Micah 7:14-15, 18-20
Psalm 103:1-4, 9-12
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
“Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.” This line is kind of funny, but it is an accurate depiction of how we try to bargain with God. If the father is running any kind of responsible household, he will immediately turn down this job application. Not that it is even an application. The son presumes that he is doing something very humble by saying, “treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers”, but it is a very arrogant statement. He is commanding the father to hire him.
The son cannot be hired as a servant. He can only be accepted back as a son. We can never earn our way with God. If he wants servants, he has the angels. We can only be accepted as children of God. A sinner trying to come back to the Father can never make up for their sins, but they will always be a child of God.
The other son is also thinking like a bad servant rather than a son. He has never accepted the mission of the father as his own. The joys of the father should be the joys of the son. The sorrows of the father should be the sorrows of the son. God’s family is different than human families: we are never going to grow up and move out on our own. We need to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Jesus became like us in all ways but sin, so we must become like him in all ways we can. We must become sharers in the divinity of him who shared in our humanity.
All our labors in this world will be useless if we have not first conformed our will to the Father’s will. If we are secretly working for ourselves, we will build up resentment at God. If we want to be saints (and we do want to be saints) then we must give up any idea of progress in this world, any expectation of young goats, and take on the mind of Christ. Accepting our role as sons and daughters of our Father means seeing as God sees and loving what God loves, without jealousy or ambition. We cannot be independent and we cannot be servants. We cannot be anything more or less than children of God.
Daily Homilies
Showing posts with label Will. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Will. Show all posts
March 22, 2014 - Saturday of the Second Week of Lent
Micah 7:14-15, 18-20
Psalm 103:1-4, 9-12
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
“Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.” This line is kind of funny, but it is an accurate depiction of how we try to bargain with God. If the father is running any kind of responsible household, he will immediately turn down this job application. Not that it is even an application. The son presumes that he is doing something very humble by saying, “treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers”, but it is a very arrogant statement. He is commanding the father to hire him.
The son cannot be hired as a servant. He can only be accepted back as a son. We can never earn our way with God. If he wants servants, he has the angels. We can only be accepted as children of God. A sinner trying to come back to the Father can never make up for their sins, but they will always be a child of God.
The other son is also thinking like a bad servant rather than a son. He has never accepted the mission of the father as his own. The joys of the father should be the joys of the son. The sorrows of the father should be the sorrows of the son. God’s family is different than human families: we are never going to grow up and move out on our own. We need to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Jesus became like us in all ways but sin, so we must become like him in all ways we can. We must become sharers in the divinity of him who shared in our humanity.
All our labors in this world will be useless if we have not first conformed our will to the Father’s will. If we are secretly working for ourselves, we will build up resentment at God. If we want to be saints (and we do want to be saints) then we must give up any idea of progress in this world, any expectation of young goats, and take on the mind of Christ. Accepting our role as sons and daughters of our Father means seeing as God sees and loving what God loves, without jealousy or ambition. We cannot be independent and we cannot be servants. We cannot be anything more or less than children of God.
Psalm 103:1-4, 9-12
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
“Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.” This line is kind of funny, but it is an accurate depiction of how we try to bargain with God. If the father is running any kind of responsible household, he will immediately turn down this job application. Not that it is even an application. The son presumes that he is doing something very humble by saying, “treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers”, but it is a very arrogant statement. He is commanding the father to hire him.
The son cannot be hired as a servant. He can only be accepted back as a son. We can never earn our way with God. If he wants servants, he has the angels. We can only be accepted as children of God. A sinner trying to come back to the Father can never make up for their sins, but they will always be a child of God.
The other son is also thinking like a bad servant rather than a son. He has never accepted the mission of the father as his own. The joys of the father should be the joys of the son. The sorrows of the father should be the sorrows of the son. God’s family is different than human families: we are never going to grow up and move out on our own. We need to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Jesus became like us in all ways but sin, so we must become like him in all ways we can. We must become sharers in the divinity of him who shared in our humanity.
All our labors in this world will be useless if we have not first conformed our will to the Father’s will. If we are secretly working for ourselves, we will build up resentment at God. If we want to be saints (and we do want to be saints) then we must give up any idea of progress in this world, any expectation of young goats, and take on the mind of Christ. Accepting our role as sons and daughters of our Father means seeing as God sees and loving what God loves, without jealousy or ambition. We cannot be independent and we cannot be servants. We cannot be anything more or less than children of God.
February 14, 2014 - Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
1 Kings 11:29-32; 12:19
Psalm 81:10-15
Mark 7:31-37
Today we heard how God, through the prophet Ahijah, divided the kingdom of Israel into two parts: Israel in the north and Judah in the south. God told Solomon that he would do this because of his unfaithfulness, taking the kingdom away from his son, but leaving him the city of Jerusalem and the surrounding area. Tomorrow we will hear about how Jeroboam, the new king of Israel, tells the Israelites to stop worshipping in Jerusalem because he is concerned that if the people of Judah and the people of Israel worship in the same temple, they will not stay divided. So he builds idols for the Israelites to worship instead. Technically, he claims that these idols are images of the God they had always worshipped, but this still breaks the First Commandment.
The Israelites, after 1000 years and after mixing with other people, became the Samaritans, while the people of Judah became the Jews. We know the animosity that existed between the Jews and the Samaritans in Jesus’ time. The Samaritan woman who spoke with Jesus still wanted an answer to the question that Jeroboam had raised: should we worship in the Jerusalem Temple or not? Jesus tells her, “You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.” So he confirms, in case there was any doubt, that Jeroboam did wrong.
Why would God give Jeroboam the kingship of Israel, knowing full well that he would lead the people into a perversion of true worship? It was unfortunate that the majority of Israel was handed over to “worshipping what they do not know”, but it was necessary. The wealth of Israel was in the north, so the king of the Jews would never again be as powerful as King Solomon was. We have seen how power and wealth corrupted King Solomon. By weakening the country, God strengthened the faith. In dividing the kingdom, most of the Israelites lost a proper understanding of their faith, but if Israel had remained united, the sort of place that the queen of Sheba was amazed by, the whole nation would have been lost.
Let all of us, living in the richest, most powerful country in the world remember this: God is not concerned for kingdoms or nations or corporations. His only concern is individual people. He will destroy anything, no matter how much we value it, to bring us back to him, to make us happy.
Psalm 81:10-15
Mark 7:31-37
Today we heard how God, through the prophet Ahijah, divided the kingdom of Israel into two parts: Israel in the north and Judah in the south. God told Solomon that he would do this because of his unfaithfulness, taking the kingdom away from his son, but leaving him the city of Jerusalem and the surrounding area. Tomorrow we will hear about how Jeroboam, the new king of Israel, tells the Israelites to stop worshipping in Jerusalem because he is concerned that if the people of Judah and the people of Israel worship in the same temple, they will not stay divided. So he builds idols for the Israelites to worship instead. Technically, he claims that these idols are images of the God they had always worshipped, but this still breaks the First Commandment.
The Israelites, after 1000 years and after mixing with other people, became the Samaritans, while the people of Judah became the Jews. We know the animosity that existed between the Jews and the Samaritans in Jesus’ time. The Samaritan woman who spoke with Jesus still wanted an answer to the question that Jeroboam had raised: should we worship in the Jerusalem Temple or not? Jesus tells her, “You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.” So he confirms, in case there was any doubt, that Jeroboam did wrong.
Why would God give Jeroboam the kingship of Israel, knowing full well that he would lead the people into a perversion of true worship? It was unfortunate that the majority of Israel was handed over to “worshipping what they do not know”, but it was necessary. The wealth of Israel was in the north, so the king of the Jews would never again be as powerful as King Solomon was. We have seen how power and wealth corrupted King Solomon. By weakening the country, God strengthened the faith. In dividing the kingdom, most of the Israelites lost a proper understanding of their faith, but if Israel had remained united, the sort of place that the queen of Sheba was amazed by, the whole nation would have been lost.
Let all of us, living in the richest, most powerful country in the world remember this: God is not concerned for kingdoms or nations or corporations. His only concern is individual people. He will destroy anything, no matter how much we value it, to bring us back to him, to make us happy.
