Mt 5:17-19 Teach me, O God!

I had an interesting experience with a man recently who assured me that I didn't need to follow what the Church teaches or understand fully who we receive in the Blessed Eucharist, as long as I believe in Jesus: that trough His Divine Mercy I shall be saved.    He apparently has been telling others who have no religious affiliation this same message and encouraging them to come to mass and receive the Eucharist.  It made me unsure of myself and wonder if the Church had changed part of what it teaches.  What to do in a situation like this?  I sought a priest.  It is what we ought to do in situations like this unless we are sure of ourselves. 

Today's readings, both the first reading, which is about Elijah showing the people that God is Lord of all; that the pagan god Baal was nothing; and the blessing of the stones representing  the people of the twelve tribes whom he called Israel as part of his altar in order to reconsecrate them to God, and the Gospel reading, we visualize very clearly how God choses particular anointed ones to speak to and lead the people to Truth. In the first reading it was Elijah, and in the Gospel it is Jesus.  We are not all prophets, and when we speak, we ought to be careful if we are instructing. 

Jesus said, "I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law..."  We must be careful when we teach and know what it is our Church teaches.  Our priests study so long to be good servants of God so they can serve us in this regard.  Our Deacon and catechists likewise are trained and continue their own educations in our shared faith order to teach it. 

It is good for all of us to read about our faith, to discern it, and share it.  Together we are the Body of Christ.  Together we teach each other and keep each other faithful.  May we always have the courage to seek out those who have been appointed when we have questions about our faith so that we may continue to grow and be challenged in it, growing ever closer to our Father.  Amen.

Mark 10: 28-31 The first will be last, and the last will be first

In today's Gospel follows the story of the young man who has been faithful to the law of Moses, and yet Jesus calls him to give up everything of this world and follow him.  Today Peter says that he and the other apostles have done just that: followed the Law and given up everything to follow Jesus.  It is almost as if, he is asking "Where is my reward?" 

Jesus reassures Peter and us that he has done right, and that everything will be given back to him in the life to come, but that he should be prepared for persecutions and tribulations in this life before he can reach the next.  Within Jesus' words is an echo from Job when trials and persecutions afflict Job, then he family is lost, and finally he is afflicted in body, yet Job remains faithful and is rewarded abundantly with great riches, wife and more children, and life.  Is Jesus perhaps trying to make this correlation for Peter?  That suffering in this world and becoming detached to temporal things will lead us to ever greater joy and the richness of the life to come?  Perhaps. 

St. Augustine wrote about the two Cities, the temporal city and the City of God existing with each other, how we can belong to both: living in this world yet simultaneously living in God's kingdom.  Our priests and other religious are called to live that way, and thus are our living example.  We find our greatest saints, both lay or religious are that same way, so we know it is possible.  How can we strive to find that balance in our lives starting fresh today?

John 13:16-20 Jesus Christ, You Are the Faithful Witness

Although this is how the truth of something is today in our world ascertained for the courts by attorneys seeking the truth, it is not unlike today’s story of St. Paul seeking the truth and presenting it to those assembled at the temple.  Paul had formerly been a Pharisee, which meant that he was an expert in the law, and knew how to draw truth out of statements and testimonies to present to the people for their edification.  In today’s story he calls forth the great leaders of the Jewish people and their prophets, especially John the Baptist who was still in recent memory, to give testimony that “God, according to his promise, has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus.”  The truth of Christ has spread to all the known world, and Paul, the apostle whom Christ personally called after the others, gives testimony to this Truth.

In today’s Gospel Jesus promises to show us the truth that he is “I Am” through events that would fulfill the scripture about him.  He is leading us to know that he is not only the Way to salvation, but the Truth.  He is unified with the Father in this.  He assures us that those of us who accept him, accept our Father in Heaven for he says, “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”  We are not to try to corrupt the Truth, for the Truth cannot be corrupted.  Christ Jesus is the faithful witness to that.  We are each called to share in that communion as witnesses today throughout words and our actions, which mark us as Christians, and our fidelity to the Truth.

