In today’s Gospel from Matthew, Jesus draws a direct correlation between our level of worry and our faith. Having faith is a common theme throughout Jesus’ teaching. How many times have we read or heard, “O you of little faith” (Mt 6:30). At its core faith is that we trust what Jesus says is true. If we are feeling anxious or worried our focus is dwelling on the past, rehashing something we did or did not do, not sure if we made the right decision, or we are anxious about the future, what might be. We also may react to another’s actions or words, stay fixated or focused on them, and/or stay stuck in our emotions of the situation.

In each of these occasions we are not focusing on God, we are not trusting in him, we are exercising little faith because our focus is on our self. Jesus is telling us that, “No one can serve two masters” (Mt 6:24). Either we place our self first or we place God first. Jesus is guiding us to put God first in our lives and to trust in him.

Anxiety, worry, and fear, can be debilitating and paralyzing. So many of us deal with it to some extent. What many families are now experiencing though, those fleeing their homes, making the perilous journey to get to what many believe to be a land of promise and hope, then to find that they are turned away, arrested or separated, some 1,800 plus children not knowing if they will ever be able to see their parents again, is terrifying and traumatic. The anxieties, worries, and fears I have experienced in my life pale in comparison.

The other side of the coin, are the anxieties, worries, and fears that have and contribute to this situation. Through the history of our country too many have placed their trust and faith in anxiety, worry, and fear. Native Americans, African Americans, Irish, Germans, Catholics, Japanese, and now Latinos have been demeaned, dehumanized, and feared, instead of heard and encountered. Difference and diversity, terrorists, increased violence, job loss, out right self interests, prejudice and bigotry have fed and continue to feed the dark side of our fallen nature.

Jesus’ words provide a starting point for shifting the momentum of the cycle of enslavement to our anxieties, worries, fears, and prejudices. We need to be aware of and turn away from them and instead, “seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides” (Mt 6:33). There is a way that we can bring about immigration reform, but we must begin by acknowledging that those seeking to come to our country are human beings, we need to trust that God will provide for all who have need, and lead us to live in community. This starting point also needs to be true for the rich diversity of people who already live in this country now.

The greatest perpetuation of injustice is that too many of us isolate ourselves from one another. We isolate ourselves in our own tribes and camps, we resist embracing the gift of our diversity and so do not get to know one another, we give in to the fears that support our prejudices, we don’t want to rock the boat or deal with conflict head on, so we don’t speak up or out, we want someone else to fix the problem. When the storm comes we tend to want to run away from it. Instead we need to be like the buffalo that used to roam the great plains in vast numbers. When the storm was building over the plains, they would run into the storm, knowing that as they did so, they would get through it quicker.

May we embrace our faith in Jesus so to face our own storms of anxiety, worry, and fear when they arise, trust in God, and together face them. In this way, we will resist division and instead work for unity, resist the language of dehumanization and hate, and instead promote solidarity and love. May we trust and embrace the courage to come out from hiding in the shadows of our anxiety, worries, and fear, and instead hold high the flame of the Holy Spirit so to light a path of hope that is grounded in our faith, that what we do the least of our brothers and sisters we do to Jesus. May we begin today to embrace our mutual gift of humanity and diversity.

Photo: My first communion preparation class, Bronx, NY early 90’s.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, June 23, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/062318.cfm

We have been in our present home here in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida for just about twenty years. This summer we are in the midst of house renovations. It is amazing how fast time has gone, but also how much updating our house needs! We have been tearing up rugs, sealing leaks and filling cracks in the floor, dusting, spackling, sanding, and painting. We have realized that we have been weighed down with that which we gathered, saved, and held on to more than is necessary and have begun to purge. In the same time period our three children have all grown and are now all living in California. Also, on a sadder note our three Golden Retrievers are no longer with us, JoAnn’s mother and two of her aunts, and all of my grandparents have also died.

This is not meant to be a Debbie Downer of a reflection this morning. These opening thoughts are just a practical assessment of the first section of our Gospel from Matthew this morning:

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Mt 6:19-21). Jesus is helping his disciples to be aware of the reality of our world. All that exists is finite and material. Each thing, each being, has a beginning and an end. We need to resist the temptation to be attached to anything, even to our family and friends, because in this life nothing lasts forever.