January 30, 2014 - Thursday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time
2 Samuel 7:18-19, 24-29
Psalm 132:1-5, 11-14
Mark 4:21-25
Why does God not reveal his will for us? If God desires something from us, why not tell us? Certainly there are people in the world who choose not to do the will of God, but there are also people who would gladly do the will of God if they were sure of it. Should we sell everything we have and live in poverty? I would this afternoon if Jesus told me to, as he did the rich young man, if I knew for certain that that and not something else was the will of God for me. The spiritual life can seem like a journey in a fog, barely able to see a few feet ahead.
David plans to build God a temple, but then God, through the prophet Nathan, refuses. David discovers that what he thought was the path he should take was not right at all. But God also makes great promises concerning the future, and David has occasion to remember all that God has done so far. God brought David up from being a shepherd to be the king. He knows that he can trust God because he has been able to trust him up to this point. He does not know what to do now except continue being faithful to the trust that God has placed in him to rule over the people of Israel.
If we do not know what the next step in life should be, we can always be faithful to our responsibilities, we can always help others, we can always pray, we can always improve in any of the thousand ways that we could improve. If we want more to be revealed we have to take the steps we can see now. To those who have, more will be given. This is not because God is hiding something from us. As Jesus says, he wants to reveal it. But there is no point in revealing what we are not yet ready to receive. If we do not take the little steps that are clear, we are not ready for the next big steps. What is hidden will be revealed in the right moment.
Psalm 132:1-5, 11-14
Mark 4:21-25
Why does God not reveal his will for us? If God desires something from us, why not tell us? Certainly there are people in the world who choose not to do the will of God, but there are also people who would gladly do the will of God if they were sure of it. Should we sell everything we have and live in poverty? I would this afternoon if Jesus told me to, as he did the rich young man, if I knew for certain that that and not something else was the will of God for me. The spiritual life can seem like a journey in a fog, barely able to see a few feet ahead.
David plans to build God a temple, but then God, through the prophet Nathan, refuses. David discovers that what he thought was the path he should take was not right at all. But God also makes great promises concerning the future, and David has occasion to remember all that God has done so far. God brought David up from being a shepherd to be the king. He knows that he can trust God because he has been able to trust him up to this point. He does not know what to do now except continue being faithful to the trust that God has placed in him to rule over the people of Israel.
If we do not know what the next step in life should be, we can always be faithful to our responsibilities, we can always help others, we can always pray, we can always improve in any of the thousand ways that we could improve. If we want more to be revealed we have to take the steps we can see now. To those who have, more will be given. This is not because God is hiding something from us. As Jesus says, he wants to reveal it. But there is no point in revealing what we are not yet ready to receive. If we do not take the little steps that are clear, we are not ready for the next big steps. What is hidden will be revealed in the right moment.
January 20, 2014 - Monday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
1 Samuel 15:16-23
Psalm 50:8-9, 16-17, 21, 23
Mark 2:18-22
We see in the readings today the transformation of religion from an attempt to appease God with gifts to a system of obedience. Is religion primarily about God or about us? The old religion thought that the problem was an angry God. In this manner of thinking humanity would get along just fine if God would leave us alone, so the primary task of the religious person is to make the angry God happy. In the new religious sense that these readings teach, the problem is we human beings. Therefore, the new religion prizes obedience over sacrifice of animals.
This transformation of religion goes on throughout the Old Testament, and indeed is still going on in our hearts. Even today we have a tendency to think of God like a senile relative who should be respected but mostly calmed down. We hope that if we go to Mass on Sunday and say our prayers and even go to Mass during the week, maybe God will be satisfied and we can live the rest of our lives without any interference.
However, we ought not think this way, and we know it. God is not getting in our way; we are getting in his way. He is trying to save us, so that we can live with him forever in heaven, but we are not being very cooperative. We are the ones who should be learning from God. We are the ones who are frustrating to work with. If only we would be obedient to his commands everything would be perfect.
The Pharisees in the Gospel see fasting in that same way that Saul saw sacrifice: as a gift they are giving to God, as a way of appeasing God's anger. Jesus' point is that fasting is supposed to be a reminder for us that we are separated from God. The Apostles cannot fast because while Jesus is with them they are not separated from God.
Our separation from God, which humanity has experienced ever since the Fall, ought to make us sad; it ought to make us feel an intense longing, but sin prevents us from seeing this clearly. Fasting focuses our attention: we feel physical hunger, and that symbolizes the spiritual hunger that we fail to recognize. Fasting, obedience, and everything else that God asks of us are not his whims or his selfish desires, but exactly the remedy that our souls require.
Psalm 50:8-9, 16-17, 21, 23
Mark 2:18-22
We see in the readings today the transformation of religion from an attempt to appease God with gifts to a system of obedience. Is religion primarily about God or about us? The old religion thought that the problem was an angry God. In this manner of thinking humanity would get along just fine if God would leave us alone, so the primary task of the religious person is to make the angry God happy. In the new religious sense that these readings teach, the problem is we human beings. Therefore, the new religion prizes obedience over sacrifice of animals.
This transformation of religion goes on throughout the Old Testament, and indeed is still going on in our hearts. Even today we have a tendency to think of God like a senile relative who should be respected but mostly calmed down. We hope that if we go to Mass on Sunday and say our prayers and even go to Mass during the week, maybe God will be satisfied and we can live the rest of our lives without any interference.
However, we ought not think this way, and we know it. God is not getting in our way; we are getting in his way. He is trying to save us, so that we can live with him forever in heaven, but we are not being very cooperative. We are the ones who should be learning from God. We are the ones who are frustrating to work with. If only we would be obedient to his commands everything would be perfect.
The Pharisees in the Gospel see fasting in that same way that Saul saw sacrifice: as a gift they are giving to God, as a way of appeasing God's anger. Jesus' point is that fasting is supposed to be a reminder for us that we are separated from God. The Apostles cannot fast because while Jesus is with them they are not separated from God.
Our separation from God, which humanity has experienced ever since the Fall, ought to make us sad; it ought to make us feel an intense longing, but sin prevents us from seeing this clearly. Fasting focuses our attention: we feel physical hunger, and that symbolizes the spiritual hunger that we fail to recognize. Fasting, obedience, and everything else that God asks of us are not his whims or his selfish desires, but exactly the remedy that our souls require.
January 19, 2014 - Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 49:3, 5-6
Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-10
1 Corinthians 1:1-3
John 1:29-34
We have just been singing, “Here I am Lord; I come to do your will.” The psalmist is speaking to God. When we speak to God, it is never to inform him; it is always to remind ourselves. So when we sing, “Here I am Lord; I come to do your will” we are reminding ourselves of what our relationship with God is.
“Here I am Lord.” God already knows where we are. We are the ones needing the reminder. Here we are on earth, in the exact situation that our current time and place finds us. We could imagine a thousand people, each in their own unique situation, calling out, “Here I am Lord.” A person in the depths of grief can say, “Here I am Lord.” A person on top of Mount Everest can shout, “Here I am Lord.” A person made weak by illness can whisper, “Here I am Lord.” A person caught in addiction with no visible way out can call out, “Here I am Lord.”
This is often how we begin prayer, by telling the Lord where we are, as a child tells their father how things are going. God knows where we are. Not just our location but every fact about us, even what we ourselves do not know. This phrase, “Here I am Lord” is a reminder that no matter where we are, we can call out to God. There is no one in the world, no matter their situation, no matter their struggles, no matter their triumphs, who cannot stop and say, “Here I am Lord.”
We should attain the habit of this prayer. Ten times a day we should stop and turn to the Lord and say, “Here I am Lord.” This part of the prayer is all about the present. The past does not matter: how I got here, whose fault or success it was, is beside the point. I am here, and here is not too far away to speak to the Lord, so “Here I am Lord.”
The past matters only inasmuch as it has created the situation we are in. What we have done and what we have suffered has put us here today. Here. Exactly where each one of us is. Our here and now includes certain responsibilities, certain commitments, certain disabilities, certain liabilities. God knows that. He knows exactly where we are. We are the ones who might lie to ourselves. So we stop and say, “Here I am Lord.” Yet this was only half of the prayer that we sang. “Here I am Lord,” but now what? “I come to do your will.” This is to say that, no matter where we are, we can choose to do what is right.
