Can we be Today's John The Baptist

 

In recent weeks our world news and discussions have focused on the aftermath of the elections one month ago and the  subsequent political fallout that at best can hardly be called our "finest hour." In addition, the incessant news cycles and talking heads comingled with the noise of Christmas advertisements, reminds us that all is not calm, all is not bright. 

Father Alfred Delp, a Jesuit priest writes of another turbulent time in history from a Nazi prison camp, shortly before he was hanged in 1945: 

"May the Advent figure of John, the relentless envoy and prophet in God’s name, be no stranger in our wilderness of ruins. (Luke 3:10-18) For how could we know unless someone cries out above the tumult and destruction and delusion? Not for an hour can life dispense with these John the Baptist characters These are original individuals, struck by the urgency of their  mission and vocation. They cry for blessing and salvation. They summon us to the opportunity of warding off - by the greater power of the converted heart - the shifting desert that will pounce upon us and bury us. 

The horror of these times would be unendurable unless we kept being cheered and upright again by the promises spoken. If we want to be alive we  must believe in the golden seed of God that the angels have scattered and still offers to open hearts. So many need their courage strengthened; so many are in despair and in need of consolation; there is so much harshness that needs a gentle hand and an illuminating word, so much loneliness crying out for a word of release, so much loss and pain in search of inner meaning. 

God’s messengers know of the blessing that the Lord has cast like a seed into these hours of history. Understanding this world in the light of Advent means to endure in faith, waiting for the fertility of the silent earth, the abundance of the coming harvest. Not because we put our trust in the earth, but because we have heard God’s message and have met one of God’s announcing angels ourselves. 

“The Blessed Woman… is the most comforting of all the Advent figures. That God became a mother’s son; that there could be a woman walking the earth whose womb was consecrated to be the holy temple and tabernacle of God – that is actually earth’s perfection and the fulfillment of its expectations. So many kinds of Advent consolation stream from the mysterious figure of the Blessed Expectant Mary. The woman has conceived the child, sheltered it beneath her heart, and given birth to the Son. Advent is the promise denoting the new order of things, of life, of our existence. Advent comes in these three figures. This is not meant as an idyllic miniature painting, but as a challenge. 

 Let us ask for faith in the motherly consecration of life as shown in the figure of the Blessed Woman of Nazareth. Let us be patient and wait, wait with Advent readiness for the moment when it pleases God to appear in our night too, as the fruit and mystery of this time. And let us ask for the opening and willingness to hear God’s warning messengers and to conquer life’s wilderness through repentant hearts. (Watch for the Light, The Shaking Reality of Advent,”pp.90-91)"

Can we become today’s John The Baptists

Our Time in the Desert

Adversity can play a key role in honing our ability to hear what is beyond the usual scope of our ordinary consciousness. No doubt for many of us the Covid 19 pandemic that began in the winter of 2020 and endures through 2024, forced us to face stressful challenges that were outside the “norm” of our usual experience. I wonder how this time and the early days of confinement and isolation heightened our awareness of events that otherwise would have gone unnoticed. 

Many people seek so-called desert “experiences” by way of solitary retreats during which forced confinement might help provide clarity and enlightenment that otherwise might be overlooked or taken for granted in “ordinary times” during which we are surrounded by our family, friends and our "usual routine."

Unlike John-the-Baptist in Luke 3:1-6 , we don’t always get a chance to choose our desert times and places. They are often provided for us in the form of illness, social unrest, war, changes in employment, failures in relationships, death of loved ones and natural disasters. These deserts all hold new possibilities for hearing the word of God at ever deepening levels. 

Speaking personally, it’s not too soon for me to assess how forced confinement has been a transformational experience. Perhaps it’s still too easy for me to dwell on the things I missed or have been taken away. It’s not a matter of addition or subtraction or replacing what no longer is with something else. What no longer exists still does in one aspect of my being and may be a springboard to new ways of living and personal growth. One thing we all know up close and personal:  life can turn on a dime and that the present is only as certain as our last breath. It’s all we can count on in this dimension.

All Things New

Behold, I make all things new. —Revelation 21:5 

In his  Meditations Richard Rohr, reflected on his illness and on his mortality and wrote, "I’ve been comforted by others who have experienced loss and aging with fearless grace. Over the next few days I’ll share some of their thoughts. Today, join me in reflecting on this passage from Quaker teacher and author Parker Palmer’s new book, On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity and Getting Old."

I’m a professional melancholic, and for years my delight in the autumn color show quickly morphed into sadness as I watched the beauty die. Focused on the browning of summer’s green growth, I allowed the prospect of death to eclipse all that’s life-giving about the fall and its sensuous delights. John18: 33b-37 

Then I began to understand a simple fact: all the “falling” that’s going on out there is full of promise. Seeds are being planted and leaves are being composted as earth prepares for yet another uprising of green.

Today, as I weather the late autumn of my own life, I find nature a trustworthy guide. It’s easy to fixate on everything that goes to the ground as time goes by: the disintegration of a relationship, the disappearance of good work well done, the diminishment of a sense of purpose and meaning. But as I’ve come to understand that life “composts” and “seeds” us as autumn does the earth, I’ve seen how possibility gets planted in us even in the hardest of times.

Looking back, I see how the job I lost pushed me to find work that was mine to do, how the “Road Closed” sign turned me toward terrain that I’m glad I traveled, how losses that felt irredeemable forced me to find new sources of meaning. In each of these experiences, it felt as though something was dying, and so it was. Yet deep down, amid all the falling, the seeds of new life were always being silently and lavishly sown. . . .

Perhaps death possesses a grace that we who fear dying, who find it ugly and even obscene, cannot see. How shall we understand nature’s testimony that dying itself—as devastating as we know it can be—contains the hope of a certain beauty?

From Richard Rohr's Center for Action and Contemplation, Death and Resurrection, "All Things New," 11/18/18

Keep awake

 

Keep Awake for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. 

