2nd Sunday: From the desert, to the mountain

 

"This is my beloved Son . . . listen to him"

Matthew 17: 1-9

The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030126.cfm

For after he had told the disciples of his coming Death,

on  the holy mountain he manifested to them  his glory,

to show, even by the testimony of the law and the prophets,

that the Passion leads to the glory of the Resurrection.

(from the preface for Mass)

Last Sunday our Gospel took us into the desert with Jesus where he confronted the power of evil face to face and resisted that dark power thereby establishing the ultimate purpose of his mission; to reclaim his creation and rescue us from sin and death. To conquer sin and death on behalf of all humanity.

This Sunday, we find ourselves on a mountain top.  A very different scene takes place as Christ is transfigured, significantly changed in appearance before the eyes of three select disciples: Peter, James and John.

Their reaction is understandable.  Impulsive but sincere Peter blurts out: “Let’s stay here. In fact, we’ll construct three tents for everyone.” Such enthusiasm is admirable, but Peter and the other Apostles are just overwhelmed by what they see.   

Here Jesus reveals his divinity and his link to the law and the prophets which foretold of the coming of the Savior. Yet this drama began centuries before with the call of Abram in the desert, our first reading from Genesis.  Abram, later Abraham, is an old man when he is called by God to leave his “father’s house” and move out into a new land with merely a promise from God that he would be blessed significantly. To bless and to be a blessing in this context is a promise of partnership, a friendship with God That blessing we see fulfilled in Jesus and he confirms this before his three disciples. But for all it is faith that is the guide for Abram.  It is faith that here is presented as our guide through life as well.  Abram put his trust in God although God revealed very little of what he wanted Abram to do despite the odds that were against both he and Sarah his elderly wife.

On that mountain, for Peter, James and John, it was a call to believe in wht they saw. Jesus knew well the dark days of his passion and death were approaching.  That his trusted men would be faced with shock, disillusion, fear, confusion, and despair.  For the chosen three Apostles, that mountain top experience was meant to strengthen them and to assure them that what may have been seen as a tragic end to a glorious beginning, was not the end at all.  It was the divine stamp of approval on all that Jesus was about to do.  Only by faith could they believe and hold on to that truth.

St. Thomas Aquinas put it this way:

Peter was the one who loved Jesus the most. John was the one who Jesus loved the most, and James would be the first among them to give his life for Christ.

It indeed makes sense. 

The focus was not on them so much as it clearly was on Jesus transfigured before them.  Christ affirmed that he was the word made flesh; that although the disciples had only experienced the Jesus of history, they now are blessed to see the Jesus of faith and the divine connection with Old and New Testaments that Christ fulfilled in his mission.

This second Sunday of our Lenten journey brings us face to face, then, with a moment of our own faith.  Can I hold on to my belief despite what may appear before me as a life of doubt? That is, Jesus is not only a human being.  His nature is both human and divine; that his mission is beyond this world and that he has come in the line of the prophets as the sign of God’s new Covenant, originally established through Abram (our first reading from Genesis) and Moses as the final fulfilment of that sacred Law.

For three Jews to witness such an event it would have all come together in a profound way.  God has fulfilled his promise to Israel and to all of humanity.  This is God’s answer to our sinful disobedience which estranged us from God. (Recall last Sunday’s story of Adam and Eve from Genesis 2).  Now, in Christ, his future passion, death and resurrection, a new and eternal Covenant is established between God and humanity. Still, why not build three tents?  Why not hold on to this glory?

In the end, the grace of God, his blessing as it were, is given to us all so that we may listen more attentively to recognize the voice of God in our own moments of change or transfiguration.  Isn’t that the desert we walk this Lent?  To discover that we are blessed with mercy from God and that this Lent is always a time for us to stop talking and to listen to God that we may be changed. As St. Paul reminded us: “we walk by faith and not by sight.” (2 Cor 5:7)

At this time in Lent, let’s maybe pause for a moment.  Ask yourself how things are for you in your spiritual life. Do I still talk too much in prayer before God?  Can I take some time and add more silence in my life, turn to the Lord in a time of prayer, ask him to reveal himself to you, and to simply listen to his response.  Do I hear what the Lord is calling me to at this time in my life? 

