1 Samuel 9:1-4, 17-19; 10:1
Psalm 21:2-7
Mark 2:13-17
In any group project, at work or school, we might have the tendency either to take over the project or to let others do all the work. Some people are glad to have all the work done for them, but other people cannot trust anyone else to do their share properly, and depending on the group and what needs to get done they might be right, but in the group project that is this world we have to admit freely that we are not the most competent or the greatest. Those who have a tendency to take over a project are at a disadvantage. Those who know how to let others do work for them are better prepared to trust in God.
In the first reading today God chooses as king a man who was better than all the other Israelites. He was taller and stronger and more handsome than any other Israelite, but God will eventually find a replacement for him. When we think of the first king of Israel, usually King David comes to mind, there was a king before King David: King Saul who we read about today. God rejected Saul because Saul was not obedient. God gave Saul a job to do with specific instructions, but Saul decided he knew how to do it better.
The scribes and Pharisees might have liked Jesus better if when he came to Earth he gave them recognition for all their hard work. Instead, he spends his time with all the slackers. They do not understand why Jesus would want to be near sinners, but Jesus says that it is only natural since sinners are the ones who need his salvation. The scribes and Pharisees need his salvation too, but they do not know that. The sinners are at an advantage because they know that they need God. The scribes and Pharisees are delusional because they think that they can get along on their own strength.
What is better, to have the whole weight of the world resting on your shoulders or to have someone else carry that weight? Without question, it is better to have someone else carry the weight, but only if we can trust that someone else. We may not always be able to trust others, but we can trust God. In the presence of God we can finally let go and let someone else take charge, submitting to him in all humility.
Daily Homilies
Showing posts with label Dependence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dependence. Show all posts
November 11, 2012 - Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
1 Kings 17:10-16
Psalm 146:7-10
Hebrews 9:24-28
Mark 12:38-44
The readings today are split between heaven and earth, between the glorious throne of God where Jesus offers his own body and blood and down here where a widow plans a last meal with her son, between the sanctuary not made by hands and the treasure box where a widow drops two of her last coins. Yet these places are not so far apart after all. The widow and her son are fed by a miracle sent by a prophet. The poor widow dropping her coins is being watched by God himself and is praised by him. And the offering in heaven is the offering of Jesus Christ on the Cross, perhaps the most earthly of all realities, the reality of a man dying at the cruel hands of other men.
Jesus Christ is the mediator between heaven and earth, between God and humans. He brings together everything that was supposed to be together from the beginning but was divided by sin. Sin was an uncrossable canyon, dividing us forever from God. Then Jesus Christ crossed it, forever bringing together the high and the low, heaven and earth. Everything is united in him, because he is God and man. Even the miracles of the Old Testament have their power in him, for his sacrifice was once and for all. It changed everything, both forward in time and backward. His birth in Bethlehem and his death in Jerusalem were events in time, but all human history is in relation to the Incarnation and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
There is no difference in the world like the difference between God and humans. The difference between the richest man and the poorest is nothing in comparison. All of us are poor, above all because we have no ability to hold on to our treasures. Everything can be taken away in an instant: a fire, a storm, sickness, violence. We try to insure ourselves against losses, but even that is a proof of our underlying poverty. That widow gave of her livelihood, counting on God to support her. She is in a more sure position than any amount of insurance could provide. By giving what she needed to God, she is placing her complete trust in him, and he has promised to provide for those who trust in him.
We are afraid to place our confidence in God. Somehow we feel so sure that he will not provide for us. We see people who have nothing, and so we know that God does not magically provide for everyone. There are real needs in our world, and where is God? How can he expect us to trust in him when we see with our own eyes that he has failed the poor, at least as far as this world is concerned. What would we dare to say? That those Christians who starve to death each day were just lacking in faith? Sure, we can speak of heaven and say that, like Lazarus who died in streets, God will repay all those who suffered in this life. I do not doubt it, yet still something is missing.
It is not God’s purpose that each of us would depend on him without receiving any visible support in this world, so that he could then repay us in the next. He told Adam to go and work, and the point of work is profit. God wants us to do as much good in this world as possible. He wants us to work hard, and, unless we are going to work in a foolish way, hard work equals profit. The widow in the Gospel was poor, but that was either because she was not allowed to work in her community or because she was unable. The widow in the first reading was poor, but that was because of the drought. No matter how common such circumstances are, they are the exception. And even then, I do not think that we are to imagine that either widow had not tried to support herself as much as possible. Depending on God does not mean abandoning responsibility for our own life.
To depend on God means, above all, to see the work of God in our life. We need to stop taking credit for things. So much of the good that has happened to us was not because of our own work. Even much of what we can justly take credit for involved a great deal of what most people call luck. The point is to have an attitude of gratitude. Every day there are many things to thank God for, and when we look back on our life we ought to see his work in the midst of our failures. There is no purpose here in making comparisons. It is not about what somebody else has gotten in their life, but, in mine, where can I see God’s action and guidance. Eventually, as we grow spiritually, we will see his providence behind every corner.
To depend on God means, also, to work as much as we are able. Some people see this as a contradiction. They mock Christians because we trust God but still work. But once we have become grateful for his every gift, we realize that our ability to act is itself his gift, and to squander the gift would be ingratitude. Who knows, tomorrow I may not be able to work any longer, but today I can, so I work with all my strength.
To depend on God means, also, to give back. We see that the widow in the Gospel gave to God by dropping coins in the temple treasury. We see that the widow in the first reading gave to God by providing food for his prophet. In both cases, the women gave from their poverty. This does not denigrate someone who gives from their wealth, but clearly the last coins or the last bit of flour is the greater gift. These women teach us that giving to God is not something we do when everything else in our life is settled. Giving to him is the first thing we do, even if it means we have to beg for help from someone else. The primary way we give to God is by giving to the poor. If two poor people each had just enough bread for the day, they could eat their own share or they could each give their share to the other. Which of these ways of thinking and acting is God trying to lead us to?
Psalm 146:7-10
Hebrews 9:24-28
Mark 12:38-44
The readings today are split between heaven and earth, between the glorious throne of God where Jesus offers his own body and blood and down here where a widow plans a last meal with her son, between the sanctuary not made by hands and the treasure box where a widow drops two of her last coins. Yet these places are not so far apart after all. The widow and her son are fed by a miracle sent by a prophet. The poor widow dropping her coins is being watched by God himself and is praised by him. And the offering in heaven is the offering of Jesus Christ on the Cross, perhaps the most earthly of all realities, the reality of a man dying at the cruel hands of other men.
