In the Letter of James we hear something that may come as a surprise to many. Too many people still generalize the story of Job and think the temptations that they experience are "the work of the devil" or even "God is testing me." James gives us a simpler but less satisfying answer to the question.
No one experiencing temptation should say,
"I am being tempted by God";
for God is not subject to temptation to evil,
and he himself tempts no one.
Rather, each person is tempted when lured and enticed by his desire.
Then desire conceives and brings forth sin,
and when sin reaches maturity it gives birth to death.
That's right; temptation comes from our own desire. The reason I call it a less satisfying explanation is that it gives us no room to put the blame on anyone or anything outside our own self.
James gives a simple track of temptation: desire -> sin -> death.
The simple truth is that in our own hearts we desire things that are not good, and things that are not good for us.
The good news is that while the temptation doesn't come from God the answer to it does. God's grace can help us to deal with the desire that we feel. St. Thomas would point out that grace helps us to know what is right, desire what is right, and actually do it.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Saturday, February 11, 2012
A Medical Question
Rarely do I hear enter into the political arena, but with the latest Obama administration decision, I just can't keep silent.
For more than twenty years as a priest and child of working class parents,I have watched the elderly and the poor on a monthly basis be forced to choose between their medications and groceries. The co-pays can often add up to huge sums.
My own mother died of the complications of diabetes and congestive heart failure and until the very end there were "out of pocket costs."
Now we will have a class of drugs which insurance companies are required by federal law to provide free of charge, no co-pays. Are they for cancer, HIV, or even diabetes or depression? No. They are contraceptives. Really?
Should insurance companies be required by law to provide some drugs absolutely free of charge to some populations? Perhaps. But is this really where we should start?
Perhaps I am misinformed. Perhaps the law already requires insurers to provide their poorer subscribers with free medicines for life threatening illness. But to my knowledge this will be a first.
As you read this there are people with insurance all over the country who will not fill their prescriptions because the don't have the money, and with this compromise the only drug they would be able to walk into the drugstore and get absolutely free is a contraceptive.
I'm confused by our priorities.
For more than twenty years as a priest and child of working class parents,I have watched the elderly and the poor on a monthly basis be forced to choose between their medications and groceries. The co-pays can often add up to huge sums.
My own mother died of the complications of diabetes and congestive heart failure and until the very end there were "out of pocket costs."
Now we will have a class of drugs which insurance companies are required by federal law to provide free of charge, no co-pays. Are they for cancer, HIV, or even diabetes or depression? No. They are contraceptives. Really?
Should insurance companies be required by law to provide some drugs absolutely free of charge to some populations? Perhaps. But is this really where we should start?
Perhaps I am misinformed. Perhaps the law already requires insurers to provide their poorer subscribers with free medicines for life threatening illness. But to my knowledge this will be a first.
As you read this there are people with insurance all over the country who will not fill their prescriptions because the don't have the money, and with this compromise the only drug they would be able to walk into the drugstore and get absolutely free is a contraceptive.
I'm confused by our priorities.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Yes, but
Today we here some of the most hash sounding words of Jesus in the gospel:
For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.
This response from Jesus to the Greek mother of a sick child seems on the surface to be heartless. What we need to understand is a basic principle in how Judaism and in fact Jesus dealt with those who would be followers.
We can erroneously get the notion that Jesus simply throws the doors open and says, "Ya'll come." In fact, Jesus following Jewish tradition challenges those who would follow him, from what he says to the woman today, to when he tells the rich young man he must sell everything he has.
His words to the woman in the gospel were a test to find out if her faith was real or just a passing fancy.
Jesus loves us as we are, but at the same time constantly demands that we change. Grace is a free gift from God, but it requires a response.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Inside Out
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;
but the things that come out from within are what defile.
With these words in today's gospel Jesus reoriented the focus of faith. It should be said from the outset that this one verse cannot and should not be taken out of a larger context so as to suggest that faith is a purely interior exercise.
Jesus is dealing with the particular phenomenon that he saw in his time. At his time he witnessed many who were almost exclusively focused on the externals: food, clothing, etc. in a way that did not get to the "heart" of the matter.
Jesus offers as the starting point the heart of the person. From the heart in his language will come forth not simply what we say and do (external actions) but the intention that motivates those words and action, why we do what we do.
If we look at the words of the confiteor we will see that the words are in a particular order: thoughts, words, what I have done, what I have failed to do. It starts with the interior and radiates out. While our faith must express itself in action, those actions must have the right motivations.
but the things that come out from within are what defile.
With these words in today's gospel Jesus reoriented the focus of faith. It should be said from the outset that this one verse cannot and should not be taken out of a larger context so as to suggest that faith is a purely interior exercise.
Jesus is dealing with the particular phenomenon that he saw in his time. At his time he witnessed many who were almost exclusively focused on the externals: food, clothing, etc. in a way that did not get to the "heart" of the matter.
Jesus offers as the starting point the heart of the person. From the heart in his language will come forth not simply what we say and do (external actions) but the intention that motivates those words and action, why we do what we do.
If we look at the words of the confiteor we will see that the words are in a particular order: thoughts, words, what I have done, what I have failed to do. It starts with the interior and radiates out. While our faith must express itself in action, those actions must have the right motivations.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
The Prayer of Solomon
As we continue to read the story of Solomon, today he asks a question that will later be at the center of the Christian Faith.
"Can it indeed be that God dwells on earth?"
Our answer is of course a resounding yes.
We can often forget how the theft and disappearance of the ark, as well as the destruction of the temple changed forever the Jewish faith. All one has to do is visit the remnant of the wall of the temple that remains to understand its profound significance.
