“And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Lk 11:9).

There is a challenge to prayer and that is our pride and self-centered stance. We can be frustrated in prayer because when we do make the time to pray, we feel or think that nothing is happening or has happened. We may pray for a specific petition for our self, or for a particular intention for another and felt, or thought, that there was not an answer from God. One may pray a sincere, seemingly selfless prayer for a loved one, a child, a spouse, a friend, to be healed and the person still dies. They may be deeply hurt because they did what Jesus said; they asked, they pleaded and begged, but felt they did not receive the healing; that which they sought for, was not given and, instead what they found was nothing but pain and heartache from the loss; they knocked until their knuckles were raw and experienced no one on the other side.

Our attitude and orientation to prayer matters. When we sincerely turn our heart and mind to God in prayer, something happens between us and God, though it may be beyond our cognitive grasp to understand or our sensory awareness to experience. There may indeed be emotional high’s and consolations experienced in prayer, but if seeking those is the primary motivation for prayer we will find ourselves more frustrated than not. There may also be lows in prayer, dryness, even desolations, and even feeling God’s absence are also possible. Emotions are fleeting and not a good barometer when measuring the effectiveness for prayer.

Another big misconception is when we pray to God as if he were a gumball machine. It may seem a silly analogy, but how many of us really do pray and only pray that way, and when we do not receive the specific thing we asked for, at the specific time specified, when we wanted and as we wanted, we brood and think God doesn’t care or does not, in fact, even exist. We may even slip into the barter posture. God if you grant me this, I will do that. If we are only open to receive what we want on our terms, again we are setting ourselves up for frustration.

The primary orientation, the primary foundation of prayer is that of accepting an invitation to be in relationship with God. Our very desire to pray, of turning our hearts and minds to God, is an answer to him who reaches out to us. The answer to what or who we ask, seek, and knock is found at the end of the Gospel reading for today: “If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Lk 11:13)?

God knows what is best for us, he sees our potential, he wants us to experience joy and be fulfilled. How can we best live our lives in this world to attain that reality? We do so by receiving the Holy Spirit. Who is the Holy Spirit? The infinite, communal love expressed between God the Father and God the Son. Our goal in prayer is to enter into God’s reality of infinite Love. Through building a relationship with God, participating in his very life, we come to see the truth of empty promises, apparent goods, substitutes to fill our emptiness and faulty defense mechanisms that we have been utilizing as guideposts to merely survive and get through life.

In aligning ourselves with the Holy Spirit, we can then begin to conform our lives to that which is True, that which is Good, and that which is Beautiful. Our true barometer of whether something is happening in prayer or not, is if our life is changing. Are we beginning to bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit in our lives which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control (cf. Galatians 5:22-23)?

Why may God not appear to answer a prayer for our healing or for a loved one with a chronic condition or one who had to be taken too soon? I do not know. But we need to resist running from the pain of loss and be willing to trust that God has not abandoned us but is with us as we spend time in prayer. Our tears can then become a healing salve, a doorway into the open arms and embrace of Jesus who awaits us in the depth of our grief and pain. Our loved ones who have died have not come to an end, but have experienced a new beginning with our loving God and Father, which we may get a foretaste of when we become still enough. There have been many who have been graced by after death encounters.

Ultimately, what we ask, what we seek, and what we knock for when we pray is to be loved, to belong, to be a part of something, someone greater than ourselves. We have been created as a living, craving hunger and desire to be one with God and one another. This is true for the atheist and the mystic alike. We have been created to be loved and to love.

The Holy Spirit, the love shared between the Father and the Son, is the gift of prayer that is open to us all. He is the answer to our prayer, though sometimes to be aware, takes perseverance. It may not be that God is not answering, but that we are not listening, or not hearing, or needing time to mature, to send our roots deeper into the depth of our soul. We may be needing time to heal or to build trust; to receive, and recognize his presence, his answer, his guidance. It may also be that sometimes God answers us with silence.

Photo credit from pixabay.com praying hands

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, October 11, 2018:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/101118.cfm

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him,”Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples” (Lk 11:1).

Jesus’ response to the disciple’s question is what we typically call the Lord’s Prayer or the Our Father. The longer and more common version are paralleled in Matthew 6:9-13. The Lord’s Prayer provides for us two basic ways to pray this prayer: as a rote prayer and as a model of prayer.