John 10: 22-30 You Do Not Believe Because You're Not My Sheep

In today's reading we hear that it was winter and the Feast of the Dedication, that is Hanukkah.  This Jewish feast day is also known as the Festival of Lights.  The story behind it comes from the Book of Maccabees where the tale of how Judah Maccabee raised a fierce and army loyal to God (the army would also be known as the Maccabees) against the Greco-Syrian king who banned Jewish religious practices and defiled the Temple of Jerusalem.  When the Maccabees were victorious over the oppression, the Temple was cleansed, purified, and re-Dedicated to God.  When they rededicated the temple, there was only enough oil for the sanctuary lamp for one night, the rest having been defiled.  Through a miracle the oil lasted for eight days.  That is why Hanukkah lasts eight days with one candle being lit each night.  As a Jew Jesus would have participated in the Feast of the Dedication. 

As a Christian follower, we can ask ourselves what is the parallel between the Jewish celebration and our own this Easter season.  Very clearly the authorities and other leaders are demanding to know if Jesus is the Messiah.  It could not have been easy for Jesus' followers.  However, their courage and stamina against the hardships caused by people who doubted Jesus and were not his followers is an echo of that of the Maccabees.  What was true for the followers of Christ then is true now as we wage battle against threats against Christians whether we are in Syria, Pakistan, or laws against what we believe in other countries around the world.  What Christian has not been persecuted for our faith?  We stand firm and courageous because Christ is our savior and we are his flock.  Like the eternal light of the sanctuary lamp, Christ stands with us incarnate in human history as a Light to the World: God made manifest.  The Light of the World came to give us the light of life. 

John 5: 31-47 The Father Is My Witness

Are we such a hard hearted people that we create other gods and ignore the true God, just as the Israelites did?  Do we adhere to the scriptures the way the Jews around Jesus did, and refuse to see God in our presence?  Do we honor God only when it is convenient, and put him aside when it is not?

It is very easy to create other gods as well as to honor God only when it pleases us.  One of our Early Church Fathers, Eusebius, in his History of the Church, wrote about the Romans of Jesus' time: "The story of the resurrection from the dead of our Savior Jesus, already the subject of general discussion all over Palestine, was accordingly communicated by Pilate to the Emperor Tiberius.  For Pilate knew all about Christ's supernatural deeds, and especially how after death He had risen from the dead and was now generally believed to be a god.  It was said that Tiberius referred the report to the senate, which rejected it.  The apparent reason was that they had not gone into the matter before, for the old law still held that no one could be regarded by the Romans as a god unless by vote and decree of the senate; the real reason was that no human decision or commendation was required for the saving teaching of the divine message."   In other words, God does not need man to make him a God.  He is God almighty and transcends human thought and ideas.  Just like the Romans, the Jews in today's Gospel could not accept Jesus as the Son of God.  They looked toward their sacred writings, and although they testified for Jesus the Christ, they still rejected him.  Even though God the Father (at least 4 times in the Gospels) bared witness that Jesus was his son, they chose not to listen. 

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  Those who follow him shall have eternal life.  The Truth will exist for all time and will not be corrupted unlike man's ideas and works which crumble and fall into decay. The Word does not need human praise for He is justified and testified about by the Father. Just as Tiberius knew of Jesus, so too did Jesus' reputation travel east.  Eusebius tells us of a king of Mesopotamia who was ill and sent a letter to Jesus asking to be cured.  Eusebius tells us that Jesus' reply was found in the Record Office at Edessa, "Happy are you who believed in me without having seen me! For it is written of me that those who have seen me will not believe in me, and that those who have not seen will believe and live..."

Happy are those who life with faith in God.  Jesus continually reminds us to live not in this world, but in the next.  Jesus asks us in today's Gospel, "How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God?"  May we be called away from making earthly things into our gods or trying to conform God into the image we want of him, and instead remain in his presence living in communion with him.  Amen.

Matthew 5:17-19 I Have Come to Fulfill the Law

Yesterday was "Super Tuesday" and several states voted in their primaries.  Apparently history was made. This morning the Supreme Court decided to take the case on whether to uphold a Texas law that forces abortion clinics to upgrade their facilities to hospital standards in case of emergency and women's health.    Presidents and laws are people that we elect to govern us and laws that are to govern us.  They are civil laws made by men. 