Sometimes people believe that in their current situation it is impossible to do what is right, but it is always possible to cast aside everything and follow God. There is always a road from where we are to where we should be. When people are in difficult situations, so many lies reach out and claim that they can deal with it. In this culture of death, many of these solutions (Abortion, Suicide, Euthanasia, Terrorism) involve death, but killing can never undo the reality of where we are right now.
Abortion is a lie. Some people think that the morality of abortion depends on how the woman got pregnant. If a woman is pregnant, and it is unfair, then she should have an abortion, people say. But abortion cannot change reality. This is the lie. Abortion claims to fix something, but if a mother kills her child she is still the mother of that child. Nothing can undo reality.
No matter what the difficult situation, we are tempted away from God’s will. One person believe that their sins are too serious for God to ever accept them again. Another thinks that God’s will is too idealistic and impractical. These are lies; we can always turn back to God. Another is in a situation that is just unfair, and they cannot believe that they are required to accept it, but what else can we do with reality except to accept it? No matter where we are, we always have complete freedom to begin to do God’s will. No matter how we got where we are, we cannot change the reality into something else, but we can move forward from this point in the direction of God.
We have to give up our own will. If we today give up every one of our plans for life, if we today give up every expectation, every anticipation, every ambition, every entitlement, every sense of our fair share, it is possible to do God’s will, to be completely happy. How many people are prevented from following God because of a daydream! How many times must we remind ourselves? God loves us. He knows what is best for us. Therefore, his plan is specially designed to get us what is best for us. What more could we want?
Just as Israel had to give up the idea of being the only nation favored by God. They are hoping to be restored as the favored nation, but God says, “It is too little, the LORD says, for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel; I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” Paul had to give up a promising career as a Pharisee to become an apostle (and what is an apostle but a wandering beggar? It seems impressive now, because of where God’s will took him. At the time it was about as low as a person could go.). John the Baptist had to give up the following he could have had as he pointed the way to Jesus and away from himself.
So too we must give up whatever is tying us down here, even if it seems like the most important thing. We must give up anything that prevents us from doing the will of God: whether an object or a goal or plans or simply our pride. No matter how much time, effort, and money we have invested in this obstacle, not even if we have made it the center and meaning of our lives, if it prevents us from following God, we must cast it aside. And when we give it up, and travel down the way of God’s will, and arrive at heaven, if we should, by some chance turn and look at that precious thing that lies cast aside on the road, we will laugh at ourselves for ever thinking it of any value at all in comparison to God’s love and what he has prepared for us.
Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-10
1 Corinthians 1:1-3
John 1:29-34
We have just been singing, “Here I am Lord; I come to do your will.” The psalmist is speaking to God. When we speak to God, it is never to inform him; it is always to remind ourselves. So when we sing, “Here I am Lord; I come to do your will” we are reminding ourselves of what our relationship with God is.
“Here I am Lord.” God already knows where we are. We are the ones needing the reminder. Here we are on earth, in the exact situation that our current time and place finds us. We could imagine a thousand people, each in their own unique situation, calling out, “Here I am Lord.” A person in the depths of grief can say, “Here I am Lord.” A person on top of Mount Everest can shout, “Here I am Lord.” A person made weak by illness can whisper, “Here I am Lord.” A person caught in addiction with no visible way out can call out, “Here I am Lord.”
This is often how we begin prayer, by telling the Lord where we are, as a child tells their father how things are going. God knows where we are. Not just our location but every fact about us, even what we ourselves do not know. This phrase, “Here I am Lord” is a reminder that no matter where we are, we can call out to God. There is no one in the world, no matter their situation, no matter their struggles, no matter their triumphs, who cannot stop and say, “Here I am Lord.”
We should attain the habit of this prayer. Ten times a day we should stop and turn to the Lord and say, “Here I am Lord.” This part of the prayer is all about the present. The past does not matter: how I got here, whose fault or success it was, is beside the point. I am here, and here is not too far away to speak to the Lord, so “Here I am Lord.”
The past matters only inasmuch as it has created the situation we are in. What we have done and what we have suffered has put us here today. Here. Exactly where each one of us is. Our here and now includes certain responsibilities, certain commitments, certain disabilities, certain liabilities. God knows that. He knows exactly where we are. We are the ones who might lie to ourselves. So we stop and say, “Here I am Lord.” Yet this was only half of the prayer that we sang. “Here I am Lord,” but now what? “I come to do your will.” This is to say that, no matter where we are, we can choose to do what is right.
Sometimes people believe that in their current situation it is impossible to do what is right, but it is always possible to cast aside everything and follow God. There is always a road from where we are to where we should be. When people are in difficult situations, so many lies reach out and claim that they can deal with it. In this culture of death, many of these solutions (Abortion, Suicide, Euthanasia, Terrorism) involve death, but killing can never undo the reality of where we are right now.
Abortion is a lie. Some people think that the morality of abortion depends on how the woman got pregnant. If a woman is pregnant, and it is unfair, then she should have an abortion, people say. But abortion cannot change reality. This is the lie. Abortion claims to fix something, but if a mother kills her child she is still the mother of that child. Nothing can undo reality.
No matter what the difficult situation, we are tempted away from God’s will. One person believe that their sins are too serious for God to ever accept them again. Another thinks that God’s will is too idealistic and impractical. These are lies; we can always turn back to God. Another is in a situation that is just unfair, and they cannot believe that they are required to accept it, but what else can we do with reality except to accept it? No matter where we are, we always have complete freedom to begin to do God’s will. No matter how we got where we are, we cannot change the reality into something else, but we can move forward from this point in the direction of God.
We have to give up our own will. If we today give up every one of our plans for life, if we today give up every expectation, every anticipation, every ambition, every entitlement, every sense of our fair share, it is possible to do God’s will, to be completely happy. How many people are prevented from following God because of a daydream! How many times must we remind ourselves? God loves us. He knows what is best for us. Therefore, his plan is specially designed to get us what is best for us. What more could we want?
Just as Israel had to give up the idea of being the only nation favored by God. They are hoping to be restored as the favored nation, but God says, “It is too little, the LORD says, for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel; I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” Paul had to give up a promising career as a Pharisee to become an apostle (and what is an apostle but a wandering beggar? It seems impressive now, because of where God’s will took him. At the time it was about as low as a person could go.). John the Baptist had to give up the following he could have had as he pointed the way to Jesus and away from himself.
So too we must give up whatever is tying us down here, even if it seems like the most important thing. We must give up anything that prevents us from doing the will of God: whether an object or a goal or plans or simply our pride. No matter how much time, effort, and money we have invested in this obstacle, not even if we have made it the center and meaning of our lives, if it prevents us from following God, we must cast it aside. And when we give it up, and travel down the way of God’s will, and arrive at heaven, if we should, by some chance turn and look at that precious thing that lies cast aside on the road, we will laugh at ourselves for ever thinking it of any value at all in comparison to God’s love and what he has prepared for us.
March 4, 2013 - Monday of the Third Week of Lent
2 Kings 5.1-5
Psalm 42.2-3; 43.3-4
Luke 4.24-30
God is often not what we expect. If we worshiped a human idea, we would never be surprised, but we worship a living God who is greater than us. Part of his greatness is his capacity to surprise us. We are never going to figure God out. When he commands something, we can obey him, even if we do not understand him. We sometimes have to obey God blindly: not because we have shut our eyes but because we cannot comprehend what we see. This may sound disturbing to modern people, that we will obey someone whom we do not understand.
There may have been a time when blind obedience was more acceptable. Naaman does not seem to understand it, but his servants do. Perhaps they were used to following commands that they did not understand. We modern people are more like Naaman: we, each one of us, think of ourselves as commanders. We will not accept a politician who assures us that we simply do not understand the issues of global finance or international relations, who tells us to go along with a plan that seems bad to us. Perhaps this skepticism is good. We have learned that no human person can be trusted. There may not be anyone in this world so intelligent that they really understand all the issues and so virtuous that they are beyond corruption, and if there is, they are not running for political office.
This skepticism, however, should not be extended to our relationship with God. Here is someone we can trust. He understands everything perfectly, and he loves us completely. Once we have come to believe in God, we should not stumble when we do not understand his ways. We should not expect to understand him. He is God. We are not.