Jesus Christ is the mediator between heaven and earth, between God and humans. He brings together everything that was supposed to be together from the beginning but was divided by sin. Sin was an uncrossable canyon, dividing us forever from God. Then Jesus Christ crossed it, forever bringing together the high and the low, heaven and earth. Everything is united in him, because he is God and man. Even the miracles of the Old Testament have their power in him, for his sacrifice was once and for all. It changed everything, both forward in time and backward. His birth in Bethlehem and his death in Jerusalem were events in time, but all human history is in relation to the Incarnation and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
There is no difference in the world like the difference between God and humans. The difference between the richest man and the poorest is nothing in comparison. All of us are poor, above all because we have no ability to hold on to our treasures. Everything can be taken away in an instant: a fire, a storm, sickness, violence. We try to insure ourselves against losses, but even that is a proof of our underlying poverty. That widow gave of her livelihood, counting on God to support her. She is in a more sure position than any amount of insurance could provide. By giving what she needed to God, she is placing her complete trust in him, and he has promised to provide for those who trust in him.
We are afraid to place our confidence in God. Somehow we feel so sure that he will not provide for us. We see people who have nothing, and so we know that God does not magically provide for everyone. There are real needs in our world, and where is God? How can he expect us to trust in him when we see with our own eyes that he has failed the poor, at least as far as this world is concerned. What would we dare to say? That those Christians who starve to death each day were just lacking in faith? Sure, we can speak of heaven and say that, like Lazarus who died in streets, God will repay all those who suffered in this life. I do not doubt it, yet still something is missing.
It is not God’s purpose that each of us would depend on him without receiving any visible support in this world, so that he could then repay us in the next. He told Adam to go and work, and the point of work is profit. God wants us to do as much good in this world as possible. He wants us to work hard, and, unless we are going to work in a foolish way, hard work equals profit. The widow in the Gospel was poor, but that was either because she was not allowed to work in her community or because she was unable. The widow in the first reading was poor, but that was because of the drought. No matter how common such circumstances are, they are the exception. And even then, I do not think that we are to imagine that either widow had not tried to support herself as much as possible. Depending on God does not mean abandoning responsibility for our own life.
To depend on God means, above all, to see the work of God in our life. We need to stop taking credit for things. So much of the good that has happened to us was not because of our own work. Even much of what we can justly take credit for involved a great deal of what most people call luck. The point is to have an attitude of gratitude. Every day there are many things to thank God for, and when we look back on our life we ought to see his work in the midst of our failures. There is no purpose here in making comparisons. It is not about what somebody else has gotten in their life, but, in mine, where can I see God’s action and guidance. Eventually, as we grow spiritually, we will see his providence behind every corner.
To depend on God means, also, to work as much as we are able. Some people see this as a contradiction. They mock Christians because we trust God but still work. But once we have become grateful for his every gift, we realize that our ability to act is itself his gift, and to squander the gift would be ingratitude. Who knows, tomorrow I may not be able to work any longer, but today I can, so I work with all my strength.
To depend on God means, also, to give back. We see that the widow in the Gospel gave to God by dropping coins in the temple treasury. We see that the widow in the first reading gave to God by providing food for his prophet. In both cases, the women gave from their poverty. This does not denigrate someone who gives from their wealth, but clearly the last coins or the last bit of flour is the greater gift. These women teach us that giving to God is not something we do when everything else in our life is settled. Giving to him is the first thing we do, even if it means we have to beg for help from someone else. The primary way we give to God is by giving to the poor. If two poor people each had just enough bread for the day, they could eat their own share or they could each give their share to the other. Which of these ways of thinking and acting is God trying to lead us to?
August 21, 2012 - Memorial of Saint Pius X, Pope
Ezekiel 28:1-10
Deuteronomy 32:26-28, 30, 35-36
Matthew 19:23-30
Why is it difficult for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God? Because the rich believe that they are God. Of course, here we are speaking of the rich in spirit. A person may have many possessions but see them as a stewardship for the good of all. The rich in spirit believe that they are gods, as it says in the first reading today: the prince of Tyre believed that he was a god. What does this mean? God provides for us. For a person to believe that they are a god, they must believe that they provide for themselves. The attitude being condemned today, the attitude which makes it so difficult for the rich to enter into the Kingdom of God, is the quintessential American attitude of self-reliance. If I rely on myself, why would I need to rely on God? If I built up what I possess today, why would I need to thank God for it? To enter the Kingdom of God is to allow God to be the king of my life.
It is said that Satan did not believe that he could surpass God, for he was very knowledgeable and intelligent. What he hoped to do was to take for himself rather than receive from God. He wanted to be independent of God, and this was his great sin. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve reached out and took for themselves what God had not yet offered them. Who knows? It is likely that they were supposed to eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil one day, but not until God served it to them.
The attitude that is necessary in order to enter the Kingdom of God is a willingness to receive a gift rather than try to grasp at it. The willingness to be dependent. The rich do not know how to do this; they have always provided for themselves. This attitude requires trust: trust that God will in fact provide what we need when we need it. In this matter, we must fight our inclination to depend on ourselves. God is the only one who can provide what we really need. What we provide for ourselves is just an illusion, but until we learn to stop trying to provide for ourselves and trust God, we will never be able to let go of the illusion and accept the real gift.
Deuteronomy 32:26-28, 30, 35-36
Matthew 19:23-30
Why is it difficult for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God? Because the rich believe that they are God. Of course, here we are speaking of the rich in spirit. A person may have many possessions but see them as a stewardship for the good of all. The rich in spirit believe that they are gods, as it says in the first reading today: the prince of Tyre believed that he was a god. What does this mean? God provides for us. For a person to believe that they are a god, they must believe that they provide for themselves. The attitude being condemned today, the attitude which makes it so difficult for the rich to enter into the Kingdom of God, is the quintessential American attitude of self-reliance. If I rely on myself, why would I need to rely on God? If I built up what I possess today, why would I need to thank God for it? To enter the Kingdom of God is to allow God to be the king of my life.
It is said that Satan did not believe that he could surpass God, for he was very knowledgeable and intelligent. What he hoped to do was to take for himself rather than receive from God. He wanted to be independent of God, and this was his great sin. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve reached out and took for themselves what God had not yet offered them. Who knows? It is likely that they were supposed to eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil one day, but not until God served it to them.