The danger with not placing attachment in material things is that we may be drawn to the opposite extreme of placing no value in created things, thinking that we can destroy and abuse the environment, because it will not last anyway. We can also be tempted to see all things not spiritual as corrupt and bad, even our material reality as human beings, such that our soul is imprisoned until we die. This extreme will not bring us happiness, joy or fulfillment either.

Today may we seek to live a balanced life of recognizing that all that is material and finite has a time and a season, while at the same time is part of God’s plan. May we seek to be participants in God’s eternal plan of salvation, enjoy the wonders and gifts of his creation, but resist being attached to them beyond their time. In this way, we can resist holding on and clutching to the material and finite, so to be less apt to be weighed down by them and freer to embrace the steady move of the Holy Spirit, who is leading us to change and to mature in our relationship with our loving God and Father and one another.

Knowing that our time here on earth is limited, may we resist taking one another for granted or worse belittling, demeaning, and dehumanizing one another. Instead may we empower and show greater appreciation for each other. May we strive to be present and accompany one another. May be kinder, more supportive, and encourage one another. May we let go of attachments so that we may let those petty things go and embrace the love that Jesus inspires us to live, so to be there for one another through thick and thin.

May we set our sights on the promised land of heaven, embrace the truth that we are called to be co-redeemers with Jesus, so that we may help and be there for one another now in this life as we journey together so to “store up treasures in heaven where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal” (Mt 6:20).

CN grads heading into the summer to store up treasures in heaven!

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, June 22, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/bible/matthew/6:19

Prayer is not so much about bending God’s will to our will, but it is about our transformation and conformation, a freeing ourselves from the sole focus on ourselves as the center of the universe. The world actually does not revolve around us. But we are invited to build a relationship with the One who is the creator and sustainer of all that exists.

Jesus guides his disciples on this point when he teaches them how to pray. Jesus said to his disciples: “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Mt 6:7-8). Jesus is sharing that words matter and have meaning in everyday life as well as in prayer. The words that we speak are to be transformative, not just mindlessly evoked or invoked. Formulaic expressions and the mere volume of words means very little compared to a few words said with clear intent, focus, and in a mindful way.

Jesus is helping us to understand that the form or the words do not so much matter as understanding why we pray. We pray to deepen and develop our relationship with the trinitarian communion of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The very desire to pray is a prayer in itself, because we are hearing the invitation of God to be one with him. The first step is to acknowledge this invitation and then to turn our heart and mind to God. Thomas Dubay, in his book, Fire Within, paraphrases St. Teresa of Avila, the 16th century doctor of the Church, in saying that “one vocal prayer, even so little as one petition of the Our Father, if well said, is better than many recited thoughtlessly or hurriedly” (Dubay 1989, 76).

Reciting the Our Father, or Lord’s Prayer, that Jesus shares with his disciples in today’s Gospel of Matthew can be a struggle, because the biggest challenge to a life of prayer in the beginning is taming, what Buddhists call, the “monkey mind”. Our thoughts continually are active and random, distracting and leading us away from our intended course when undisciplined. To overcome this challenge we can return to St Teresa again.

When we begin to pray, St. Teresa of Avila suggests that we begin “with self-examination and the sign of the Cross” (Dubay 1989, 77). In this way we can bring to awareness some issues, struggles, temptations, and sins that we have been dealing with. We can settle into them, instead of run from them. In so doing, we bring our self, as we are, into the presence of the Trinity. By then making the sign of the Cross, we receive and experience the love, acceptance, and mercy of God and recognize that we are loved as we are, and that we are not alone because we belong and are a part of this infinite community of love. In this simple gesture we are also uniting our body, mind, and soul with the One who will lead us in our prayer.

The next step is to imagine that Jesus is with us to guide and lead us in our prayer, just as he did in today’s Gospel account (Mt 6:9-15). “Imagine that this Lord Himself is at your side and see how lovingly and how humbly he is teaching you” (Dubay 1989, 77). By mindfully engaging in these two beginning steps, we slow ourselves down from our pace of running from ourselves, we become still, we are able to breath, and allow ourselves to experience the presence of Jesus.