These words have been repeated for over 2,000 years, yet somehow we still fear the end of our life on earth. Sure, we are comforted by the many parallels in nature that reveal death to be a precursor to new life, but the fear of death lingers in the shadows.  We have - or likely have - lived longer than our parents and grandparents.  We are better fed; we lose fewer newborn babies, and modern medicine protects us from contagion and diseases that drastically shortened the of our ancestors... and yet, we are still afraid of dying. The answer to the question why is a discussion group unto itself.

Shortly after 9/11 the words “Fear Not” rang hollow and seemed a little out of place.  Surely we had every reason to be afraid.  After the three devastating attacks, the country held its breath wondering if there were there more to come. During the first few weeks following the attacks, the country was suspended in a state of watchful waiting. We were led to believe that it wasn’t a question of “if” but “when.” We carefully listened to those in authority speak of preparedness, but the summary statement always was, “we just don’t know.” It took a while but in time we began to live our lives with the knowledge that life must go on… but we were implored to remain vigilant and the words “If you see something, say something” became a national mantra. 

 It doesn’t take much to see the connection between our gospel (Mark13:24-37) and that fateful Tuesday which followed a stormy, rain-soaked Monday, leaving the infamous next day with skies so blue and air so clean. What could possibly have gone wrong on such a beautiful day? 

How could we have been prepared for what happened? Had we ever sustained ab enemy attack within our Continental borders during war time, much less peace? How do we begin to replace fear with living fully and please God, joyfully? 

We have learned that Christ's death and resurrection is the answer to our mortal fears. He relinquished his humanity as the divine Incarnation was complete so that we could share in his resurrection and in so doing, remove our reasons to fear death forever. Knowing that God loves us and that there is nothing we can do to ever lose His love is a matter of faith, not intellect. So, we live out our lives enriched by Christ’s example when we resist the impulse to live for ourselves instead of others. It means being prepared to die again and again to ourselves, and to every one of our self-serving opinions and agendas. But about that day or hour... no one knows. But death will have no dominion over us.

As a caterpillar, having come to the end of one blade of grass, draws itself together and reaches out for the next, so the Self, having come to the end of one life shed all ignorance in its faculties and reaches out from the old body to a new. (Upanishads III.4.3)

She gave from her sustenance

 

As the educated class of religious leaders the scribes were regarded as the "professionals" of their time. As such they expected to sit in a reserved place in the temple. In addition to doing nothing for the oppressed, much of their wealth was derived from the poor and the oppressed. This was part of an ongoing much larger criticism that Jesus levies against the temple-based authority that began with the clearing of the Temple earlier. Note, the money referenced is used to fund the Temple’s treasury; it makes no mention of its use to comfort or feed the needy. 

Jesus denounces the scribes for their hypocrisy, as they are seen in all their pompous finery and feigned reverence, and the way in which they amass their wealth.. While the scribes are acknowledged for what they contribute to the treasury from their abundance, the poor widow is blessed for what she contributes from her own need.

Do we need to ask whose contribution is greater? 

I wonder how this message relates to us today. Over the centuries many explanations have been proposed to explain Jesus’ anger with the merchants in the temple and in this reading, the hypocrisy of the scribes. And what about today? I wonder what Jesus would have to say about the church-governing bodies, the high priests, church councils and vestries whose public piety often runs counter to the sharing God’s love. Their focus on the adherence of rituals of worship often serve as distractions for what Jesus wanted for his "church."

Jesus was a radical whose focus was preaching the love of God and not about the man-made rules associated with misguiding the faithful in the name of God. Jesus sought to overturn “the tables” and rid the temples of all the false piety, the purity codes and social rules created in the name of God for the sole purpose of control and power.

The Church does play an important role in our lives primarily because it provides for a communal gathering in which we can proclaim the Gospel and share God’s grace through the sacraments. But the real "church" exists in the "pots and pans" of our lives. It is a dynamic amorphous entity that has no fixed walls and whose very existence is based on doing. In this church we are sent out to look for God in those who need our love and support, as we partner with him to feed the needy and comfort those who are oppressed. Isn’t that the image we should hold for Church?  

Jesus’ anger in this Gospel Mark12:38-44 is directed toward those who use the love of power to control their congregations rather than the power of love to create an environment that sets the stage for the sharing of God’s love. Do we have the courage to overturn the tables as Jesus did and tear down the walls that exclude, and become the Word as the Word become flesh in us?

 

What If You Couldn't Fail?

 

What would you do if failure didn't matter? What would you endeavor, dare, or try? What mission would you attempt, what venture would you risk; what great deed would you undertake?

Last week we read in (Mark 10: 35-45) a response from Jesus to James and John that was identical to his response to Bartimaeus: "What do you wish me to do for you?" However, the contrast in attitudes between Bartimaeus and the “Zebedee brothers” is striking. Bartimeus being made aware of Jesus presence cries out two times from the depth of his faith and humility, "Son of David, have pity on me," "Son of David, have pity on me.” While James and John, came to Jesus and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you…grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left."

So, how do we react when we hear these two appeals? How are they different; how are they very similar?

Would you, like Bartimaeus in our Gospel (Mark 10:46-52) have the courage to shout out for healing even though the people around you try to shush you into silence? I wonder, could it be that Bartimaeus was so used to failure and disappointment that he saw no reason not to try one more time? He, as opposed to James and John, were not part of Jesus’ inner circle… but was he?

Would we be able to silence the hushes of our false self and surrender to God as Bartimaeus did? What about James and John? They may have missed the point in that they felt that they were privileged to be part of Jesus’ inner circle. But how was their faith different from the blind man?

So often we hesitate to ask God’s help because whether great or small, our needs seem so hopelessly impossible or so ridiculously insignificant that we just don't even try. Yet the promise of the Gospel is that we are free... free to risk, to dare, to love, to live, to work, to dream, and yes… free to fail, because we have God's promise that there is no small gesture and there is no impossible deed, and that the God who raised Jesus from the dead will also bring all things – even our failed efforts – to a good end. And yes, we are all part of God’s inner circle.