Rote prayers are those prayers that we memorize word for word. The value in rote prayer is that when we have memorized them, it gives us a good starting point for prayer. How many times do we sit down to pray and not even know where to begin? Starting with the Our Father shows us a way to lift our hearts and mind to God in prayer. Also, during times of stress, anxiety, or trial, having rote prayers at the ready, when we are not able to focus our mind, gives us a natural rhythm that we can access and slow ourselves down. The more we can then be mindful of the words we are saying, adding slow and deep breathes, matched with their familiarity, will assist us in bringing a calm and collected manner which we have experienced in the past having prayed these prayers over and over before during less anxious times. It is a calm alternative to feeding a mental storm that seeks to undo us.

Rote prayers are also beneficial when we pray with others. When we gather for worship or fellowship, or with two or more, praying the Lord’s Prayer is a wonderful place to begin. This is where we can pray together no matter the age gap with one voice. This is the same prayer that the Apostles prayed, all the saints as well as Christians throughout the ages up until this day.

I have fond memories of my grandfather leading us in the Our Father before Sunday meals, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, or Easter dinners. When I pray the Our Father, I can often hear his voice, his laugh, how he called me Sergie. As I type these words, I can feel him with me and I could write on and on with the memories flooding in, let loose just from reciting the first few words, “Our Father, who art in heaven…”!

Even with a minimalist approach, just saying the words without being attentive to them, can bring some solace. There are worse things we could be saying without thinking. Though the Our Father can also draw us deeper. The practice of praying the Our Father we can apply easily to other rote prayers, like the Hail Mary, Come Holy Spirit, the Jesus Prayer and many others.

The Lord’s Prayer with its root in Sacred Scripture, can also be a key to open the door to a deeper communion with God. As a model of prayer, we pray the prayer slowly, then stop at a word or phrase and then speak freely. Here are a few examples. “Our Father, thank you for this moment that we have to spend together.” From there we can enter into a conversation with God, as we would with our parent, sharing the joys as well as the struggles we are going through. This could take two or twenty minutes or more and we have only recited two words!

“Hallowed be thy name. God you are holy, majestic, so beyond my understanding. How can you be so distant from me, yet you know me better than I know myself?” Again, from there we just enter into a dialogue. We can then, with the first or second phrase go into prayers of petition, bringing our needs before our loving Father. We can offer prayers of intercession, praying for the needs of others with the Holy One who is Love. We can also continue our conversation or just quietly pause and rest silently in the loving presence of our God and Father. We can continue to take each part of the prayer and do the same, there are infinite possibilities to explore.

I invite you today to pray the Our Father as if for the first time, slowly embracing each word. Another opportunity is to allow memories to emerge from times praying this prayer with others. Maybe reach out beyond yourself and pray the Our Father imagining yourself sitting next to Jesus, or someone living in another state, or country, or who has left this physical plane of existence, like my grandfather, that we know and is now where we too will be. Pray the Our Father with someone you seek to forgive or seek forgiveness from, pray for reconciliation and healing.

Create a quiet place for yourself with a picture, a cross or crucifix, a candle, rosary beads, pictures of those you would like to be closer to, whatever sacramental object helps you to turn your heart and mind to God in prayer, then take a deep breathe, say, “Our Father,” and let God happen!

Photo: My maternal grandfather, Bernard Morcus, just about to lead us in the Our Father before a Thanksgiving meal.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, October 10, 2018:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/101018.cfm

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her” (Lk 10:41-42).

Many deacons get to enjoy fuller and more in depth discussions regarding this reading than do priests, as many of us are married and the greater majority of priests are not. My wife JoAnn and I have had a few spirited exchanges on this Gospel each time it arises. A possible reason is that at first reading it may appear that Jesus is not showing any empathy and regard for not only Martha’s gift of hospitality, but also all the work she is doing while all the men are sitting around listening to Jesus with Mary doing the same, and who is left to do all the work – Martha.

It is not only deacon’s wives who carry extra weight and burdens in support on the home front to allow their husbands the time to serve, (Just the time it takes for me to write this daily post is less time I am spending with JoAnn or less time that I have to devote to the needs of our home) but many wives who are full time homemakers, run in home businesses, or carry a job outside the home, as well as caring for the children, overseeing the bills, the day to day grind, find themselves at times, rightly so, underappreciated, undervalued, and not respected for all they do.