From this point imagine Jesus teaching you the Our Father as if for the first time, as he did his disciples. Go slowly, one word, one verse at a time, allow Jesus to not only share the words again with you, but also to insert his commentary as to what each of them mean. In this way we begin to discipline and turn our mind to God such that we can receive the blessing of his mercy and love. “Focusing on the indwelling presence, says Teresa, is for wandering minds ‘one of the best ways of concentrating the mind’ in prayer” (Dubay 1989, 77).

Photo: James Tissot, The Lord’s Prayer by Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum; Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2006, 00.159.167_PS1.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10904489

Dubay, S.M., Thomas. Fire Within: St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and the Gospel on Prayer. San Francisco: Ignatius, 1989.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, June 21, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/062118.cfm

Jesus continues his Sermon on the Mount today. We have been graced thus far with the teachings of the Beatitudes, being salt and light, as well as the six antithesis we have been reflecting upon over the past week. Today, Jesus presents common practices of living a life of faith. The key point he is making though has again to do with our end goal. As discussed yesterday, as his disciples we are called to be “perfect just as [our] heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). Again perfection here is that our telios, or end goal, is to be one with God. We are striving to become holy, to be saints, for the purpose of deepening our bond and relationship with God.

Our being perfected in Jesus is a process whereby we become less and Jesus becomes more. What decreases is our focus on self, especially the ego self, our sense of self-centeredness. Jesus provides for us three ways in which we can practice drawing closer into communion with God and one another. We are to give alms, pray, and fast. We may remember these being the three pillars of Lent that we put extra emphasis on during that penitential season.

Jesus cautions his disciples and us. When we can give alms, pray, and fast, our intent must be properly ordered. If we give alms with the intention to “win the praise of others” (Mt 6:2), pray in a public display “so that others may see” us (Mt 6:5), and in our fasting “look gloomy” and “neglect [our] appearance, so [we] may appear to others to be fasting” (Mt 6:16), we are hypocrites, because in each of these actions, we are not seeking to improve our relationship with God, nor to build up his kingdom. The intent is to build up our own pride and ego, the focus is on us.

We are called to give of ourselves to others in a service of love, so that others may be empowered, strengthened, and grow in their faith life, so they too may join us in building up God’s kingdom. We are to seek Jesus in prayer with the intent of receiving the purifying fire of the Holy Spirit that we may be purged of that which feeds our false self so we can be freed of the dross of our accumulated sin, our imperfections, and that which we are attached to. In our time of prayer and examination of conscience, Jesus reveals to us that which we have an unhealthy attachment too, that which keeps our focus on ourselves instead of God. It is to these areas that we can fast from. In this act of the will, we choose God over self and continue to mature into who he calls us to be.

May we make some time to pray today and ask Jesus to reveal to us where it is that we are putting ourselves before God, what patterns and habits of sin keep us bound to our own pride and prejudices, and what is it that we are attached to, again that is enslaving us and keeping us from being free to be who God calls us to be. Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving is not only for Lent. There are many people that need God’s support and help right now. We are to be his hands and feet.

Let us not be hypocrites, but disciples. May we listen to our consciences, resist the temptation of indifference, and pray for the those unjustly detained and separated. May we also seek through action how we may be of help to so many being interned and caged. May we pray and serve to counteract the no tolerance policy enacted by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. We need to speak up for the many who do not have a voice, and call out these actions of President Trump and his administration for what they are: sinful, inhumane, degrading and immoral.

Using the Bible to support dehumanization was done to condone slavery, and it was used to justify the tearing away of native American children from their parents. That the Trump administration would do so again is nauseating and infuriating. Also, not allowing reporters or congressional representatives in to these camps to report on the conditions of our brothers and sisters, infants and children taken and isolated from their parents and being kept in secret locations is unconscionable and dictatorial.

Let us pray and act. I posted yesterday, June 20, a link from Fr. James Martin on my Facebook page highlighting options of steps we can be engaged in to provide help. Please pray and act as you feel led by God to do so. This policy can be stopped by President Trump today. The separation of parents and their children must stop today. The reuniting of those families separated must begin today.

Photo: credit Getty/John Moore accessed:

https://www.salon.com/2018/06/14/cut-trump-supporters-off-the-horror-of-kids-taken-from-immigrant-parents-demands-personal-action/

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, June 20, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/062018.cfm

The sixth antithesis may be the most challenging of them all. “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father” (Mt 5:43-45). The parable of the Good Samaritan provides a nice parallel to this verse. It can be found in Luke 10:25-37. For in that parable Jesus shows our enemy and our neighbor to be one and the same.