The attitude that is necessary in order to enter the Kingdom of God is a willingness to receive a gift rather than try to grasp at it. The willingness to be dependent. The rich do not know how to do this; they have always provided for themselves. This attitude requires trust: trust that God will in fact provide what we need when we need it. In this matter, we must fight our inclination to depend on ourselves. God is the only one who can provide what we really need. What we provide for ourselves is just an illusion, but until we learn to stop trying to provide for ourselves and trust God, we will never be able to let go of the illusion and accept the real gift.
July 18, 2012 - Wednesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 10:5-7, 13-16
Psalm 94:5-10, 14-15
Matthew 11:25-27
The economy of salvation is the official theological name that we give to how things work. To learn about the economy of salvation is to learn how God is saving us. Economy here comes from the Greek word for household. Economy does not mean financial but the house rules of the universe.
There are many aspects to the economy of salvation, but our readings today illustrate one clearly: God never works directly when he can work indirectly. This rule is why the common statement, often used to denigrate the communion of saints: “I like to pray directly to God” is just silly. God does not do anything directly. The Father sends the Son. The Son sends the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit acts through human beings. This is all very inefficient, but it is God’s way of acting.
In the economy of this world, we are always trying to cut out the middle man, because the more efficient the process, the less waste there is. In the economy of salvation, God includes as many middle men and women as he possibly can. He could have destroyed Israel, but he chose to do it through the Assyrians. He does not punish them directly. He empowers the Assyrians to punish them. God is angry that Assyria has overstepped its bounds, but he would not have that problem if he had just punished Israel directly.
No one has seen the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. It would be more efficient if God revealed himself to us directly. Perhaps we can understand the inefficiency of the Trinity, or at least accept it, but the inefficiency of relying on imperfect humans to reveal God is very frustrating. Our relationship with God happens through the Church, despite the sin and inadequacy of most every member of the Church. How many people have broken their relationship with God because of their experience of the sinful humanity of the Church? It would seem more logical, more efficient if God would just work with each person directly.
Of course, really, we understand that God knows what he is doing. This inefficiency is just love: the love of the Father for the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the love that he wants us to have for each other. He does not want to save us on our own, individually. He wants to save a Church, an assembly of people in love with each other, and he wants us to be a part of that Church.
Psalm 94:5-10, 14-15
Matthew 11:25-27
The economy of salvation is the official theological name that we give to how things work. To learn about the economy of salvation is to learn how God is saving us. Economy here comes from the Greek word for household. Economy does not mean financial but the house rules of the universe.
There are many aspects to the economy of salvation, but our readings today illustrate one clearly: God never works directly when he can work indirectly. This rule is why the common statement, often used to denigrate the communion of saints: “I like to pray directly to God” is just silly. God does not do anything directly. The Father sends the Son. The Son sends the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit acts through human beings. This is all very inefficient, but it is God’s way of acting.
In the economy of this world, we are always trying to cut out the middle man, because the more efficient the process, the less waste there is. In the economy of salvation, God includes as many middle men and women as he possibly can. He could have destroyed Israel, but he chose to do it through the Assyrians. He does not punish them directly. He empowers the Assyrians to punish them. God is angry that Assyria has overstepped its bounds, but he would not have that problem if he had just punished Israel directly.
No one has seen the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. It would be more efficient if God revealed himself to us directly. Perhaps we can understand the inefficiency of the Trinity, or at least accept it, but the inefficiency of relying on imperfect humans to reveal God is very frustrating. Our relationship with God happens through the Church, despite the sin and inadequacy of most every member of the Church. How many people have broken their relationship with God because of their experience of the sinful humanity of the Church? It would seem more logical, more efficient if God would just work with each person directly.
Of course, really, we understand that God knows what he is doing. This inefficiency is just love: the love of the Father for the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the love that he wants us to have for each other. He does not want to save us on our own, individually. He wants to save a Church, an assembly of people in love with each other, and he wants us to be a part of that Church.
July 9, 2012 - Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Hosea 2:16-18, 21-22
Psalm 145:2-9
Matthew 9:18-26
The first reading today is characteristic of how, when Israel looked back on the Good Old Days, they thought of the time spent wandering in the desert. They did not usually think of the greatest political strength reached under Solomon or the first years in the Holy Land under Joshua. They thought about the forty years that the entire nation of Israel wandered in the desert. "Thus says the LORD: I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart. She shall respond there as in the days of her youth, when she came up from the land of Egypt."
But these forty years were a punishment from God. Because of their lack of faith in him, he condemned them to wander for forty years in the wilderness before entering the Promised Land. How is it that a time of punishment came to be considered the good old days? Because it was a time when food, manna, fell from the sky. Water came forth from a rock. And above all, they followed a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. It would not be correct to say that this was God, but it could be called the finger of God pointing them in the right direction.
At other times in their history, they had better food and drink and better homes and beds, but during those years wandering in the desert, they had a close relationship with the presence of God that could never be equaled. Everyone, rich and poor, depended entirely on God for their daily food and drink. Everyone, rich and poor, went wherever God told them to go. God spoke face to face with Moses, telling the people exactly what he wanted from them. Since the days of Adam and Eve until the days of Jesus Christ, this was the nearest that humans and God ever were.
In each person’s life, there are good times and bad, times of success and times of failure, times of plenty and times of need, times of sickness and times of health, but none of those factors matter when we look back on our life. The best of times were when we were closest to God, and sometimes that was in the desert.
Psalm 145:2-9
Matthew 9:18-26
The first reading today is characteristic of how, when Israel looked back on the Good Old Days, they thought of the time spent wandering in the desert. They did not usually think of the greatest political strength reached under Solomon or the first years in the Holy Land under Joshua. They thought about the forty years that the entire nation of Israel wandered in the desert. "Thus says the LORD: I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart. She shall respond there as in the days of her youth, when she came up from the land of Egypt."
But these forty years were a punishment from God. Because of their lack of faith in him, he condemned them to wander for forty years in the wilderness before entering the Promised Land. How is it that a time of punishment came to be considered the good old days? Because it was a time when food, manna, fell from the sky. Water came forth from a rock. And above all, they followed a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. It would not be correct to say that this was God, but it could be called the finger of God pointing them in the right direction.