So, if we’re going to risk anything that matters, not failing is not an option. Risk entails failure. Change entails failure. Creativity and innovation and experimentation all entail failure. And if we forget that, we will either never try anything that matters or end up sorely disappointed.

The First Will Be Last

 Throughout our lives, most of us have been told by our teachers that there is no such thing as a stupid question. Well, in Mark 10:35-45 James and John blow the lid off that myth. They really did ask a really dumb question at an even more inopportune time. Jesus had just finished telling the twelve for the third time, that his destiny as a servant messiah would result in his suffering, death, and ultimately, resurrection. Yet, immediately following this profound revelation, they asked Jesus if they could sit on his right and left side when he came to glory.

Talk about not getting it! What do you suppose the "Zebedee boys" had in mind? They wanted a piece of the “messianic action,” and sit on either side of Jesus’ throne. Needless to say they were still relating Jesus destiny to an earthly king and despite their time with Jesus during his ministry, James and John still didn't really know what it meant to follow Jesus to the end.

Jesus, as he tells James and John after their bold request, is a servant messiah, and to follow a servant messiah one must also become a servant: "whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:44-45).

In fairness to James and John, answering the call to "servant-hood" does not come easy. Aren't we much like them in many ways? We would much prefer to be known as a great "anything" but servant. Yet, we will realize by the grace of the Holy Spirit, that we are in God's presence when we are called to give of ourselves to serve the least of our brethren.

Jesus' ministry and destiny makes it clear that if we are to follow in his footsteps, then the bare basic of love's dedication are not enough. That love is going to want to be expressed in going above and beyond rudimentary religious "piety," in leaving the comfortable and familiar, and following a voice other than our own. St. Teresa of Calcutta rightly instructs us that for “love to be real, it must cost, it must hurt, it must empty us of self.” Being in love with God requires more than just checking the boxes. It requires a sincere and unconditional self-investment. Desiring God with our whole heart, mind, and soul means that I must also desire a relationship with my neighbor with that same degree of fervor. This is why following Christ can be difficult. It is less a matter of intellect and more a matter of heart and soul. (Weekly Bulletin, St. Benedict Church, October 10, 2021)

If I Were a Rich Man

What does it mean to have a personal union with God? For me and most Christians, personal union with God is primarily defined by our relationship with Jesus the incarnational divine Being whose very coming was intended  to enhance that intimate relationship. When we are free from those attachments that divert our attention from God, we are able to turn our lives over to him, and he comes alive to us through Christ. In essence, we get out of the way and let God’s love take us through the rest of our journey. 

We can accept what Jesus says at face value in that wealth can be hazardous to our spiritual health; however, Jesus is not suggesting that it’s impossible for a rich man to “enter” the kingdom of God. In our reading this week Mark 10:17-30 Jesus reinforces the metaphor of wealth as a spiritual liability to our gaining entry into God’s kingdom. But is he only talking about money and riches here? All too often we relate one’s being poor as an automatic “ticket to admission” to the kingdom. Yet, if we refuse to take responsibility for our own lives and well-being and passively accept our self-imposed fate as a “gift” in and of itself, we are missing the point. There are no merit badges for being rich or poor and co-dependent. Not taking responsibility for one’s own welfare…if one is able, is as much a distraction and a liability to entering God’s kingdom as being diverted from our union with God by coveting excess and abundance for abundance sake.

An important message in this reading is Jesus’ call for us to give up our “false selves,” as Thomas Keating calls it. Whether rich or poor, he asks us to set aside all the attachments, devices, security blankets and even spiritual practices that we devise as “props” so that we can stay in our comfort zones. As such, we hide behind an egotistical illusion of the false self. Simply stated, anything that gets in the way of our becoming closer to and being united with God is a stumbling block. Jesus makes it clear that people, places and things can be millstones, or "stumbling blocks" that can block us from our relationship with God.

Christian practice aims at our dismissing the false self by developing an awareness of God’s presence in our lives. Then as we can see our deep-rooted attachments and with God’s help, let them go as he takes them away and replaces them with Himself. (Keating, Open Mind Open Heart, p 72.)

I have always enjoyed Eugene Peterson’s citations in The Message on the false self or ego: Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for? "Don't be in such a hurry to go into business for yourself."

 

Is it Caesar's or God's

Once again the Pharisees  attempt to test Jesus (Mark10:2-16,) and ask him about divorce. And once again they misunderstand or misuse the scripture to justify their agenda. They hope their question will expose Jesus as dangerous to families, in light of his scandalous comments in prior encounters. 

In typical Socratic fashion Jesus turns the table on the Pharisees away from their legal foundation for divorce to God's design for marriage.

Because of the hardness of your hearts, he [Moses] wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, God made them [husband and wife] 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.

God is love. We are products of God’s love and handiwork, a small but treasured part of God’s great ongoing work of art. Love in all its manifestations, cannot be governed by any temporal law of man any more than God can. 

We  have been conditioned to speak of marriage, as a construct of civil law that conforms to God’s law, as a contract. But is it? I can remember studying what goes into the essential parts of a valid contract in a business law course a long time ago. For a contract to be valid there must be a valid offer and a valid acceptance of that offer; there must be "consideration," an agreed upon exchange, or a quid pro quo, that is “something for something,” and the contract must detail specified “consideration,” a term used to affix a value exchange, usually money or equitable services rendered. 

“God created, a covenant bond, with humanity, in the person of Adam. Adam’s name is not only the name of an individual, the "founding father" of the human race, but it’s also the Hebrew word for humanity…The difference between a covenant and contract, in the Old Testament and throughout scripture, is profound. Contractual relations are transactional, usually an exchange of property, goods and services, whereas covenants exchange persons(?). So when people enter into a covenant, they say, ‘I am yours and you are mine.’ So God uses the covenant to enter into a relationship with those whom he created in his own image: humanity and all human persons.” (Scott Hahn, Contract vs. Covenant, Outlook, February, 2002.)