To all husbands reading this, WE definitely can to do a better job of being present, more patient, respectful and attentive to our wives and be more of an equal partner in our journey. All of us, female or male, could also be better served if we follow this pattern of attention and priority: God is to be first, then our vocation to marriage and family must come second, then work, then our vocation.

With that said, I do not believe that Jesus was disregarding Martha. Especially in the Gospel of Luke, there are many instances in which Jesus empowers women so far beyond the cultural reality of the time period. We read this account from our twenty first century mind set. Contextually, the men sitting at the teacher’s feet in a different room, the women cooking and most times eating separately was commonplace for those in the first century AD. The only person out of step was Mary.

This could provide a possible consideration at the root of Martha’s anxiety. It may not have been so much that Mary wasn’t helping in the kitchen, but because she was breaking the social norm of sitting with the men. When Martha calls Jesus to redirect Mary, she probably expects him to support her plea. Yet, Jesus acknowledges that “Mary has chosen the better part” of sitting and having her primary focus be on him and addresses Martha from the perspective that she is anxious about many things. I can visualize Martha being taken aback at first, but slowly seeing the muscles in her face relax, and then taking her apron and throwing it off to the side and then sitting down next to Mary.

You may or may not agree, but there is consistent evidence that beyond the Twelve, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus,  were Jesus’ closest friends. When Jesus came four days after the death of Lazarus, it was Martha who came out to Jesus, not Mary, and in that exchange, it was Martha who made the claim that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God (cf Jn 11:27). She would not have had this insight, the same as Peter, who Jesus said only knew this through the revelation of the Holy Spirit, if she was still holding a grudge over the dinner.

Also, Jesus who had compassion on the 4,000 and the 5,000 such that he fed them all with a few loaves and fish, would he not have compassion on Martha? Jesus also washed his disciples feet at the last supper, would he not step up to assist with the meal, the clean up, would he leave Martha hanging? Ultimately, this is speculation as we don’t know, but we need to read the sayings and actions of Jesus in the full context of the whole of Scripture, not just one pericope.

Today’s reaction and push back from this scene is not so much a reflection on Jesus, but how poorly men have emulated Jesus in our interactions with women. When women are guided from Scripture to honor their husbands, that is only the half of it. Men are also commanded to honor their wives as Jesus does the Church. Women of all ages, young and old and everywhere in between, are human beings created in the image and likeness of God. No one has the right to demean, disparage, devalue, or exploit any woman. Instead, they are to be appreciated, heard, respected, understood, and valued.

And let us not forget the vocation of single women, who were instrumental in the beginnings of the Church and continue to be so today! By all accounts, I believe Martha and Mary were single women. They were close friends with Jesus, that is no small thing. The gift of the Church, and when we are at our best, is when we recognize the gifts, contributions, and value of each of our members, men and women alike. When we embrace the diversity in our midst and empower one another.

Let us meditate on this image today: Martha, Mary, and the other disciples present, sitting in communion, Jesus as their primary focus. They are learning directly from him how to live as contemplatives in action. When we recognize that we are anxious about many things, let us not take out our anxiety out on one another, but come and sit at the feet of Jesus, breathe slowly, let the anxiety dissipate, seek his guidance, and begin again. Let us be sure to tell those in our realm of influence that we love them. Jesus is to be first and foremost in our life. May we not criticize and judge one another but: “Encourage one another while it is still today” (Hebrews 3:13).

May we also pray today for those individuals and families who are anxious about many things because they or a family member may be: contemplating an abortion, are homeless, struggling with an addiction, living in an abusive situation or recovering from abuse, in fear that one or more of their family members may be deported, and/or recovering from the affects of natural disasters.

May we also pray for those who suffer everyday concerned that a family member may not make it home because they are serving in the military, as police officers, firefighters, or EMT’s. May we also pray for the thousands of refugees, migrants, and immigrants throughout the world who would love to find themselves in a kitchen with a home, instead of wondering if they will have enough food to eat or if they or their children will live to see another day.