It is not wrong to think about God’s ways and try to make some progress in understanding him. God did give us intelligence so that we could understand. We should not expect, though, that we will understand everything about God or that we have to. Our first reaction to the incomprehensible should not be to try and fit it within our limited frameworks. True understanding does come, as a gift of the Holy Spirit. In the meantime we can simply obey; we can safely presume, if not easily, that God is right, that we have something to learn, that God does not need us to teach him anything.
Psalm 42.2-3; 43.3-4
Luke 4.24-30
God is often not what we expect. If we worshiped a human idea, we would never be surprised, but we worship a living God who is greater than us. Part of his greatness is his capacity to surprise us. We are never going to figure God out. When he commands something, we can obey him, even if we do not understand him. We sometimes have to obey God blindly: not because we have shut our eyes but because we cannot comprehend what we see. This may sound disturbing to modern people, that we will obey someone whom we do not understand.
There may have been a time when blind obedience was more acceptable. Naaman does not seem to understand it, but his servants do. Perhaps they were used to following commands that they did not understand. We modern people are more like Naaman: we, each one of us, think of ourselves as commanders. We will not accept a politician who assures us that we simply do not understand the issues of global finance or international relations, who tells us to go along with a plan that seems bad to us. Perhaps this skepticism is good. We have learned that no human person can be trusted. There may not be anyone in this world so intelligent that they really understand all the issues and so virtuous that they are beyond corruption, and if there is, they are not running for political office.
This skepticism, however, should not be extended to our relationship with God. Here is someone we can trust. He understands everything perfectly, and he loves us completely. Once we have come to believe in God, we should not stumble when we do not understand his ways. We should not expect to understand him. He is God. We are not.
It is not wrong to think about God’s ways and try to make some progress in understanding him. God did give us intelligence so that we could understand. We should not expect, though, that we will understand everything about God or that we have to. Our first reaction to the incomprehensible should not be to try and fit it within our limited frameworks. True understanding does come, as a gift of the Holy Spirit. In the meantime we can simply obey; we can safely presume, if not easily, that God is right, that we have something to learn, that God does not need us to teach him anything.
March 2, 2013 - Saturday of the Second Week of Lent
Micah 7:14-15, 18-20
Psalm 103:1-4, 9-12
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
“Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.” This line is kind of funny, but it is an accurate depiction of how we try to bargain with God. If the father is running any kind of responsible household, he will immediately turn down this job application. Not that it is even an application. The son presumes that he is doing something very humble by saying, “treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers”, but it is a very arrogant statement. He is commanding the father to hire him.
The son cannot be hired as a servant. He can only be accepted back as a son. We can never earn our way with God. If he wants servants, he has the angels. We can only be accepted as children of God. A sinner trying to come back to the Father can never make up for their sins, but they will always be a child of God.
The other son is also thinking like a bad servant rather than a son. He has never accepted the mission of the father as his own. The joys of the father should be the joys of the son. The sorrows of the father should be the sorrows of the son. God’s family is different than human families: we are never going to grow up and move out on our own. We need to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Jesus became like us in all ways but sin, so we must become like him in all ways we can. We must become sharers in the divinity of him who shared in our humanity.
All our labors in this world will be useless if we have not first conformed our will to the Father’s will. If we are secretly working for ourselves, we will build up resentment at God. If we want to be saints (and we do want to be saints) then we must give up any idea of progress in this world, any expectation of young goats, and take on the mind of Christ. Accepting our role as sons and daughters of our Father means seeing as God sees and loving what God loves, without jealousy or ambition. We cannot be independent and we cannot be servants. We cannot be anything more or less than children of God.
Psalm 103:1-4, 9-12
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
“Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.” This line is kind of funny, but it is an accurate depiction of how we try to bargain with God. If the father is running any kind of responsible household, he will immediately turn down this job application. Not that it is even an application. The son presumes that he is doing something very humble by saying, “treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers”, but it is a very arrogant statement. He is commanding the father to hire him.
The son cannot be hired as a servant. He can only be accepted back as a son. We can never earn our way with God. If he wants servants, he has the angels. We can only be accepted as children of God. A sinner trying to come back to the Father can never make up for their sins, but they will always be a child of God.
The other son is also thinking like a bad servant rather than a son. He has never accepted the mission of the father as his own. The joys of the father should be the joys of the son. The sorrows of the father should be the sorrows of the son. God’s family is different than human families: we are never going to grow up and move out on our own. We need to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Jesus became like us in all ways but sin, so we must become like him in all ways we can. We must become sharers in the divinity of him who shared in our humanity.
All our labors in this world will be useless if we have not first conformed our will to the Father’s will. If we are secretly working for ourselves, we will build up resentment at God. If we want to be saints (and we do want to be saints) then we must give up any idea of progress in this world, any expectation of young goats, and take on the mind of Christ. Accepting our role as sons and daughters of our Father means seeing as God sees and loving what God loves, without jealousy or ambition. We cannot be independent and we cannot be servants. We cannot be anything more or less than children of God.
November 21, 2012 - Wednesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
Revelation 4:1-11
Psalm 150:1-6
Luke 19:11-28
John sees an open door to heaven. It is a door that was locked, but Jesus Christ has unlocked it. It was shut, but Jesus Christ opened it. Where is this door so that we can go through it? Rather, who is the door? Jesus Christ says that he himself is the door, the gate, the way. The open door is Jesus Christ. When we look at Jesus Christ, when we consider what he has done for us and promised to do for us, we are looking at the open door. To go through the door means to accept Jesus’ commandments of love and repentance.
John hears a voice like a trumpet. The voice declares, “Come up here and I will show you what must happen afterwards.” The voice was calling John to show him a vision, but this voice also calls us. “Come up here!” Yes, God sometimes speaks as a still, small whisper, but sometimes it is a voice like a trumpet. All the angels and saints in heaven are looking down at us. They know what heaven is like because they are there. They see us; sometimes we try hard to get to heaven and sometimes we forget it exists. They are shouting down to us, “Come up here! Join us! This is where you belong. This is what you have always wanted.”
John sees a throne in heaven, and someone is seated on it. This means that somebody is in charge. There will never be an election in heaven. God is in charge, so everything is perfect. Here, we pray for his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. There, his will is done. Some people will not be able to handle not being in charge. Heaven is not made for them. They will have a place where they are in charge and weep because of it. Those who can submit their will to his will, shall be happy forever.
Around the throne is a rainbow that shines like an emerald. There is something in our souls that desires beauty, that stops and stares at Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon. That first moment of looking out and being caught in wonder, before any futile attempt to capture the experience with a camera, that feeling will be non-stop in heaven. We shall see things so amazing that we will stop and stare for 1000 years. We shall be forever satisfied while still desiring.
Psalm 150:1-6
Luke 19:11-28
John sees an open door to heaven. It is a door that was locked, but Jesus Christ has unlocked it. It was shut, but Jesus Christ opened it. Where is this door so that we can go through it? Rather, who is the door? Jesus Christ says that he himself is the door, the gate, the way. The open door is Jesus Christ. When we look at Jesus Christ, when we consider what he has done for us and promised to do for us, we are looking at the open door. To go through the door means to accept Jesus’ commandments of love and repentance.
John hears a voice like a trumpet. The voice declares, “Come up here and I will show you what must happen afterwards.” The voice was calling John to show him a vision, but this voice also calls us. “Come up here!” Yes, God sometimes speaks as a still, small whisper, but sometimes it is a voice like a trumpet. All the angels and saints in heaven are looking down at us. They know what heaven is like because they are there. They see us; sometimes we try hard to get to heaven and sometimes we forget it exists. They are shouting down to us, “Come up here! Join us! This is where you belong. This is what you have always wanted.”
John sees a throne in heaven, and someone is seated on it. This means that somebody is in charge. There will never be an election in heaven. God is in charge, so everything is perfect. Here, we pray for his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. There, his will is done. Some people will not be able to handle not being in charge. Heaven is not made for them. They will have a place where they are in charge and weep because of it. Those who can submit their will to his will, shall be happy forever.
