Protomartyrs

Genesis 19:15-29; Psalm 26 O Lord, you mercy is before my eyes; Matthew 8:23-27

Today  we celebrate the memorial of the First Holy Martyrs of The Holy Roman Church.  What a name for a feast. 

Yesterday we celebrated the feast of Peter and Paul who both were martyred in Rome.  Today we remember those early christians who accompanied Peter and Paul not so much in their death but more importantly in their witness to something greater than themselves, the witness of Faith.

If you go to Rome, in Vatican City, to the east side of St. Peter's Basilica is the Plaza of the Roman Protomartyrs.  It considered to be the place where the early christians were tortured for their faith.  

As you walk through the plaza it leads to the Scavi office, which is the gate way to the necropolis underneath St. Peter's Basilica, where the tomb of St. Peter resides and his bones can be seen. 

The plaza of the Roman Protomartyrs is not anything spectacular.  It is simply a space set aside to remember those who were valiant in faith.  It is a space that gives us something to think about in hope to follow the examples set before us, in hope to allow the blood shed to be a seed ground of faith and courage for us all. 

Here is what Tacitus, the roman historian, has to say about the holy martyrs:

 "Consequently to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace...Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred for humanity.  Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths.  Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired." 

This is what Pope Clement, 3rd bishop of Rome, has to say about these martyrs: 

"To these men, Peter and Paul, who lives holy lives, there was joined a great multitude of the elect who by reason of rivalry were victims of many outrages and tortures and who became outstanding examples for us...we are writing this as a reminder to ourselves; for we are placed in the same arena, and the same contest lies before us."   

Indeed, the Holy Martyrs continue to serve as a nightly illumination for all of us.  They inspire us to be faithful, to bear witness no matter what, trusting that God will see us through. 

The Plaza of the Protomartyrs continues to give us something to think about, something to hope for, memories of courage for the ages so that we might enter the contest and life our faith fully through it all.

Solemnity of Peter and Paul

Acts 12:1-11; Psalm 34 The angel of the Lord will rescue those who fear him; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18; Matthew 16:13-19

Today we celebrate the solemnity of Peter and Paul, the great one two punch of the early church.  

Peter the fisherman and Paul the tentmaker both exchanged their trade for something greater.  The moment they were called they ceased "making a living" and they began to make a life, as they proclaimed the Gospel, the good news, to the gentiles and Jews, without hesitation, without wavering, in season and out of season. 

They both had their share of hardships, their share of chains and persecutions, but in the end they maintained the course as 'apostle martyr'.  Peter crucified upside down and Paul fell beneath the sword, they gave all they had to make known the message, truly sent to bear witness. 

In the end, they did not define their faith, but they let the faith define them.  This is their witness to us throughout the ages, this is their witness to us today.  

As the gloria rings out today on this solemn celebration, "gloria to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth," and the creed is professed, "We believe in one God, Father almighty...We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ...We believe in the Holy Spirit the giver of life...We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church..." we look to Peter and Paul and we thank them for their dedication and we ask for their intercession that we may do the same in bearing witness to the faith and allowing the faith to define us each and every day. 

Solemn Blessing

"May the keys of Peter and the words of Paul, their undying witness and their prayers, lead you to the joy of that eternal home which Peter gained by his cross, and Paul by the sword.  Amen" 

 

risk and reward

Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24; Psalm 30 I will praise you Lord for you have rescued me; 2 corinthians 8:7,9, 13-15; Mark 5:21-43

We encounter two characters in today's gospel both of whom are desperate. They are both up against a wall and time is running out.  

Jairus' daughter is sick and dying.  The woman's health is getting worse and she knows her end is near.  Both of them have no other options, they have no where else to turn, no one else to seek.  In an act of desperation they come to Jesus. 

Faith is awaken in the circumstance of destitution and desperation.  It isn't comfort or wealth or prosperity or success that awakens faith but desperation.   This is important.  Often times we feel the squeeze of destitution or desperation and we blame God.  We point our finger at him, why does he let this happen.  

