Today St. Paul gets to the very heart of why we as Christians hope with a series of questions.
If God is for us, who can be against us? ...
Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who acquits us.
Who will condemn?...
What will separate us from the love of Christ?
Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?
No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us.
That's the good news, the most important truth, but also the part we like to hear.
Tucked into the middle is the other part, the part we would like to avoid.
For your sake we are being slain all the day; we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered.
We want a share in the ressurection, we have to accept our share of the crucifixion. There is no going around Good Friday. Most importantly suffering does not mean you have been bad and God is punishing you. On the contrary, it may we be precisely because of your willingness to stand with Christ that you suffer.
But we must stay focused on the good news, that in all these things we conquer. We never fear. We never loose hope. We trust in the absolute love and power of God.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Divine Compassion
The opening of today's first reading from Romans often gave me trouble.
The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.
Why groaning ? And then it dawned on me that if God is truly compassionate (literally suffers with), then of course the Spirit would groan or sigh with us.
Most important is a verse that gets closer to my core the older I get, the more of life I experience.
We know that all things work for good for those who love God,...(Rm 8:28)
If there is one verse worth memorizing this first part if this one verse is certainly it.
Notice that the verse begins, "We know", not we hope or believe.
Even in moments of adversity, we must know this in the deepest part of our being.
The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.
Why groaning ? And then it dawned on me that if God is truly compassionate (literally suffers with), then of course the Spirit would groan or sigh with us.
Most important is a verse that gets closer to my core the older I get, the more of life I experience.
We know that all things work for good for those who love God,...(Rm 8:28)
If there is one verse worth memorizing this first part if this one verse is certainly it.
Notice that the verse begins, "We know", not we hope or believe.
Even in moments of adversity, we must know this in the deepest part of our being.
Monday, October 28, 2013
Companions on the journey
Today we celebrate two of the Apostles, both of whom shared their same name as other more famous Apostles.
The first, Simon, is called the Zealot, so that he might not be confused with Simon, whom Jesus renamed Peter. Very little is known about this apostle. All that remains are a handful of legends.
The second, is called in English Jude. In fact he has the same name as Judas, and English is one of the only languages that uses a different translation for each person's name. In the New Testament both are named Ιούδας.
We know the two travelled together and were martyred together in 65 AD. The axe that is often pictured with St. Jude is a reference to how they were martyred. Today the relics of both are entombed together in St. Peter's Basilica.
For soon after his death before his remains were moved to Rome. It is said that those who visited the grave of St. Jude experienced powerful miracles and so he became known as the patron saint of desperate or lost causes.
We pray to Saints not because we "worship" them but because we believe that the command to pray for one another never ends. We do not believe that those who have made it to heaven are indifferent to the struggles of us here on earth. We believe that those many and women who have already made it into the fulness of eternal life still love us, care for us, and can and do pray for us.
If we believe the promises of Jesus then we know that Simon and Jude are not dead. They are in heaven and continue to watch over and intercede for the Church they helped Jesus to established. The love now as God loves.
This Simon reminds us that it's ok not to be the famous one. And Jude reminds us that there is no such thing as a lost cause. With God all things are possible.
Jesus sent them out two by to because we are not meant to go it alone. Do not be embarrassed to ask for help, and especially ask for help from those closest to Jesus.
St. Simon and St Jude, pray for us.
The first, Simon, is called the Zealot, so that he might not be confused with Simon, whom Jesus renamed Peter. Very little is known about this apostle. All that remains are a handful of legends.
The second, is called in English Jude. In fact he has the same name as Judas, and English is one of the only languages that uses a different translation for each person's name. In the New Testament both are named Ιούδας.
We know the two travelled together and were martyred together in 65 AD. The axe that is often pictured with St. Jude is a reference to how they were martyred. Today the relics of both are entombed together in St. Peter's Basilica.
For soon after his death before his remains were moved to Rome. It is said that those who visited the grave of St. Jude experienced powerful miracles and so he became known as the patron saint of desperate or lost causes.
We pray to Saints not because we "worship" them but because we believe that the command to pray for one another never ends. We do not believe that those who have made it to heaven are indifferent to the struggles of us here on earth. We believe that those many and women who have already made it into the fulness of eternal life still love us, care for us, and can and do pray for us.
If we believe the promises of Jesus then we know that Simon and Jude are not dead. They are in heaven and continue to watch over and intercede for the Church they helped Jesus to established. The love now as God loves.
This Simon reminds us that it's ok not to be the famous one. And Jude reminds us that there is no such thing as a lost cause. With God all things are possible.
Jesus sent them out two by to because we are not meant to go it alone. Do not be embarrassed to ask for help, and especially ask for help from those closest to Jesus.
St. Simon and St Jude, pray for us.
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Living in the Spirit
On one level today's first reading deals with the gift of eternal life which Christ won for us by his incarnation, suffering, death, and resurrection. As St. Paul reminds us, this eternal life is not just for our souls but for our bodies.
If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you.
And so in the Apostles Creed we proclaim the resurrection of the body.
On another level, St. Paul challenges all of us who have through our baptism (and confirmation) received the gift of the Holy Spirit to live in that Spirit. St. Paul is not hear making the argument that the flesh is in itself evil. It is a part of God's creation and as cited above will be redeemed. What he is warning against is allowing the flesh to be the driving force.