Around the throne is a rainbow that shines like an emerald. There is something in our souls that desires beauty, that stops and stares at Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon. That first moment of looking out and being caught in wonder, before any futile attempt to capture the experience with a camera, that feeling will be non-stop in heaven. We shall see things so amazing that we will stop and stare for 1000 years. We shall be forever satisfied while still desiring.
October 9, 2012 - Tuesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Galatians 1:13-24
Psalm 139:1-3, 13-15
Luke 10:38-42
St. Paul is giving his résumé because the people have been telling the Galatians to stop believing what he says. In order to convince them that the Gospel which he shared with them is true, he tells them the story of how he heard it. Yesterday, he said “I did not receive it from a human being, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” Today, he is specifically relating how this happened. He tells us that when he had the revelation that converted him, he did not go to Jerusalem. Instead, he went out into the desert, to Arabia. He needed some time to think about this experience. Only after three years does he go up to speak to Peter.
His life story, he says, was an inspiration to the Churches. Not because of what he did, but because his life proved what God could do in him. If God could change Saul, persecutor of Christians, into Paul, preacher of the Gospel, then no one was beyond help. If Paul can convert, than the worst person you know can convert. Why, even you and I can convert. Before his conversion, St. Paul was not an inspiration, but a cause of fear; after the conversion, the inspiration is all the more powerful because of how bad he was. All along, God had a plan for him.
As the psalm says, “Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.” In some ways, it is the same path for everyone because it is the path of doing the will of God. In another way, it is truly an individual path for each one of us, because God knows us individually. God had plans for Paul. Even while he stood assisting with the stoning of St. Stephen, God had plans for him. Even while he persecuted Christians families, God had plans for him. We know what our path has been up to this point, but only God knows how it goes from here on out. If it started well, it might finish badly and be all the more tragic because of the good start. If it has been a difficult path, then all that difficulty will be glory if it ends well. It is God’s will and he will do all he can to guide us. We pray to him, “Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way” for our sake, so that we will follow him.
Psalm 139:1-3, 13-15
Luke 10:38-42
St. Paul is giving his résumé because the people have been telling the Galatians to stop believing what he says. In order to convince them that the Gospel which he shared with them is true, he tells them the story of how he heard it. Yesterday, he said “I did not receive it from a human being, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” Today, he is specifically relating how this happened. He tells us that when he had the revelation that converted him, he did not go to Jerusalem. Instead, he went out into the desert, to Arabia. He needed some time to think about this experience. Only after three years does he go up to speak to Peter.
His life story, he says, was an inspiration to the Churches. Not because of what he did, but because his life proved what God could do in him. If God could change Saul, persecutor of Christians, into Paul, preacher of the Gospel, then no one was beyond help. If Paul can convert, than the worst person you know can convert. Why, even you and I can convert. Before his conversion, St. Paul was not an inspiration, but a cause of fear; after the conversion, the inspiration is all the more powerful because of how bad he was. All along, God had a plan for him.
As the psalm says, “Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.” In some ways, it is the same path for everyone because it is the path of doing the will of God. In another way, it is truly an individual path for each one of us, because God knows us individually. God had plans for Paul. Even while he stood assisting with the stoning of St. Stephen, God had plans for him. Even while he persecuted Christians families, God had plans for him. We know what our path has been up to this point, but only God knows how it goes from here on out. If it started well, it might finish badly and be all the more tragic because of the good start. If it has been a difficult path, then all that difficulty will be glory if it ends well. It is God’s will and he will do all he can to guide us. We pray to him, “Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way” for our sake, so that we will follow him.
September 28, 2012 - Friday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
Psalm 144:1-4
Luke 9:18-22
This reading from Ecclesiastes simply acknowledges that there is a time for everything under the sun: a time for good and a time for bad. It is impossible to disagree with these facts. There is a time for war and a time for peace. There is a time to kill and a time to heal. Nevertheless, we immediately jump to the question: Does it have to be this way? Could the final time for war come and go? Could we change the world so that there is a time to laugh without a time to weep? Or if we are unable to change things, could God have created it better?
Has God given us an inferior universe? Do we even really matter to him? What are humans that you care for them, Lord? Well, as far as we know, we are the only spiritual beings in the material universe. All of this was created just for us. God created distant galaxies so that the night sky would be more interesting. The highest revelation of God’s generosity to us is his gift of self in Jesus Christ. As he tells us in the Gospel today, he went to the Cross willingly, for no reason except to save us. If he has given us all this, it is proof that he loves us and has done everything for us.
Ecclesiastes is simply acknowledging hard truths, like the psalm does, when it compares us to a breath that quickly passes away. These hard truths are how things seem to be, but there is a deeper truth. Death makes life pass away, and that is a hard truth, but the deeper truth is that we will rise again. There are good times and bad times, and that is a hard truth, but the deeper truth is that God has planned a time for us with no tears, a time of everlasting peace. What are humans that you care for them, Lord? We are his beloved children, and he has plans for us. We might wish that he did not have so many plans for us. We are his beloved children, not his pets. Everything we experience is part of his plan for us to mature and live with him forever. Not that God causes the bad, but he does know what will happen, and he has a foolproof plan to get us through it all, through the best of times and the worst of times.
Psalm 144:1-4
Luke 9:18-22
This reading from Ecclesiastes simply acknowledges that there is a time for everything under the sun: a time for good and a time for bad. It is impossible to disagree with these facts. There is a time for war and a time for peace. There is a time to kill and a time to heal. Nevertheless, we immediately jump to the question: Does it have to be this way? Could the final time for war come and go? Could we change the world so that there is a time to laugh without a time to weep? Or if we are unable to change things, could God have created it better?
Has God given us an inferior universe? Do we even really matter to him? What are humans that you care for them, Lord? Well, as far as we know, we are the only spiritual beings in the material universe. All of this was created just for us. God created distant galaxies so that the night sky would be more interesting. The highest revelation of God’s generosity to us is his gift of self in Jesus Christ. As he tells us in the Gospel today, he went to the Cross willingly, for no reason except to save us. If he has given us all this, it is proof that he loves us and has done everything for us.
Ecclesiastes is simply acknowledging hard truths, like the psalm does, when it compares us to a breath that quickly passes away. These hard truths are how things seem to be, but there is a deeper truth. Death makes life pass away, and that is a hard truth, but the deeper truth is that we will rise again. There are good times and bad times, and that is a hard truth, but the deeper truth is that God has planned a time for us with no tears, a time of everlasting peace. What are humans that you care for them, Lord? We are his beloved children, and he has plans for us. We might wish that he did not have so many plans for us. We are his beloved children, not his pets. Everything we experience is part of his plan for us to mature and live with him forever. Not that God causes the bad, but he does know what will happen, and he has a foolproof plan to get us through it all, through the best of times and the worst of times.
June 21, 2012 - Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, religious
Sirach 48:1-14
Psalm 97:1-7
Matthew 6:7-15
The reason we pray is not to change God but to change ourselves. We cannot change God, not in any way. We cannot change his mind. If he has determined to do something, he will do it no matter what we say. Could we convince him otherwise? We are not smarter than him. We would not want to if we could. We do not know better than he does. He knows what we need before we ask him. So the point of prayer is not to change God but to change ourselves. We are the ones who do not know what we need. Prayer is not about telling God what to do. It is in prayer that we discover what God wants to do for us.
So long as we are in ignorance of our own deepest desires, prayer can seem useless. We ask God for things, but he does not give them. But what if he did give us what we asked for? What would happen then? I do not know. Only God knows. And he loves us. So I can only presume that he knows what he is doing and that what he is doing is for my good. I do not have to understand why God does what he does. I trust him; I trust him completely.
The first petition of the prayer Jesus teaches us today is “thy kingdom come” which is asking God to take charge of the world, of my world, of my life. I do not want to rule myself. I would not vote for myself as president of my own life. I want God to be my king. I want his will to be done on earth, where I am, just like it is in heaven right now. If God is ruling over my life, what could I possibly be afraid of?
I do know what I need above all else. I do know what God’s will for me is first and foremost. “Hallowed be they name.” All sin makes us think that we are the center of the universe and this makes us sad. Prayer teaches us that God is the center of the universe. Once we know that, we can relax and be happy. We can trust God. Let him be in control. He knows what he is doing, and he loves us. The universe is a beautiful place when God is in charge.