Did we ever stop to think that perhaps this is a good thing.  It is these circumstances that keep us on our knees, keep us from being self-sufficient, that keep us seeking true strength that comes from Christ. Here we learn faith.

Why did they seek Jesus?

They sought him because they heard about him.  People talked, word traveled, news spread.  They both had heard that people like themselves, destitute and desperate, were helped, healed, and made whole.  Jesus' reputation precedes him because people talk about their faith experience of him.

What do we talk about?  

We talk about many things: the latest hollywood scandal, the latest development in the sports world, the current crisis in countries, the latest tv series of interest.  We talk about all these things, but when do we talk about our faith experience with Jesus.  

When do we stop and evaluate what God is doing in our life?  How can people hear if we do not talk?  How can news spread if our lips are sealed?  If we are not talking, then where is our faith?

We know what the two are looking for but what are they willing to risk?

Jairus, a synagogue official, is seeking Jesus who is notorious for disrupting synagogue services.  Many times throughout the gospels, the synagogue officials pick up stones and want to stone Jesus for disturbing their service, for healing on the Sabbath. 

Here a synagogue official who is charge of keeping order is seeking the one who disturbs that order.  As soon as Jairus bends his knees in homage, he has closed the door on his previous life.  His position of prominence has been terminated.  He would no longer be allowed to come to the synagogue to worship.  He betrays his position, his friends, and all that he had previously known.  As a Jew, no worship means no life. Jairus risk everything.

The woman also risks much.  She is a social misfit, an outcast.  She is "unclean" because of her bleeding.  Thus, she is to live on the outskirts of the community with no interaction.  The mere fact she is in the crowd, means she is going against social norms.  She is risking her life.  This is why she sneaks up behind Jesus so she can make a quick get away without being discovered.  If she is discovered and recognized, she is liable to be stoned herself,  She risks everything.

Jairus and the women risk everything.  They do not cut corners or look for short cuts.  They hold nothing back and as they say in poker, they are all in. 

Are we?

What risks do we take in our life faith?  Perhaps, we are hedging our bets.  Perhaps, we are holding back.  Jesus wants us to be all in. 

If we are holding back, perhaps this is why we have nothing to talk about.

We need to examine our life?  

What areas are stingy on when it comes to living our faith: perhaps we hold back financially and do not tithe; perhaps we hold back sexually and rather than give  all to God we hold back by using artificial contraception, the pill, condoms, or even had a vasectomy.  Where is faith in this?  One does not need faith to use contraception, but one does need faith to practice self-control, abstinence and be open to the gift of children.  This will keep you on your knees and thus truly experience the power of faith.

Perhaps we hold back in our relationships and give in to the pressure and thus have sex before marriage or even move in before marriage.  Again where is the faith risk?  One does not need faith for this but one does need faith to abstain, to wait until married trusting that God will see them through.  Trial marriages never work.

will we risk living our faith forsake all for the encounter with Christ.

The reward is truly great and permanent.  In the healing Jesus shows himself to have power over life and power over death which points to the fullness of life itself.   As we say in the creed, we believe in "the resurrection of the body and life every lasting. Amen"  This is the reward that is worth all the risk.

prostrate and laugh

Genesis 17:1, 9-10, 15-22; Psalm 128 See how the Lord blesses those who fear him; Mt 8:1-4

As we continue to read the unfolding of God's plan with Abraham and interesting thing happens.  

God appeared to Abraham and in this apparition, God informs Abraham that not only will He Give Abraham a son at a ripe old age of 100 but his wife at a ripe old age of 90 shall bear this son forth.  

What was Abraham's reaction? Well as we read in scripture, Abraham " prostrated himself and laughed and said to himself Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Or can Sarah give birth at ninety?"