A good examination of conscience would be to read the above verse, ponder who would come up for you as an enemy, and then read the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Whenever the word Samaritan comes up, drop the word Samaritan and insert the person or persons who came up for you in reading the first verse. When we have finished this exercise, then, may we pray for the person or persons defined by us as our enemy, for if we only love those who love us, what makes us any different than anyone else? If we are to be disciples of Jesus, if we are to be children of our heavenly Father, we are not only to love those who love us, but we are to also love our enemies. We are to love those for whom there is little chance of being loved in return.

Jesus offers us the way to be able to accomplish this seemingly impossible feat of loving our enemies as follows: “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). We are able to love our enemy as ourselves by being perfect. This is not much help unless we understand that the English word used here is translated from the Greek word telios, which means complete, whole, to reach one’s goal or purpose in life. As a Christian our end goal, our purpose, our fundamental option, is to be in full communion with God our Father, who is Love. God the Father is not just loving, not just a lover, but the very embodiment of Love.

God as the embodiment of Love, “makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust” (Mt 5:45). We strive in our life to attain the end goal of being perfected by Jesus the Christ, when we, through an act of our will, allow ourselves to become transformed into becoming agents of his love. The most challenging of enemies is facing the enemy within. To love as God loves, we are to follow the words and actions of Jesus and the prophets. This means speaking truth to power, using our access and means to advocate for the voiceless, or comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. This means calling sin, sin, but doing so without falling into sinning ourselves. Calling out hate, with hate, we will only contribute to more hate.

Each day we are given a choice to make. We can choose to strive to be children of God, or choose to embrace our fear, seek revenge, dig in our heels and embrace our ego, react in kind and/or remain indifferent to the suffering in our midst. We may refuse to love our enemies, we may withdraw our love from anyone, but know when we do so, we contribute to the condition of sin, polarization, violence, and dehumanization that plagues our culture, nation, and our world. May we choose instead to assist Jesus in ushering in the reign of his Father’s kingdom. To do so, we must acknowledge that our telios, our completion, the end goal of that which we seek, is to embody the love of God in our thoughts, words, and interactions with others even those we would consider our enemies.

May we choose today to live the Gospel that we read and so be open to being perfected in Jesus the Christ. May we choose to align ourselves with the will of his Father and collaborate with the Holy Spirit to be agents and models of love and forgiveness in our realm of influence. May we choose to love today, person to person, brother to brother, sister to sister, enemy to enemy. May we pray, provide support and understanding, while at the same time hold up mirrors to appeal to the consciences of those who would seek us harm, those who persecute, demean and dehumanize us and others. We do so by resisting to lower ourselves into the same darkness of fear and hate, and instead radiating the light of his love as we pray for those who contemplate, participate, and perpetuate violence, that we all may be transformed and healed, and so channel their energies instead to also work for justice and peace.

Photo: Pope St. John Paul II met, prayed with, and forgave Mehmet Ali Agca at Rebibbia prison on December 27, 1983 for shooting him and attempting to kill him on May 13, 1981. ARTURO MARI/AFP/Getty Images

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, June 19, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061918.cfm

Today we receive the fifth antithesis, in which, Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, (An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.) But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil” (Mk 5:38-39). The Mosaic law, an eye for an eye, that Jesus first addressed is an attempt to curb the emotive response of revenge. If someone had killed a clan or tribal member, there would have been those who would choose to retaliate by inflicting as much carnage as possible to the people responsible, even up to and including the death of the whole clan or tribe, even the women and children. The rationale behind this was that there would then be no one to come back for revenge. The idea of seeking instead an eye for an eye, was to temper the retribution to a more measured response.

Jesus again is raising being a follower of God to a higher level, being that even the thought of revenge is not to be considered. Jesus is not seeking to lessen the cycle of violence, he is giving us a means to end it. Forgiveness is the cornerstone of the teachings of Jesus. Instead of seeking revenge, Jesus is commanding that we seek to forgive those who have harmed us. We who pray the Our Father or the Lord’s prayer, are to take to heart, we are to be mindful of the words we pray when we say, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

The urge for revenge is powerful and primal. Revenge is wired into our survival instinct to protect ourselves. Jesus invites us to grow beyond our mere instinctual responses and survival instincts. He is calling us to be a people who do not merely survive, but thrive. Jesus is seeking to infuse us with his divine life so that we will be transformed. This is true not only for ourselves, but for those who would seek to do us harm. Instead of striking back with revenge, we are to be flexible and adept enough to instead appeal to their conscience. We are to take all that others throw at us, and meet them with the courage to stand and receive their worst, and disarm them with the blinding light of the love and forgiveness of Jesus.