Photo: accessed from http://www.soulshepherding.org/2012/06/prevent-burnout-be-a-mary-nated-martha/

Mass Readings for Tuesday, October 9, 2018:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/100918.cfm

“And who is my neighbor” (Luke 10:29)?

This question of the scholar of the law lines up with Peter’s question: “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him. As many as seven times” (Mt 18:21)? Both the scholar and Peter knew the letter of the law, but sought justification in following a minimalist approach to putting the law into practice. Jesus invites us to a deeper appreciation of the purpose of the divine law of God and that is to uphold the dignity of the person. Laws can be certainly unjust, and a mere following of the law for the law’s sake can wreak havoc on the human person.

Jesus made this point when he was challenged for even thinking that he would heal someone on the Sabbath when he said: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mk 2:27). Time and again Jesus calls us to have the courage to resist keeping others at arm’s length. He calls us to be understanding, to take time to listen and be present to, as well as accompany those we encounter. Jesus calls us to be people of integrity. The Samaritan did just that.

The Jericho road was known for attacks, much like the survivor received who was left for dead. The priest and Levite may not have stopped to help because they might have thought the man was faking and this was a trap, or in the time they took to care for the man those that harmed him could have returned to abuse them. Each of them could just have been indifferent to the need of the person rationalizing that this man brought this attack upon himself. We don’t know the reason they continued on, but what we do know is that they did not stop to help. We do know that the Samaritan did.

When Jesus asked who was the neighbor to the man robbed and beaten, the scholar said, “The one who treated him with mercy.” The scholar could not bring himself to say the Samaritan, as the Jews and Samaritans had a long standing agreement of mutual loathing. Just remember a few days back when we read how Jesus sought hospitality from a Samaritan home, did not receive the invitation, and James and John were quick to want to implore God to send fire to destroy them.

What is being lost and what fuels much of our polarization in our present interaction with one another, is that we are forgetting the basic ground of truth, that each human being is created in the image and likeness of God. The starting point of any discussion must be a mutual agreement to respect the dignity of the person first and foremost. Why is the unborn allowed to die? One reason could be because the starting point is the right to choose, not that from the moment of conception there is a human being that is unique from the mother and father, who has begun to strive to actualize his or her potential. The only difference is he or she is only smaller and more vulnerable than we.

Why have parents and children, fleeing from violence and seeking a better life, been separated from their parents, why are these children still detained in tent camps for violating a misdemeanor? Why are children who have been born in this country, though their parents came here through unorthodox means being threated with deportation for their parents and themselves? They are not looked upon as human beings in need of our help, they are looked upon as illegal. How can someone, how can a person be illegal? They can’t, unless we label them so. This same stance is true also for refugees fleeing from war torn regions being refused entry. They are stopped from doing so because they are not looked upon as human beings who have suffered unimaginable traumas, but painted with the broad brush of being labeled as terrorists, radical Muslims, or just Muslims

How is it that children and women who are survivors of abuse are not believed when they muster the courage to come forward, and when, statistically, they are telling the truth ninety-one to ninety five percent of the time? The abusers are protected because they have access, they have power, and support who will seek to protect them or the institution they are a part of. The survivor is not the priority, not a person with dignity, but an annoyance, a problem that needs to go away, go back into the shadows.

How is it that oil corporations seeking to lay pipe lines that threaten clean water resources have more rights than indigenous peoples, how is it that opening up dialogue with the LGBT community considered inappropriate for those who have felt like they have been treated like dirt by the Church, and how is it that people of color who have been humiliated, profiled, and lost their life for nothing other than the color of their skin not have a right to protest and are labeled unpatriotic? Because in each of these cases, each are labeled and made out to be something less than human.

May we make some time to read today’s Gospel, the account of the Good Samaritan, prayerfully and slowly. It is important to us that we remember each and every person is our neighbor, a human being with dignity. In speaking to the US Bishops in his 2015 visit Pope Francis said: “And yet we are promoters of the culture of encounter. We are living sacraments of the embrace between God’s riches and our poverty.” Too many human beings feel and have experienced being abused, belittled, demeaned, dehumanized, unheard, lost, and afraid in our country.

