We can forget that during Jesus's lifetime disciples remained within the framework of the Jews faith. Jesus and his disciples would have thought of themselves as faithful observant Jews. He came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it.
In today's first reading we reach one of the great turning points in our history. While we think of Paul as "the Apostle to the Gentiles" today we hear the story of the vision that led Peter to a new understanding of his faith.
It is difficult for us to grasp the radical nature of this change. Peter would have spent his entire life believing that there was clean and unclean food would have no more eaten unclean food than you or I would eat rats. He would have had it engrained in his being that it was not only unclean but immoral.
It was only his absolute faith in Jesus that opened his heart to see the world in a new way, and be willing to abandon his lifelong preconceived notions.
Do we have that same faith, that same love. That willingness to let go, and surrender our lives to God's will no matter where it leads?
Monday, April 30, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
Ananias
We all know well the story of Saul on the Road to Damascus. We all probably have some image that come immediately to mind. Often it is the unbiblical one with the horse.(The bible makes no mention of a horse)
A person whose name we should know better than we do, however, is Ananias. Ananias had heard he stories he knew that revealing himself as a follower of Jesus to Saul would literally put his life at risk, and yet he went. He went in search of Saul, he calls him brother, and is willing to trust that the change is real. He allows for the possibility of real conversion in Saul's life.
I remember growing up hearing sayings like, "A leopard can't change his spots." It never dawned on me as a child the number of ways that metaphor fails. First, a leopard is not a human. Secondly, spots are a physical characteristic, not a part of the character. Thirdly, and most important for us as Christians, the expression, when applied to people, denies the power of God's grace.
Ananias had the kind of real faith that gave him courage. He could easily have been walking into a trap that would cost him his life, but he went. He trusted in the power of God's grace. He believed that real change was possible. And he had enough real love in his heart to summon up the courage to give Saul a chance.
Perhaps St. Ananias is worth a closer look.
A person whose name we should know better than we do, however, is Ananias. Ananias had heard he stories he knew that revealing himself as a follower of Jesus to Saul would literally put his life at risk, and yet he went. He went in search of Saul, he calls him brother, and is willing to trust that the change is real. He allows for the possibility of real conversion in Saul's life.
I remember growing up hearing sayings like, "A leopard can't change his spots." It never dawned on me as a child the number of ways that metaphor fails. First, a leopard is not a human. Secondly, spots are a physical characteristic, not a part of the character. Thirdly, and most important for us as Christians, the expression, when applied to people, denies the power of God's grace.
Ananias had the kind of real faith that gave him courage. He could easily have been walking into a trap that would cost him his life, but he went. He trusted in the power of God's grace. He believed that real change was possible. And he had enough real love in his heart to summon up the courage to give Saul a chance.
Perhaps St. Ananias is worth a closer look.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
A New model
St. Philip should be the patron saint for all those involves in RCIA teams.
Since Vatican II parishes around the country have set up teams of people to run what is most often referred to as RCIA (the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults). Intended as a process solely for those who were unbaptized, for years anyone seeking entry into the church was thrown into it regardless of their religious background. In most places a life-long Anglican and a person who never went to church were marched through the same process. With the best intentions, we lost sight of the fact that each person's journey of faith is unique. It is an individual journey in the context of a community.
This reading from Acts provides with the best model.
The Ethiopian is not some poor ignorant slave. He is the queen's treasurer. He can read.
Philip doesn't presume to tell him what he needs to learn; he begins the conversation with a question, ""Do you understand what you are reading?" it is a question that seeks to understand the person, and seeks to open a dialogue.
After some instruction, the Ethiopian asks the even more important question, "What is to prevent my being baptized?" in other words, is there a genuine impediment?
Sometimes there can be. Sometimes people are simply not ready to embrace the gospel and the challenges it poses. Sometime people are not ready to change their lives. But Philip reminds us that we should not make it more difficult than necessary for one to receive the grace of baptism.