Moses on the other hand was a man of God.  To him, his prophet, God gave instruction and laws to not only help his chosen people get along together in a society, but to teach them humility that they were not the end-all, but that their strength came from something far greater than them.  The Israelites listened.  God said, ‘This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.’

When Jesus came and seemed to defy some of the Laws that the religious leaders enforced, like restoring life through healing to the injured and sick, or picking wheat on the Sabbath because he and his disciples were hungry, many thought he came to abolish the law.  Jesus taught that there was no life in the Law that the Father had given the people because the people had made it all about the rules and forgotten that God so loved them.  For them it was a chore to be fulfilled.  It was empty without the love that was intended as part of it.  Jesus tells us in today's Gospel that he did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it.  He comes as love itself and as God made manifest is able to complete the Law and offer us a new covenant.  Unlike our man-made laws that change as our needs as society changes, God's covenant and agreement with us will never change because he created us each unique, knew us before we were born, and loves us completely. 

Matthew 5: 43-48 Love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you

Jesus is an amazing person.  He is teaching us to be like him.

How do we do this?  In the first reading today Moses is telling the people that we are God's people.  We are to keep his commands.  God will be with us because he has made this covenant, this agreement with us. 

Jesus however reminds us again that it is not enough to follow the commands.  He tells us that although we were told before "to love our neighbor and hate our enemy.  But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you." 

Jesus came not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it.  In catechism we are taught that the Laws were to serve as guides that would teach us how to live as holy people.  Jesus is that culmination, he is holy.  He has become God made man.  He invites us to follow him.  We don't have to wait until tomorrow.  "Now is the acceptable time." God is with us in the present moment. 

Matthew 5:20-26 A New Heart

Today's antiphon:
"Cast away from you all the crimes that you have committed, says the Lord, and make for yourselves a new heart and spirit."  (Ez 18:31)

Jesus is calling us not just to follow the Law, but follow the spirit of the Law.  Jesus recognized that people were following the rules set for for them by the Ten Commandments, but that was it, they were missing the Spirit of the Law.  That Spirit is why we have the laws, because they were intended to help us form a good conscious, yes, to know right from wrong.  The Laws were also intended to help us form good relationships with each other as our brothers' keeper because we are all members of the world and as such our relationships are interwoven and complex.  Think about it.  Who helped to make your clothes?  You've never met them, and yet they have impacted your life significantly.  Or what about the food that you eat?  You probably haven't met most of the people responsible for it being on your plate, but they have impacted your life. 

Jesus is reminding us that yes, we can follow the Law and be good people.  However he is calling us to go beyond the letter of the Law and acknowledge that we have a greater responsibility than just what the Law calls for.  We are called into communion with each other and in doing so, with God.  When we can see the face of God in others, then we know that we are close to being who Jesus challenges us to be because our hearts are changed.  He is calling us to a new beginning.  It isn't an easy road and if we struggle today, then we always have tomorrow to try again.

Matthew 7: 7-12 the Golden Rule

Queen Esther is one of those great female heroes of the Old Testament.  The Israelites are in captivity in Babylon.  She, specifically is living in Susa.  As an orphan, her uncle, Mordechai, has raised her in the Jewish faith as his adopted daughter to be a good humble woman who loves and honors God, following the Lord’s commands.    God granted her the gifts of beauty and humility.  When she was allowed into the harem of the king, they helped her to become his queen.  When the people of Israel were persecuted and threatened to be killed by the vizier, Esther made humble supplications to the Lord in prayer for help against the coming tribulations of her people.  The Lord God heard his daughter and saved his people.  Everything about Esther seems to have been preordained to help the Lord's people, but she plays an active role in their continuation, as well as serving as an example of true feminine beauty not only outwardly, but inwardly.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus in speaking about prayer reiterates that God listens to his people.  As a loving Father he will give us what we need, what is best for us.   He also reminds us that we are to “do to others whatever you would have them do to you.  This is the Law and the Prophets.”  Jesus is giving us what some call the Golden Rule.