Psalm 97:1-7
Matthew 6:7-15
The reason we pray is not to change God but to change ourselves. We cannot change God, not in any way. We cannot change his mind. If he has determined to do something, he will do it no matter what we say. Could we convince him otherwise? We are not smarter than him. We would not want to if we could. We do not know better than he does. He knows what we need before we ask him. So the point of prayer is not to change God but to change ourselves. We are the ones who do not know what we need. Prayer is not about telling God what to do. It is in prayer that we discover what God wants to do for us.
So long as we are in ignorance of our own deepest desires, prayer can seem useless. We ask God for things, but he does not give them. But what if he did give us what we asked for? What would happen then? I do not know. Only God knows. And he loves us. So I can only presume that he knows what he is doing and that what he is doing is for my good. I do not have to understand why God does what he does. I trust him; I trust him completely.
The first petition of the prayer Jesus teaches us today is “thy kingdom come” which is asking God to take charge of the world, of my world, of my life. I do not want to rule myself. I would not vote for myself as president of my own life. I want God to be my king. I want his will to be done on earth, where I am, just like it is in heaven right now. If God is ruling over my life, what could I possibly be afraid of?
I do know what I need above all else. I do know what God’s will for me is first and foremost. “Hallowed be they name.” All sin makes us think that we are the center of the universe and this makes us sad. Prayer teaches us that God is the center of the universe. Once we know that, we can relax and be happy. We can trust God. Let him be in control. He knows what he is doing, and he loves us. The universe is a beautiful place when God is in charge.
June 14, 2012 - Thursday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
1 Kings 18:41-46
Psalm 65:10-13
Matthew 5:20-26
At this point in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has made clear that the call of the Christian life is no easy road. He sets a standard that we must not minimize: unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. These were men who dedicated their entire lives to learning the law and following its every nuance and even going beyond the law with stricter requirements. We are not going to beat them at their own game, so Jesus must mean that we need to play a different game.
The righteousness that Jesus is speaking of clearly does not come from merely obeying the law. How could our righteousness exceed the scribes and Pharisees in that regard? No the righteousness that Jesus is speaking of is about a commitment. The scribes and Pharisees followed every law so that they would be free to do what they wanted if there was not a law exactly about it. Sometimes they used philosophical arguments to create little loopholes in the law which they then exploited to be free from the law.
Jesus is making clear by his interpretation of the law that there are no loopholes. Do not kill does not only apply to killing but to every sort of violence, physical or verbal or even mental, against another human being. What Jesus is saying is that if I am looking for a way to kill someone or do harm to them without going to Hell, then my mind is not in the right place. If I am looking for a way to commit sin without technically committing sin, my task is hopeless.
We are not at war with God! He is not an evil tyrant who prevents us from having any fun. God is not our enemy. We know this, but we doubt it. “Why can’t I do that? Why is this against the rules? How far can I go?” Such questions are foolish and anyone who asks them is outside the Kingdom of God. “What should I do? What is God’s plan for me? How much could I accomplish if I tried?” These are the questions that Christians ask. We are followers of the way. Our goal is to become who God wants us to be. A Christian never has to choose between what they want and what God wants. The will of God is our only guide.
Psalm 65:10-13
Matthew 5:20-26
At this point in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has made clear that the call of the Christian life is no easy road. He sets a standard that we must not minimize: unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. These were men who dedicated their entire lives to learning the law and following its every nuance and even going beyond the law with stricter requirements. We are not going to beat them at their own game, so Jesus must mean that we need to play a different game.
The righteousness that Jesus is speaking of clearly does not come from merely obeying the law. How could our righteousness exceed the scribes and Pharisees in that regard? No the righteousness that Jesus is speaking of is about a commitment. The scribes and Pharisees followed every law so that they would be free to do what they wanted if there was not a law exactly about it. Sometimes they used philosophical arguments to create little loopholes in the law which they then exploited to be free from the law.
Jesus is making clear by his interpretation of the law that there are no loopholes. Do not kill does not only apply to killing but to every sort of violence, physical or verbal or even mental, against another human being. What Jesus is saying is that if I am looking for a way to kill someone or do harm to them without going to Hell, then my mind is not in the right place. If I am looking for a way to commit sin without technically committing sin, my task is hopeless.
We are not at war with God! He is not an evil tyrant who prevents us from having any fun. God is not our enemy. We know this, but we doubt it. “Why can’t I do that? Why is this against the rules? How far can I go?” Such questions are foolish and anyone who asks them is outside the Kingdom of God. “What should I do? What is God’s plan for me? How much could I accomplish if I tried?” These are the questions that Christians ask. We are followers of the way. Our goal is to become who God wants us to be. A Christian never has to choose between what they want and what God wants. The will of God is our only guide.
March 28, 2011 - Monday of the Third Week of Lent
Today's Readings
God is often not what we expect. If we worshiped a human idea, we would never be surprised, but we worship a living God who is greater than us. Part of his greatness is his capacity to surprise us. We are never going to figure God out. When he commands something, we can obey him, even if we do not understand him. We sometimes have to obey God blindly: not because we have shut our eyes but because we cannot comprehend what we see. This may sound disturbing to modern people, that we will obey someone whom we do not understand.
There may have been a time when blind obedience was more acceptable. Naaman does not seem to understand it, but his servants do. Perhaps they were used to following commands that they did not understand. We modern people are more like Naaman: we, each one of us, think of ourselves as commanders. We will not accept a politician who assures us that we simply do not understand the issues of global finance or international relations, who tells us to go along with a plan that seems bad to us. Perhaps this skepticism is good. We have learned that no human person can be trusted. There may not be anyone in this world so intelligent that they really understand all the issues and so virtuous that they are beyond corruption, and if there is, they are not running for political office.
This skepticism, however, should not be extended to our relationship with God. Here is someone we can trust. He understands everything perfectly, and he loves us completely. Once we have come to believe in God, we should not stumble when we do not understand his ways. We should not expect to understand him. He is God. We are not.
It is not wrong to think about God’s ways and try to make some progress in understanding him. God did give us intelligence so that we could understand. We should not expect, though, that we will understand everything about God or that we have to. Our first reaction to the incomprehensible should not be to try and fit it within our limited frameworks. True understanding does come, as a gift of the Holy Spirit. In the meantime we can simply obey; we can safely presume, if not easily, that God is right, that we have something to learn, that God does not need us to teach him anything.
God is often not what we expect. If we worshiped a human idea, we would never be surprised, but we worship a living God who is greater than us. Part of his greatness is his capacity to surprise us. We are never going to figure God out. When he commands something, we can obey him, even if we do not understand him. We sometimes have to obey God blindly: not because we have shut our eyes but because we cannot comprehend what we see. This may sound disturbing to modern people, that we will obey someone whom we do not understand.
There may have been a time when blind obedience was more acceptable. Naaman does not seem to understand it, but his servants do. Perhaps they were used to following commands that they did not understand. We modern people are more like Naaman: we, each one of us, think of ourselves as commanders. We will not accept a politician who assures us that we simply do not understand the issues of global finance or international relations, who tells us to go along with a plan that seems bad to us. Perhaps this skepticism is good. We have learned that no human person can be trusted. There may not be anyone in this world so intelligent that they really understand all the issues and so virtuous that they are beyond corruption, and if there is, they are not running for political office.
This skepticism, however, should not be extended to our relationship with God. Here is someone we can trust. He understands everything perfectly, and he loves us completely. Once we have come to believe in God, we should not stumble when we do not understand his ways. We should not expect to understand him. He is God. We are not.
It is not wrong to think about God’s ways and try to make some progress in understanding him. God did give us intelligence so that we could understand. We should not expect, though, that we will understand everything about God or that we have to. Our first reaction to the incomprehensible should not be to try and fit it within our limited frameworks. True understanding does come, as a gift of the Holy Spirit. In the meantime we can simply obey; we can safely presume, if not easily, that God is right, that we have something to learn, that God does not need us to teach him anything.