At other times in their history, they had better food and drink and better homes and beds, but during those years wandering in the desert, they had a close relationship with the presence of God that could never be equaled. Everyone, rich and poor, depended entirely on God for their daily food and drink. Everyone, rich and poor, went wherever God told them to go. God spoke face to face with Moses, telling the people exactly what he wanted from them. Since the days of Adam and Eve until the days of Jesus Christ, this was the nearest that humans and God ever were.
In each person’s life, there are good times and bad, times of success and times of failure, times of plenty and times of need, times of sickness and times of health, but none of those factors matter when we look back on our life. The best of times were when we were closest to God, and sometimes that was in the desert.
January 14, 2012 - Saturday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
1 Samuel 9:1-4, 17-19; 10:1
Psalm 21:2-7
Mark 2:13-17
In any group project, at work or school, we might have the tendency either to take over the project or to let others do all the work. Some people are glad to have all the work done for them, but other people cannot trust anyone else to do their share properly, and depending on the group and what needs to get done they might be right, but in the group project that is this world we have to admit freely that we are not the most competent or the greatest. Those who have a tendency to take over a project are at a disadvantage. Those who know how to let others do work for them are better prepared to trust in God.
In the first reading today God chooses as king a man who was better than all the other Israelites. He was taller and stronger and more handsome than any other Israelite, but God will eventually find a replacement for him. When we think of the first king of Israel, usually King David comes to mind, there was a king before King David: King Saul who we read about today. God rejected Saul because Saul was not obedient. God gave Saul a job to do with specific instructions, but Saul decided he knew how to do it better.
The scribes and Pharisees might have liked Jesus better if when he came to Earth he gave them recognition for all their hard work. Instead, he spends his time with all slackers. They do not understand why Jesus would want to be near sinners, but Jesus says that it is only natural since sinners are the ones who need his salvation. The scribes and Pharisees need his salvation too, but they do not know that. The sinners are at an advantage because they know that they need God. The scribes and Pharisees are delusional because they think that they can get along on their own strength.
What is better, to have the whole weight of the world resting on your shoulders or to have someone else carry that weight? Without question, it is better to have someone else carry the weight, but only if we can trust that someone else. If you are the sort of person who has difficulty trusting in the competence of others, that is a fault you should work on, but know without any doubt that you can trust God.
Psalm 21:2-7
Mark 2:13-17
In any group project, at work or school, we might have the tendency either to take over the project or to let others do all the work. Some people are glad to have all the work done for them, but other people cannot trust anyone else to do their share properly, and depending on the group and what needs to get done they might be right, but in the group project that is this world we have to admit freely that we are not the most competent or the greatest. Those who have a tendency to take over a project are at a disadvantage. Those who know how to let others do work for them are better prepared to trust in God.
In the first reading today God chooses as king a man who was better than all the other Israelites. He was taller and stronger and more handsome than any other Israelite, but God will eventually find a replacement for him. When we think of the first king of Israel, usually King David comes to mind, there was a king before King David: King Saul who we read about today. God rejected Saul because Saul was not obedient. God gave Saul a job to do with specific instructions, but Saul decided he knew how to do it better.
The scribes and Pharisees might have liked Jesus better if when he came to Earth he gave them recognition for all their hard work. Instead, he spends his time with all slackers. They do not understand why Jesus would want to be near sinners, but Jesus says that it is only natural since sinners are the ones who need his salvation. The scribes and Pharisees need his salvation too, but they do not know that. The sinners are at an advantage because they know that they need God. The scribes and Pharisees are delusional because they think that they can get along on their own strength.
What is better, to have the whole weight of the world resting on your shoulders or to have someone else carry that weight? Without question, it is better to have someone else carry the weight, but only if we can trust that someone else. If you are the sort of person who has difficulty trusting in the competence of others, that is a fault you should work on, but know without any doubt that you can trust God.
November 20, 2011 - Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the King'
Today's Readings
The Lord is our shepherd, which sounds so nice, what with the verdant pastures and restful waters. It is nice too. He will seek the lost and bring back the strayed. He will bind up the injured and heal the sick. He will destroy the sleek and the strong.
That last part might seem strange. What is the point of all the care that the Lord is showing to his sheep if he will destroy the sleek and the strong? I would have thought that the Lord wanted us to be sleek and strong. If we look back though, before this reading, we will see how these sheep got to be so strong and fat. These sheep were also shepherds, they were the ones to whom God had entrusted the care of his flock, but instead of feeding the sheep, they fed themselves. Their strength comes at the expense of the others’ weakness. They are fat because the others are starving.
It is written that he will shepherd them with justice. Clearly they were not just to the others whom they left to starve, but they also were not just to themselves. The other sheep merely suffered the consequences of laziness and greed. These sheep had to suffer being lazy and greedy.
God will feed these sheep with justice. He will destroy them, but after the destruction they will be improved. The fat and strong consider returning to where everyone else is destruction. A rich man would say he lost everything if he were left with only a few thousand dollars in savings, but there are people who would be so happy to have a few thousand dollars in savings. So when God destroys the independent and the fat, it means that he will make them lean and dependent on him again.
The Gospel today is the judgment of the nations, of the Gentiles. Gentile meant someone who was outside of God’s family, so it is reasonable to conclude that this judgment is the judgment of all the non-Christians. We Christians will be judged, as Jesus says elsewhere, by whether we have forgiven our brothers and sisters from our hearts, but those who do not know Jesus will be judged more lightly, by whether they have done some kindness. Kindness for whom? For Jesus, for “these least brothers and sisters of mine.”
We know that the Gospel relates to the non-Christians because of the surprise they all express, both the sheep and the goats. They did not see this coming. Yet we all are so familiar with this prophecy that we would know exactly what Jesus was talking about. As soon as he started dividing us to the right or to the left, we would know what was going on.
However, this does not mean that we can ignore this Gospel. First of all, Jesus is providing a very low minimum standard to get into heaven. We should be meeting and exceeding this standard. Jesus says that those who knew better will be judged more harshly. Do not expect to get into heaven because you did something nice for someone once. We are supposed to be on Jesus’ side! He is our king and we are his servants. We are supposed to love God above all else. If doing something for someone in need is doing it for Jesus, we ought to jump at all such opportunities. We ought to be seeking out such opportunities. Business men are always looking for opportunities in the market; Christians should be just as vigilant to find people in need. Which one of us profits more? Let the business men make his billions, but Christians have a greater reward.