So how do we apply a transactional agreement to love? We can’t. Love cannot be governed by man. No human can break the love between two people; it’s not theirs to break. Once again in our reading, Jesus refuses to be trapped by either the Pharisees or his disciples as he challenges the rules of men with the law of God. Each of the synoptic gospels cite some variation on Jesus’ take on separation of Church and state with the famous quote Render to Caesar that which is Caesar’s and to God that which is God’s. This phrase has profound resonance throughout scripture and God’s law based on his love and covenant with man. It has become widely quoted as a summary statement of the relationship between Christianity and secular authority that goes far beyond whether it was lawful for Jews to pay taxes to Caesar.

"We renew our faith in the word of the Lord which invites faithful families to this openness. It invites all those who want to share the prophecy of the covenant of man and woman, which generates life and reveals God!”(Pope Francis, Openness, 9-27-15, Philadelphia) 
"I leave you with this question, for each one of you to respond to. In my home, do we yell, or do we speak with love and tenderness? This is a good way to recognize our love.
(Pope Francis, Patience, 9-26-15, NYC)

Be Open

How often have we read about Jesus’ healing the sick; restoring speech to the impaired; sight to the blind, and hearing to the deaf? Somehow we have become jaded to Jesus’ ability to perform miracles. I recall having read somewhere that the great mystery of the incarnation of God in Jesus is not his divinity, after all God can do anything, but the true mystery is Jesus living his life fully human, just like us.

We spent most of this summer reading and discussing John’s Gospel. We almost sequentially delved into the mystical significance of the Bread of Life; the sharing of the Bread, and what becoming flesh in each of us means. Knowing the mystery of the Eucharist required that we suspend "belief" and palpably feel its meaning with our "gut," which after all's said and done defines faith for me.

We are told that striving to be in a “right relationship with God” is what being a Christian means and living the Word is what it's all about, right? But what does being in a right relationship with God really mean? Let’s close our eyes and picture how being in a right relationship "feels" for a minute. Note, I use the word “picture,” not “understand.” This may prompt our imagination and senses to feel the words as a palpable, sensory experience. For me being in a relationship with God is not anything I can describe with words. And here to help I invoke a line from Thomas Merton's prayer: The fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.  But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.  

You see, for me it's all about the feeling and calling all our senses into action.  "Albert Einstein said that the 'true measure of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.' Being a disciple of Jesus Christ requires a great deal of imagination. It is not enough to simply attend to facts, rules and rituals and consider the job done. "  (St. Benedict Church Bulletin, August 29, 2021.)

God fully shared our humanity through Jesus as we through Jesus, fully share in God’s divinity. Anything less than that relationship with God would be reduced to being mere acquaintances. So, with this as our premise, we consider Mark 7:31-37 from the perspective of both the healer and one who is in need of healing. Do we ever think of ourselves as “healers”? Think of the times we listen, comfort and support one another.
    
What is required for us to be healed or the healer or both? Why do we resist the potential that resides within each of us? We hear but do not listen while remarkable things happen all the time, and we dismiss them as “coincidences.”

“Our ministering and supporting one another morph into the essence​ of our being and become who we are, as if they exist as an integral part of us. We become ever changed by their existence. Like an encrusted stone picking up moss while rolling down a hill, we are ever changed with each turn… And at the core is "love" God's love. I suppose, this is what's meant by becoming the Word. We need not speak of what we do, they describe us and speak quietly; and we give thanks for them.” (Ministries 7/28/15)

What comes out is what defiles

 

In Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Jesus teaches that the people of God are not set apart by particular religious traditions or ethnicity, but by what comes from the heart, characterized by love for others. We do not need more religion, but more reflection on what proceeds from our heart. Yes, traditions can be good, and can help point us and others closer to God. However, they can also send subtle or explicit messages that say "you don't belong."

Jesus challenged the purity “laws” and turned them upside down. In their place he substituted a radically alternate social vision. The new community that Jesus announced would be characterized by compassion for everyone, not based on external compliance to a purity code and egalitarian inclusivity.

"No outcasts," writes Garry Wills in What Jesus Meant, "were NOT cast out far enough in Jesus' world to make him shun them — not Roman collaborators, not lepers, not prostitutes, not the crazed, not the possessed. 

“Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile…from within come evil thoughts and they defile.”

Who do we judge when we sanctimoniously spurn those who are not like us or not part of our group? (Bible Study Blog, Bob Reina, August, 28, 2012)

To Whom Can We Go?"

Are you Leaving or are you staying?

In John 6:60-69, the followers of Jesus have heard words they do not understand. They are repelled! It simply is impossible to believe that Jesus is inviting them to eat his flesh and drink his blood…so, many of those who had followed Jesus up to this point, now walk away. They have reached an obstacle in their belief which they cannot overcome.  

It is not difficult to imagine Jesus' sadness as he watched them leave… Fearing that he was going to be completely abandoned, he turns to the twelve apostles and asks them what they are going to do...Peter speaks for them and us when he responds “Master to whom can we go?”

We do all that we can in life to avoid being placed in position of vulnerability, yet in this gospel we have the twelve willing to be vulnerable by surrendering control and choosing complete dependency on Jesus. That dependency reveals an ultimate statement of faith: Lord, we have no options. We have no choice but to keep following you. 

Faith is deepened in situations where self-reliance is no longer possible, a place in which it is difficult to rely on intellect, reason or abilities. Faith is the willingness to let go of "conventional wisdom" and listen to a voice within. 

The ability to listen to what Jesus is saying to each of us and then asking whether we are going to continue following him is part of our spiritual journey. For most of us, it can happen many times in our lifetime when we are challenged to acknowledge that we must leave the "training wheels" of religion and grow into a personal deep-rooted knowing, and ask, if not to you than to whom do I turn? In end our response has to be personal…walk away…or stay and delve deeper into the mystery. ( adapted from Tuesday, August 21, 2012 Bible Study Blog by Bob Reina)

Lost and Found

 

The Prodigal Son, is among the most recognized parables in the New Testament, (Luke 15:1-32). While there are several important themes for us to consider in the reading, the most prevalent focuses on the father and the so-called “faithful son.” Paradoxically, the prodigal son is a secondary character in the story as it relates to Jesus’ purpose in telling it.