This is no easy task. To put into practice the turning of the other cheek, we need to start small. We need to resist the immediate thoughts of revenge that arise for the smallest of offenses. When someone makes a snarky comment, and/or offers demeaning or dehumanizing comments directed at us or others, we resist retaliating in kind, but instead appeal to their conscience, hold them accountable, and remind the person of our dignity and/or the dignity of the person they seek to demean. In this way, we seek to lead them away from the perception of another person as being somehow other, to one of being a brother or sister.

To be a disciple of Jesus, to be a peacemaker, we need to be contemplatives in action. We need to be people of prayer who come to know Jesus, to return to these hard teachings of the Beatitudes and antitheses often, to meditate on them, keep them at the forefront of our mind and then pray for the courage and guidance of the Holy Spirit to put these teachings into action. We cannot resist thoughts and acts of revenge and walk the path of forgiveness on our own will power. We need Jesus, who as the Son of God became one with us so that we can be one with him, so that he may transform us as he works through us, forgives through us, and loves through us. This path starts with our surrendering our ego to Jesus, and allowing ourselves to be a pencil in his hand.

Photo: An embrace and a smile is one of the most disarming acts we can use to foster and model forgiveness.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, June 17, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061818.cfm

In today’s Gospel, we read about the fourth antithesis where, Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow. But I say to you, do not swear at all (Mt 5:33-34). The foundational principle is that we are not to make a false oath, we are not to take the Lord’s name in vain. This means that someone would tell a lie, and justify it by invoking an oath to make it more believable. “I swear on my mother’s grave that I did not…, I swear to God as my witness that I did not…, I swear on our friendship that I did not…”

Jesus is stating that we are to resist the temptation to swear an oath at all. We are to just tell the truth in all circumstances. We are to be people of integrity and stand on what we say as the truth on its own merits. We are definitely living in a time period in our country where the ability to tell the truth is certainly being called into question, where lies are becoming common place. This is one of the reasons why so many people have such a low opinion of secular as well as religious leadership. But it is also present in our day to day interactions with one another.

In a 2014 episode of Dr. Phil, he gave a list of reasons researchers gave for why people lie:

People lie to take what is not rightfully theirs, to escape accountability, to create a fantasy/false self-esteem to escape their mundane life, to avoid punishment (to which I would add – to avoid facing accountability), to inflict pain, to feel better in the moment; steal admiration, and to gain advantage to exploit others.

This is not an exhaustive list, but it is a very good place to start. Lying destroys the very foundation of relationships which is trust. Once trust has been broken it is very hard to come back from and rebuild that trust. Lying also supports our false self of the ego, so even if we do not get caught in a lie, we know, and our conscience convicts us of that fact. Their is an ache in our soul because we are not being true to who we really are. Covering up lies also expends a lot of energy because we have to remember what we said in the first place and then one lie often leads to another, and we string together a web of lies and we continue to feel sick inside, because we have not been created to be deceitful and dishonest, but we have been created good, to be people of integrity.

May we take time to meditate on the list above today, to examine our conscience, and be humble to admit where we have lied. May we then visualize ourselves apologizing to the person we have lied to. If possible, may we actually reach out to the person and apologize. If we see there is a deep seated pattern or area in which we habitually lie, then may we seek the Sacrament of Reconciliation for healing and strength to confess that pattern and habit of sin. May we seek strength from Jesus to catch ourselves at the instant we begin to form the lie in our mind, so to transform our habits of deceit into new habits of honesty.

May we strive to live by Jesus’ command to make our, “‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and [our] ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ Anything more is from the evil one” (Mt 5:37).

Photo: Mask of our deceit – old Halloween mask on fence line of my parent’s property in CT.