Second, considering the Gospel and the first reading together, we can come to a conclusion. God promises to provide, but he is not the one providing. If I say that the President helped the victims of an earthquake, I really mean that a lot of people helped the victims. If I say that the Twins won another game, I really mean that the players, Joe and Justin and Michael, won another game. If I say that God provides, and I claim to be a servant of God, that means that I provide.
God has provided so much, but if we healthy people, who have been provided with health by God, do not go visit the sick, who will? The political goal might be to achieve an economic system where everyone has plenty and no one needs any help, and that sounds great. I wish the political system the best of luck with that. But even if that were ever achieved, and I kind of doubt that it ever will be, it would not remove the need we have for charity.
We humans need to give charity. Within us is a need, designed in us by God, to serve our brothers and sisters. As with every need, if we fail to answer it, we will die. If we do not eat or drink, we die. Those are bodily needs, so the death is bodily. If we do not give and serve, we die. Those are spiritual needs, so the death is spiritual. Someone who never gives and never serves is spiritually dead.
But just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life. We are brought to life by Christ's example. He lived entirely for the sake of others. He considered his life to be a gift from the Father to be used for the salvation of the world. Seeing how Christ lived should make us want to live better ourselves. we are brought to life by his example, and we are brought to life by his grace. God does not force himself on us, but when we want help and ask for help to be better servants, God will help us.
What should we think of a waiter who stands at the table bragging about the excellent service at his restaurant and then, after an hour goes by, begins complaining that the service is not so good after all? So also is a Christian who teaches that God provides and then does not actually get around to providing. Right now there are children starving to death in Somalia. Right now there are Christians in Iraq struggling against violence and persecution. Why isn’t God providing for them? Which is to say, why aren’t we providing for them?
The Lord is our shepherd, which sounds so nice, what with the verdant pastures and restful waters. It is nice too. He will seek the lost and bring back the strayed. He will bind up the injured and heal the sick. He will destroy the sleek and the strong.
That last part might seem strange. What is the point of all the care that the Lord is showing to his sheep if he will destroy the sleek and the strong? I would have thought that the Lord wanted us to be sleek and strong. If we look back though, before this reading, we will see how these sheep got to be so strong and fat. These sheep were also shepherds, they were the ones to whom God had entrusted the care of his flock, but instead of feeding the sheep, they fed themselves. Their strength comes at the expense of the others’ weakness. They are fat because the others are starving.
It is written that he will shepherd them with justice. Clearly they were not just to the others whom they left to starve, but they also were not just to themselves. The other sheep merely suffered the consequences of laziness and greed. These sheep had to suffer being lazy and greedy.
God will feed these sheep with justice. He will destroy them, but after the destruction they will be improved. The fat and strong consider returning to where everyone else is destruction. A rich man would say he lost everything if he were left with only a few thousand dollars in savings, but there are people who would be so happy to have a few thousand dollars in savings. So when God destroys the independent and the fat, it means that he will make them lean and dependent on him again.
The Gospel today is the judgment of the nations, of the Gentiles. Gentile meant someone who was outside of God’s family, so it is reasonable to conclude that this judgment is the judgment of all the non-Christians. We Christians will be judged, as Jesus says elsewhere, by whether we have forgiven our brothers and sisters from our hearts, but those who do not know Jesus will be judged more lightly, by whether they have done some kindness. Kindness for whom? For Jesus, for “these least brothers and sisters of mine.”
We know that the Gospel relates to the non-Christians because of the surprise they all express, both the sheep and the goats. They did not see this coming. Yet we all are so familiar with this prophecy that we would know exactly what Jesus was talking about. As soon as he started dividing us to the right or to the left, we would know what was going on.
However, this does not mean that we can ignore this Gospel. First of all, Jesus is providing a very low minimum standard to get into heaven. We should be meeting and exceeding this standard. Jesus says that those who knew better will be judged more harshly. Do not expect to get into heaven because you did something nice for someone once. We are supposed to be on Jesus’ side! He is our king and we are his servants. We are supposed to love God above all else. If doing something for someone in need is doing it for Jesus, we ought to jump at all such opportunities. We ought to be seeking out such opportunities. Business men are always looking for opportunities in the market; Christians should be just as vigilant to find people in need. Which one of us profits more? Let the business men make his billions, but Christians have a greater reward.
Second, considering the Gospel and the first reading together, we can come to a conclusion. God promises to provide, but he is not the one providing. If I say that the President helped the victims of an earthquake, I really mean that a lot of people helped the victims. If I say that the Twins won another game, I really mean that the players, Joe and Justin and Michael, won another game. If I say that God provides, and I claim to be a servant of God, that means that I provide.
God has provided so much, but if we healthy people, who have been provided with health by God, do not go visit the sick, who will? The political goal might be to achieve an economic system where everyone has plenty and no one needs any help, and that sounds great. I wish the political system the best of luck with that. But even if that were ever achieved, and I kind of doubt that it ever will be, it would not remove the need we have for charity.
We humans need to give charity. Within us is a need, designed in us by God, to serve our brothers and sisters. As with every need, if we fail to answer it, we will die. If we do not eat or drink, we die. Those are bodily needs, so the death is bodily. If we do not give and serve, we die. Those are spiritual needs, so the death is spiritual. Someone who never gives and never serves is spiritually dead.
But just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life. We are brought to life by Christ's example. He lived entirely for the sake of others. He considered his life to be a gift from the Father to be used for the salvation of the world. Seeing how Christ lived should make us want to live better ourselves. we are brought to life by his example, and we are brought to life by his grace. God does not force himself on us, but when we want help and ask for help to be better servants, God will help us.
What should we think of a waiter who stands at the table bragging about the excellent service at his restaurant and then, after an hour goes by, begins complaining that the service is not so good after all? So also is a Christian who teaches that God provides and then does not actually get around to providing. Right now there are children starving to death in Somalia. Right now there are Christians in Iraq struggling against violence and persecution. Why isn’t God providing for them? Which is to say, why aren’t we providing for them?
August 9, 2011 - Tuesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Readings
Jesus puts a child before us today and recommends him as our example. How beautiful that he did not merely talk about children in general. Instead, he called a child over and placed him in the midst of the disciples. The disciples got to really look at the child and consider how they should imitate him.