Add more silence in your life this Lent. Create an atmosphere which is less distracting and more attentive to God’s presence in prayer, in charitable service, in the sacraments, in compassion for another, at a time when we include another without judgement and recognize their human dignity, in the sacred Word of God, in the Holy Eucharist, in spiritual reading, in a tough time. All these are moments of encounter with Christ, but do I hear him? It may not be a shining face, a voice from clouds above or even at a mountain top moment. How, when or where God will speak to us we will never know if we are not paying attention or wrapped in our own preconceived perception of holiness or self - righteousness.

Peter, James and John are more like us than we may admit.  They needed to learn and to be formed in the Gospel truth of who Jesus was and who he remains, but they eventually made the grade.  They learned to listen to him.

At Mass we hear his Word, and we encounter his living presence in the Eucharist - are we changed by him?  Let's pray this Lent teaches us to listen more and talk less that by his grace we may be changed for Easter resurrection.  The Word and the Cross is our hope.

 

1st Sunday of Lent - Sin enters but so does hope

 

(Jesus tempted in the wilderness: James Tissot - Brooklyn Museum)

"One does not live on bread alone . . . "

Matthew 4: 1-11

The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022226.cfm

Grant, almighty God, 

through the yearly observances of holy Lent,

that we may grow in understanding

of the riches hidden in Chreist

and by worthy conduct pursue their effects.

(from the Collect of the Mass)

Sometimes, during child raising, a parent may imply a method dubbed “reverse psychology.”  I’m not sure if that is an actual technique used by counsellors for example, but it seems to work at times in parenting.

In other words, you confront your child daring them to go ahead and do what they claim they will do rather than what you are asking them to not do.  “Ok, run away from home.  Here’s your hat and coat.  In fact, I’ll pack your bags for you.”  The defiant child walks out of the house, bag in hand covered in their coat.  Five minutes later, they walk back in, go to their room, close the door, and sit there reconsidering their initial choice. It worked!

From the very beginning it seems we always want what may not be good for us, but we choose it anyway. We stubbornly insist that our way is better. By following our own will, rather than the wisdom of another, we become the sole determiner of what is right and wrong.

Now, that brings us to our first reading from Genesis this first Sunday of Lent. It relates the fall of Adam and Eve and our Gospel. Here Adam and Eve the first humans, who lived in total bliss and harmony with God, who had an abundance of satisfaction and no need for anything are told by God amid all this beauty: “You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.” God refers of course to the tree of good and evil. Yet, like the child, Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit anyway. They give in to the tempters lie and in doing so become “like gods” in the sense that they chose to determine their own criteria for what is right and wrong; good and evil. They follow the words of Satan, the tempter, illustrated as a slithering, talking snake. And the rest is human history – sin enters. In their act of disobedience our human ancestors choose pride. Rather than follow the will of God; to recognize good and evil as God determines, they sadly become the sole challenger of God and determine their own criteria for moral decision making.

God gave them a self-governing power called free will as he gives to each of us. So, Adam and Eve represent what we now find in ourselves. I can freely choose my own way rather than God’s: to obey or to disobey.  But that choice may be disordered due to sin. And sin has gotten humanity into an impossible situation; one we could not get ourselves out of.

So, God himself continually steps into human history, calling to us, making covenants, raising prophets, patiently putting up with our unfaithfulness, and at last sent the only one who could rescue us – his own Son, Jesus the Christ. The entire Old Testament is a love story in which the beloved is determined to build a relationship with the loved.

As Paul puts it in our second reading: “Just as through one transgression (Adam and Eve) condemnation came upon all, so through one righteous act (Jesus’ death and resurrection) acquittal and life came to all.” Paul provides the answer to why God sent his Son, out of love and to break the bond of death and sin for all eternity, that we may share eternal life with him.

That brings us to a desert.  It all began in a garden but now begins again in a desert where the new Adam will ultimately obey to the end. A far less attractive location where Jesus, after fasting forty days and nights, is hungry, weak, and vulnerable. Soon, the same deceiver comes along not as a snake but as himself. While scholars have debated just how much did the devil know about the mission of Jesus or fully who he was, the great liar certainly is determined to pull Jesus away from his purpose.

The temptations begin at the base level of hunger, bodily satisfaction, but quickly go to the deeper level of pride and power.  Jesus is tempted to choose that which seemed secure and definite.  I’m hungry so I should eat something.  It’s only bread after all and I can have it now.  This was followed by the opportunity to gain praise from those around him as he would throw himself down and angels would fly to his rescue.  So, seek satisfaction, enjoy the praise, and embrace power. Sound familiar?