We have just celebrated the sacraments at the Easter Vigil and are beginning the cycle anew, perhaps we need to start with St. Philip, pray for us.
Since Vatican II parishes around the country have set up teams of people to run what is most often referred to as RCIA (the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults). Intended as a process solely for those who were unbaptized, for years anyone seeking entry into the church was thrown into it regardless of their religious background. In most places a life-long Anglican and a person who never went to church were marched through the same process. With the best intentions, we lost sight of the fact that each person's journey of faith is unique. It is an individual journey in the context of a community.
This reading from Acts provides with the best model.
The Ethiopian is not some poor ignorant slave. He is the queen's treasurer. He can read.
Philip doesn't presume to tell him what he needs to learn; he begins the conversation with a question, ""Do you understand what you are reading?" it is a question that seeks to understand the person, and seeks to open a dialogue.
After some instruction, the Ethiopian asks the even more important question, "What is to prevent my being baptized?" in other words, is there a genuine impediment?
Sometimes there can be. Sometimes people are simply not ready to embrace the gospel and the challenges it poses. Sometime people are not ready to change their lives. But Philip reminds us that we should not make it more difficult than necessary for one to receive the grace of baptism.
We have just celebrated the sacraments at the Easter Vigil and are beginning the cycle anew, perhaps we need to start with St. Philip, pray for us.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Baby Steps
They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him. The witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.
Today we have the story of the stoning of St. Stephen and Saul, later St. Paul,the instigator. In some ways he is worse than your average member of the crowd. He is a pious man, a learned man, and is was the one who, having railed up the crowd, doesn't want to get his own hands dirty. It is no wonder that when he shows up later claiming to be a follower of Jesus the Church is reticent to believe him. He is complicit in the murder of our first recorded martyr.
How does some reach this level of sin?
No one is born evil. My mother kept more than 100 foster children over her lifetime. We all help in caring for the mostly newborns until they were adopted, While each early on shows signs of unique personality, babies are all fundamentally the same in their wants and needs. When I see people as adults capable of true evil, I always remind myself that they were once someone's toddler, and wonder what happened to warp them so.
There is a detail in today's reading that caught my attention only because of conversations with my dentist. The reading says they ground their teeth. According to my dentist, I'm a grinder. Lots of us are; we have night guards to keep us from grinding in our sleep. The curious fact my dentist pointed out is that if we grind in our sleep we also do it when we are awake, often without being aware of it. Little by little left unchecked we can destroy our teeth.
As Christians we believe that sin is a human act; it requires knowledge and will. You can unknowingly do a bad thing, but it isn't sin unless you know it and freely choose it.mBut Saul did not simple wake up one day and say today I will participate in murder.
Most serious sin in our lives is like tooth grinding. It starts off with very small, sometimes imperceptible, evil. It can be something as simple as an idea or attitude that we pick up from our friends and family. By itself it can appear harmless, but left unchecked it slowly degrades our morality until we can choose to commit sin and hardly be disturbed by it.
We may never murder but murder is not the only serious sin.
How did Saul get to the point he could stand by unflinchingly and watch a man be stoned to death? One small step at a time over a lifetime.
Today we have the story of the stoning of St. Stephen and Saul, later St. Paul,the instigator. In some ways he is worse than your average member of the crowd. He is a pious man, a learned man, and is was the one who, having railed up the crowd, doesn't want to get his own hands dirty. It is no wonder that when he shows up later claiming to be a follower of Jesus the Church is reticent to believe him. He is complicit in the murder of our first recorded martyr.
How does some reach this level of sin?
No one is born evil. My mother kept more than 100 foster children over her lifetime. We all help in caring for the mostly newborns until they were adopted, While each early on shows signs of unique personality, babies are all fundamentally the same in their wants and needs. When I see people as adults capable of true evil, I always remind myself that they were once someone's toddler, and wonder what happened to warp them so.
