unity

Spending time with Jesus and in his word will help us to be contemplatives in action.

An elitist posture can be dangerous in that others are excluded that ought to have access. There are those areas in which there will be limited access. Select positions such as a principal, CEO, or manager. At higher levels of sports, the arts, and civic leadership, there are limited positions available as well. Yet access ought to be granted for the most qualified. Artificial impositions regarding racial, ethnic, gender, or religious litmus tests are to be avoided. Regarding having access to God, worshipping as a community, and spreading his love and word, an elitist approach has no place.

Jesus addresses this concern in today’s Gospel from Mark. The Apostle John approaches Jesus to complain that someone who does not belong to their inner circle of disciples was healing in the name of Jesus. John even shared that they attempted to prevent this person from healing. Interesting that John was concerned that this man was not one of their number, as opposed to saying he was not a follower of Jesus. Also, this account appears shortly after John returns with Jesus to the failure of the disciples being able to exorcise the demon from the boy. This man was doing what those in the inner circle were not able to do. Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us” (Mk 9:39-40).

Jesus shared in words what he modeled in action throughout his life. The kingdom of God is open to all those who were willing to receive him and receive the invitation of his Father to enter into relationship. That relationship with him creates a spark that ignites a fire in those of his followers to reach out to teach, preach, cast out demons, heal, and be present to others in their need in his name. The kingdom of God is not for the select few, not for the frozen chosen, or not to be an elite club. The depth of active participation is only limited by one’s willingness to be engaged in participating in the life of Jesus.

May we have ears to hear Jesus’ universal message today, seek that which unifies us more than what divides us, and, embrace his message that “whoever is not against us is for us.” This can be translated outward beyond our tradition as Catholics. There is much we can do together with Christians of other denominations, people from other faith traditions, and people of good will with no faith tradition.

There are many who are in dire need of support in our communities, states, countries, and world. May we resist the us vs. them mentality that the enemy tempts us to entangle us in and resist the temptations of indifference or feeling like we have nothing to contribute. Jesus calls us to worship communally, as well as step away daily and sit at his feet and be alone with him. In that time of intimacy, corporately and individually, we are loved, healed, transformed little by little, and sent to share what we have received from Jesus to be his contemplatives in action.

Jesus, please meet us in our time of worship and prayer, help us to come to know you, our loving God and Father better, and his will for our lives. Help us to hear and meditate upon your living word, that we may know, experience, and be transformed by the love of the Holy Spirit. May we breathe, receive, rest, renew, and abide in your love so that we may think, speak, and act from this place of being known and loved by you. Then, in the name of Jesus, when we find ourselves in situations of division, polarization, and dehumanization, we may offer the invitation to experience the healing balm of understanding, dialogue, forgiveness, love and hopefully reconciliation.

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Photo: Different ocean than I am used to but the same light from the sun shining on the waters. View of the Pacific off the Santa Monica Pier.

Link for the Mass reading for Wednesday, February 26, 2025

As Jesus purified the Temple, may he purify each of us.

Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out all those who were selling things, saying to them, “It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves” (Lk 19:45-46).

Luke’s account of Jesus casting out the money changers is the most succinct of all four Gospels. Luke uses the Greek term for “drive or cast out” – ekballō, eight other times. Each time he used it, Luke was making reference to exorcising demons and unclean spirits. The profanation of the body through possession of evil is equivalent to the desecration of the Temple precincts.

Jesus justified his actions of driving the sellers out of the Temple precincts by saying: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (Jn 2:19). Jesus showed the dignity of our humanity, when he, as the Son of God, he entered our humanity. He entered into the chaos of our lives, our faults, and foibles, and our sins while remaining sinless himself. He showed that even though we have turned away from God, we were not destroyed and lost beyond hope. He reminds us that what God has created is good and that includes us. Even when we turn away, he continually and infinitely reaches out to us in love and calls us home.

One of the wonderful features of the upcoming holidays is that many families seek to come together and to return home. For some coming home has been longer than for others, for some there may be many miles of separation, and for others, coming home is no longer possible because they have changed their address from this life to the next. There are also those suffering today that are estranged from their families, those who are homeless, displaced, refugees and immigrants, or living in fear of deportation.