Jesus invites us and gives us the power to love God with our whole mind, heart, and strength, AND to love our neighbor as ourselves. Who then is our neighbor? Human beings created in the image and likeness of God. Will we whip out the statutes and law codes, wrap ourselves in the flag; will we, like the priest or the Levite just walk on the other side of the road, indifferent or afraid; will we dig in our heels and embrace our fear and prejudices; or will we have the courage to encounter and walk with one another? The scholar said the neighbor was the one who showed mercy, the Samaritan, the perceived enemy. Jesus’ response to him and to us this day is to: “Go and do likewise.” 

Painting: The Good Samaritan by Amy Watts

Link for Mass readings for Monday, October 8, 2018: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/100818.cfm

But Jesus told them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate” (Lk 10:2-9).

God is not about division, he is about unity. The very core of the Trinitarian reality is this. As St Augustine taught: “The Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father. There is one and only one God.” Each person of the Trinity is distinct in their operation, the Father begets, the Son is begotten, and the Holy Spirit is the Love shared between the two, yet, while at the same time they are one, one because of their divine essence giving, receiving and sharing of all that they are.

The sacrament of Matrimony mirrors this divine love and union here on earth. The two that seek to become one do so in their willingness to sacrifice and give of themselves one to the other. The bride and groom thus are the ministers of the sacrament. The bishop, priest, or deacon is but a public witness. The key is that the union of the two is to be founded in love. Our understanding of love has multiple meanings.

The Greeks had four words for love: eros, philios, storge and agape. We can look at each of these as a maturing of love. Eros, is that first step of attraction, the drawing of self out toward another. If love stays only at this level though, it dissipates and returns to the self and can become no longer love, but manipulation, exploitation, and at worse abuse. Philios, can be seen as the next level, the beginning of friendship. This is where we get to know another as other, see the places where there is commonality, mutual pursuits, and compatibility. Yet, in both of these stages, there is still a heavy focus on self gratification, pleasure and self focus, what is in it for me.

Storge, offers a deeper bond on the level of familial love. This is a bond that runs deeper, where identity and commitment to one another is firmer in place. Here we can experience a looking out beyond our self to be there for another. There is mutual giving. Yet, the limitation is that being there for one another, can still be affected by external circumstances, this love is not yet unconditional.

Agape, is the highest form of love we can reach and experience in this life. This is unconditional love, in which we are capable and willing to will the good of the other as other as St. Thomas Aquinas defines. This is where we love without seeking love in return, we love without limit, this is the love that is to be sought in Matrimony, a mutual giving and receiving, sacrificing and accompanying the other together.

The Sacrament of Marriage is a sacrament of service in that the union of the two in becoming one is to be a mirror for others of the Trinitarian love of sacrifice, self giving to one another, and communion. Matrimony is considered a vocation not an emotion because each are supporting the other to be holy, to be saints, to empower and lead each other to accept the gift of Jesus which is our salvation. The husband and wife become one and are open in their union of love to receive a third which is the new life of a child. Again, a mirroring of the reality that all of creation exists because of the outpouring of love of the unity of the Trinity.

The two seeking to marry, are to seek willingly and continually to sacrifice, to give of themselves to each other and model and teach their children and those in their realm of influence to do the same. In this way, the family is to be the domestic Church that is to be the foundation for a society of love. We as laity, religious, or clergy, single or married, with or without children, can reclaim this foundational principle that Jesus gives us today, if we are willing to allow the Holy Spirit to soften our hard hearts and be willing to love one another as Jesus loves us, unconditionally and without limit.

Photo: Our tenth anniversary, will be twenty-three this May!

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, October 7, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/100718.cfm

Turning to the disciples in private he said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it” (Lk 10:23-24).

What did the disciples see, what did they hear that the prophets and kings desired to see? The kingdom of God in their midst was no longer a saying or teaching of Jesus, but a reality uniquely experienced by the disciples who were sent by him. Those who were sent by Jesus took the risk, trusted, and believed in him and went out and preached, exorcised, and healed in Jesus’ name doing what they had seen him doing!

Deeper still the disciples experienced the gift of the Mystery of God. The Mystery of God is not a problem to be solved because God is not one being among many, not even the greatest or supreme being. God is, “I am who am” (Ex 3:14), as he described himself to Moses. He cannot be solved or proven, but he can be experienced, and that was the joy and exhilaration that the disciples felt coming back after having experienced God working through them. Jesus himself rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, not so much because they had healed in his name but that they had entered into communion with the Father, “do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” (Lk 10:20).