As we continue our Lenten path, may our humility and virtues let us shine with inward beauty and humility as we grow closer to God. 

Luke 9:22-25 Thursday after Ash Wednesday

for today's reading (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/021116.cfm)

Whomever Loses His Life for My Sake Will Save It

Today’s readings seem almost oppressive and foreboding.  Moses tells us that we must follow laws, statutes and decrees to live and grow numerous.  Jesus tells us about suffering, death, and following him with our own crosses. 

It is not always easy to follow rules.  Do we tend to see people slow down at stop lights when the light is yellow, or do people to try make the light?  How many times do we see people cross the road when they are not in a crosswalk?  How many people do we know who have received speeding or parking tickets? Rules within society are designed to help us remain safe and function together peacefully as a whole.  They serve a beneficial purpose though we may not always see it that way.

Currently among the high school/junior high group is a game called, “All Hail! Chairman Mao!” or simply “Mao.”  It is a game where the fixed rules are the ones regarding penalties.  The other rules are added by the first player each round of the card game.   Players must figure them out as they are played, and suffer the consequences for the rule violation.  It can be a frustrating game, but fun to watch each other struggle.  Sometimes players do become angry enough they don’t want to play anymore. 

If our lives were like the game of Mao and we would be ignorant of the right way to live and the wrong way.  We would be penalized for doing wrong in our ignorance.  How would we know that God loved us?  Would we love God the way we do?  Probably not.

In the first reading Moses reminds us that as God’s prophet he has laid out the two paths that our loving God has given to us, the path which if we follow the Lord’s commands, statutes and decrees, will allow us to live and grow numerous.  This is the way that God will bless us for our reciprocated love.  However, Moses says, “you turn your hearts away and will not listen, but are led astray…you shall certainly perish.”  When parents make rules within their homes for their children, it is out of love.  They want to protect, to teach their children to love and serve each other, and parents want to teach their children the path to righteousness.  Thus, when we look at the Laws of God, in this way, do we not want to obey them?  Can we not see that our Father guides us through them?  We are on a journey carrying our crosses whatever they may be, but God is providing us directions for the journey, calling us into communities that help us understand where we are being led, and will meet us at our journey’s end.

Jesus foretells of his suffering, crucifixion and death.  He states that he will be resurrected.  This was his journey, his death, his life so that we may have life.  Jesus revealed to us the fullness of God’s plan of salvation for his people, for us, because He so loves us.  We are called to acknowledge the passing of this life as merely transient, that we should be focused on what is eternal.  We are not to be afraid of death, but embrace it as a friend who will take us to the Kingdom.  Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  For whomever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whomever loses his life for my sake will save it.”  Our Lenten journey helps us to remember our crosses, the Way that Jesus taught so that we may have eternal life, and how grateful we are that God so loves us. 

Let us pray this Lent the words of St. Benedict:  Merciful God in infinite compassion, whose creating power called us forth from the dust of the earth, in this, the acceptable time, lead us inward to be at peace with you, impel us outward to be reconciled with our neighbor, that we may embrace the sacred discipline of lent with broken, humbled hearts so come to the blessed joy of the paschal feast cleansed and renewed.  We ask this of you.  Amen.

Mark 1:40-45 Cleansing of the Leper

In today’s Gospel reading we hear of a leper being healed by Jesus.  There were so many rabbis at that time in Israel.  It they couldn’t cure this man, why could Jesus, he was just another rabbi, right?  Even though he has begun his ministry at Cana, he is still unknown to his disciples.  This man who has leprosy approaches Jesus and says, “If you wish, you can make me clean.”  These words are filled with faith.  They are like the faith filled words that we use during mass, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, say the word and I shall be healed.” 

Jesus heals the leper.  He frees him from the hell in which he has been living.  He frees him from both the physical marks of leprosy that plague his body, but he also heals the man’s spirit.  We can imagine this man filled with abundant joy and it is contagious as he goes to the priests.  He is a witness to the power of Christ.  God himself has touched him, forgiven him, and restored life to him by raising him from the death of sin.  Jesus in a sense is teaching us a lesson about heaven and hell, about mercy, about how to be happy.  We are to come to the Lord and in him with the light of faith we will find happiness.  How did Jesus do this?