No matter who or where we are, Jesus is close. He became one with us to restore our communion with God and one another. He provides the living water that quenches the thirst of our deepest longings. Jesus, our Temple, our new covenant, the dwelling place of God, is alive and present to each one of us in every condition, situation, time, and the place we find ourselves. Through his resurrection, ascension, and our participation in his life, we can become precious stones, each a piece of his Temple.

Jesus meets us where we are and loves us as we are, yet he wants more for us. Jesus, please cast out, as you did in the temple precincts, all from our being that would defile, distract, or divide us, and purge anything that would keep us bound in sin. Send the Holy Spirit to reign in our hearts that we may embody and bear his love with all we meet so to be reconciled with God and one another. May we be inspired to work toward the unity of our human family so that all may have a place at the table.

Painting: By El Greco, 1600 – Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, November 22, 2024

Jesus seeks to heal and free us from our labels.

In the Gospel reading today, Jesus is accused of being an agent of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, because he was exorcising a demon from a man that was mute. Jesus addressed the critique and showed the polarizing nature of the onlookers who were unwilling to see the healing before them for what it was. Jesus then stated the obvious: “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house” (Lk 11:17).

Satan seeks to sow discord and division. Jesus seeks to bring about unity. Now it is true, that five verses later in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is recorded as saying: “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division” (Lk 12:51). Anyone feeling a bit confused? Welcome to the wonderful world of the Bible!

To understand Scripture, we need to understand the context of the whole of Scripture, not just isolated verses. Throughout the ministry of Jesus, he seeks the unity that all may be one as he and the Father are one (cf. John 17:21), yet he has consistently experienced those that rejected his message and healings as witnessed in today’s Gospel account.

Jesus demands a choice. We need to decide if we are either going to be for him or against him (cf. Lk 11:23). The division Jesus is talking about results from those who choose not to recognize that Jesus is who he says he is and reject him and those who accept him for who he is. This choice continues to cause division within households, families, and friends even today.

The greater take away from today’s Gospel and Jesus’ teachings as a whole, is that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life (see John 14:6). Jesus is the Son of God made man. Some will reject this truth. Some will accept only parts of the truth that Jesus teaches, while others will say there is not objective truth. We who identify with this truth and give our lives to him as his disciples, then like Jesus, we are to embrace the gift of our diversity.

We are more united rather than divided when we resist limiting ourselves by mere labels. In our modern context, labels, such as liberal and conservative are not helpful. It is certainly easier to cast labels, but interactions with people and developing relationships are much more nuanced. We are not mere cardboard cut outs, or caricatures.

To better understand the essence of who we are as human beings demands greater time and experience with each other than an outward appearance or isolated statement may portray. Many times, once we have cast a label, we believe that we have “defined” the person. They are classified in their box and tied up in a neat and pretty bow, and woe to the person who resists being boxed and bowed.

I remember reading from one of the books from the tracker, Tom Brown, Jr., in which he described how many people when seeing a bird, such as a blue jay, robin, or crow, are often satisfied with the label, the naming of it, and move on from that sighting self-satisfied. They think that in that simple identification they now have come to understand all that there is to know about that species. So much of the essence of one of God’s amazing creatures is missed by such a simplistic and limiting classification!

Unfortunately, we do the same with each other. We make a prejudgment on a person or group of people because of a word, statement, stance on a particular issue, or particular belief. We then falsely believe we know everything there is to know about that person or group. This is a limiting and divisive approach. Jesus invites us to encounter, accompany, spend time, and break bread with people. In spending time with one another, dialoguing, and respecting each other, the caricatures can be filled in with some substance and we can come to know a little better the person beyond the prejudgment. Maybe, just maybe, someone who we have been keeping at arm’s length, we can actually grow closer to, despite our differences.

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Photo: During 30-Day silent retreat, St. Joseph and Mary Retreat House, Mundelein, IL.

Link for the Mass reading for Thursday, March 7, 2024