said, “among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptizer; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Matthew 11:11). What we are by grace is more than anything people perceived in John (although he also was “in the kingdom” by the grace not yet revealed). We are chosen to “bear fruit” like branches on a vine. And the vine is Jesus himself (John 15:1-16). The life and power of Jesus himself is active in us.

But we must do our part. Luke 1: 57-80 tells us John “lived out in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel.” John was not a man “in soft robes.” Those are “in royal palaces.” He came as a prophet. His lifestyle made his message credible. If we want to minister effectively as priests we have to “raise eyebrows” as prophets by our lifestyle.

Initiative: Give God’s life: Be inspired to witness as a prophet and bear fruit as a priest.

Prophets of Dynamism or Doom

Prophets of Dynamism or Doom

Thursday: Twelfth Week of the Year: June 23, 2016

Year II: 2Kings: 24:8-17; Psalm 79:1-9; Matthew 7:21-29

The Responsorial Psalm vividly describes the invasion and destruction of God’s holy city. Still it encourages us to keep praying, “For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us” (Psalm 79).

2Kings 24: 8-17 records the beginning of the end for Jerusalem and Judah — at least until the end of the Babylonian exile.

Jehoiachin became king of Judah, but “he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, just as his father had done.” The predictable took place: King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon besieged Jerusalem, took Jehoiachin prisoner, and carried off all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and “all Jerusalem,” all the officials, all the warriors, ten thousand captives, all the artisans and the smiths; no one remained, except the poorest people of the land.

When we see the history of God’s People in “fast forward,” we wonder that they could be so stupid! Every time they abandon the way God taught them, they bring disaster on themselves. But they never seem to learn.

Before we get too judgmental, we should ask what we ourselves have learned — as individuals and as a nation. Do we clearly see that by pursuing the false values and shortsighted goals of our culture we are destroying ourselves and the way of life we cherish? Do we see greed and unrestrained indulgence as unpatriotic? Do we call government cover-ups, “spin,” and foreign policies of exploitation and violence acts of treason that betray the common good of the nation? Do we know that prosperity and peace are unattainable over the long run without observance of God’s law? If not, we are as blind to the lessons of history as the Jews were.

God sent prophets to warn his People. Has he sent Pope Francis to us to warn us against the abandonment of utopian dreams for our society? Utopian dreams are the only ones that are realistic if we want to survive.

The just distribution of the fruits of the earth and human labor is not mere philanthropy. It is a moral obligation. If we want to rethink our society, we need to create dignified and well-paying jobs, especially for our young people.

To do so requires coming up with new, more inclusive and equitable economic models, aimed not at serving the few, but at benefiting ordinary people and society as a whole. This calls for moving from… an economy directed at revenue, profiting from speculation and lending at interest, to a social economy that invests in persons by creating jobs and providing training…an economy that guarantees access to land and lodging through labor…

I dream of a Europe:

• that is young, still capable of being a mother: a mother who has life because she respects life and offers hope for life.
• that cares for children, that offers fraternal help to the poor and those newcomers seeking acceptance because they have lost everything and need shelter.
• that is attentive to and concerned for the infirm and the elderly, lest they be simply set aside as useless.
• where being a migrant is not a crime but a summons to greater commitment on behalf of the dignity of every human being.
• where young people breathe the pure air of honesty, where they love the beauty of a culture and a simple life undefiled by the insatiable needs of consumerism,
• where getting married and having children is a responsibility and a great joy, not a problem due to the lack of stable employment.
• of families, with truly effective policies concentrated on faces rather than numbers, on birth rates more than rates of consumption.
• that promotes and protects the rights of everyone, without neglecting its duties towards all.

I dream of a Europe of which it will not be said that its commitment to human rights was its last utopia.

(Address when receiving the Charlemagne Prize, 6 May 2016).

In Matthew 7: 21-29 Jesus warns us: “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand…. It fell — and great was its fall!”

Does that make us read and reflect on God’s word as if the quality of our lives depended on it? Does it makes us want to minister to others like rescue workers after a hurricane or during a flood? Do we really believe that if we love others and want them to be happy, the best thing we can do for them is teach them to know and love God? Do we even minister to our own children this way, convinced this is more important than providing them with a money-making education?