The father characterized in the story, represents an individual whose unconditional love seems to exceed the “normal” bounds of human understanding. It’s hard to imagine a typical father or any human being for that matter, who is capable of acting with such selfless compassion and understanding.

In contrast to the father’s behavior, the reaction of the elder brother, who remains behind and steadfastly adheres to his father’s will in performing his day-to-day chores, seems all too human with regard to the homage paid to his wayward brother. He finds that he cannot or is unwilling to rejoice in the return of his delinquent brother.

 In this story Jesus reveals that the love of God surpasses all our understanding and exists in a dimension beyond anything known to man. That love is evidenced in the scene in which the father rushes out to greet the Prodigal without inquiry into his derelict behavior or his intention to repent. The father makes no inquiry into his past and  merely rejoices in his return and orders a celebration in honor of his homecoming.

But the elder son, who professes to be more worthy of the father’s love is angry and resentful. After all wasn’t he the more faithful and dutiful son who without fanfare, quietly went about his father’s business?

So, to whom do we relate…the father, the elder son, or the Prodigal? What about the reaction of the community to the father’s behavior?

 Richard Rohr writes that “Almost all religion and cultures that I know of have believed that sin and evil are to be punished and that retribution is to be demanded of the sinner in this world—and usually the next world, too. Such retributive justice is a dualistic system of reward and punishment characterized by good guys and bad guys, makes perfect sense to the ego…Mere counting and ledger-keeping is not the way of the Gospel. Our best self wants to restore relationships, and not just blame or punish. The trouble is that we have defined God as ‘punisher in chief’ instead of Healer, Forgiver, and Reconciler and so the retribution model was legitimized down through the ages…

On the other hand, the aim of restorative justice is to return the person to a useful position in the community. Thus, there can be healing on both sides. Such justice is a mystery that only makes sense to the soul…and yet the term restorative justice has only awakened our social consciousness in the last few decades. How can we deny that there is an evolution of consciousness, even consciousness of where the Gospel is leading us?” (Richard Rohr, Restorative Justice, Center for Action and Contemplation. 6/12/18)

 

 

 

Who is My Neighbor

 

 

The Parable of The Good Samaritan is one of the most beloved gospel stories in the Bible. The story (Luke 10:25-37) tells of a man who is savagely beaten and robbed in going from Jerusalem to Jericho and given up for dead in a ditch. A priest and a Levite pass by without helping him. But a Samaritan stops and cares for him, taking him to an inn where the Samaritan pays for his care. The parable’s overarching theme teaches that enemies can have compassion for enemies; compassion has no boundaries, and that judging people on the basis of their religion or ethnicity can leave us dying in a ditch. 

So who were the Samaritans, really? We are told that they were not just outcasts. They were the despised enemies of the Jews. So in this parable in which Jesus’ audience would have expected a Jew to be the hero of the story, they were likely shocked to hear that it was a Samaritan instead. Only by understanding this pivotal paradox does the powerful message of the parable come through for them then and us today.

Scripture scholar James Martin defines a parable as a “metaphor or a simile drawn from nature or common life arresting the hearer by its vividness or strangeness and leaving the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise application in order to tease it into active thought.” He goes on to explain that parables are poetic explanations of spiritual concepts impossible to comprehend fully. For example the reign of God is far too rich to be encompassed by any one definition, no matter how theologically accurate. In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, a man from a hated ethnic group was ultimately revealed to Jewish listeners as the good guy who cares for the stranger. As with this parable, many run counter to the expectations of the audience and therefore are subversive to “conventional wisdom.” (Martin, p 200)

The lesson in this parable springs from an answer to a question posed to Jesus by a lawyer, likely an expert in the Mosaic Law and not a court lawyer of today. The lawyer’s question was, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus takes this opportunity to define what His disciples’ relationship should be to their neighbors and in typical fashion, Jesus answers the question with a question.  “He asks ‘What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?’" By referring to the Law, Jesus refers the man to an authority they both would accept as truth, the Old Testament. In essence, He is asking the lawyer, what does Scripture say about this and how does he interpret it? In so doing Jesus avoids an argument or being “trapped” and puts Himself in the position of evaluating the lawyer’s answer instead of the lawyer evaluating His answer.  

The lawyer answers correctly and Jesus acknowledges that he has given an orthodox answer, but doesn’t stop there. He tells him that this kind of love requires more than an emotional feeling; he would need to “practice what he preached.” As an educated man the lawyer realized that he could not possibly keep this law, nor would he have necessarily wanted to. There would always be people in his life that he could not love. Thus, in an effort to limit the law’s command by limiting its parameters, he asks the question “who is my neighbor?” The word “neighbor” in the Greek means “someone who is near,” and in the Hebrew it means “someone that you have an association with.” This allows for a limited interpretation of neighbor as fellow Jew and would have excluded Samaritans, Romans, and other foreigners.  

Jesus uses the parable of the Good Samaritan to correct the lawyer’s limited definition of “neighbor” and corresponding duty to his neighbor. By ending the encounter in this manner, Jesus wants us to follow the Samaritan’s example in our own lives in that we are to show compassion and love for those we encounter in our everyday activities. We are to love others regardless of their race or religion. As for reaching out to help, the criterion is need. If they need and we have the supply, then we are to give generously and freely, without expectation of return. This is a seemingly impossible obligation for the lawyer, and often for us. We cannot always keep the law because of our human condition; our heart and desires are mostly of self and selfishness. Our ego strives to keep us in our comfort zone and not get involved. 