There is a detail in today's reading that caught my attention only because of conversations with my dentist. The reading says they ground their teeth. According to my dentist, I'm a grinder. Lots of us are; we have night guards to keep us from grinding in our sleep. The curious fact my dentist pointed out is that if we grind in our sleep we also do it when we are awake, often without being aware of it. Little by little left unchecked we can destroy our teeth.
As Christians we believe that sin is a human act; it requires knowledge and will. You can unknowingly do a bad thing, but it isn't sin unless you know it and freely choose it.mBut Saul did not simple wake up one day and say today I will participate in murder.
Most serious sin in our lives is like tooth grinding. It starts off with very small, sometimes imperceptible, evil. It can be something as simple as an idea or attitude that we pick up from our friends and family. By itself it can appear harmless, but left unchecked it slowly degrades our morality until we can choose to commit sin and hardly be disturbed by it.
We may never murder but murder is not the only serious sin.
How did Saul get to the point he could stand by unflinchingly and watch a man be stoned to death? One small step at a time over a lifetime.
Monday, April 23, 2012
The Importance of Work
Do not work for food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life
If we look at 21st century American culture is there any aspect of life more central than work? With our advances in technology it is possible for many of us to work from any location including home. The downside of this is that the boundaries that used to separate and define work as distinct from the rest of our life have all but vanished. Phone calls, email, and texts, follow us everywhere.
While some workplaces cling to the antiquated discouraging of workplace relationships, the folks at Gallup will tell you that most modern relationships on any level are work based and the response to the statement, "I have a best friend at work" is a key measure of productivity and successful management.
Even if we wanted to, we could not return to the romanticized 1950's with work neatly contained and separated from family and friends, and our social and spiritual life. We must live in the world we have, in the best way possible.
First we should recall the real purpose of work. In Laborem Exercens, the Holy Father wrote, " As a person he[the human person] works, he performs various actions belonging to the work process; independently of their objective content, these actions must all serve to realize his humanity, to fulfil the calling to be a person that is his by reason of his very humanity."
It is not simple black and white. Work in itself is a good. Work is more than just a way to earn money, in work we realize, make real and visible, our humanity. Work cannot be an end in itself it must be linked to three dimensions of human life: the dignity of the worker, the building up of the family, and of society.
We must, however, search for balance in our lives. Each day there must be those times when we make the choice to unplug, to disconnect from our work. We need to truly spend time with God, to truly spend time with our friends and family, to eat, to exercise, to sleep. The Book of Genesis speaks of us having dominion over the earth, perhaps we must focus more narrowly on reclaiming dominion over our own lives.
If we look at 21st century American culture is there any aspect of life more central than work? With our advances in technology it is possible for many of us to work from any location including home. The downside of this is that the boundaries that used to separate and define work as distinct from the rest of our life have all but vanished. Phone calls, email, and texts, follow us everywhere.
While some workplaces cling to the antiquated discouraging of workplace relationships, the folks at Gallup will tell you that most modern relationships on any level are work based and the response to the statement, "I have a best friend at work" is a key measure of productivity and successful management.
Even if we wanted to, we could not return to the romanticized 1950's with work neatly contained and separated from family and friends, and our social and spiritual life. We must live in the world we have, in the best way possible.
First we should recall the real purpose of work. In Laborem Exercens, the Holy Father wrote, " As a person he[the human person] works, he performs various actions belonging to the work process; independently of their objective content, these actions must all serve to realize his humanity, to fulfil the calling to be a person that is his by reason of his very humanity."
It is not simple black and white. Work in itself is a good. Work is more than just a way to earn money, in work we realize, make real and visible, our humanity. Work cannot be an end in itself it must be linked to three dimensions of human life: the dignity of the worker, the building up of the family, and of society.
We must, however, search for balance in our lives. Each day there must be those times when we make the choice to unplug, to disconnect from our work. We need to truly spend time with God, to truly spend time with our friends and family, to eat, to exercise, to sleep. The Book of Genesis speaks of us having dominion over the earth, perhaps we must focus more narrowly on reclaiming dominion over our own lives.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Absolute confidence
Today we read of one of the greatest teachers in the Jewish tradition, Gamaliel.