Link for the clip of the Dr. Phil list for why we lie:

Link for the Mass reading for Saturday, June 16, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061618.cfm

Jesus continues to speak up for the dignity of human beings in today’s Gospel as he continues with his second and third antithesis. The third regarding, Jesus’ teaching on divorce, I reflected upon in my May 25th entry and refer you to that post, Marriage is a Sacred Bond, if you would like to read it. I will focus today on the second antitheses: “Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Mt 5:27-28). Again, by disciplining our mind we can have more control over our actions.

Too many people today believe that our sexual urge is too powerful to channel and direct in chaste ways. In fact, to even attempt to do so, some would say is damaging to our development. The Church has lost some credibility in this area in directing and guiding us because of those within her number who have not only abused children sexually, but those who have turned a blind eye to warning signs, as well as those bishops who have covered up the abuse. Each of these points do not change the fact that Jesus still calls us to embrace our sexuality, yet channel it positively through the respecting of others as people endowed with dignity. Our sexuality is a powerful gift that has the potential to participate in creating new life, and it is not to be misused to objectify women, children, or men, as has been done throughout the ages and into our own day.

To be able to discipline and channel our sexual desire in healthy ways, we have to begin by choosing better what we put into our mind. If the majority of our reading, music, what we watch, what we think and fantasize about, are erotic and evocative, then yes, being chaste is not a realistic goal. In a culture that is hyper sexualized, through its normalizing of acting out sexually and enticing advertisements on TV, the computer, billboards, every day shows, movies, and music, this is no easy task. I am not suggesting that we have to tear out an eye as Jesus offers in a hyperbolic word display. Jesus does so to help us recognize the seriousness of an undisciplined approach to our sexuality.

We need to realize that we can be disciplined with our thoughts and actions. If Jesus’ starting point is that we are not to look at another with lustful thoughts, then that is where we ought to begin and realize that this is possible with his help and a change of lifestyle. We need to resist seeing each other as objects for our own fantasy and pleasure, and instead look to one another as people endowed with dignity so as to be respected and not objectified. If we do not want to support another generation of men who abuse their position of power to abuse and objectify those within their realm of influence, then we need to practice ourselves, and teach those in our realm of influence to be clear on how best to establish and stand up for their boundaries, to model healthy expressions of loving relationships, and to learn about and show a more balanced way of living that embraces the physical as well as the spiritual.

The normalization of lust, pornography, objectification of another must be countered with healthier and chaste ways of living our lives. We figuratively tear out an eye or cut off a hand that leads us to sin by recognizing that any of these three or any variation of them are not acceptable thoughts or actions to entertain. Nor are we to fall into the opposite extreme, that our sexuality and all things human are bad. Suppressing our sexuality is not a helpful practice either. God created us good, and our sexuality is good when we integrate it into the wholeness of the physical and spiritual aspects of our humanness.

Living a chaste life is possible by recognizing that we and other people deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. Following the cardinal virtue of temperance, which is the disciplining of our mind such that we weed out at the roots those thoughts and actions that will lead us to sinful actions. While at the same time we replace them by making a firm decision to live chastely. We then communicate that decision with friends and family, we surround ourselves with those people who will support our decisions and respect our boundaries, we need to establish a healthy and moderate diet, and be engaged in an exercise program that will help us on the physical level. We also need to seek the help of Jesus, especially through the sacraments of the Eucharist and Reconciliation, develop a consistent prayer life and participate regularly in worship in a community. It is also helpful to be engaged in acts of service, in healthy activities through work, hobbies, and interests.

In these ways, we will be better able to build chaste relationships that are more stable, have more meaning, and are mutually encouraging as we support one another to live lives of holiness and participate with Jesus in guiding one another to actualize the fullness of who God is calling us to be.

Photo: Happy together, mutually supporting each other on our journey to heaven!

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, June 15, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061518.cfm

The Sermon on the Mount was most likely not one long discourse, but a gathering together of Jesus’ teachings. I am sure that, just as with itinerant preachers, speakers, and lecturers of today, this material recorded in Matthew was not only shared one time. Jesus probably shared different segments of these teachings at different locations throughout his ministry, and in slightly different ways depending on the group he was speaking with. Also, the Gospel writers would want to highlight different aspects of his teachings for their audiences.

As was presented yesterday, Jesus made it clear that he did not come to abolish the law or the prophets but he came to fulfill them. With the beatitudes Jesus offered practical ways in which we can find fulfillment and happiness. In today’s account he introduces the first of six antithesis. With these apparent contrasting statements, Jesus is providing for his disciples the way to avoid the trap that some of the religious leadership of his time fell into: “I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:20).

