In today's first reading they bring David what they believe to be good news, the son who had betrayed him and was trying to overthrow him is dead. Instead of celebrating David goes into mourning, weeping. Here we see a reflection of the love of God.
It is difficult for us to truly grasp the depth of God's love for each and every human being. Even when one chooses true evil, God continues to love and desire the salvation of that person.
Is it at times necessary to kill a person like Bin Laden in order to stop them? Yes. But should we ever be happy about it or celebrate it? Not if we are truly Christian.
As I write this entry from Florida we have spent the week watching candidates for office, all of who claim to be followers of Jesus, attempting not only to defeat one another but destroy one another. What's wrong with this picture?
Why do they do it? Because it works. We the voters will say we don't like the nasty attack ads, but, in truth, we eat them up. We believe them, and we follow them. They work.
We think of ancient times as barbaric. David in the first reading weeps at the death of his enemy. Can we be that civilized in the 21st century?
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Getting what we deserve
Despite his flaws David is still seen as the great king of Israel. Perhaps part of the reason we see in today's first reading. His son is out to kill him, it all seems to be coming apart, and a poor an comes out cursing and throwing rocks at him.
One of David's men wants to lop off his head for insulting the king. David's response: Suppose the LORD has told him to curse David; who then will dare to say, 'Why are you doing this?'"
David knows the sins he has committed. David doesn't play the innocent victim. He is able to look at this a see that perhaps it is all part of God's plan. He is able to see when the situation he is in is of his own making.
There is true wisdom.
One of David's men wants to lop off his head for insulting the king. David's response: Suppose the LORD has told him to curse David; who then will dare to say, 'Why are you doing this?'"
David knows the sins he has committed. David doesn't play the innocent victim. He is able to look at this a see that perhaps it is all part of God's plan. He is able to see when the situation he is in is of his own making.
There is true wisdom.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
To teach with authority
It has been a decade now since the pedophilia explosion in Boston that rocked the Church around the world. What some then saw as a symptom of the liberal US Catholic Church, was discovered to be a metastasized cancer in countries around the world, even the most traditional Catholic countries. Once more we have seen how the heinous action and inaction of a small number of people can damage the entire body of Christ.
What does this have to do with today's readings? The readings today speak about teaching with authority.
Some would argue that scandal in the church undermines its authority. If that were true then all of Paul's letters would need to be stripped from the new testament. Was he not a murderer? Or go back through the Old Testament. How many of the great figures were fatally flawed people?
The authority of the Church to teach does not come from the holiness of the individuals, but from the Holy Spirit. We speak of the human writers of the scriptures as being inspired. It was the Spirit in them that gave authority to what they wrote, and that same Spirit guides us still. Throughout the bible God often chose the most flawed and least capable to make that very point.
It is always better when a leader of the church is holy, and practices what they teach, giving good example. But let us not delude ourselves. Every member of the church from the pope down to the most recently baptized is a fragile imperfect human being, including you and I.
For me this does not however undermine the ability of the church to teach with authority, because my faith rests not in the spokesperson but in the one who inspires, God. I believe the Holy Spirit is alive and well and continues to guides the Church, and will continue to do so until the end of time.
What does this have to do with today's readings? The readings today speak about teaching with authority.
Some would argue that scandal in the church undermines its authority. If that were true then all of Paul's letters would need to be stripped from the new testament. Was he not a murderer? Or go back through the Old Testament. How many of the great figures were fatally flawed people?
The authority of the Church to teach does not come from the holiness of the individuals, but from the Holy Spirit. We speak of the human writers of the scriptures as being inspired. It was the Spirit in them that gave authority to what they wrote, and that same Spirit guides us still. Throughout the bible God often chose the most flawed and least capable to make that very point.
It is always better when a leader of the church is holy, and practices what they teach, giving good example. But let us not delude ourselves. Every member of the church from the pope down to the most recently baptized is a fragile imperfect human being, including you and I.
For me this does not however undermine the ability of the church to teach with authority, because my faith rests not in the spokesperson but in the one who inspires, God. I believe the Holy Spirit is alive and well and continues to guides the Church, and will continue to do so until the end of time.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
No plastic bubble
Many of us remember the 1976 John Travolta made for TV movie, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, about a boy whose lack of proper immune system made it necessary for him to live separated from the rest of the world.
The first reading today brought that movie to mind because too many people seem to think that if God is a just God, we would all be the boy in the plastic bubble. If I do good, I alone reap the reward. If I choose to do wrong, I alone suffer the consequences– my moral plastic bubble. Anything else is deemed unfair.
This simplistic notion of fair denying a law of the way God made the world that is as real as the law of gravity, the interconnectedness of human beings.
While we as 21st century Christians would not use language of punishment used in Old Testament, we know that children often suffer because of the actions of their parents. Adults and children will starve today because of the actions and inactions of people thousands of miles away.
We cannot deny our interconnectedness any more than we can deny gravity. We cannot live in isolation, even if we want to. Today the ripple effect is bigger than ever. In the time of David the ripple might touch his family, his tribe, his people. Now our choices ripple around the world.