Here there is more than temptation which we all experience.  Here we find Jesus embracing the human experience of sin to break its force. You cannot win a battle except by entering the fray and confronting the enemy to conquer his power. So, Jesus does by resisting all three temptations to pleasure, power, glory and fame. 

This is not a war of words with the devil but a test between deception and truth; between all the other trees and just this one; a test of wills. A call to obey all that the Father has asked and a place of confrontation between powers in which God has the final word. Because of Jesus’ own resistance, his obedience to his full mission, the doors of forgiveness and mercy have been opened.  Jesus affirmed that love for God, his will for us, is the only way to follow the truth we hear in the Scriptures, and we celebrate in the Sacraments. This new Adam gets it right and the deadly power of sin as the final word is destroyed. We remember this each time we gather for the liturgy.

In the holy Eucharist, this bread made for us by Christ not in a desert but on a cross, we know that the price our Lord paid remains the model of our living.  He gave his life that we may have life and he feeds us with his very presence in order to provide all that we need.  In this desert of Lent may we let ourselves be caught by the lover who seeks to heal what is broken. All of this is what we give thanks for in the Eucharist which Jesus left us as a memorial – “Do this in memory of me.”

May our Lenten journey lead us to confront the power of sin in our lives, seek forgiveness in confession, and reorient our life direction in imitation of the example set by Christ, our new Adam.

6th Sunday: To choose wisely

"You have heard it said . . . But I say to you"

Matthew 5: 17-37

The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021526.cfm

O God, who teach us that you abide

in hearts that are just and true,

grant that we may be so fashioned by your grace

as to become a dwelling pleasing to you.

(from the Collect for 6th Sunday)

Those who were among that Catholic “baby boomer” generation, if they attended either Catholic school or religious education (CCD), well remember how they came to know the tenets of the Catholic faith.  Besides their parents, in school we were taught from the Baltimore Catechism, in the famed straight forward question and answer format. 

For example: Question: What is a sacrament? Answer: A sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace.  Question: Why did God make us? Answer: God made us to know him, to love him and to serve him in this world and to be happy with him in the next. And so on and so on.

There was/is nothing wrong with the Baltimore Catechism and with this method of memorization. St. Thomas Aquinas arranged his catechism the same way, and it confers knowledge.  One knows what the Church teaches and what God desires of us. Yet the why and the who question may be a bit more challenging.  In other words, how do I apply these teachings to my life.  How can I gage my level of obedience and my deeper understanding of what they imply for my behaviour.  Is just head knowledge enough or shouldn’t faith be more than knowledge and something of the heart. Here we come to the issue of our free will. To know what the Church teaches is one important thing but to apply it to my life is another.  God has given us all the power to choose – good or evil.  To love him and to act accordingly or to love something else that is not of God. I may well be versed on what the Church teaches but after Mass in the parking lot, I curse the person who cuts me off or criticize the homily that challenged me to admit my lack of humility.  

This weekend before Ash Wednesday we see in the long Gospel passage from Jesus’ sermon on the mount, the essential teaching on Christian morality. But our Lord is not simply giving us knowledge as the ancient people’s were given by their teachers, he now expands an understanding of that teaching and comments on our actions in response to each commandment. This is what they are and here is how you live them out.

He identifies himself with the Law and makes himself the center of each: “But I say to you . . . “Not just commentary but he becomes the sacred Law itself as he speaks with an authority never heard before from a human Rabbi.  In essence to say that he is the Law itself – he is the ultimate word spoken.

In our first reading, Sirach reminds us: “Before man are life and death, good and evil, whichever he chooses will be given him.” What could be clearer than that? The rest is human history, and it all indicates why God wants us to stay on the mark he has set for us. He not only what us to do well as a loving parent would say to their children, he wants us to be spiritual and moral athletes! To strive for the gold medal and not be content with anything less. To choose life and not death.

So, our readings this Sunday on one level seem harsh.  Sirach speaks of God who “has set before you fire and water . . . life and death, good and evil . . .” Then Jesus in what is likely the toughest part of the New Testament uses some strong imagery as he minces no words: “whoever is angry at his brother will be liable to judgment . . . settle with your opponent quickly . . . thrown into prison . whoever looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart . . .”  Then the clincher: “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out . . . if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off . . .”