In following Jesus, learning directly from him, and then going off to minister in his name, they experienced the kingdom of Heaven. They had participated in the loving communion of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. How did they do so? They became childlike in that they lost themselves in their mission of following the will of God. Jesus had prepared them to be free from all sense of ego, how others would look at them or how others would react to their preaching or healing. The disciples were in the zone of being directed by God and doing his will, like Jesus, without hesitation.

When I was younger I used to live, eat, and breathe baseball and hockey. I would make up different versions of playing for the NHL or MLB with those players of that time in our backyard which became the Montreal Forum or Yankee Stadium. One experience I remember was setting up cinder blocks in a steps formation, three on the bottom, two next, and then one on the top. I then strode some steps back with my left hand fit snugly into my worn baseball glove and tennis ball in the right. Each step led me to the pitching mound of Yankee Stadium. When I wound up and threw a tennis ball at the makeshift concrete pitchback the game had begun and within minutes, I was on the field with Willie Randolph, Thurman Munson, Mickey Rivers, looking to retire the batters Jim Rice, Pudge Fisk, and Carl Yastrzemski.

Each time the ball soared into the air or skirted across the ground, I leapt into the air, or dove to the ground to come up and throw to first base, then zipped over to first base to make the stretching grab. Of course, during some of the better plays I reenacted them as instant replay. I completely lost myself in the game, I was in the zone. After some time, I happened to look up and saw my mother, stepfather, and some family friends who had all come over to visit, all of them with big smiles on their faces. I sheepishly put my head down and stood for a few moments. Within a minute or so, they went back to their business and I returned to Yankee Stadium to finish the game.

I share this experience to show an example of how we as children can lose our self, “free of reactions, expectations, and approval of those around” us. The disciples did the same, the only difference is that they lost themselves in hearing the word of God and just doing what he wanted them to do. Bishop Robert Barron shared it this way in his daily homily: “The best moments in life occur when we lose the ego, lose ourselves in the world and just are as God wants us to be.”

I invite you to lose yourself today in something you love to do, whether that be drawing, painting, singing, playing an instrument or sport, running, praying, reading, writing, or serving in ministry, even as Brother Lawrence did, he lost himself in doing the dishes. Find moments to be free of expectations and approval, let go the weight of what others might be thinking or expecting. Instead, be present and mindful in the moment and immerse yourself in what you are doing.

These are very real acts of spiritual discipline that prepare us to be in the present, where we experience and find the God who is reaching out to us, and so then like the disciples, we will be better able to experience him and follow his will, serve him, without hesitation or concern for what others think. We will then also experience Jesus rejoicing with us that we have our names “written in Heaven”.

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Photo: Me about seven?

Quotes from Bishop Robert Barron’s homily from today 10/7/2017. He is the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and founder of Word On Fire Ministry. Check out his web page link below, for many wonderful resources. I also added the direct link below to sign up for Bishop Robert Barron’s daily Gospel messages:
https://www.wordonfire.org/
https://www.wordonfire.org/resources/blog/free-daily-gospel-reflections-from-bishop-barron/5315/

Link for today’s Mass readings:
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/100618.cfm

Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me (Lk 10:16).

On the surface today’s Gospel may sound like a Debbie downer of a message, but it is actually the road map, the passage that will lead us from the darkness of slavery steeped in our own sin to the light of truth and freedom in Christ. Jesus is continuing to prepare the 72 that are about to go out to proclaim his message of repentance. This echoes Mark’s recording of Jesus’ mission statement: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mk 1:15).

Sin is any actively contemplated thought, word, or action that we knowingly know goes against the will of God and we freely choose to act on it anyway. This is why many of us prefer the darkness to the light, because we do not have to see and name our sin. We hold on to apparent goods or substitutes that we believe will make us happy and fulfill us, when in actuality they are empty promises. After experiencing the lack of satisfaction, once the emotion or passion of the moment or experience wanes, we either seek more to fill the void, or hopefully, recognize the false lure. If we choose to seek more, we continue along a slippery slope of ensnarement and addiction. But if we repent, allow the light and truth of Jesus into our darkness, trust in his willing our good, we can begin to see our sin, name it, let it go, be forgiven, and be healed.