Thus, the lessons of the Parable of the Good Samaritan are three-fold: (1) we are to set aside our prejudice and show love and compassion for others. (2) Our neighbor is anyone we encounter; we are all creatures of the creator and we are to love all of mankind as Jesus has taught. (3) Keeping the law in its entirety with the intent to save ourselves is an impossible task; we need help, and Jesus is all too eager to be there for us. (based on Matt Slick, Grace Bible College)

I Am The Bread of Life

I often wonder how priests and theologians were able to continue to plumb the depths of John’s gospel and help us understand its relevance to our lives. I would try to put myself in the audience of John’s day and try to understand why these stories of Jesus the Bread of Life, are so vital to our faith. We need to hear them again and again until Jesus becomes our bread of life in the depths of our very being.
Do we we fully comprehend the theological and existential significance of approaching and “gathering” around the altar, the table of the Lord, to receive Communion? And if we don’t or are still confused is it really any wonder? Let’s face it, debate about the meaning of the Eucharist continues even now in this relatively tranquil ecumenical period between and within different denominations. The sacrament holds a pivotal place in the Church, in that it is central to our life of faith and yet can also be so very confusing. 

John writes (John 6:24-35), “How can this man give us his flesh to eat...Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” In their literal interpretation these phrases had quite an impact on John’s audience then as they do now. He is speaking to us in the present time as directly as he did in his time. 

St. Augustine attempts to clarify the connection between sacraments and our daily lives with his use of the phrase “visible words.” I find this phrase attractive because it helps me appreciate the Eucharist as the visible, physical reference to the presence of Christ in our lives. The Eucharist is the embodiment of the proclaimed and heard gospel and through imagery and our ability to relate to their physical forms, they enable us to bridge the metaphorical words of John with our humanity, and God’s incarnation in Jesus…through him and with him. As we fully absorb his presence in water, bread, and wine, we become incorporated into the “trinity.” When the word of God in scripture and the sacramental rites have worked their way through our senses and penetrate to the intuitive level of our being, the immense energies of the Spirit are released and our consciousness is gradually transformed into the mind of Christ. (Thomas Keating, The Mystery of Christ, p2)

The liturgy does not offer us a mere seat in the bleachers, or even a ringside seat. We are invited to participate in the event itself, to absorb its meaning and to relate to Christ on every level of his being as well as our own. The main thrust of the liturgy is to develop a relationship with Christ and engage all our faculties: the will, intellect, memory, imagination, senses and body. The transmission of the personal relationships through him…with the Father. It empowers us as we celebrate the mysteries of Christ, to not only perceive them as historical events but as manifestations of Christ here and now. (Thomas Keating, The Mystery of Christ, p8)

Now You Feed them

 

Is there any Gospel reading more familiar to us than Jesus feeding the multitudes John 6:1-15)? Let’s put aside the inclination to call Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand a miracle. Why? Primarily because it misses the point and distracts us from the true miracles that take place in the story. For the one who existed before existence, made the universe out of nothing and created light from darkness, simply multiplying some pieces of fish and bread was no major feat. 

John reminds us that the wonders Jesus performed throughout his ministry were always indications of the character of the God of love whose divine presence Jesus bears. Make no mistake, what Jesus did is anything but pedestrian but the point isn’t what Jesus did, but what he did and why he did it. Jesus reveals the presence of God in him by his deep compassion, the hallmark of Jesus ministry. This single word summarizes God’s unconditional love for us and is at the core of his incarnation in Christ. 

Ok, let’s get back to our miracle… that was no minor endeavor. What we now call “food scarcity” was rampant in the ancient world. And so the disciples’ suggestion that the hordes of people go away and buy food isn’t just unrealistic it’s ridiculous. First, they were in a deserted place in the middle of nowhere, and second, they would likely not have any money to buy food anyway. And so Jesus tells his disciples to get over their self-concern and off-loading their selfish desire to be left alone, after all what could they really do about it. So he tells them go ahead and feed the people… you do it!  Which brings us to the real miracle of the story: Jesus uses the disciples, even when they would rather look after themselves, to tend to the needs of these thousands of men, women, and children. They go from “we have nothing here but five loaves and fishes” to one of abundance to “thank you, God, for these five loaves and fishes.” Whatever their initial skepticism, or doubt, or self-indulgence, the disciples are caught up in Jesus’ words of abundance and “they all ate and were filled” as God worked through these reluctant disciples in all their humanity, to care for the poor and hungry that he loves so much. 

And that miracle continues every day today when a parent puts his/her own dreams aside to care for the needs of their children or aging parent. God is working that same miracle when a community of faith makes a promise that any one that comes to its doors will not be turned away hungry, or when a Muslim family hides a Christian refugee from the wrath of murderous radicals, or a father takes a bullet to shield his wife and daughter from an assassin. God is still at work performing miracles through us, his disciples eager, yet reluctant, and everything in between.

The real wonder of this story is that it continues today. God cares deeply and passionately for those who are most vulnerable:  the poor, the homeless, the hungry. And God continues to use us to care for them.  Just maybe if we are serving our “needy,” however poor or rich, we are reminded of the similarity that exists between the scenes in Matthew. Let those of us who have been fed by God’s heavenly food go and do likewise by sharing God’s love with all we meet and especially with those in deepest need. There are two miracles in this story. They have little to do with simply multiplying loaves and fishes. By remembering them, we are hopefully prepared to continue to follow Jesus and care for those in need. And that is no small thing at a time like this. Thank you God.

Summertime

For some reason this summer appears to be hotter than most, at least to me anyway. June 2024 is among the hottest on record and now July, here at the halfway point, is doing its best to compete. I’m sure some may attribute this unusually hot summer to global warming, although measuring any climatic global change requires decades and not months. That said, who knows, and does it really matter. All we know is that it’s really hot and it’s a signal to all of us to slow down, take it easy and rest. 

Ahh rest, such a beautiful word Just its very mention conditions us to want to stop and take a break from all the usual hustle and bustle, that too often is more like “Brownian movement,” a senseless discharge of energy in place that goes nowhere and achieves nothing. In Mark 6:30-34, Jesus is scheduling a retreat for his apostles and is asking them to slow down, reflect, let go of distractions and shut off the events of the past weeks and just rest… if only for a little while. Rest and use this time to just be.  

