self criticism

These are not my words but the words of a very respected priest, who says it a lot better than i could.  ENjoy

"In the second half of the passage, we find a miscellaneous collection of sayings that call for a stance of self-criticism. The disciples are directed to reflect on their own style of life and ministry. Do any of their words or actions serve as stumbling blocks for the children of the Church? Mark uses words of Jesus against scandal and the misuse of one’s hands, eyes and feet. Jesus does not mandate mutilation. He has a typically Semitic way of speaking – graphic, vivid, even exaggerated. Nothing, no one comes before Christ. Jesus’ command to “cut it off” is not mutilation, but rather an invitation to liberation. It liberates us to love without reservation, not trapped in the self-love where everything and perhaps everyone, even God, himself, must revolve around me. The fascinating paradox of this story is this: The more we focus on the God who lives in us, on the people God cherishes in a special way because they are more needy, and on the earth that God saw as being “very good” (Genesis 1:31), the richer will be our delight in ourselves. Human life is a matter of relationships: with God, with people, with earth.

Despite its disjointedness, today’s Gospel passage provides a strong antidote to the ever-present temptation to over-estimate one’s own position as the chosen of God. Human nature tends to be judgmental. Sometimes our inclination to judge results in elitism, concluding that others are not worthy of our company. We make difficulties, not thinking of others but blindly plunging ahead with feet, hands and eyes. We ignore God’s consecration of our hands to work, of our eyes to perceive, and of our feet to walk God’s special ways. We reject others as outsiders, foreign to our own ranks and status in life. Instead of questioning the validity of other active and perhaps successful groups, we are reminded in graphic fashion of the importance of self-criticism and humility.

A final thought on humility

Jesus said, “learn from me, for I am gentle, and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29). Most of the saints prayed for and manifested humility in their lives. Many of us live in societies and cultures that value self-promotion of worth, assertiveness, competitiveness, communicating our accomplishments if we wish to get anywhere and make a difference.

The virtue of humility is a quality by which a person considering his or her own defects has a lowly opinion of himself and willingly submits himself or herself to God and to others for God’s sake. How can we strike a balance between being humble and meek, and assertive enough to succeed in the world today? Or do we need to sacrifice one for the other? In living just and upright lives, we can do a good job as a humble leader, but that is different from been able to succeed and being placed in greater positions of responsibility.

Mother Cabrini’s humility

When I was growing up in an Italian-American household, we often heard stories of the saints and blesseds from my grandparents and parents. Two Italians, of course, were at the top of the list: Mother Cabrini and Padre Pio. St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850 – 1917) was the first American citizen to be canonized by the Church. As a child, Mother Cabrini’s prayer for humility was given to us and I have kept it ever since in my Bible. The life of Mother Cabrini and the words of this prayer embody many of the thoughts found in today’s Scripture readings.

“Lord Jesus Christ, I pray that you may fortify me with the grace of your Holy Spirit, and give your peace to my soul, that I may be free from all needless anxiety and worry. Help me to desire always that which is pleasing and acceptable to you, so that your will may be my will.

“Grant that I may be free from unholy desires, and that, for your love, I may remain obscure and unknown in this world, to be known only to you.

“Do not permit me to attribute to myself the good that you perform in me and through me, but rather, referring all honor to you, may I admit only to my infirmities, so that renouncing sincerely all vainglory which comes from the world, I may aspire to that true and lasting glory that comes from you. Amen.”

Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB

A day early

Rev 12:7-12; Ps 138 In the sight of angels i will sin g your praises; JOhn 1:47-51

Today at the school we are celebrating the feast of the archangels, a day early.

Since the name sake of the school is St. Michael's, we figured why not celebrate it when the kids are around.

So we moved the feast and why not, angels are not material and pure spirit and being intellect and will, i am certain they understand.

Today's feast gives us a pause to think on the creed where we profess to believe in God creator of all that is visible and invisible.

Today would be a good time to ponder the invisible realities in the created world.  Angels are creatures, just like my cat or the birds, or the dog, or myself.  They are created by the hand of God, they just are a little different.

Invisible realties are all around us.

In fact we as men sit on the boundary since we are both material and spiritual.

We have a leg in both spheres.
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The archangels are like the Avengers.  THey know how to get the job done.

Michael: who is like God, is a champion of loyalty to God.