As servants of the Lord we are invited to repent, to say yes to building a relationship with him, recognize this is a daily, lifetime task, and we are willing to examine our conscience to continue to see and confess our sin. This process is not just for ourselves. We are called to bring the light of truth to those we meet. This does not mean we are perfect. The only difference is that we are more aware of our sin, because we are incrementally willing to allow the light of Jesus to shine in our darkness. We acknowledge our need to be healed, seek Jesus’ healing touch, and go forward to share that healing balm we have received from Jesus with others.

We need to resist the temptation to go forth and wag thy finger of judgment. For then we are only a darker storm cloud approaching those living in the shadows, in which those we seek to provide healing will either draw deeper into their own shell or come out fighting seeking to dispel us from their midst. May we instead encounter one another with understanding, mercy, patience, understanding, and love. We need to remember that in the beginning, our light needs to be soft, like the morning dawn, so as not to blind those we seek to offer an invitation to, those to whom we call from the shadows.

May we embody and sing the Canticle of Zechariah, father of John the Baptist: “In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Lk 1:76-79). May we resist being barriers preventing access to Jesus and instead help to prepare the way for others to encounter Jesus.

Jesus, this day and each day going forward, may we, with you by our side, strive to meet those you place in our path with warmth, welcome, and joy. May we respect the person before us, accept them, be present and accompany them, so that they may know that they are not alone, that they in fact do exist, that they matter, that they are loved as you love us. May we be like the first light of dawn to help awaken those in the darkness of their pain, suffering, and sin, so to be a lamp unto their feet and a light unto their path, that leads to an encounter and embrace with you; our Truth, our Way, and our Life. “Guide us Lord, along the everlasting way” (cf Psalm 139).

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Image: Photo by Tobi from Pexels

Link to the Mass readings for Friday, October 5, 2018:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/100518.cfm

Jesus appointed seventy-two other disciples and said to them, “Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals” (Lk 10:3-4).

There are saints in the history of the Church who took the radical call that Jesus gave to the seventy-two. One, who literally followed this command and whose memorial we celebrate today, is St Francis of Assisi. Francis, in his youth, lived a carefree, self absorbed life, experienced pleasures, and sought dreams of glory. Yet, one eventful day, Francis would express the full acceptance of Jesus’ invitation to give everything and follow Jesus. Francis dramatically renounced his clothes and his inheritance publicly such that he was left standing naked before the bishop and his parents. This dramatic act expressed Francis “taking the most rigorous form of the sequela Christi [the following of Christ]… the highest and most rigorous form of asceticism” (Manselli 1988, 59).

This conversion scene is artfully expressed in Franco Zeffirelli’s, Brother Sun Sister Moon, the YouTube link of which is posted below. It is still powerful, as it expresses Francis’ total commitment to give his whole life to Christ. “His supreme choice matured slowly and, clarified by his kiss for the leper, was to move from one part of society to another – from the part that had an orderly family and social system over to the other of the poor, the derelicts, the abandoned. With this renunciation, his choice achieved its ultimate and definitive consummation” (Manselli, 59).

Most historians agree that the act of Francis kissing a leper was the significant event that led to Francis being able to give himself totally to Jesus, because prior to that event, just the sight of lepers repulsed his senses. Francis led a pampered life of the early emerging middle class. The leper represented the complete antithesis of who he was. In the act of embracing that which he abhorred, he became free. Francis loved the leper unconditionally and in so doing encountered Jesus in his distressing disguise of the poor.

Who are the figurative lepers in our life? Who or what is the key barrier(s) between us giving our life totally and wholly to our loving God and Father as Francis did? Jesus, reveal to us, grant us the courage to identify that which we abhor and so empower us that we too may surrender and embrace you in your distressing disguise and so be free to serve you with all our mind, strength, and soul and love our neighbor as our self.

St Francis of Assisi, pray for us!

Painting of St Francis: Jusepi de Ribera 1643

Manselli, Raoul. St Francis of Assisi. Chicago, IL: Franciscan Herald Press, 1988.

1972 Franco Zeffirelli movie Brother Sun, Sister Moon conversion scene link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=Ev2d92_W47Y

The Mass readings for Thursday, October 4, 2018: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/100418.cfm

And another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home.” Jesus answered him, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God” (9:61-62).