Those scribes and Pharisees that Jesus was talking about were those who believed that they were following the letter of the law, but their hearts were not changed. They may have been adhering to the external provisions of the law, but were not changed themselves, their hearts were hardened, they were focused more on their own honor and power. They were also imposing strict adherence to the law without providing the support or means for others to achieve what the law imposed. The law became more important than the dignity or value of the person. Jesus recognized the law, but also realized that it was in place to help to provide guidance and discipline to resist the temptations of our fallen nature, but it was to be a foundation to be built upon, not the end goal in and of itself.

Just as children need clear boundaries and structures in place to provide a clear path toward healthy development, so this is true for those growing and maturing in their faith. We need to learn to crawl, to build strength and balance, before we can take those first wobbly steps. With continued support we are then able to walk and soon run. Jesus is not only providing the means to go through each of these stages in our faith life, figuratively teaching each of his disciples and us today to not only crawl, walk, and run, but to also be able to fly!

The Beatitudes and six antithesis are challenging, because each of them are counter to much of the way the structure of our fallen world has been governed for centuries. If we are to catch the fire that Jesus has come to set, we need not only to read, pray, meditate and contemplate on the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, we need to see their relevance and practicality to our time and place today, and begin to put them into practice. As Christians our faith ought not to be shaped and informed by our culture, but we are to be shaped and conformed to the Gospel of Jesus the Christ, so to shape and inform our culture.

Today we start with the first antithesis: “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, Raqa, will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna (Mt 5:21-22). Anger begins in our mind from our knee jerk reaction to a perceived or actual threat, from our hearts hardened by prejudgments, prejudices, and/or a reflection of our level of spiritual immaturity.

Jesus addresses the known provision against murder. He then builds a hedge around the Torah. If one does not want to break the law, another is imposed so as to protect one from even getting close to breaking the first. If we can resist the temptations of our reactions and instead make decisions based on mindfulness and loving one another, resisting the temptation to criticize, judge, demean or dehumanize another, then we will most likely not rise to the level of murdering someone.

Jesus is saying that our words matter, they have the power to destroy or to create. Look at the example Jesus gives. He says that calling someone Raqa, Aramaic for a block head or idiot, and then calling someone a fool, would “be liable to fiery Gehenna” (Mt 5:22). Just think of how far from those two words we have fallen with the use of our language with one another. How polarized we have become as a country, the level of demeaning words, tone, and language that is condoned, supported and justified is unacceptable. This has a ripple affect that poisons our culture and society.

We then wonder why we have so much violence in our country. The vast majority of law enforcement officers put their own lives at risk every day to keep us safe, while at the same time there are those who through their own lack of effective training, fear, or prejudice have taken innocent lives, an alarming number of which are people of color. We have people that are demeaned and dehumanized for seeking asylum, they are called illegal, or worse. No person is illegal, they are our brothers and sisters created in the image and likeness of God, and they may be breaking unjust laws to get here because they feel they have no other option, but if we are to follow the Gospel we are to provide aid and support to those in dire need and work to change laws that respect the dignity of persons from the womb, birth through their lives until natural death.

Our words and our actions matter. Jesus is challenging us in today’s Gospel to encourage, empower, and to respect the dignity of each person first and foremost. When we resist a pharisaical approach to the law and instead recognized the value and dignity of each person, we will have a better starting point to enact laws that are truly just. I agree with the June 13 statement of Daniel Cardinal DiNardo that: “At its core, asylum is an instrument to preserve the right to life. The Attorney General’s recent decision elicits deep concern because it potentially strips asylum from many women who lack adequate protection.” Using a strategy of taking away children from their parents as a deterrent is not a humane approach to immigration reform.

May we all take some time today to reflect on Jesus’ teaching about how we think, speak to and about one another, and act toward one another. May we examine our conscience and seek forgiveness for those times we have thought, condoned, or justified thoughts, words, and/or actions that have been demeaning, dehumanizing, and belittling of one another. May we ask for the support of Jesus and the infusing power of his love and mercy to live his teachings, to strive to support, empower, and accompany our brothers and sisters, and to strive to build a culture of life and dignity for all, one person and encounter at a time. May we not so much change our behavior to avoid the fire of Gehenna, but may we work toward a mature faith such that glorifies the Lord by our life, such that our hearts are burning within, moving us to stand up for one another. Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created and you shall renew the face of the earth.