The truth he proclaims isn't specific to Christianity or Judaism but is a fundamental truth above any particular faith.
For if this endeavor or this activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself.
But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them;
Despite persecution from without, and sandal and division from within the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church has survived.
Proof that this endeavor comes from God.
There are few things in life I am absolute sure if but this is one.
The truth he proclaims isn't specific to Christianity or Judaism but is a fundamental truth above any particular faith.
For if this endeavor or this activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself.
But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them;
Despite persecution from without, and sandal and division from within the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church has survived.
Proof that this endeavor comes from God.
There are few things in life I am absolute sure if but this is one.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Above it all
Today's gospel opens with, "the one who comes from above is above all."
John more than any other gospel emphasizes Jesus's existence, not just from his birth, or conception, but from before the creation of the world. Jesus is the one who comes down from above.
Being a people who love the idea of democracy we naturally buck at the notion of anyone being above anyone else. We take a simple preposition that denotes location (above), and attach all sorts of positive and negative connotations to it. We see higher as better and yet in the name of equality we try and tear down anyone who appears to be higher.
If you want to see this in action, simply raise the topic of the Church being built by Christ as an hierarchical institution. We like the image of the church "built of living stone" but if you say it is built UP, that there is verticality to it, some people go wild. They don't want a building; they want a patio so all the stone are level. They confuse equality and sameness.
Height is a good thing; it gives perspective. When we live at ground level we can get lost in the weeds. We can only see what immediately surrounds us and act as if the part of the world I can see is all there is.
Any planning model recognizes that in any organization leaders must be raised up so there can be vision and perspective: the 50,000 ft view, 40,000 ft view, etc. Leaders need to be raised up and sustained, to build a future. We cannot continue to tear down our leaders to ground level and then complain about the lack of vision. Jesus knew what he was doing when he designed his Church, when he built it up, with himself at the the top.
Jesus is above all, we are told in today's gospel. Not that he is distant from us but he see our world, our history, our individual lives from a perspective that we can hardly imagine. Like the star that guided the wise men, we too must have the humility to look up and be willing to follow. We must be willing to admit that from where we stand we never really see the whole picture. Only God sees that.
Perhaps recognizing the limitation of our own view is the first step toward real wisdom.
John more than any other gospel emphasizes Jesus's existence, not just from his birth, or conception, but from before the creation of the world. Jesus is the one who comes down from above.
Being a people who love the idea of democracy we naturally buck at the notion of anyone being above anyone else. We take a simple preposition that denotes location (above), and attach all sorts of positive and negative connotations to it. We see higher as better and yet in the name of equality we try and tear down anyone who appears to be higher.
If you want to see this in action, simply raise the topic of the Church being built by Christ as an hierarchical institution. We like the image of the church "built of living stone" but if you say it is built UP, that there is verticality to it, some people go wild. They don't want a building; they want a patio so all the stone are level. They confuse equality and sameness.
Height is a good thing; it gives perspective. When we live at ground level we can get lost in the weeds. We can only see what immediately surrounds us and act as if the part of the world I can see is all there is.
Any planning model recognizes that in any organization leaders must be raised up so there can be vision and perspective: the 50,000 ft view, 40,000 ft view, etc. Leaders need to be raised up and sustained, to build a future. We cannot continue to tear down our leaders to ground level and then complain about the lack of vision. Jesus knew what he was doing when he designed his Church, when he built it up, with himself at the the top.
Jesus is above all, we are told in today's gospel. Not that he is distant from us but he see our world, our history, our individual lives from a perspective that we can hardly imagine. Like the star that guided the wise men, we too must have the humility to look up and be willing to follow. We must be willing to admit that from where we stand we never really see the whole picture. Only God sees that.
Perhaps recognizing the limitation of our own view is the first step toward real wisdom.
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