Jesus again invites us to the radical call of the Gospel to put God before all else, even before family and again even more radical than the Old Testament. When Elijah called Elisha to follow him, Elijah allowed Elisha to say goodbye to his family and settle his estate, so to speak, before they left together (cf 1 Kings 19:19-21).

This invitation is given to all of us. We are invited to be part of the Church. The important foundational point is that we understand what Jesus means by the Church. The original Greek term that we have in the earliest manuscripts was ekklēsia. This is more than just a gathering or an assembly of like minds. Ekklēsia means to be called out from.

Jesus calls us out from anything in our life that we put or place before God, and he calls us to a new way of living. He calls us to be part of his very being, his Body. Jesus invites us to turn away from the false substitutes in which we may be seeking happiness and fulfillment. Pleasure, power, honor, and wealth will not fulfill us, will not provide stability for us, nor will they give us control over our lives, but making them idols, we will be enslaved to them.

We have been created to be fulfilled, to be happy, to belong. To experience meaning and fulfillment means to surrender to who God has created us to be, which is a living, craving hunger and desire to be one with God and one another. Nothing else will satisfy, nothing. Once we say yes to the invitation of Jesus to reorient our life such that we put God before all else, the other matters and material realities will fall into place. Jesus calls us each by name, out from the apparent goods and false truths that we have been distracted by and he calls us into the experience of being incorporated, being part of his Mystical Body, which is the Body of Christ, the Church, the communion of believers unified in his name, renewed, born from above in water and blood.

Jesus calls, will you follow?

Photo accessed from pexels.com

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, October 3, 2018: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/100318.cfm

“Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me” (Mt 18:4-5).

Children during the time of Jesus were seen, if at all, to have little worth, vulnerable, completely dependent on their parents, and little, if any, status in society. They were under the radar, nothings, nobodies. Jesus invites a child to be in their midst as a response to the disciples question as to who would be considered the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.

Jesus taught his disciples and us that we need to be completely dependent on God our Father, as a small child is totally dependent on his or her parents. What leads us to greatness in the Kingdom of heaven is to turn away from the temptation to curve in within ourselves, resist feeding our ego, and as St Thomas Aquinas taught, we are to resist the cultural lures and substitutes for God: power, pleasure, honor, and wealth. We are to reject the image that we are super men and women that need no one as we strive for complete autonomy and self sufficiency. We are to place our complete dependency and trust in God and rely on him for everything.

Participating in the reign of God is not one of lordship over another, but assuming the humility to accompany and walk along another in their journey. We see this in the reality of Jesus, who as the Son of God entered into our human condition. While remaining fully divine, he became human when through the power of the Holy Spirit was conceived in the womb of Mary, developed through his period of gestation, and was born into our world. As an infant and child he was completely dependent on Mary and Joseph and God his Father.

As he continued to grow, he experienced the fullness of the human condition. He laughed, he cried, he got sick, he was tempted, he felt pain, he experienced heartache, and joy. Throughout his life, and especially during his public ministry, he met people where they were and as they were, he accompanied them and loved them by willing their good and empowered them to actualize their potential and to turn their heart and mind to God.

We are to do the same. Let us resist putting our self interests first, surrender ourselves in prayer to God and give of ourselves in our service to one another. We need to recognize our dependence on God and others. We are not self sufficient and we need to be humble enough to ask for help. Our guardian angels, whose memorial we remember today, are at the ready awaiting our call. When we realize that we are not alone, and experience some supernatural support, we may be more willing to be present and accompany those in our midst as we journey together in this life. We are not alone. May we provide a shoulder to lean on, an ear to hear, a smile, a hug, a voice that speaks for the voiceless, and a soul open to pray with others.

St Mother Teresa embodied the discipleship Jesus calls us to when she picked up that first dying man in the street. She did not ask his religion, was not concerned if he was of a different race or nationality, was not afraid to risk illness or injury by attending to him. She knelt down and was present to him in his time of dire need. May we follow Jesus and St Mother Teresa by placing our dependency in God’s hands and accompany others in doing little things with great love. When we do so, we say to another, you exist, you matter to me.

Guardian Angels, pray for us and assist us.

Photo: accessed from pexels.com

Link for Mass readings today:
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/100217.cfm