Photo: Sun shining through the clouds of a day of overcast and rain. May the Son of God radiate from our hearts so we are a light to others today.

Thank you Jill Hanson and Fr Jim Martin for sharing Cardinal DiNardo’s statement. Full statement of Daniel Cardinal DiNardo can be found at this link:

http://www.usccb.org/news/2018/18-098.cfm

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, June 14, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061418.cfm

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill” (Mt 5:17). Jesus was a devout Jew, he grew up practicing and understanding the law and the prophetic tradition. We see evidence of that when, at twelve, he is found by his parents among the teachers and scholars discussing, with understanding and wisdom, the law. Jesus in his public ministry very much stands on the shoulders of the prophets, for he speaks on behalf of God, calling the people of Israel back to the law, both those who have turned away from God as well as those who used the law as a bludgeon and for building a wall to keep others out.

Jesus shows time and again that being true to Torah, is about building relationships with God. He extends his hand, person to person as a bridge for people to come to God, and he calls out the religious leadership who have utilized the law to build walls, to keep people out. Jesus healed on the Sabbath, Jesus forgave sins, Jesus touched lepers, and ate with tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners, those on the peripheries, not because he was being willy-nilly with the law, but because he was showing by his lived example that the greatest commandment of the law was to love God with all his mind, heart, and strength and to love his neighbor as himself.

This practice goes right to the foundation of our creation. All of humanity has been created in God’s image and likeness. By that very fact, each of us are endowed with dignity. In Jesus, we see that the highest call to the law of God is to love. Jesus met each person where they were and accompanied them. That also meant calling out those who misused the law by keeping others at arm’s length. Jesus did the opposite. As the Son of God, Jesus became one with us in our humanity, so that we could become one with him in his divinity. Jesus offered others his arms extended outward, inviting others to enter into his loving embrace. He would show this fully on the cross, where he opened his arms wide to embrace all peoples and nations.

Jesus built on the law and the prophets, because he was the fulfillment of them, and in doing so, he gave the law its greater context. The foundation of the law and the prophets were founded in Love, meaning its highest expression, which is to will the good of the other as other. This means that the law is not like a stagnant pool, where we grasp onto the law and tradition for its own sake, but the divine law of God is rather like a running stream, it is always fresh and renewing.

What Jesus ushered in, was the reign of God, which was possible through the foundations laid by those who had gone before him: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, the judges and prophets, David, those who answered the call of God to serve in his name. From a person, Abraham, to a clan and a nation, Israel, God called a people to himself. Then at the appointed time, he sent his Son, to be one with the people he called to draw all nations to himself so that all of the peoples, created in his image and likeness, could be invited to come to be one with the God of all creation.

Our joy and fulfillment will be experienced as we are transformed by the love of God. As we build on the traditions of our faith that give us a solid foundation, but not to hold on to them so tightly that they strangle us and suck the life out of us. That which leads us to encounter and renew our relationship with Jesus in love is what we are to embrace and preach. That which has become stagnant and no longer is an avenue for affirming life must be pruned.

The love and mercy of God extended to us by the presence of Jesus among us is not a watering down of the law and the prophets. I would argue that it is not only the fulfillment of them, but they are harder to put into practice and demand a closer walk with Jesus. This is so because we cannot fulfill a life of love and mercy on our own. We can only fulfill Jesus’ invitation to love and be able to enter into the chaos of another if we are transformed ourselves by his love and continue to allow Jesus to be present to others and love them through us.

God’s love invites us out of the darkness of our own sin and withdrawing into our own false sense of control. We become healed when we are humble enough to trust God, are willing to confess how we put our own self interests first, are contrite – enter into the sorrow of the hurt we have caused others, and become less drawn to making excuses and protecting the false self of the ego. Through participating in the life that Jesus invites us to, we drink from the living stream of his love, we come to experience the freedom of being true to ourselves and who God calls us to be and we can then become light for others who are experiencing the shadows of a life of half truths and/or immersed in the darkness of a false and empty life.

Painting:  Painted by Melody Owens – The original painting is 11″x14″ gouache.

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, June 13, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061318.cfm