March 9, 2012 - Saturday of the Second Week of Lent
Today's Readings
“Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.” This line is kind of funny, but it is an accurate depiction of how we try to bargain with God. If the father is running any kind of responsible household, he will immediately turn down this job application. Not that it is even an application. The son presumes that he is doing something very humble by saying, “treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers”, but it is a very arrogant statement. He is commanding the father to hire him.
The son cannot be hired as a servant. He can only be accepted back as a son. We can never earn our way with God. If he wants servants, he has the angels. We can only be accepted as children of God. A sinner trying to come back to the Father can never make up for their sins, but they will always be a child of God.
The other son is also thinking like a bad servant rather than a son. He has never accepted the mission of the father as his own. The joys of the father should be the joys of the son. The sorrows of the father should be the sorrows of the son. God’s family is different than human families: we are never going to grow up and move out on our own. We need to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Jesus became like us in all ways but sin, so we must become like him in all ways we can. We must become sharers in the divinity of him who shared in our humanity.
All our labors in this world will be useless if we have not first conformed our will to the Father’s will. If we are secretly working for ourselves, we will build up resentment at God. If we want to be saints (and we do want to be saints) then we must give up any idea of progress in this world, any expectation of young goats, and take on the mind of Christ. Accepting our role as sons and daughters of our Father means seeing as God sees and loving what God loves, without jealousy or ambition. We cannot be independent and we cannot be servants. We cannot be anything more or less than children of God.
“Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.” This line is kind of funny, but it is an accurate depiction of how we try to bargain with God. If the father is running any kind of responsible household, he will immediately turn down this job application. Not that it is even an application. The son presumes that he is doing something very humble by saying, “treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers”, but it is a very arrogant statement. He is commanding the father to hire him.
The son cannot be hired as a servant. He can only be accepted back as a son. We can never earn our way with God. If he wants servants, he has the angels. We can only be accepted as children of God. A sinner trying to come back to the Father can never make up for their sins, but they will always be a child of God.
The other son is also thinking like a bad servant rather than a son. He has never accepted the mission of the father as his own. The joys of the father should be the joys of the son. The sorrows of the father should be the sorrows of the son. God’s family is different than human families: we are never going to grow up and move out on our own. We need to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Jesus became like us in all ways but sin, so we must become like him in all ways we can. We must become sharers in the divinity of him who shared in our humanity.
All our labors in this world will be useless if we have not first conformed our will to the Father’s will. If we are secretly working for ourselves, we will build up resentment at God. If we want to be saints (and we do want to be saints) then we must give up any idea of progress in this world, any expectation of young goats, and take on the mind of Christ. Accepting our role as sons and daughters of our Father means seeing as God sees and loving what God loves, without jealousy or ambition. We cannot be independent and we cannot be servants. We cannot be anything more or less than children of God.
February 10, 2012 - Memorial of Saint Scholastica, Virgin
Today's Readings
Today we heard how God, through the prophet Ahijah, divided the kingdom of Israel into two parts: Israel in the north and Judah in the south. God told Solomon that he would do this because of his unfaithfulness, taking the kingdom away from his son, but leaving him the city of Jerusalem and the surrounding area. Tomorrow we will hear about how Jeroboam, the new king of Israel, tells the Israelites to stop worshipping in Jerusalem because he is concerned that if the people of Judah and the people of Israel worship in the same temple, they will not stay divided. So he builds idols for the Israelites to worship instead. Technically, he claims that these idols are images of the God they had always worshipped, but this still breaks the First Commandment.
The Israelites, after 1000 years and mixing with other people, became the Samaritans, while the people of Judah became the Jews. We know the animosity that existed between the Jews and the Samaritans in Jesus’ time. The Samaritan woman who spoke with Jesus still wanted an answer to the question that Jeroboam had raised: should we worship in the Jerusalem Temple or not? Jesus tells her, “You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.” So he confirms, in case there was any doubt, that Jeroboam did wrong.
Why would God give Jeroboam the kingship of Israel, knowing full well that he would lead the people into a perversion of true worship? It was unfortunate that the majority of Israel was handed over to “worshipping what they do not know”, but it was necessary. The wealth of Israel was in the north, so the king of the Jews would never again be as powerful as King Solomon was. We have seen how power and wealth corrupted King Solomon. By weakening the country, he strengthened the faith. In dividing the kingdom, most of the Israelites lost a proper understanding of their faith, but if Israel had remained united, the sort of place that the queen of Sheba was amazed by, the whole nation would have been lost.
Let all of us, living in the richest, most powerful country in the world remember this: God is not concerned for kingdoms or nations or corporations. His only concern is individual people. He will destroy anything, no matter how much we value it, to bring us back to him, to make us happy.
Today we heard how God, through the prophet Ahijah, divided the kingdom of Israel into two parts: Israel in the north and Judah in the south. God told Solomon that he would do this because of his unfaithfulness, taking the kingdom away from his son, but leaving him the city of Jerusalem and the surrounding area. Tomorrow we will hear about how Jeroboam, the new king of Israel, tells the Israelites to stop worshipping in Jerusalem because he is concerned that if the people of Judah and the people of Israel worship in the same temple, they will not stay divided. So he builds idols for the Israelites to worship instead. Technically, he claims that these idols are images of the God they had always worshipped, but this still breaks the First Commandment.
The Israelites, after 1000 years and mixing with other people, became the Samaritans, while the people of Judah became the Jews. We know the animosity that existed between the Jews and the Samaritans in Jesus’ time. The Samaritan woman who spoke with Jesus still wanted an answer to the question that Jeroboam had raised: should we worship in the Jerusalem Temple or not? Jesus tells her, “You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.” So he confirms, in case there was any doubt, that Jeroboam did wrong.
Why would God give Jeroboam the kingship of Israel, knowing full well that he would lead the people into a perversion of true worship? It was unfortunate that the majority of Israel was handed over to “worshipping what they do not know”, but it was necessary. The wealth of Israel was in the north, so the king of the Jews would never again be as powerful as King Solomon was. We have seen how power and wealth corrupted King Solomon. By weakening the country, he strengthened the faith. In dividing the kingdom, most of the Israelites lost a proper understanding of their faith, but if Israel had remained united, the sort of place that the queen of Sheba was amazed by, the whole nation would have been lost.
Let all of us, living in the richest, most powerful country in the world remember this: God is not concerned for kingdoms or nations or corporations. His only concern is individual people. He will destroy anything, no matter how much we value it, to bring us back to him, to make us happy.
January 16, 2012 - Monday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Readings
We see in the readings today the transformation of religion from an attempt to appease God with gifts to a system of obedience. Is religion primarily about God or about us? The old religion thought that the problem was an angry God. In this manner of thinking humanity would get along just fine if God would leave us alone, so the primary task of the religious person is to make the angry God happy. In the new religious sense that these readings teach, the problem is us human beings. Therefore, the new religion prizes obedience over sacrifice of animals.
This transformation of religion goes on throughout the Old Testament, and indeed is still going on in our hearts. Even today we have a tendency to think of God like a senile relative who should be respected but mostly calmed down. We hope that if we go to Mass on Sunday and say our prayers and even go to Mass during the week, maybe God will be satisfied and we can live the rest of our lives without any interference.
However, we ought not think this way, and we know it. God is not getting in our way; we are getting in his way. He is trying to save us, so that we can live with him forever in heaven, but we are not being very cooperative. We are the ones who should be learning from God. We are the ones who are frustrating to work with. If only we would be obedient to his commands everything would be perfect.
The Pharisees in the Gospel see fasting in that same way that Saul saw sacrifice: as a gift they are giving to God, as a way of appeasing God's anger. Jesus' point is that fasting is supposed to be a reminder for us that we are separated from God. The Apostles cannot fast because while Jesus is with them they are not separated from God.
Our separation from God, which humanity has experienced ever since the Fall, ought to make us sad; it ought to make us feel an intense longing, but sin prevents us from seeing this clearly. Fasting focuses our attention: we feel physical hunger, and that symbolizes the spiritual hunger that we fail to recognize. Fasting, obedience, and everything else that God asks of us are not his whims or his selfish desires, but exactly the remedy that our souls require.