Leaving no stone unturned, he speaks to the marriage covenant: “whoever divorces his wife causes her to commit adultery and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery . . .” Finally, “let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no. Anything more is from the evil one.”

Where do we go with this?  In light of today’s more tolerant, independent and permissive culture we may find these words way off the “mark.”  Surely God is not so strict, demanding, unbending and judgmental.  Or so it seems on the surface of things.  However, we must see this great wisdom of Christ as coming from a perspective of love and mercy; of how we are to live in harmony with one another and with God.

That harmony is marked by God’s law which is inside the circle of the mark he has set for us.  Notice here Jesus consistently speaks: “You have heard that it was said” and follows with “But I say to you . . .” You have heard and followed the law of God given to Moses and passed on to his people.  Now I come to fulfil, to flesh out that law and apply it to social relationships.  In effect, to touch on the core cause of sin and to attend to that before it grows more deadly. For example, anger which is the source of murder, lust which can lead to adulterous behavior, etc.

Yet, it is not a black and white application for we, because of Adam and Eve’s original choice, must work to achieve this level of goodness and perfection that staying on the mark provides for us. Yet, we know the danger of rigidity and the sad result of being too lax.

Human weakness being what it is, Jesus counsels us about the danger of straying too far away from the center. Most of us live in the gray area of life and Jesus was well aware of that.  We know the ideal but live in the real.  The everyday distractions and challenges work very hard to lure us away from the mark and towards what may seem easier or more attractive at the moment.

But the wisdom with which Jesus teaches in our Gospel, as harsh as the imagery may seem, is good for us to know just how far we could go without his invitation to holiness and the gift of knowing what will bring us to live in harmony with God and our neighbor.  That sin is a reality and leads to brokenness and a death of the spirit.

Marriage means something for example and Jesus teaching today on adultery and divorce is meant to remind us that fidelity in the marriage covenant is the better choice in keeping with God’s law.  Divorce as such in the time of Jesus had a different understanding.  It did not mean the end of a marriage as divorce in our day does. Then, a husband could simply dismiss his wife for nearly any reason, leaving her vulnerable and desperate to beg for a living, marry again, or give over to a life of prostitution. Jesu states that to put one’s wife in such a desperate position as to survive by prostitution, is to commit adultery.

Living in peace with our brother and sister, to seek forgiveness and to reconcile differences is the meaning of God’s commandment to not kill.  For we can kill the reputation of another, we can kill the friendship we enjoy with another, we can bring great scandal to another.  Make peace first then when you offer your gift it is truly sincere.

All these come down to Jesus’ own summary of the law:  Love God and Love your neighbor as yourself.  If we can do that, if when we stray away from the mark and come back, and not be content with mediocrity, then we can be wise disciples of the Lord.  As Sirach reminds us today:

“If you choose you can keep the commandment, they will save you; if you trust in God, you too shall live . . .”

In the Eucharist this weekend, before you offer your "gift," make peace with anyone you may feel estranged from for any reason.  If you cannot contact them personally, then make a promise to do so as soon as possible but at least to pray for them, wish them no harm, and just let it go.  If your marriage was not in the Catholic Church, visit your Pastor to see about having that marriage bond blessed and sacramentalized. God invites us to choose wisely that we may live. Peace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

5th Sunday: We are the hands and feet of Christ

 

"You are the salt of the earth . . . you are the light of the world"

Matthew 5: 13-16

The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/020826.cfm

We are warned that too much salt in our diet is unhealthy.  We look at the salt content of food we buy and may be shocked to see how much is contained in canned soup for example. Yet we know that we need a certain amount in our diet.  We use salt to enhance the flavor of food, but we’re also concerned about its effect on our blood pressure and water retention. Still, I like salt on my food – what about those salt and vinegar potato chips?  Delicious, in moderation of course. Too much of a good thing can be bad.

In the same way, we are concerned about the general cost of energy, so we use new forms of light that are developed for lower energy yet shine with equal brightness such as in LED lighting. Our comparisons these days seem based more in science or common everyday use with no particular life changing qualities. Yet from the Gospel today we hear something more “earthy” as Jesus often used as metaphors in his teaching.