We do not have the benefit of having a child in our midst today, so we will have to use our imaginations. Do not imagine an older child, already too much like an adult. Imagine a 3 year old. This is our ideal, not in his selfishness, but in his sincerity, not in his naiveté but in the complete trust he places in his parents. A toddler has not yet learned about his parents’ imperfections.
What are the imperfections of a parent? Since every parent is subject to original sin, they are selfish. Every parent fails to do right by their child, not even considering bad parents who do cruel things to their children. Even the best parent is not able to protect their child from all the dangers of the world. Growing up means realizing that our parents sometimes do what is wrong and will occasionally fail even when they try to do what is right.
However, our Father in heaven is perfect. “He will never fail you or forsake you.” Everything we have learned since the age of 3 about mistrusting this world and depending on ourselves should be forgotten with regard to God. He alone can be trusted completely; we do not need to hold back anything. “He will never fail you or forsake you.” Not on purpose and not by accident. We do not need to be afraid or suspicious. We can completely give up our cynicism. The world is a tough place, but in God, finally, we have a safe haven that cannot be defeated.
What a relief it will be to live once again the carefree life of a child! We do not need to care about silly things like who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. We get to be a little one. We get to grow up all over again, learning to share and help each other. We do not need to compete against each other anymore, not for money, not for our Father’s love. There is more than enough to go around.
Jesus puts a child before us today and recommends him as our example. How beautiful that he did not merely talk about children in general. Instead, he called a child over and placed him in the midst of the disciples. The disciples got to really look at the child and consider how they should imitate him.
We do not have the benefit of having a child in our midst today, so we will have to use our imaginations. Do not imagine an older child, already too much like an adult. Imagine a 3 year old. This is our ideal, not in his selfishness, but in his sincerity, not in his naiveté but in the complete trust he places in his parents. A toddler has not yet learned about his parents’ imperfections.
What are the imperfections of a parent? Since every parent is subject to original sin, they are selfish. Every parent fails to do right by their child, not even considering bad parents who do cruel things to their children. Even the best parent is not able to protect their child from all the dangers of the world. Growing up means realizing that our parents sometimes do what is wrong and will occasionally fail even when they try to do what is right.
However, our Father in heaven is perfect. “He will never fail you or forsake you.” Everything we have learned since the age of 3 about mistrusting this world and depending on ourselves should be forgotten with regard to God. He alone can be trusted completely; we do not need to hold back anything. “He will never fail you or forsake you.” Not on purpose and not by accident. We do not need to be afraid or suspicious. We can completely give up our cynicism. The world is a tough place, but in God, finally, we have a safe haven that cannot be defeated.
What a relief it will be to live once again the carefree life of a child! We do not need to care about silly things like who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. We get to be a little one. We get to grow up all over again, learning to share and help each other. We do not need to compete against each other anymore, not for money, not for our Father’s love. There is more than enough to go around.
July 31, 2011 - Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today's Readings
Our reading today from Isaiah tells us three reasons why it is better to get what we need from the providence of God than to try to grasp after it ourselves. First of all, it is free. Second, it is better. Third, it is complete. God tells us that he will give us for free. “Come, without paying and without cost,” he says. This is a good deal. God also tells us that he will not just cover our basic needs. He is not only serving bread but “wine and milk” and “rich fare”. This is a very good deal. Usually, when you get something free, you get what you pay for, but God says that we can give us, for free, something better than we can buy with money. God also warns us that when we try to buy our happiness, it “fails to satisfy”. This is because we do not even know what we really want, but God does know. He can fulfill desires that we never even knew we had.
What great promises! We would be fools not to take God up on this offer. Except…. In the psalm today, we repeated, “The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.” This is great news, but is it true? We are told, “He answers all our needs”, but does he? Where is it? Where is this great, free, perfect satisfaction that we have been promised? This seems to be another case where the reality fails to live up to the advertisement.
Of course, it is about 95% true. Consider all those things that if you were suddenly lacking you would desperately want: life, oxygen, health, use of your body, water, food, safety. It is easy to miss the many ways that God does provide for our lives every day, in each moment of every day. We really do not notice the providence of God. We only notice the other 5%. Parents know what I am talking about. Your children do not notice that you do their laundry, feed them, and give them a place to live. If you stopped doing their laundry, if you stopped providing food, if you stopped paying the electric bill, they would suddenly become very aware of what you were not doing for them.
But what of this other 5%? The psalm promised that God would provide all of our needs. What is left over, what God is not providing, is also for our benefit. We would be ungrateful spoiled brats if we never knew what it was to need something. Isaiah, in the midst of the advertisement, repeats over and over again: “Come.” God has come almost all the way to us, but the other 5% is our room to come to God.
We are tempted to fill what we lack with inferior products: lust, greed, laziness, gluttony, envy, anger, and pride, but all these will fail to satisfy. A bag of potato chips, the latest gadget, a 10-hour I Love Lucy marathon all fail to satisfy us. For a moment, it seemed as if these sins were what we were looking for, but they only last for a time and we have to seek them out again. These inferior products do not give us a place to rest; they only pacify our desires for a little while. We need the real deal. We were made for God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in him.
We can see the reality of this in the great miracle of the Gospel today. I am not referring to the multiplication of the loaves, although that is nice too. I am referring to the words of the disciples: “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” The disciples, concerned for the well-being of the crowd (and probably for their own stomachs as well), tell Jesus to dismiss the crowd. Now, I understand that manners were different 2000 years ago in Palestine, but I am not ready to believe that 5000 families usually stood listening to a preacher until they starved to death. Most of you would not think of leaving this Church until I say, “The Mass is ended; go in peace”, but, if I stood here and preached until 9 o’clock tonight, I feel sure that the Church would be empty. Manners have their limits.
It is not even as if everyone would have to leave. A few hundred people could have gone to town and brought back wheelbarrows of food. Yet, as long as Jesus kept preaching and healing, no one was willing to leave. These people had found something, something that satisfied them. They came for many reasons, to be healed, to see a prophet, to hear a preacher, but they found the love of Jesus Christ, and they were not willing to give up that love, not even to go get some food.
The love of Christ is free, better than anything else we can get, and the only thing that can really satisfy us anyway. St. Paul gives us another reason why the love of Christ is the best: nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Our stuff can be stolen, and people can break our hearts; our reputations can be destroyed by lies or even the truth, and we can even disappoint ourselves, but not even death can separate us from the love of Christ. If Satan stood here in all his evil power and cunning, he could fool us, he could hurt us, but he could not make Christ stop loving us. Everything we love on this earth could be taken from us by a tornado, but not even a tornado could make Christ stop loving us.