Think of the number of countries and people whose lives were impacted by my choice to buy the iPad on which I write this. The fact that this posting can be read around the world. How we use the world's resources effects the entire world.
The morality of our choices matters more broadly than ever.
The good news is that just as others suffer the effects of our bad choices so others can reap the benefits of good and wise choices. We can save and improve lives thousands of miles away when we as individuals and as a nation make better choices.
The first reading today brought that movie to mind because too many people seem to think that if God is a just God, we would all be the boy in the plastic bubble. If I do good, I alone reap the reward. If I choose to do wrong, I alone suffer the consequences– my moral plastic bubble. Anything else is deemed unfair.
This simplistic notion of fair denying a law of the way God made the world that is as real as the law of gravity, the interconnectedness of human beings.
While we as 21st century Christians would not use language of punishment used in Old Testament, we know that children often suffer because of the actions of their parents. Adults and children will starve today because of the actions and inactions of people thousands of miles away.
We cannot deny our interconnectedness any more than we can deny gravity. We cannot live in isolation, even if we want to. Today the ripple effect is bigger than ever. In the time of David the ripple might touch his family, his tribe, his people. Now our choices ripple around the world.
Think of the number of countries and people whose lives were impacted by my choice to buy the iPad on which I write this. The fact that this posting can be read around the world. How we use the world's resources effects the entire world.
The morality of our choices matters more broadly than ever.
The good news is that just as others suffer the effects of our bad choices so others can reap the benefits of good and wise choices. We can save and improve lives thousands of miles away when we as individuals and as a nation make better choices.
Friday, January 27, 2012
It's not mine
In the Gospel today Jesus shows that perfect balance of what is our work and what is not. He describes the kingdom of god with:
it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land
and would sleep and rise night and day
and the seed would sprout and grow,
he knows not how.
Are we to work for the building up of the kingdom? Yes, but ultimately it's not our creation or even mostly our work. We use phrases like "my church" or "my parish". The truth is that the neither the parish nor the church is mine nor ours. It's God's. We caretake for a few years of decades for some parishioners, but the church is never ours.
The same is true of life in general. My very soul was God's creation.
We collaborate in His project.
How often in our prayer do we get it backwards? We decide what we want and ask him to collaborate in our project. Then we get upset when it doesn't work out.
Perhaps the simple prayer each day is a question to God: What are we going to do today?
it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land
and would sleep and rise night and day
and the seed would sprout and grow,
he knows not how.
Are we to work for the building up of the kingdom? Yes, but ultimately it's not our creation or even mostly our work. We use phrases like "my church" or "my parish". The truth is that the neither the parish nor the church is mine nor ours. It's God's. We caretake for a few years of decades for some parishioners, but the church is never ours.
The same is true of life in general. My very soul was God's creation.
We collaborate in His project.
How often in our prayer do we get it backwards? We decide what we want and ask him to collaborate in our project. Then we get upset when it doesn't work out.
Perhaps the simple prayer each day is a question to God: What are we going to do today?
Leadership in Place
Today we celebrate Timothy and Titus. It is, I think, difficult for us to understand how Paul with the help of these men transformed the Christian faith. We can easily forget that Christianity had begun as a minority within a minority, a subset of the Jews within a world that, at best, saw the Jews as a whole as a bothersome little sect of little importance.
Yesterday we celebrated Paul and today we celebrate his co-workers Timothy and Titus who truly transformed Christianity into a catholic faith, open to all.
The first reading today from the opening of the letter to Titus also reminds us that with their generation the fundamental structure of the church was firmly in place. Titus spent the rest of his life as Bishop of Crete and in the reading was instructed to name priests (presbyters) for the towns. In short, a diocese as we now know it.
These leaders did two things simultaneously. They opened the doors to new people and cultures and at the same time held to the truths of the faith and held the church together. This is never an easy balancing act.
As we remember them today, we can look around and ask who are the people today who feel excluded and need to be welcomed more fully into the church. We also must ask, how we can show the world that we really are the ONE faith that we proclaim the Christian faith to be.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
The true truth
Not that many years ago I remember hearing an interesting distinction. There was something being true and then there was "the true truth" as the expression went. While the expression seems redundant, in a sense Jesus uses the concept in today's Gospel when answering the difficult question: What makes us children of God?
From the Christian point of view all human beings are created in the image and likeness of God, and so are deserving of respect. Through baptism we are incorporated into the Body of Christ and become sons and daughters of God.
Today, however, Jesus in some sense raises the stakes. "For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."
It is true that baptism makes us children of God but the true truth comes down to what we DO –The choices we may all day every day,the dozens of choices we will make today. In these choices we hold onto or reject the gift of adoption that we received.
The question of each of us today and every day is: Today will I be a brother/sister of Jesus?
From the Christian point of view all human beings are created in the image and likeness of God, and so are deserving of respect. Through baptism we are incorporated into the Body of Christ and become sons and daughters of God.
Today, however, Jesus in some sense raises the stakes. "For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."
It is true that baptism makes us children of God but the true truth comes down to what we DO –The choices we may all day every day,the dozens of choices we will make today. In these choices we hold onto or reject the gift of adoption that we received.
The question of each of us today and every day is: Today will I be a brother/sister of Jesus?
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