“You are the salt of the earth . . . You are the light of the world.”  Interesting comparisons Jesus makes in the Gospel this Sunday from Mt 5: 13-16: salt and light. As last Sunday’s Gospel opened the famous Sermon on the Mount, so today we hear it continued in this imagery. In these passages Jesus explains the quality of discipleship and how we live out that vocation as witnesses for Christ amid a flavorless world.

We may think of ourselves as compared to other things such as a particular animal as in “gentle as a lamb” or “strong as an ox,” I generally haven’t heard that we compare ourselves to a common daily flavor enhancer such as salt.  Likewise, to imagine that we shine like a light may require some explanation.

Jesus’ use of these images is important for he means them in a different context. He means this as a reminder of our need for true conversion. Here, the Gospel continues the image of Jesus as a wise and practical teacher. He offers guidance on the Christian life for his followers to those who will hear him and pay attention. After speaking of the “poor in spirit” and the “merciful” and “peacemakers,” he now indicates the effect of living in such a way as his disciples in his use of salt and light metaphors.

In ancient times, salt would flavor food but was also precious as a food preservative and was even used as payment for services rendered. We may imagine it was a kind of gold for barter and trade and valued widely. One would be “worth their weight in salt.”   Salt had many implications for its value and usefulness.

Jesus reminds us to not be “bland” and lukewarm Christians but give “flavor” to our Christian faith.  Preserve the faith passed on to you and be energized by it.  Bring the Gospel into a bland world searching for meaning and purpose. Recognize the importance of attracting others to follow the Lord and his Church.  If we Christians/Catholics are just blah, same old same old, or as Bishop Barron has famously described: “beige Catholics,” exhibiting no fervor or excitement about following the Lord, then why would anyone join us?  What would be the attraction? Where would be the salt?

A Christian who simply keeps his faith quiet and private, our beautiful contemplative communities aside, or one who never shares in the joy of the Gospel or being a man/woman of conviction in the way of the Lord, is ineffective and tasteless.  Jesus implies: “But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?  It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” Ouch but true!

By comparison, if only we would be as committed to, as excited about our faith as so many are about sports events or politics, (for many their secular “religion”); just think what a powerfully “salty” community we might have.  Just think of the Super Bowl or the Olympics or a favorite college football team.  While a good game is indeed fun, we sure have no tasteless fans there.  How does such an event compare with your experience of Sunday liturgy or your latest encounter with a fellow parishioner or your most recent discussion about the faith? What role did you play and how flavorful were you with another?  While no one wants to turn Sunday Mass into a wild football game still the point is made. Where’s the conviction and the enthusiasm for what God has done and continues to do?

The image of light is clearer.  Jesus teaches, “. . . your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father” so that others can see and be attracted to the Lord. Not fascinated with ourselves and all the good we supposedly do but rather find a welcome to Christ and his way in the Church.

The first reading from Isaiah offers concrete ways to give flavor and light to our faith:

“Share your bread with the hungry; shelter the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them . . . then your light shall break forth like the dawn . . .” Love lived out in concrete behavior towards others is the point Isaiah makes and that becomes the light we shine. As one author described, “Christianity with work boots.”

So our readings this Sunday have an especially practical application to how we live out the Gospel values laid before us. How we exist in this world with purpose and meaning. In the world of rabid independence, gender confusion, and questions about what constitutes the human person, our light must shine on both what is good and indicate what is not or what is false.

This is a kind of wisdom literature from the Son of God himself. To be a genuine and effective disciple of the Lord and an effective Catholic witness to the faith, we must be distinctive salt and a shining light, each in our own way according to our ability.

Our weekly assembly makes this clear when we refer to the Holy Eucharist as “food for the journey,” the Bread of Life and we are sent forth at the end to “Announce the Gospel of the Lord” or to be Christians who are “glorifying the Lord by your life.” In the end it is Jesus himself who sends us out on his mission.  How salty will we make ourselves and how bright will we shine?

As the well-known contemplative in action from the 16^th century, St. Teresa of Avila, famously reminded us:

Christ has no body but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes with which he looks

Compassion on this world,

Yours are the feet with

Which he walks to do good,

Yours are the hands,

With which he blesses all the world,

Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,

Yours are the eyes, you are his body.

Christ has no body now but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes with which

he looks compassion on this world.

Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

(Teresa of Avila)