No matter we do or have done to us, no matter how far we think we have run away from God, if we turn around we will find Christ right there. We would have to be fools to seek our happiness in food or TV or on the Internet, and we are fools. We have all often tried to satisfy our need for God with what is not God. Still, the invitation remains: “Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy?” Come to God. He wants to give you everything. He is not going to shove it down your throat. He cannot give it to you unless you seek it, and you do want it, even though you do not know your own desires.
Our reading today from Isaiah tells us three reasons why it is better to get what we need from the providence of God than to try to grasp after it ourselves. First of all, it is free. Second, it is better. Third, it is complete. God tells us that he will give us for free. “Come, without paying and without cost,” he says. This is a good deal. God also tells us that he will not just cover our basic needs. He is not only serving bread but “wine and milk” and “rich fare”. This is a very good deal. Usually, when you get something free, you get what you pay for, but God says that we can give us, for free, something better than we can buy with money. God also warns us that when we try to buy our happiness, it “fails to satisfy”. This is because we do not even know what we really want, but God does know. He can fulfill desires that we never even knew we had.
What great promises! We would be fools not to take God up on this offer. Except…. In the psalm today, we repeated, “The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.” This is great news, but is it true? We are told, “He answers all our needs”, but does he? Where is it? Where is this great, free, perfect satisfaction that we have been promised? This seems to be another case where the reality fails to live up to the advertisement.
Of course, it is about 95% true. Consider all those things that if you were suddenly lacking you would desperately want: life, oxygen, health, use of your body, water, food, safety. It is easy to miss the many ways that God does provide for our lives every day, in each moment of every day. We really do not notice the providence of God. We only notice the other 5%. Parents know what I am talking about. Your children do not notice that you do their laundry, feed them, and give them a place to live. If you stopped doing their laundry, if you stopped providing food, if you stopped paying the electric bill, they would suddenly become very aware of what you were not doing for them.
But what of this other 5%? The psalm promised that God would provide all of our needs. What is left over, what God is not providing, is also for our benefit. We would be ungrateful spoiled brats if we never knew what it was to need something. Isaiah, in the midst of the advertisement, repeats over and over again: “Come.” God has come almost all the way to us, but the other 5% is our room to come to God.
We are tempted to fill what we lack with inferior products: lust, greed, laziness, gluttony, envy, anger, and pride, but all these will fail to satisfy. A bag of potato chips, the latest gadget, a 10-hour I Love Lucy marathon all fail to satisfy us. For a moment, it seemed as if these sins were what we were looking for, but they only last for a time and we have to seek them out again. These inferior products do not give us a place to rest; they only pacify our desires for a little while. We need the real deal. We were made for God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in him.
We can see the reality of this in the great miracle of the Gospel today. I am not referring to the multiplication of the loaves, although that is nice too. I am referring to the words of the disciples: “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” The disciples, concerned for the well-being of the crowd (and probably for their own stomachs as well), tell Jesus to dismiss the crowd. Now, I understand that manners were different 2000 years ago in Palestine, but I am not ready to believe that 5000 families usually stood listening to a preacher until they starved to death. Most of you would not think of leaving this Church until I say, “The Mass is ended; go in peace”, but, if I stood here and preached until 9 o’clock tonight, I feel sure that the Church would be empty. Manners have their limits.
It is not even as if everyone would have to leave. A few hundred people could have gone to town and brought back wheelbarrows of food. Yet, as long as Jesus kept preaching and healing, no one was willing to leave. These people had found something, something that satisfied them. They came for many reasons, to be healed, to see a prophet, to hear a preacher, but they found the love of Jesus Christ, and they were not willing to give up that love, not even to go get some food.
The love of Christ is free, better than anything else we can get, and the only thing that can really satisfy us anyway. St. Paul gives us another reason why the love of Christ is the best: nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Our stuff can be stolen, and people can break our hearts; our reputations can be destroyed by lies or even the truth, and we can even disappoint ourselves, but not even death can separate us from the love of Christ. If Satan stood here in all his evil power and cunning, he could fool us, he could hurt us, but he could not make Christ stop loving us. Everything we love on this earth could be taken from us by a tornado, but not even a tornado could make Christ stop loving us.
No matter we do or have done to us, no matter how far we think we have run away from God, if we turn around we will find Christ right there. We would have to be fools to seek our happiness in food or TV or on the Internet, and we are fools. We have all often tried to satisfy our need for God with what is not God. Still, the invitation remains: “Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy?” Come to God. He wants to give you everything. He is not going to shove it down your throat. He cannot give it to you unless you seek it, and you do want it, even though you do not know your own desires.
July 14, 2011 - Memorial of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, virgin
Today's Readings
Today we hear the name of our Lord. Moses asks him, “Who shall I say sent me?” and the Lord says, “I am who am.” This name, which is a Hebrew word that we do not know how to pronounce properly, contains deep revelations about God. There are two attempts to pronounce the name in English. We know that “Jehovah” is completely wrong, but we are by no means sure that “Yahweh” is exactly right. We do not use this name of God in our worship. We do not sing songs or say prayers that contain an attempt to pronounce this name.
However, we do look to the name to learn who God is. What does this mean: “I am who am”? It could mean, first of all, “I am who I am.” Moses asks God who he is and God responds saying that there is no way to put into human words who God is, not completely. God is who he is, and any further description of him will fall short. We cannot put God in a little box and think that we know him. He is the incomprehensible mystery.
It also could mean “I am the one who is”, which is to say, God is. Period. We exist because God made us. I can imagine a universe where I did not exist or where you did not exist. I can imagine a universe where the earth did not exist. I can even imagine an existence where the universe did not exist. But, if I imagine a universe where God does not exist, I am imagining nonsense. He is the fundamental fact of existence. He created all things, but he himself was never created. He just is. Everything else could have gone either way, but God is the reality on which everything else rests. There is no possibility that there is no God.
People talk about creationism or evolution as if they were speaking about a universe with God or a universe without God. Our thoughts should be more basic. We know God exists because stuff exists, and stuff is not the fundamental fact of the universe. Debating the existence of God by talking about creation is like debating about the author of a book by talking about the book. We can all agree on one thing: there is a book, therefore there must be an author. A book does not just poof into existence. Neither does a universe.