Today's reading ends with Solomon's prayer:
"May your eyes watch night and day over this temple,
the place where you have decreed you shall be honored;
may you heed the prayer which I, your servant, offer in this place.
Listen to the petitions of your servant and of your people Israel
which they offer in this place.
Listen from your heavenly dwelling and grant pardon."
For us who are Christians this prayer is most appropriate when we walk into a church and we see the candle that marks the place where the Eucharist is reserved. Do we even acknowledge the fullness of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist anymore?
As a priest I watch people day after day walk into the chapel at our Chancery, or into one of the parish churches and rarely do I see anyone even acknowledge the tabernacle, or who is present in it. No genuflection, no bow, hardly even a glance toward it.
Why is this a big deal? If we have lost the ability to recognize and revere the presence of God in a church or chapel, how can we hope show reverence and respect for the Holy Spirit in her other temple, us, in the street or at work.
Gestures like bowing and genuflecting may seem small matters, but like the use of expressions like "please" and "thank you" they reflect a deeper attitude. And the practice of these small gestures can over time reshape our interior self.
"Can it indeed be that God dwells on earth?"
Our answer is of course a resounding yes.
We can often forget how the theft and disappearance of the ark, as well as the destruction of the temple changed forever the Jewish faith. All one has to do is visit the remnant of the wall of the temple that remains to understand its profound significance.
Today's reading ends with Solomon's prayer:
"May your eyes watch night and day over this temple,
the place where you have decreed you shall be honored;
may you heed the prayer which I, your servant, offer in this place.
Listen to the petitions of your servant and of your people Israel
which they offer in this place.
Listen from your heavenly dwelling and grant pardon."
For us who are Christians this prayer is most appropriate when we walk into a church and we see the candle that marks the place where the Eucharist is reserved. Do we even acknowledge the fullness of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist anymore?
As a priest I watch people day after day walk into the chapel at our Chancery, or into one of the parish churches and rarely do I see anyone even acknowledge the tabernacle, or who is present in it. No genuflection, no bow, hardly even a glance toward it.
Why is this a big deal? If we have lost the ability to recognize and revere the presence of God in a church or chapel, how can we hope show reverence and respect for the Holy Spirit in her other temple, us, in the street or at work.
Gestures like bowing and genuflecting may seem small matters, but like the use of expressions like "please" and "thank you" they reflect a deeper attitude. And the practice of these small gestures can over time reshape our interior self.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Looking for the Ark
The first reading today describes the setting up of Solomon's temple and the Ark of the Covenant. According to this reading the Ark contained the two tablets of Moses from mount Horeb. The point of contact with the divine. This became for the people of Israel the dwelling place of God. The foundation for our concept of tabernacle. The temple, the Holy of Holies, the Ark at its center.
The loss of the ark was a devastating blow to the community, and there are a variety of legends as to where the ark went.
For Christians the new Ark was, first of all, Mary who carried the child Jesus in her womb. In our churches the tabernacle is where we keep the Eucharist, the Body of Christ.
We can in fact go one step further. For Christians each of us, by virtue of our baptism, are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, the dwelling place of God.
The people of Israel handle the Ark with care and reverence and hopefully in each of our churches we treat the Eucharist and tabernacle with reverence and respect. The next question is do we treat our bodies with the same respect.
While the healthcare debate is complex, one factor which we must recognize is our own behavior. Despite all we know there are still those who smoke. Childhood obesity is at an all time high. Do we even think of these as moral choices? It's not simply a matter of good health, it's respecting the dwelling place of God.
Friday, February 3, 2012
It's ok to waffle
Yesterday we blessed candles, today we use those candles to bless throats.
How appropriate that the gospel today is the famous story in which Herod in an unthinking moment promises his daughter anything she wants, then is too proud to renege when what she wants is the head of John the Baptist.
In our modern political arena the cardinal sin now seems to be changing your mind. Now any change of direction by a person is labeled waffling. We used to call it conversion. When did admitting you were wrong become something a leader must never do?
What Herod promised was just plain stupid. He said it without thinking. We all do this. The proper response is not to defend or rationalize, but to apologize.
We have the sacrament of Penance in the Catholic Church, because we understand the importance of saying, "I was wrong." Those two words from the confiteor "mea culpa" used to be commonly used in English.
Today as we bless throats, we are reminded how important it is that we think before we speak. Truth be told, no matter how hard we try, there are going to be times when we are wrong, there are going to be times when we say things that are stupid. We are human.
The important thing is how we respond. Can we acknowledge our errors, and change? The only time waffling is wrong is when you go from doing right to doing wrong.
How appropriate that the gospel today is the famous story in which Herod in an unthinking moment promises his daughter anything she wants, then is too proud to renege when what she wants is the head of John the Baptist.
In our modern political arena the cardinal sin now seems to be changing your mind. Now any change of direction by a person is labeled waffling. We used to call it conversion. When did admitting you were wrong become something a leader must never do?
What Herod promised was just plain stupid. He said it without thinking. We all do this. The proper response is not to defend or rationalize, but to apologize.
We have the sacrament of Penance in the Catholic Church, because we understand the importance of saying, "I was wrong." Those two words from the confiteor "mea culpa" used to be commonly used in English.
Today as we bless throats, we are reminded how important it is that we think before we speak. Truth be told, no matter how hard we try, there are going to be times when we are wrong, there are going to be times when we say things that are stupid. We are human.
The important thing is how we respond. Can we acknowledge our errors, and change? The only time waffling is wrong is when you go from doing right to doing wrong.
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