Gabriel: strength of God, is the harbinger of God's message, three times he makes an appearance in scripture and each time he has make"s God's word heard.  The most famous of course is the appearance  before the Blessed Mother, "Hail, full of grace, the lord is with you."

Raphael: healer of God, the angel who accompanies Tobias on his journey and brings about healing to his father, opens his eyes to see, and brings blessing on the wedding night between Sarah and himself.

Perhaps, more marriages need to look to Raphael for healing and instruction.

The three champions of God: loyalty, messenger, healing.

Perhaps to honor them, we too could do as they do and avenge the honor of God by being honorable.
We can make visible what they do an invisible manner.

Loyalty, spreading the message of God, and healing those around us is a visible way of becoming more angelic in our lifestyle.

A word fro the wise

Proverbs 21:1-6,10-13; Ps 119 Guide me Lord in the way of your command; Luke 8:19-21

We begin our meditation on the book of the proverbs.  Proverbs in general are considered expressions of popular wisdom, truth that is expressed in common sense language thus easy to grasp and quick to penetrate.

A proverb is like a dagger that jabs quick and the point arrives sooner than we think.

we have proverbial sayings in english: 90% of life is showing up or a cheerful wife is the spice of life or an apple never falls from the tree or all things come to those who wait.

The book of proverbs are filled with little sayings such as the above but are meant to keep our eyes peeled for the action of grace in the human heart, thus purifying our human thought and action.

The last saying for today is the one I would like to call to mind: "He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will himself also call and not be heard."


It reminds in an odd way of the boy who cried wolf.  He would scream out, "wolf" and then people would come running only to find him  laughing because of the prank.

Eventually the prank went to far, after a while the people no longer came running, the joke was over and when danger arose the poor boy was left all alone.

Often times, we react this way to the poor.  We are like the village people, we refuse to heed the cry because we are afraid we may be taken for fools.

So we shut our ears and we turn the other way and we refuse to see or act.

What we forget is that its okay to play the fool for in the end, it is the "Lord who proves the heart."

Not all poor cry "wolf"; some of them are sincere and in need.  For the sake of the one we keep trudging forward remember the words o Christ, "my mothers and brothers are those who her the word of God and act on it."  What is that word, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart....Love your neighbor as yourself.....give to those who ask...."

Many words, one Lord, one way of life.

Greatness

Wisdom 2:12-20; Ps 54 The Lord upholds my life; James 3:16-4:3; Mark 9:30-37

Greatness.  Success.

We all have big dreams.  We all have a  desire to "make" something of ourselves.

Growing up, my father had a recipe for success, for greatness he would often share with us.  He would tell us,  if you want to make something of yourself then and usually what followed was a list of requirements: be prompt->if you see something that needs to be done than do it.  For my dad there was no room for waiting around.  no quitting->Dad would always tell us there was no learning in quitting.  We had to keep going until we got it.  work hard->effort and determination was necessary.  last is my personal favorite, do it right the first time->this required vision and thoughtfulness.  Dad would always invite us to think before you do, measure twice cut once as the carpenter's say.

this was my dad's recipe for greatness.

But if asked, a majority of the people would say the same thing as regards to greatness. The attributes that successful people have are: hard work, dedication, determination, passion, perseverance, visualizing, not quitting, driven and so on and so forth.

We are all familiar with these.  As the list was being created, we would all nod our head in agreement.

These are all tried and true, proven.

In the gospel, for the most part, Jesus includes these same attributes as part of being a disciple;  If we are to follow him and experience the fullness of life and live life to its full then we too are called to live out these attributes.

But at th every heart of greatness according to the standard of Christ is not us but the other person.

We are not called to be great for the sake of greatness, being noticed, or for our own sake.

"If you want to be first, then be last of all and servant of all."

Greatness revolves around the other.  Only if we recognize the greatness of others are we able to realize the greatness in ourselves.

We cannot be self centered in our search for greatness but other centered.

As JEsus receives the child and invites his disciples to do the same he is reminding us that it is the least in our society who provide the opportunity for true greatness.

That is where we begin and where end.  It is the least that offer the great opportunity.

 

follow me

Matthew 9:9-13

It is often amazing to look back and try to imagine the scenes of the gospel as they are related to us through the eyes and ears of the gospel writers.

They crunch everything up in such small space it seems a bit overwhelming.

Take for instance today's gospel reading on this feast of St. Matthew.

IT took all of 3 lines to for MAtthew to describe the event.  He simple states the action: "As Jesus passed by, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post.  HE said to him, "Follow Me.:  ANd he got up and followed him."