St. Hilary of Poitiers reminds us, “For He (Jesus) took upon Him the flesh in which we have sinned that by wearing our flesh He might forgive sins; a flesh which He shares with us by wearing it, not by sinning in it. He blotted out through death the sentence of death, that by a new creation of our race in Himself He might sweep away the penalty appointed by the former Law. He let them nail Him to the cross that He might nail to the curse of the cross and abolish all the curses to which the world is condemned.”

Mark 1: 21-28 Voice of Authority

In the Gospel today we are told that Jesus "taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes."  That is a strong statement.  The scribes had the legal authority of leadership over the people.  Jesus is not like them.  His authority is authentic because he is God the Son.  He is wisdom itself. Where they scribes rule with fear and punishment, he rules with peace, love and justice.  Because he is God, we have a duty of obedience to him.  Even the demonic spirit recognizes that, and even names Jesus, "The Holy One of God!"  At the Lord's command the spirit left the possessed man. 

May we ask ourselves whom we take as our supreme authority.  Is it man, or God who instills man with authority to lead?  May we "receive the word of God, not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God." (1 Thes. 2:13)  May our hearts look to God the ruler of all and adhere to His laws as citizens of the Kingdom of God first, and then those of our own lands as is illustrated in today's Gospel.  Amen.

Addendum:  I was reminded this morning of the strong correlation between today's scribes and how their modern counterpart are today's managers and administrators.  The business world can sometimes seem like a cold an cut-throat place where the person is often times ignored.  In light of that today's Gospel may be a wake-up call, or a challenge to remember those people that we work with are people with thoughts and feelings too, not the automatons that we sometimes take them for.

Luke 2:36-40 The Prophetess Anna

In this presentation story following the reception of the Christ Child by Simeon, we meet Anna who also receives the Child and proclaims him to the world.  It is argued by some the Simeon and Anna are prophets of the Old Testament representing all of the Jewish people of the Old Covenant waiting for the redeemer.  With the reception of the Christ Child, they are accepting and recognizing the Savior and proclaiming him to the world. 

Women often enjoy holding babies and seeing the hope and possibility that could come from the child, recognizing the child as a gift from God.  Here Anna does not do this.  She recognizes not the gift from God, but God himself.  How much more the potential this Child in her arms!  The One who has been long awaited.  How could she not be excited?  As one who as received Christ she, like Simeon, cannot but share Him with the world.  Isn't it similar to what we are called to do when we receive Christ within the Eucharist?  Anna is a Hebrew word that means 'grace'.  How fitting then that she is given the grace of God to be his messenger to proclaim Him, to recognize Him, to receive Him, and to love Him? 

And the Holy Family?  They fulfill the prescriptions of the Law and return home where the child grows in wisdom and strength with "the Lord's favor upon him."  It is Jesus' time for quiet growth before the Lord calls him to his vocation.  We are each called to a vocation.  We see one of Anna's vocations within today's reading.  We hear that Joseph and Mary were called to obedience in the Law.  What are you being called forth to do today that will grow God's kingdom within and around you?

John 2: 22-35 Fifth day of the Octive of Christmas

Simeon is derived from a Hebrew word meaning "to listen" or "to hear".  Simeon, a righteous and devout man, has heard what the Lord God has told him through the Holy Spirit. He understands what it is the Lord is saying in this Child that Mary and Joseph are bringing to the temple.  We also have a wonderful example of Mary and Joseph following the Laws of God.  It is a reminder that Jesus did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it.  Simeon gives us the knowledge that here is the one who will bring salvation to the people:
“Lord, now let your servant go in peace;
your word has been fulfilled:
my own eyes have seen the salvation
which you prepared in the sight of every people,
a light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.”

We also receive the foreshadowing of the suffering to come in order for God's mercy to be fulfilled through Christ.  May we be eternally grateful that the Lord our God so loves us:
“Behold, this child is destined
for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and to be a sign that will be contradicted
(and you yourself a sword will pierce)
so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”