If we are failing, the Scripture still encourages us to pray, “For the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us.”

Initiative: Give God’s life: Be a “priest in the Priest.” Offer people what they really need for happiness.

FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION: ELEVENTH WEEK OF THE YEAR

FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION: 

ELEVENTH WEEK OF THE YEAR

The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:38 to 6:34):  Jesus teaches us that the only power that accomplishes lasting good on earth is the power of unconditional love.

Invitation:

Jesus saved the world as Priest by accepting to be Victim and “enduring evil with love.” He invites all who want to minister with him to do the same. This is what it means to “take up your cross.”

Our faith: How many of these statements do you believe? And live?

Matthew 5:38-42: To “endure evil with love” is the most shocking command in the New Law. But it is the love we must strive to embody in Christian ministry, because he world is not saved by ordinary human goodness, but only by God’s own incomprehensible love active on earth.

Matthew 5:43-48: Jesus’ New Law is that we must set no more limits on our forgiveness of others than God sets on his forgiveness of us.

To have “mercy” on all, we must be willing to love, forgive and help every person on earth unconditionally “out of a sense of relationship.” Because God does, and we are God’s children.

Matthew 6: 1-18: To know that God is my God, and not just the God of my religion,” it is not enough to keep all the Church’s rules and observances. I have to express my faith in personal choices that are not just what “everybody does.”

If we only do what we are “supposed to do” as Christians we do not know Christ, because servants do what they are supposed to do, but friends act out of union of mind and heart with their friend.

Matthew 6: 7-15: The secret to praying well is to make Jesus’ priorities the priorities of our own hearts. Jesus did not give us the Our Father as a formula of words to be memorized, but as an interior stance of the heart to be cultivated.

Matthew 6: 19-23: The way Jesus reigns on earth is not through force, using the powers of this world, but through the power of truth and love alone.

Matthew 6: 24-34: “No one can serve two masters.” Any dividedness in the goal toward which we direct our lives is like a crack in a wall that can bring down the whole structure of our faith.

Decisions:

Be guided in ministry by Jesus’ words to Peter: “If you love me, feed my sheep!”

In every encounter you have with every person, let Christ express his love through you. Give life through love.

See More Than You See

See More Than You See

 Wednesday: Ninth week of the Year

June 1, 2016

Mark 12:18-27, 2 Timothy 1:1-12; Psalm 123:1-2.

The first of the last three hostile questions Jesus is asked in Mark’s Gospel before his passion dealt with the Christian stance toward government. The proper concern of the state is to protect and promote the common good of all its citizens on this earth. And Christians’ conscientious participation in this endeavor should give a special character to all our activities and relationships in this world.

The second question raises the issue of life after death. If there is none or, as Plato observed, if there is no God, then the highest of all human occupations is to seek the greatest good for the greatest number through politics. But if life has a higher ceiling than that, we need to know it. So we are interested when “some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and asked him a question.”

Not believing in resurrection, angels or spirits (Acts 23:8), the Sadducees could not believe in much of an after life. “Less devout than the Pharisees and more politically-minded” (Bible of Jerusalem, Matthew 3:7 note), they were the priestly aristocracy. Not surprising. Those who live for this world frequently rise high in it.

Their question, meant only to make resurrection look ridiculous, was about seven brothers married successively to the same woman. “In the resurrection whose wife will she be?”

Jesus just told them they didn’t have a clue about what life after death was like. “You know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.” When people rise from the dead they don’t pair off in marriages. They “are like angels in heaven” — not, we should note, because they don’t have bodies, but because they are not limited by them.

Is that a clear answer? No. What it does make clear is that there are some things beyond human comprehension, and if we are interested in truth we should seek it without restricting it to what we see. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9). Paul said of heaven, “No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1Corinthians 2:9).

Do we really think God enters into relationship with persons on this earth, just to let them drop into non-existence after a few years? Simply giving them life is already a covenant. Jesus said God is “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob [add names you know]. He is God not of the dead, but of the living.” We know that.

Initiative: Give God’s life: Open your eyes. Myopic, yes, but what you see reveals what you don’t.  

A Matter of Focus

A Matter of Focus

 Monday: Ninth week of the Year    May 30, 2016

Mark 12:1-12. Year II: 2Peter 1:2-7; Psalm 91:1-16.