When we live in the Spirit we have our priorities in order. Even for us as priests this is hard to maintain. If we go back to the scriptures and the teaching of the Chruch, my primary work as a priest is prayer, especially the Liturgy of the Hours and the celebration of the Eucharist. Yet I too fall into the trap of thinking that constantly responding to phone calls, text messages, email, constant meetings, etc is the real measure of being a good priest.
Each year how many marriages do I see fail because one or both parties is living in the flesh, letting their job become their God, and one true love? Even when they are together they are not fully present to one another.
The person who lives in the Spirit never forgets that this material world will all pass away. The two great commandments remind us that God and those who are ultimately welcomed into heaven are eternal. Eternal life is the only real long-term investment. The person who lives in the Spirit never forgets this.
Truth is, we all vacillate. We need things like crucifixes, images, and prayer like the rosary to call us back, refocus us.
If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you.
And so in the Apostles Creed we proclaim the resurrection of the body.
On another level, St. Paul challenges all of us who have through our baptism (and confirmation) received the gift of the Holy Spirit to live in that Spirit. St. Paul is not hear making the argument that the flesh is in itself evil. It is a part of God's creation and as cited above will be redeemed. What he is warning against is allowing the flesh to be the driving force.
When we live in the Spirit we have our priorities in order. Even for us as priests this is hard to maintain. If we go back to the scriptures and the teaching of the Chruch, my primary work as a priest is prayer, especially the Liturgy of the Hours and the celebration of the Eucharist. Yet I too fall into the trap of thinking that constantly responding to phone calls, text messages, email, constant meetings, etc is the real measure of being a good priest.
Each year how many marriages do I see fail because one or both parties is living in the flesh, letting their job become their God, and one true love? Even when they are together they are not fully present to one another.
The person who lives in the Spirit never forgets that this material world will all pass away. The two great commandments remind us that God and those who are ultimately welcomed into heaven are eternal. Eternal life is the only real long-term investment. The person who lives in the Spirit never forgets this.
Truth is, we all vacillate. We need things like crucifixes, images, and prayer like the rosary to call us back, refocus us.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Sin and archery
Today we reach the famous part of St. Paul in which he describes the struggle that each of us face.
For I do not do the good I want,
but I do the evil I do not want.
Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it,
but sin that dwells in me.
What I find fascinating is that St. Paul does not describe what dwells in us as Satan, or an evil spirit, or something of that kind. He refers to it simply as sin
In Greek there are variety of words for sin. What I find most interesting is the word that he uses here -Amartia. It is an archery term that refers to literally "missing the mark."
Some read this passage as if it depicted a battle of equals. They imagine it as two forces, one good and one evil, struggling within us. For us as Christians there is really only one power in the universe, God! Everything else is a created being. Even Satan is not God's equal, but one of God's creatures, a creature who went bad but a mere creature none the less.
What dwells in us, according to St. Paul, is an incapacity to hit the mark. For that, we constantly need to turn to God and to depend on God's grace. Only with God's grace, can we even hope to hit the mark.
But when we miss the mark, we should never despair. For God's grace is always there to forgive us and to redirect our efforts.
For I do not do the good I want,
but I do the evil I do not want.
Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it,
but sin that dwells in me.
What I find fascinating is that St. Paul does not describe what dwells in us as Satan, or an evil spirit, or something of that kind. He refers to it simply as sin
In Greek there are variety of words for sin. What I find most interesting is the word that he uses here -Amartia. It is an archery term that refers to literally "missing the mark."
Some read this passage as if it depicted a battle of equals. They imagine it as two forces, one good and one evil, struggling within us. For us as Christians there is really only one power in the universe, God! Everything else is a created being. Even Satan is not God's equal, but one of God's creatures, a creature who went bad but a mere creature none the less.
What dwells in us, according to St. Paul, is an incapacity to hit the mark. For that, we constantly need to turn to God and to depend on God's grace. Only with God's grace, can we even hope to hit the mark.
But when we miss the mark, we should never despair. For God's grace is always there to forgive us and to redirect our efforts.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Good slavery
As we continue to move through the many images St. Paul uses today we hit one of the most difficult, slave.
But now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit that you have leads to sanctification,and its end is eternal life.
While it is hard to imagine, this word referred to two kinds of slavery (voluntary and involuntary). Jesus asks us to freely hand over our imperfect mortal lives, and in return we receive a new sanctified, immortal life.
This is not a one time single action. It requires a daily constant renewal. Each moment of each day we must entrust ourselves totally, allow ourselves to be slaves of God, beloved slaves but slaves nonetheless.
But now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit that you have leads to sanctification,and its end is eternal life.
While it is hard to imagine, this word referred to two kinds of slavery (voluntary and involuntary). Jesus asks us to freely hand over our imperfect mortal lives, and in return we receive a new sanctified, immortal life.
This is not a one time single action. It requires a daily constant renewal. Each moment of each day we must entrust ourselves totally, allow ourselves to be slaves of God, beloved slaves but slaves nonetheless.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Not Fear but hope
In today's gospel we hear
You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.
So often we read this passage merely as a warning looking toward the judgement that will come.
If we read it however in the full context of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, the coming of the Son of Man is not something to be feared but something to be hoped for.
There is also a more immediate reading of the passage. We should keep our eyes open and be prepared to see the action of Christ in our lives. At moments we do not expect, at moments when we feel most abandoned, the entire history of our faith records examples of God's unexpected intervention.
We can never know. We know that God may not intervene when we want but God always intervenes at the perfect moment. The exact moment that is best.
We must therefore remain vigilant, trusting, waiting, exercising the virtue of hope.
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