Jesus' simple invitation to "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest awhile" is not just an invitation to take an afternoon off or go on vacation although those may be important at this time. His is an invitation to loosen our shackles and climb out of the cages we've constructed from a culturally-fed belief that more is the ticket to happiness and that work is the ticket to more.  

Isn't this is one of the key elements of our Wednesday Scripture discussion and introspection?  It provides a chance to step back from all the daily things that usually consume us so that we might experience God's presence and a sense of peace and gratitude.

 Jesus wants us to rest. He wants us to recognize the pervasive obsessions of our human condition and the rat race we call modern living. He wants us to reflect on how much time we really spend together and actually enjoy what  we’ve worked so hard to attain.  

God wants us to live fully human and have an abundant life. Abundant life doesn't consist of merely more and more. "Abundant" isn't necessarily a quantitative term but a qualitative one. I believe living abundantly requires a zest for life and a passion for elements of our lives we enjoy and bring us pleasure. That said these passions like anything taken to extreme, can be toxic. The events of the past few days and the vitriolic rhetoric leading up to Saturday bears witness to this. I wonder how many people are saying "I never thought it would lead to this." Truthfully, those of us who've lived through some of the dark hours of our Nation's history are not surprised. Hate set in motion has very few outlets.

 So, how do we begin to "dial it down," "lower the heat," to use the already hackneyed media buzz-words on the lips of every politician and media hack? Maybe we might consider shutting down our TV's and computers for a day or turning off our cell phones for a morning or evening, or, saying no to one self-imposed obligation or "routine" appointment...and give thanks for our lives and the beauty in our world. After all, it’s summertime and the living is easy. Fish are jumping and the cotton is high…so hush little children, please hush.+

Two By Two

 

Jesus ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics."(Mark 6:7-13)

I've often thought how I'd feel if I had to immediately leave home on a moment’s notice with no time to take anything except the clothes I was wearing. I am reminded of some catastrophic events or acts of terror that have forced some unfortunate people to escape with nothing but the clothes on their backs and I wonder how they were able do this. Our recent history bears witness to devastating fires, acts of war and natural disasters that have required people to pick up and leave the safety of their homes without time for any preparation.

Although there have been times when I have had to travel for a family emergency or for a so-called business "crisis," and while time was of the essence, I still was able to give some thought as to what I needed to take with me. Otherwise, I was what you might call a "defensive packer." With a variety of lists in hand, covering any possible venue or destinations, I packed for a myriad of "what ifs" that rarely would ever materialize. In retrospect I often wonder why I needed to be so over-prepared, doubling up on apparel and anything else on my list. This preparedness was not necessarily limited to packing my luggage. And while I still am a “just-in -case” packer, I have managed to be less concerned with the need to over prepare.

Jesus tells his disciples to travel light and rely on the kindness of strangers. Of course, the world in the time of Jesus was much different from our modern world today. At that time, Jewish travelers would often stay in the home of another member of their community in deference to the Jewish purity code. While Jesus’ message was offered to all, we know that it was not welcomed by everyone. After all, look at the rejection Jesus experienced earlier in Mark’s story. To that end, Jesus tells them that if they did encounter resistance, they should not be discouraged or detained in their journey, but rather they should “shake the dust from their sandals” and continue on their way.

What Jesus asked of his disciples required considerable trust, in that the disciples were “commissioned” to immediately follow his instructions, without question or reservation and begin to preach the good news. Needless to say, this required implicit confidence in Jesus. 

So, how does my need to over prepare for a journey relate to this gospel? Perhaps it was a lack of confidence or trust in myself that required that my preparation was extreme? I am now more open to the knowledge that all will go well in the long run and trust God’s presence in me and others more. Think of all the unnecessary clutter in our lives that gets in the way of our relationship with one another. Richard Rohr teaches that the God in me loves the God in you. Those attachments that we once regarded as essential get in the way of our connectedness with one another, and therefore with God.

The disciples were given the authority by Jesus to preach the gospel, heal the sick and cast out demons.

What meaning can we apply to healing the sick and casting out demons today? Perhaps in liberating those who are imprisoned by sadness and depression, or giving hope to those who think that their lives no longer have any meaning we can heal the sick and “cast out demons.” However, in order for us to do this we must trust God and remain focused on what is essential. 

So while I cannot equate my learning to travel lighter with the confidence that all will go well, I'm now better prepared; I can appreciate what it means to trust and let go of the unnecessary baggage filled with past regrets and the unrealized “what ifs” of my life that get in the way of my drawing closer to God. We know that the lives of those who welcome the gospel are transformed. It's a journey.

So, what is it that gives us a greater sense of security, or when have we had to go beyond our fears and set out with very little? 

Little boy false
In search of little boy true
Will you be ever done traveling,
Always unraveling you, you?
Running away
Could lead you further astray

And as for fishing in streams
For pieces of dreams,
Those pieces will never fit
What is the sense of it?
(Pieces of Dreams, Legrand, Bergman and Bergman)
 

 

A Prophet is Not Without Honor

Because we tend to focus on Jesus' divinity and his very short temporal ministry, it's easy for us to lose sight of the fact that Jesus lived his time on earth as fully human as we. That he was fully human is the real miracle of God's incarnation in Man. While we have little knowledge of his formative years, Luke tells us that “The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.” The Word became flesh and  lived among us.

Given all he had accomplished it's hard for us to understand why he was ridiculed and scorned when he returned home to Nazareth and his family. How, they wondered, could this lowly carpenter, Mary and Joseph’s son, possess such wisdom and be capable of such miraculous works! He did not fit into the perceived "caste" and image into which he was born and didn't "live down" to what was expected of him.  They did not trust him. In a culture that measured a person's worth by his place in society, Jesus had clearly raised the bar and exceeded anything one would have been expected from an itinerant carpenter. At that time carpenters were poorly regarded as they often left their families without economic security to seek work. They did not even have the respect of their own families. (Mark 6:1-6)

God’s divine revelation in creation is evident everywhere. Needless to say, God was not silent for the 14 billion years before Scriptures were written. Although He was in the world at the very beginning of time. His relationship with man was made manifest to the world in the incarnation of Jesus. "We needed a God with skin on" it to help us understand God’s unconditional love for us and he showed us how to share this love with one another. While present one with the father throughout all creation as “Christ,” the second person, Jesus, in all his humanity, enters our world to proclaim the Kingdom of God and our way back to the Father.