After the confrontation in the temple, Mark’s Gospel presents one hostile confrontation after another between Jesus and his enemies. We are approaching the end, when Jesus will come into his glory by being crucified.

Jesus now presents another parable. Mark specifies that he is “addressing the chief priests, scribes and elders,” the power structure of Israel, the same ones who “were seeking a way to put him to death” (11:18).

Up to now Mark has reported three parables, all concerned with the sowing and growth of the Kingdom (4:3, 26, 31). This one is about active resistance to the Kingdom, still presented as a living, growing thing: a vineyard.

The parable is about a man who “planted a vineyard, put a fence around it… then he leased it to tenants and went to another country.” He sent one servant after another to them to collect his share of the produce, but they rejected them. “Some they beat; others they killed.” Finally the owner sent his “beloved son,” saying, “They will respect my son.” But they didn’t: they killed him too, thinking “This is the heir… the inheritance will be ours.” So Jesus asks, “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others.”

But the real point of Jesus’ teaching is not the defeat of his enemies. It is the victory of God. He turns to the promise of Scripture: “The stone rejected by the builders has become the keystone of the structure.” Jesus is experiencing rejection. He is going to be killed. But the new temple he has spoken of (see Friday above, 11:17, 20) is going to replace the old, and he will be its cornerstone. Instead of looking at his human enemies and what they are doing in the present, he looks at God and how things will be when he has finished his work: “It was the Lord who did it, and we find it marvelous to behold.”

Imagine yourself camped out with Jesus and the Twelve at this time, sleeping next to him. You are worried by the way things are developing. You hear Jesus stirring and you ask him: “Are you awake? What is going to happen?” He answers, “They are going to kill me; probably very soon, during Passover.”

How would you feel? How would you think Jesus was feeling? How could he sleep? How could you?

We know the answer. He gave it when the plot began: “Have faith in God” (11:22). Just trust.

Initiative: Give God’s life: Change your focus. When worried, look up and ahead, not just around.

Silence Is A Sign Of Death

Silence Is A Sign Of Death

Saturday: Eighth week of the Year            May 28, 2016

Mark 11:27-33. Year I: Sirach 51:12-20; Psalm 19:8-11; Year II: Jude 17:20-25; Psalm 63:2-6.

This reading teaches us a very important lesson: Jesus cannot deal with people who refuse to enter into dialogue.

The “chief priests, scribes and elders” ask Jesus a legitimate question. He has just thrown out the merchants they allowed in the temple. They demand, “By what authority are you doing this?”

Jesus knows they are closed to the answer, so he tries to help them get in touch with their own hearts: “Was John’s baptism of divine origin, or was it merely human? Answer my question, and I will answer yours.”

They got in touch with their hearts, and fast. They realized, “If we say ‘divine,’ he will ask, ‘Then why did you not put faith in it?” But they knew that if they said, “Merely human,” the crowd might turn on them, because the people “all regarded John as a true prophet.” So they took the coward’s way, and knew with crystal clarity they were doing it: They answered, “We do not know.”

Jesus made them face the fact that they were insincere. In thinking how to answer him they didn’t ask what was true, or even what they themselves deeply thought was true. They were not looking for truth and never had been, even when listening to John. All they were trying to do was defend their position — their power, their prestige, the status quo of doctrine that called nothing of theirs into question. So they refused to discuss the issue.

And in response, so did Jesus. He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

Every teacher and preacher in the Church who openly asks what authentic Catholic doctrine is meets the same opposition. Sometimes it is from authorities blindly defending the status quo. Sometimes from the perennial “Pharisee party” who cling to the simple and static religion of uncontextualized rules and unexamined catechism answers. If asked whether a rule, observed to the letter under particular circumstances, will “do good or evil” (3:4), they refuse to answer. They are not interested in the intention of the lawgiver or the mind of the Church. Nor do they want to know the source or limits or direction of the Church’s current teaching. Stagnancy serves their purpose and they cling to it. Even Jesus cannot talk to them.

The Good News is that eventually Jesus wins. At first the prophets are stoned. But eventually the “pilgrim Church” catches up with them.

Initiative: Give God’s life: Distinguish between the teaching of the Church and teaching in the Church.