We see in the readings today the transformation of religion from an attempt to appease God with gifts to a system of obedience. Is religion primarily about God or about us? The old religion thought that the problem was an angry God. In this manner of thinking humanity would get along just fine if God would leave us alone, so the primary task of the religious person is to make the angry God happy. In the new religious sense that these readings teach, the problem is us human beings. Therefore, the new religion prizes obedience over sacrifice of animals.
This transformation of religion goes on throughout the Old Testament, and indeed is still going on in our hearts. Even today we have a tendency to think of God like a senile relative who should be respected but mostly calmed down. We hope that if we go to Mass on Sunday and say our prayers and even go to Mass during the week, maybe God will be satisfied and we can live the rest of our lives without any interference.
However, we ought not think this way, and we know it. God is not getting in our way; we are getting in his way. He is trying to save us, so that we can live with him forever in heaven, but we are not being very cooperative. We are the ones who should be learning from God. We are the ones who are frustrating to work with. If only we would be obedient to his commands everything would be perfect.
The Pharisees in the Gospel see fasting in that same way that Saul saw sacrifice: as a gift they are giving to God, as a way of appeasing God's anger. Jesus' point is that fasting is supposed to be a reminder for us that we are separated from God. The Apostles cannot fast because while Jesus is with them they are not separated from God.
Our separation from God, which humanity has experienced ever since the Fall, ought to make us sad; it ought to make us feel an intense longing, but sin prevents us from seeing this clearly. Fasting focuses our attention: we feel physical hunger, and that symbolizes the spiritual hunger that we fail to recognize. Fasting, obedience, and everything else that God asks of us are not his whims or his selfish desires, but exactly the remedy that our souls require.
January 7, 2012 - Christmas Weekday
Today's Readings
What is the point of asking God to do something that he wants to do? St. John says that God listens to our prayers when we ask anything according to his will. To understand this we have to consider that nature of asking. When we ask a fellow human for something, we are implicitly claiming to know better than they do. When I ask someone to pass the salt, I am telling them that I know better than they do about whether I should have salt. When I ask someone to join me for dinner on Tuesday night, I am telling them that I know better than they do about we should do Tuesday night. When I ask, I am suggesting, and to suggest is to propose what is good.
So with God, there really is no point in asking, since he always knows better than I do. If it would be good for something to happen, God knows that already. There is no information that I can supply him. There is no perspective that I can offer. In this way, asking God for something is the opposite of asking a human. When I ask a human for something, I am trying to impose my will on them, ever so gently, yet that is what I am doing. When I ask God for something, I am trying to impose his will on me.
Consider Mary. She does not even ask her son for anything. She simply tells him, “They have no wine.” Did he already know that? Clearly. He is at the same party she is. Even if he did not know it as God who knows everything, he certainly knew it as a human with two eyes in his head.
God knows all about the needs of the world. He knows about the poor and the homeless and the hungry and hurting. He knows about your Aunt Sally and your son too. He sees all the pain and suffering in the whole world, but do you? Are you observant? Are you aware?
When Mary tells Jesus that the party has run out of wine, she is proving that she is attuned to the needs of others. This is the form that our prayers ought to take. When we pray, we ought to look out on the world and see with the eyes of God and then be united to God in our common concern for the sinners.
What is the point of asking God to do something that he wants to do? St. John says that God listens to our prayers when we ask anything according to his will. To understand this we have to consider that nature of asking. When we ask a fellow human for something, we are implicitly claiming to know better than they do. When I ask someone to pass the salt, I am telling them that I know better than they do about whether I should have salt. When I ask someone to join me for dinner on Tuesday night, I am telling them that I know better than they do about we should do Tuesday night. When I ask, I am suggesting, and to suggest is to propose what is good.
So with God, there really is no point in asking, since he always knows better than I do. If it would be good for something to happen, God knows that already. There is no information that I can supply him. There is no perspective that I can offer. In this way, asking God for something is the opposite of asking a human. When I ask a human for something, I am trying to impose my will on them, ever so gently, yet that is what I am doing. When I ask God for something, I am trying to impose his will on me.
Consider Mary. She does not even ask her son for anything. She simply tells him, “They have no wine.” Did he already know that? Clearly. He is at the same party she is. Even if he did not know it as God who knows everything, he certainly knew it as a human with two eyes in his head.
God knows all about the needs of the world. He knows about the poor and the homeless and the hungry and hurting. He knows about your Aunt Sally and your son too. He sees all the pain and suffering in the whole world, but do you? Are you observant? Are you aware?
When Mary tells Jesus that the party has run out of wine, she is proving that she is attuned to the needs of others. This is the form that our prayers ought to take. When we pray, we ought to look out on the world and see with the eyes of God and then be united to God in our common concern for the sinners.
September 19, 2011 - Monday of the Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Readings
“The Lord has done marvels for us.” The Israelites proclaimed this when King Cyrus allowed them to go home to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Ezekiel tells us that King Cyrus was inspired by God to make this decree. He was probably not aware of this inspiration. He probably just considered it a good political move. The historical data we have about King Cyrus tells us that he let all the exiled people, from every country in his empire, return to their home cities and rebuild their temples.
Seventy years earlier, when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, tore down the temple and burned Jerusalem to the ground, things did not seem so promising. Nebuchadnezzar wanted to destroy all the religions on earth except Babylon’s, so he made everyone switch countries and destroyed all the temples. This way, no one would remember their nationality and they would just think of themselves as Babylonian.
Even before it was destroyed, the prophets promised that Jerusalem would be rebuilt seventy years later. This seemed unlikely under Nebuchadnezzar with his new ideas about how the world should live. Then Babylon was conquered by Persia and Cyrus became the new king of the world, and Cyrus had a different strategy: he made everyone move home and build new temples.
Kings come and kings go. Sometimes politics favor the Church and sometimes not. There is no political leader, present, past, or future, who will bring about the Kingdom of Heaven, but every government will bring about God’s will. God wanted Jerusalem destroyed, so Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it. God wanted Jerusalem rebuilt, so Cyrus rebuilt it. God wanted Jerusalem to be occupied by a foreign army when he came as Jesus Christ, so the Romans conquered it. The kings of this world are always doing God’s will in spite of their intentions.
And this is not some special status that governments have. All of us will play a part in the history of salvation. If we do so willingly, we can cooperate with God. If we do so unwillingly or unknowingly, we will do help bring about the Kingdom nonetheless. It is not for us to choose whether we will help make God’s kingdom come, we can only choose whether we will be part of that kingdom as it inevitably does arrive. Jesus has already won the war. The question now is whether we will join the winning side.
“The Lord has done marvels for us.” The Israelites proclaimed this when King Cyrus allowed them to go home to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Ezekiel tells us that King Cyrus was inspired by God to make this decree. He was probably not aware of this inspiration. He probably just considered it a good political move. The historical data we have about King Cyrus tells us that he let all the exiled people, from every country in his empire, return to their home cities and rebuild their temples.
Seventy years earlier, when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, tore down the temple and burned Jerusalem to the ground, things did not seem so promising. Nebuchadnezzar wanted to destroy all the religions on earth except Babylon’s, so he made everyone switch countries and destroyed all the temples. This way, no one would remember their nationality and they would just think of themselves as Babylonian.
Even before it was destroyed, the prophets promised that Jerusalem would be rebuilt seventy years later. This seemed unlikely under Nebuchadnezzar with his new ideas about how the world should live. Then Babylon was conquered by Persia and Cyrus became the new king of the world, and Cyrus had a different strategy: he made everyone move home and build new temples.
Kings come and kings go. Sometimes politics favor the Church and sometimes not. There is no political leader, present, past, or future, who will bring about the Kingdom of Heaven, but every government will bring about God’s will. God wanted Jerusalem destroyed, so Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it. God wanted Jerusalem rebuilt, so Cyrus rebuilt it. God wanted Jerusalem to be occupied by a foreign army when he came as Jesus Christ, so the Romans conquered it. The kings of this world are always doing God’s will in spite of their intentions.
And this is not some special status that governments have. All of us will play a part in the history of salvation. If we do so willingly, we can cooperate with God. If we do so unwillingly or unknowingly, we will do help bring about the Kingdom nonetheless. It is not for us to choose whether we will help make God’s kingdom come, we can only choose whether we will be part of that kingdom as it inevitably does arrive. Jesus has already won the war. The question now is whether we will join the winning side.
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