Abraham prostrated and laughed to himself.  What a reaction from our father in faith.  Abraham's faith is considered to be a model for all, yet we find that in the midst of believing he also was unsure about God's request.  His faith didn't waver but his mind sometimes just could not comprehend.  But he allowed his faith to see him through.  He did not trust in reason or in his own intellect but rather he trusted that the light of faith would help lead him through the darkness of his own understanding. Thus he kept walking forth in God's presence.

In prostrating first, Abraham shows that faith must be first.  He illustrates that reason is subordinate to faith and it is fortified by faith.  Where our reason can no longer be stretched faith continues forth.  It is faith that allows our reason and understanding never to be stagnant or just reduced to the limits of our own minds.  If our life was limited to our own minds, we would all be imprisoned.  It is faith that gives us freedom from ourselves.  In faith we are no longer bound to the confines of our cerebral folds or grey matter.  We reach new heights.

What was God's reaction.  He did not smite Abraham for laughing.  He did not get angry for his inability to comprehend.  Rather God simply responds, "nevertheless, your wife is to bear you a son."  "Nevertheless," it shall be done whether you comprehend or not.  God does not limit his action in our life based on our ability to comprehend or understand.  He doesn't limit his action in the world by the boundaries of our darken intellect.  He simply laughs back and moves forth with a confident "nevertheless."  

In today's gospel we encounter Jesus once again being harangued by crowds.  He is constantly being crowded in on all sides.  Yet, the crowds do not affect His mercy or his gentle love.  He makes room for all of them.  His heart is wide open.  

As He comes down the mountain the leper comes forth and gives him homage and makes his request, "Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean."  The leper is led by faith.  Nothing in his history tells him that man can heal his wounded life and scarred flesh.  His mind is unable to comprehend his request, yet, his faith issues forth and keeps his feet from stumbling or straying.  Like Abraham he initiates this encounter with an act of worship.  

Worship is the oil that keeps the light of faith burning.  In the darkest of times it is worship that brightens our life like  the light just before dawn, darkness scatters. 

Jesus responds to such faith, "Be clean."

I came across a quote recently by a man I do not know, who was describing his motivation in life.  He states this, "the only measurement I had in assessing what we should be involved in was: 'Is this something Jesus would do? Or something God would want done?'  Ultimately it boiled down to this, as I wrote in my bible in a prayer to God, 'let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God."

Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God.  As you read scripture, watch who Jesus interacts with and how he reaches out to them.  Here we discover not only what breaks the heart of God, but also what should break ours.  

Jesus stretched out his hand and touched the leper.  May we never short arm anyone.  May our hands always stretch out and thus allow the heart of God to enter into our own. 

prayer from this morning

"Lord, fill our hearts with your love as morning fills the sky..."

(the above picture was taken here in the desert yesterday.  The rainbow brightens the desert in the distance.  A bright spot in the barren desert.  Faith in the midst of our own darken intellect.)

   

Tension

Genesis 16:1-12, 15-16; Psalm 106 Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; Mt 7:21-29

We have a lot of tension in today's first reading.  We have been following the unfolding of Abram's call and his response and his journey.  Today with get to look into his household, we catch a glimpse of the going ons of his relationship with his wife and her relationship with his concubine. 

Abram and Sarai and Hagar and Ishmael are thrown together.  Their is a lot of tension. 

The primary tension is within Sarai.  She is barren and she has grown frustrated with God's plan.  God had promised Abram he would be a father of nations and yet she remained without child.  How could their descendants be as numerous as the stars or as countless as the grains of sands if they still had not even one.  

Sarai has a great deal of inner tension and frustration also because she is not a mother.  To be barren was looked upon as a curse.  children were considered God's favor.  Sarai was beginning to doubt herself, to doubt her role, and to lose faith in God, perhaps. 

Abram was also filled with tension.  He felt his wife's frustration.  Perhaps there was bitterness in the home.  He could do no right.  Perhaps he tried to console her and support her and ensure her his love, yet it wasn't enough.  Sarai felt inferior and wanted to do something about it.

So she took matters into her own hands.  She grew impatient with God and herself and her husband and life and she decided to grab at life.  So she sent her concubine to her husband to produce a child.  Wow!