July 4, 2011 - Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Readings
Today is Independence Day in America, and we Americans love our independence. It is such an American expression to say: “Everything I have, I’ve earned. Nobody’s ever given me anything.” This is, of course, complete nonsense. We have only to think of the many ways that our ancestors have prepared the place where we now stand: those who came to this country, those who cleared the forest that used to be here, those who built this town, our parents who gave us life, and all the teachers who educated us.
But now we are independent adults, so long as someone else grows our food and brings it to the store and makes our clothes and produces every other item that we could not get through life without. Day-to-day we get the idea somehow that we are getting by on our own efforts, but if we stop and think of how dependent we are it may surprise us. Consider what happens when the electricity goes out. What if it went out forever? Would we survive?
I do not favor jokes in homilies, and I especially dislike jokes where God is one of the characters, but there is a joke that is apropos here, an old one many of you have already heard, I am sure. Some scientists announced one day that they had discovered all the secrets of the universe, so they told God, “We don’t need you anymore.” God suggested that they have a contest, to see who could make the best animal. He said, “I made you out of dirt. Could you do that?” The scientist said, “Okay! We can even improve on your design.” So the scientists went outside and scooped up a bucket of dirt to bring to their laboratory, but God told them, “Stop! What are you doing? Get your own dirt.” Even if we could go to the jungles of the Amazon and live completely independently of all humanity, as some people do, we still would be dependent on the one who made the jungle and who made us.
Today is a wonderful day to remember our dependence on God and others. In our readings today, we see the three basic ways that we depend on God: from Jacob who depended on God to provide for him, to the woman who needed healing, to the girl who was raised from the dead. We depend on God for the necessities of life, for health, and for life itself. We enjoy these gifts from God every day, we should not wait until one of them is taken away to be thankful.
January 30, 2011 - Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The readings today emphasize a central paradox in Christianity between strength and weakness. On the one hand, we want to see God glorified in every way and with excellence. We want beautiful music sung by a skilled musician, not cheesy hymns sung off-key. We want beautiful art that raises our minds to heaven, not crayon drawings and felt banners. This desire is not specific to Mass alone. We love to see Catholics and other Christians in the world who are the best athletes and the best actors. When we see a film about a Saint we want it to be interesting, well-made, not boring. In short, we might sometimes admire the effort but we would rather admire the skill. There seems little point to having Christian music and Christian books and Christian art if they are not first good music, good books, and good art.
On the other hand, throughout the New Testament we see a glorification of weakness. Not physical weakness alone but weaknesses of every kind: intellectual weakness, political weakness, poverty. The readings today praise the meek, but we would rather see someone who is confident. Not arrogant or prideful in a silly way, but genuinely sure of themself. We prefer confidence in our personal interactions, in our stars, and in our political leaders. The readings today praise the poor, but people familiar with actual poverty know that to be poor, really poor, means, in general, to have less education, worse manners, and worse hygiene.
We might see in this paradoxical praise of weakness, particularly in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, the sort of disdain for elitism that has infected some of our culture. The early Christians were evidently a rather ragtag group. Did they look out at people who were better off than them and (with nothing more than jealousy) criticize the benefits of a good education, good manners, good grammar, etc.? No! Our religion is not founded on class warfare or the jealousy of outcasts.
The American Idol tryouts have begun again and this provides a good example. Some people sing very poorly, completely off-key, so badly that everyone watching knows that they have not gotten through. When the judges reject them, they complain and curse; they are certain that the judges are being completely unfair. Some philosophers say that Christians are like a group of these terrible singers who get together and discuss how mean the judges are. These philosophers have made this accusation against Christianity: that our morality is nothing more than the whining of the weak, that we invented heaven and hell so that we could take revenge in our minds on those people we could not touch in this world.
Is this true? Do we get together here on Sundays so that we can feel better about that mean world out there? Do we have readings like those today, “Blessed are the meek”, as a sort of affirmation exercise to defeat our feelings of inadequacy? The Bible is not full of nice things that sound good. The Bible is full of truth.
Let us look at the first beatitude and see the truth: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” This is the traditional wording, which is nice, but, since we want to understand the truth, we should consider a more literal translation: “Happy are the poor in spirit, for their ruler is God.” The person who is poor in spirit is not merely poor but also is not trying to become rich. The person who is poor in spirit does not have any debt, any chains holding them down. The person who is poor in spirit does not have any savings, no safety net. The market goes up; the market goes down; they do not care. This person depends entirely on God. Only in the most extreme hermits and religious orders in the Church can we find someone completely poor in spirit. The rest of us have to care about money to some extent. To some extent, but there are a lot of people in this world who are ruled by money, by possessions, by the desire to acquire. Jesus is telling us that if we want to be happy, we should put money in its place and be ruled by God.
“Happy are those who mourn, they will be comforted.” Jesus is telling us that we are happier when we are comforted by God than if we never needed his comfort. “Happy are the meek, for they will inherit the land.” A meek person is someone who does not stand up for themselves when they are treated unfairly. If everyone was meek all the time, evil would just steamroll us. We have to defend our families, our country. But there is room in society for someone to be always meek, to never stand up for themself, to wait for God to give them what is theirs, and this person is a very happy person. We all can be meek sometimes and this will make us happy.
Christian weakness always presupposes God’s strength. There is nothing good about weakness in itself. What we celebrate is how our weakness makes room for God. Paul is not glad that the first Christians were dirty, poor, unintelligent, and socially low. He is admiring how God, when first forming the Church, picked out a lot of dirty, poor, unintelligent, and socially low people. God is like a kid picking teams for basketball who picks all the worst players just to prove that he will win no matter what.
God has given many natural talents throughout the world. He will use his Michaelangelos and his Palestrinas and his Karol Wojtylas. If a person can do something well, they are obligated to use their talent for the glorification of God, while remembering that the talent is not their own but a gift from God. We have a great need of skilled Christian artists and musicians and authors and politicians, and no one should fail to develop their talents, burying them in the ground. But happier than any of these is the person, completely dependent on God, working great miracles while seeming to have no natural talents. It would be truly sad to meet someone who was talented in every aspect of life, who had no weakness, no place for God.
And so, what are your talents? Use them to glorify God. What are your weaknesses? Let God use them to glorify himself. No matter what, God will be glorified.
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