That is it.

He seems so easy.  He sos effortless.  He seems so unrealistic.

How often do people respond so promptly to the call of Christ today.  No.  Today we think about it and think about it and think about it so more.  We weigh our options.  We seek people to guide us.  We take years to make up our mind.

We analyze it from every angle: financially, psychologically, spiritually, emotionally.

At the rate it takes us to respond to a nudge from Christ, we forget what he was nudging us to do.

We could learn a lot form Matthew.  Prompt readiness and rises and follows.

all it took was the simply bending of knee to rise.

MAtthew's heart was ready for a change.  Ready to be led.  Ready for an adventure.

Prompt.  Ready.  Quick to respond.

We should try it sometime.

"Follow me."

what is primary

1 corinthians 15:1-11; Ps 118 Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; Luke 7:36-50

"I handed on to you as of first importance what I received..."

IT is often the case that we as a people lose sight of that which matters most.  How often in our lives we get bogged down with trivial things?  How often we forsake the most important for the least important?

We, as St. Augustine would say, lose sight of the certain as we seek the uncertain!


Every now and then we need to stop and we focus; we need to collect ourselves and direct our mind and heart to that which stands as the foundation of our lives.

What matters most!

Think about your lives, your families, your work places, your friendships....when was the last time we spoke about that which was most important?

We speak about the football games, we speak about the news, we speak about the sales, we speak about fashion and design, we speak about our hair, we speak about what we ate, we speak about how we slept.

Why not speak about what is essential?

St. Paul reminds us today what it is all about....."Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures: that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures; that he appeared...."

There it is.
Why can we live and love and laugh because of what He did.

At the very heart of our life is the death of another, the burial of another, the resurrection of another.

He as come to set the record straight.

IT is certain, it is secure, it is reliable.

"Your faith has saved you, go in peace."

Go indeed and take the peace of Christ with you as you go.  May it be soothing, calming, and direct your heart and  mind to that which matters most most of all.

strive eagerly

1 corinthians 12:31-13:13; Ps 33 Blessed are the people the Lord has chosen to be his own; Luke 7:31-35

Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.  Striving is something we do, but  a gift is what we receive.

IT seems initially to be a paradox or contradiction but yet it remains true.  The gifts we are given are bestowed undeserved, but they must mature and maturation requires an effort.

But do we put forth an effort?  Do we strive eagerly?

Most of us have a notion that being spiritual is a passive reality.  We don't have to sweat.  We don't have to work.  We don't have discipline ourselves.

The protestant notion of faith with out works has made us a bit lazy and sluggish.  We grope for what we know not.

Faith is primary.  The grace of God is what initiates and completes our  life.  But grace builds on nature.

One of the things that comes to mind as I hear the words of St. Paul about striving is baptism.
When children are baptized, we ask the parents to accept the responsibility to train their children in the ways of faith.  We know that practice is necessary for maturation to be realized.

With all things, the more we practice the better we are able to respond to the task at hand.

One who plays a musical instrument knows that one is more like to be able to play spontaneously beautifully only after years of training and practice.

IT goes the same with playing any sport.

Practice prepares the body and mind to enter fully into the game, sharpening our instincts along the way in such a manner we are able to respond gracefully and efficiently to the circumstances that unfold.

So it is with faith.  We practice our faith in all circumstances and thus we are able to instinctually respond in a graceful manner in each circumstance.

We must strive that is train ourselves. Each moment is an opportunity to practice.

We strive eagerly get our souls in the game.  The greatest gift of course is love.  What a gift if we practice well: patient, kind, not jealous, not pompous, not inflated, not rude, not seeking own interest, not quick-tempered, not brooding over injury, not rejoicing in wrong doing but rejoiced with the truth.

Now there is a recipe for success.

Strive for that and be eager.

A word form the Pope:

"The human being lives in the suspicion that God's love creates a dependence and that he must rid himself  of this dependency  if he is to be fully himself.  Man does not want to receive his existence and the fullness of his life from God.  He himself wants to obtain from the tree of knowledge the power to shape the world, to make himself a god, raising himself to God's level, and to overcome death and darkness with his own efforts.  He does not want to rely on love that to him seems untrustworthy ; he relies solely on his own knowledge since it confers power upon him.  And in doing so, he trusts in deceit rather than in truth and thereby sinks with his life into emptiness, into death."