This sounds a lot like modernity, today's society.  People grow impatient with God's plan.  So they rush ahead taking matters into their own hands: we are left with fertility pills and treatments that cause women to be pregnant with 6 and 7 or 8 babies at a time.  We have unwed women who run to fertility clinics to have themselves impregnated with someone's sperm they have never meant nor will ever meet.  Thus, we have children who will never know their father and is left abandoned and void of that great and necessary gift of fatherhood.  We have eggs being harvested and being fertilized outside the womb in petri dishes.   As a result we have countless fertilized embryos in frozen storage abandoned and forgotten. Or we have countless embryos who are destroyed because they lack the right genetic makeup, because they are considered weak. We have same sex couples who are seeking to adopt children or who become pregnant so they can produce a child because they feel entitled with no regard for God's plan.  And the child is left confused and his or her identity will be forever on shaky ground. Just to name a few. 

Or we have the opposite.  We have men and women who find themselves expecting a child and yet not wanting the child.  They were impatient with God's plan and jumped into bed without being responsible.  Sex becomes mere recreation or sport.  So countless women are hurried along to abortion mills where their children are being murdered and they themselves are being tortured with the memory of such events.   We have father's who abandon their children because they were looking for sex not love and they leave women alone and scared and confused and scarred for life. 

All of this because we have decided like Sarai to take matters into our own hands.  We have grown impatient with God and we are left with more tension, more worries, more confusion, more depression, and more innocent blood shed. We have pulled at the single thread and the fabric of society has unraveled.

Like Hagar our society is "running away" from the very one who can bring this chaos into order; who can take this vast formless reality and recreate it, if only we trust his plan and refuse to take matters in our own hands.  We do not need to grab at life we need to embrace the life God offers.  

God seeks to be continually active in our life and world.  He is continually seeking to bring good out of all this mess.  He sends His messengers into the world to get the attention of society.  The messengers are us who believe.  We are sent into the world to bring light in the darkness, to go out into the wilderness where people are groping at darkness to grab their hand to show them the alternative way, the true way.  We must speak the words of the messenger, "The Lord has heard you, God has answered."

We must never tire of reaching out, speaking forth, standing firm.  We must point out the obvious, what we are currently doing has not made the world a better place, impatience is never the answer.  We all must learn to wait on God's love and in waiting we experience true blessing and strength.  Here we learn to build on solid rock, a foundation that will not collapse. 

This is how we astonish the crowds and bring them back from the "wilderness" of destruction.

"The Lord has heard, God has answered."

solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist

Isaiah 49:1-6; Psalm 139 I praise you for I am wonderfully made; Acts 13:22-26; Lk 1:57-66, 80

St. Paul in the book of Acts tells us that "to us this word of salvation has been sent."

The "word of salvation" is Jesus.  John the Baptist is the herald of the "word of salvation." 

 As St. Augustine exhorts us, John the Baptist is the "voice of one crying in the desert, make way the path of the Lord."  The voice is St. John but the "the Lord in the beginning was the word.  John was a voice that last only for a time; Christ, the Word in the beginning, is eternal," the beginning and the end, the ALpha and Omega.

Why do we celebrate the Birth of John the Baptist.  It is his birth that reveals to us how to live out our prophetic role in the world.  

John as a prophet always points toward the "Word" for as he says in the gospel, "I must decrease and He must increase."  He was never amused by his own voice that is he never just spoke to hear himself talk, rather his voice was filled with meaning.  He never said anything that didn't mean something.  The "Word" so captivated him that his voice was no longer his own but set apart for the praise of the "Word" himself.

John in the gospel never attracts people to himself but always directs them to Christ.

John never seeks for others to recognize him or to praise him but rather he makes it his life's work to direct all to seek the face of God, as he cries out "Behold the Lamb of God" as Jesus walks near. 