Who Touched Me

St. Bernard paraphrased Mary’s response to Gabriel’s Annunciation with the following prayer

“Let it be unto me according to your word concerning the Word. Let the Word that was in the beginning with God become flesh from my flesh. Let the word I pray, be to me, not a word spoken only to pass away… but conceived and clothed in flesh, …not in air, that it may remain with us.

Let him be, not only to be heard with the ears… but to be seen with the eyes, touched with the hands and borne on the shoulders.

Let the Word be to me not as a word written and silent… but incarnate and living. That is not traced with dead signs upon dead parchments… bur livingly impressed upon my chaste womb; not by the tracing of a pen of lifeless reed…but by the operation of the Holy Spirit.

Let this be to me, as was never done to anyone before me, nor after me shall be done. Yes, let it be done for the sake of the whole world…but specially let it be done unto me according to your word.”Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), “A Virgin’s Prayer, In Defense of Humility,” Watch for the Light, p.41. 

Maybe it’s a stretch but for me Bernard’s visceral words strike me as an appropriate introduction to today’s Gospel. Let him be, not only to be heard with the ears… but to be seen with the eyes, touched with the hands and borne on the shoulders. Usually, when we hear this Gospel, we focus on the woman’s healing and the little girl’s resuscitation, but for Mark, those are just the backdrop to what’s going on. Note that in his account, Mark mentions touching seven times. (Mark 5:21-43) 

Today’s Gospel is built around two subjects: a father’s request for the healing of the daughter of a synagogue official, and the healing of the woman with a chronic hemorrhage. In between the father’s request and the girl’s rising, Mark makes a distinction between "meaningless” and “healing” touch. Meaningless touch occurs when a group becomes a crowd and tries to move en masse. The crowd’s attention is focused on its goal and who bumps into whom is incidental and means nothing. That’s how the disciples saw this walk with Jesus; they were on the way to the synagogue official’s house and their intention was to remain near and see what would happen. Jostling was inconsequential as long as they could maintain a good viewing position.

 But the heart of the story focused on the woman they didn’t even notice, the one who had suffered for 12 years...symbolically, forever. Mark subtly takes us through her journey of faith. First, she had heard about Jesus. What she heard sparked her hope and sparked her faith. Like someone who approaches God based on word of mouth, second hand, rather than personal knowledge, there is a pivot point at which time believing becomes knowing. Without concern for personal safety, she pushed through the throng of men and snuck up behind Jesus... knowing that simply touching his cloak would save her. Just coming in contact with him healed her infirmity. 

Who touched me?

In our Gospel Jesus was not teaching theology or representing an invisible miracle-working deity; Jesus was bringing people into the real presence of his loving Father's kingdom by which all things were possible. 

Let him be, not only to be heard with the ears… but to be seen with the eyes, touched with the hands and borne on the shoulders.

Jesus perceived that someone in the crowd had touched him... for who he was, to enter into personal relationship with him. By calling her “daughter,” Jesus assured her that she could go in peace, her affliction was healed by her faith. 

The bold woman Jesus called “daughter,” reminds us that if we will risk reaching out in hope, the results can be beyond our imagining just another curious onlooker in the bustling crowd. She sought him out and her faith was so strong that she believed that simply touching Jesus’ garment she would be cured.
(adapted from the “Power of Touch," Mary M. McGlone, CSJ NCR, June 15-28, 2018)

What are you afraid of?

 

What are you afraid of? Lord you have to be kidding might have been our response to Jesus if we were one of the apostles.  Consider that the apostles were skilled fishermen who find themselves caught in the storm of their lives; their boat is about to capsize, and despite their experience, they are unable to take control and naturally fear for their lives. And there's Jesus, who has done marvelous, miraculous things on behalf of others, sleeping in the bow of the boat.

In our Gospel, (Mark4: 35-41), it’s hard to imagine that Jesus’ response was not rhetorical: "Quiet! Be still! Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?"

We know that parables were used by Jesus to get his listeners and us to think beyond the literal and expand our frame of reference, and perhaps shake us up a bit. This story while not necessarily a parable, certainly fits the bill. It does shake us up a bit. How would we have behaved as characters in this story? How would we have responded to Jesus’ question? What would it be like to rely on our faith in the midst of an overwhelming crisis, and in the apostles’ case, incapacitating fear?

Have you ever felt powerless to control and take charge of a serious life-impacting situation? I can recall a number of times when I was confronted with having to make decisions that I knew would alter mine and my family’s lives forever. These were not easy and my options were very limited. In all cases, fear of the unknown resulted in feeling  powerless and helpless. There was no place to hide and no one to whom I could turn. It was on me.

Fear or suffering gets us to a place in which our nerves are raw and exposed and that place between us and the bottom is very thin. This thin place seems to activate the "semi-permeable membrane" that serves as a barrier between us and God. We find God waiting when we are  at the end of our rope. If we are open and receptive, we will eventually hear his voice or feel his prompting and finally be able to overcome our immobility, and  begin to move.  It may take minutes, days, weeks…or even years.

Jesus’ lesson for his apostles in the midst of the storm is to trust in God. You can almost hear Hammerstein's lyrics in "You'll Never Walk Alone." The storm will pass and we will “somehow” manage to make it through, albeit different from the way in which we “entered.” We will be transformed in some way, with greater insight and inner experience of God.

Albert Nolan paraphrases Augustine when he writes that “God is closer to me than I am to myself. God is one with me and with you…If God is closer to me than I am to myself and we are in some profound sense one, then I have nothing to fear. I will be cared for at all times and in all circumstances. Nothing can really harm me and whatever happens will be for the best. I am loved beyond measure because I am one with the whole mystery of life.” ( Jesus Today, A Spirituality of Radical Freedom. p 143)