What a shining example of how to live our prophetic role given at baptism.  We should imitate John so that our voice is always speaking the "Word" as St. Paul says we should say only the good things people need to hear.  It is easy to get lost in the ability to turn a phrase or to sound clever but does our voice carry the presence of the "Word Himself."

We should imitate John so that our life work is to point toward the face of God in Jesus.  We should not busy ourselves with pointing fingers at others because of their presumed hypocrisy or faults but rather simply point toward Christ and allow his goodness and gentleness to be radiant and thus transforming.   Point to toward Christ so that others may begin to see Christ in themselves and those around them.  This alone brings about conversion. 

A life lived thus will result in the words of the Prophet Isaiah, "Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing , uselessly, spent my strength, yet my reward is with the Lord, my recompense is with my God.  For now the Lord has spoken who formed me as his servant from the womb..."

Sons and servants

Genesis 13:2,5-18; Psalm 15 He who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord; Matthew 7:6, 12-14

This morning as I continue my journey in the desert I was particularly moved by the hymn for morning prayer:

"With hearts renewed by living faith, we lift our thoughts in grateful prayer

To God our gracious Father, whose plan it was to make us sons, 

Through his own Son's redemptive death, that rescued us from darkness.

Lord, God Savior, Give us strength to mold our hearts in your true likeness,

Sons and servants of our Father."

As the hymn goes, we must also recognize that we must first be formed in the image of the Son only then do we truly understand what it means to be a servant.

Often times we focus on service, on being servants, but we forget that the invitation to be a servant in the gospel of John, is in the order of grace preceded by the invitation to be a friend, "I no longer call you servants but friends." (Jn 15)  

Our service lacks true strength and true charity when we seek to be servants first and friends later.  Our focus must be directed toward friendship in Christ before we can truly understand service.  

We must remember that Jesus goes to his knees to wash the feet of the disciples and then afterwards he invites the disciples to enter into his friendship.  Only then are they told to be servants, " what I just did was give you an example: as I have done, so you must do." (Jn 13)

We must embrace that friendship first then we can truly know what it means to be a servant; only in friendship with Christ do we understand our adoption as sons.  In the intimate embrace of friendship we begin to realize our dignity and value no longer as strangers but as ones part of the family, as ones belonging to the household of God, as sons in the Son, children in the kingdom.

Only understanding our adoption as sons are we empowered to see as the Father sees and do as the Son does.  Here our service begins to take shape and begins to have meaning and purpose.  Here the cross becomes a shining example that lights the way for service that is really charity.

In friendship with Christ, we enter in to the "narrow gate" that leads to life. 

Thus we understand service not so much as doing a variety of projects but as being a presence of divine charity in the world.  Thus, the strength of the cross shapes us and empowers us and becomes a shining lamp for our feet that scatters the darkness.  In Chirst, as sons, we now know what service is:

"Love one another as I have loved you," and "no greater love than lay down one's life for one's friends."  (Jn 15)  Here our motto of servants rings true: to know Him and to make Him known, for as Jesus says in Jn 17 in his priestly prayer to the Father, "I have made your name known to those you gave me out of the world...I entrusted to them the message you entrusted to me...consecrate  them by means of the truth...as you have sent me into the world so I have sent them into the world."

May we sing this hymn throughout the day and may our friendship with Christ empower our service so that the world sees our sonship in the Son and comes to know our gracious heavenly Father: 

"with hearts renewed by living faith, we lift our thoughts in grateful prayer 

To God our gracious Father, Whose plan it was to make us sons 

Through his own Son's redemptive death, that rescued us from darkness.  

Lord, God, Savior, 

Give us strength to mold our hearts in your true likeness, 

Sons and servants of our Father."

scripture to remember

"And now we follow you with our whole heart, we fear you and we pray to you.  Do not let us be put to shame, but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy.  Deliver us by your wonders, and bring glory to your name, O Lord" Daniel 3:41-43

Quote of the day

"Oh that every Christian would know that when he rises from the altar he takes all of heaven with him in his heart when he goes"  St. John Vianney on Holy Communion