Leap day saint

Mark 12:28-34

Why do we have a leap year?  Why do we have an extra day in February?

The answer to both questions is simple, it is about keeping it real.  Leap year has everything to do with reality.  

It takes the earth to revolve around the sun 365.2422 days.  So every four years we add an extra day in order to keep our calendar in step with reality, in order to keep the way we measure time aligned with the way time unfolds.  It is about real time.

Today, we celebrate St. Oswald's feast day.  In the year 992 on February 29th St. Oswald was on his knees doing what he always did as Bishop each day during lent, he invited 12 poor men from the street into the Cathedral and he washed their feet and kissed their feet and blessed them.  

On February 29th, after he washed the feet of the 12th man, kissed his feet, and then gave a blessing, he died.  He simply died.  He died keeping it real.  He let his faith dictate his actions, order his life.  He lived and died loving the Lord with his whole heart, soul, mind and strength.  

This is what Jesus invites us to do, today.  He wants us to be real.  It is not enough to simply understand the command to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength.  We must live it.  We must allow the kingdom to be built in us, through our heart, that is in our conscience, at the center of our being, through our soul, having our desires and affections sanctified, through our mind, by the thoughts we think and choose to entertain, and through our strength, by our actions and abilities, in all we do and say.  Then the kingdom can be truly be built on Earth through us.

This is how we become real.  This is how our will is aligned with God's will.  The more we live this then truly we are headed toward that day when we will leap ahead into eternity.  The ultimate leap day awaits us all, that one day added to our lives in which time and eternity are all aligned with love and we leap for joy into the heavenly hymn and we all become leap day saints. 

  

law and order

Matthew 5:17-19

Law is necessary.  Law is meant to bring order.  Order is necessary for love to be real.  

Humanity has a tendency to get lost in the castle in the skies idea especially when it comes to living love.  Many prefer make believe to reality and this is where tragedy befalls humanity.   

This is why we need laws, in order to curb that tendency of man to be lost in make believe and avoid reality.  

The Jewish law of the Old Testament started out with ten simple commandments.  These were and are broad principles meant to guide the human heart to the proper reality of reverence for God and reverence for life. 

Quickly, however, humanity sought ways to find loop holes in the principles laid down by God through Moses.  Convenience often trumps reverence. 

The Mosaic Law quickly became a collection of 613 statues commenting on the original ten.  However, this was also not sufficient and the Mishnah was written over time, which contained 800 pages of commentary on the 613 statues.  Later the Talmud came about, which consist of 72 volumes, commenting on the 800 pages Mishnah commenting on the 613 statues commenting on the ten commandments seeking to understand how to have reverence to God and reverence for life. 

It is amazing how the simplicity of God is too much for the complexity of man.

Jesus comes to fulfill the law.  Jesus, as Pope Benedict reminds us, comes not like those before.  He comes not making additions or subtractions to the law and the prophets.  The only thing Jesus adds to the law is Himself.  He is the fulfillment, He is the commentary written in flesh and blood. 

When all the words fall silent, the image of Christ stands the test of time revealing to us the true way of reverence for God and reverence for life.  In Him, the law comes alive. 

The Church's role is simply to make sure the true image of Christ is followed.  This is her task, to help us not to follow the wrong shepherd home. 

Law and order and order and love finds its completion in Christ the law giver, the one who gives Himself as the standard of love, true reverence of God and reverence for life. 

   

mercy or buzzards

Daniel 3:25-43, Matthew 18:21-35

English is a difficult language.  There are many words that sound the same but are spelled differently.  For instance, the word "see" or "sea", the word "reel" or "real" etc. 

In Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament, unlike English, it has words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently.  For instance in today's first reading Azariah speaks of God's mercy, "Do not take away your mercy from us."

The word for  "Mercy" is spelled mhr (right to left), but the word for "buzzard" also is spelled mhr (right to left); the word for "mercy" is pronounced "rach-am" and the word for "buzzard" is pronounced "raw-khawm."  

If you mispronounce the word, you go from giving mercy to giving a buzzard.  

The word for mercy in Hebrew literally means "womb", which suggest that to give mercy means to bear life, to bring life forth, to give life to the other, for the womb is the seat of life.

A buzzard is an animal that feast on death in order to give itself life.  It also begins to take upon itself the stench of death.  

Interesting to note that true mercy gives life, brings forth a sweet fragrance of hope and love, allowing life to blossom, where as, a buzzard only is concern for itself. 

How do we judge true mercy and forgiveness?  If it gives life and is concerned for the life of the other than it is mercy.  The way of the cross is Christ giving us life through mercy. 

If it is selfish, then a stench of death lingers and the buzzards circle above and life is killed. 

What do we give? Is it life for the other, a true gift of mercy? Or do we seek death of the other so that we might live for ourselves?

Is is Mercy or a Buzzard?

put me in coach

Luke 4:24-30

 Basketball coaches have to be creative, have great vision, and they must know how to motivate their players.  They must know how to get the players up for each and every game, no matter the triumph of victory or the slump in defeat.  Each game is a new reality, a new ball game with a different outcome waiting to be had.

Coaches often try new antics in order to motivate their players.  Sometimes they need to get them angry so that they would see differently.  Many times, in high school, the coach would pull the star and put in the scrub just to get the star worked up, to get his head back in the game.  He always played better after the reality check that he was expendable. 

In today's gospel we encounter Jesus rousing up the crowd.  The Israelites have grown complacent.  They had grown presumptuous in their place in salvation history.  They were the star athletes; they were given the promise of the covenant and they became to self assure. They needed to be re awaken; they needed to be motivated, they needed a reality check in hopes that they might get their heads in the game.  

Jesus, like the good coach, simply lets history smack them in the face, a little reality check, and boy it gets them fired up.  He reminded them how God could use the scrubs for his glory just as well as the star.  A little ire makes people rise to the challenge, a little ire helped them realize that God's glory was more than words of a promise, but it needed to be engaged and lived fully.  The only one who has a monopoly on God's plan of action is God alone.  

He wanted them to be awaken to finally begin to see that God's plan was bigger than them. bigger than their point of view.   Only then when they recognized how God acted in history could they be able to begin to see what God was doing in the present in Christ.  

With their anger roused and their presumption shacked, their pride checked, then they were ready to play ball, follow the coaches game play, then their heads were truly in the game.

Feast of the Chair of Peter

1 Peter 5:1-4, Matthew 16:13-19

Today we celebrate the feast of the chair of Peter; we celebrate the office of truth passed down through the selection of Peter as the rock upon which the church of Jesus is built.  

We celebrate the primacy of faith that gives way to the primacy of love that is most perfectly lived out in standing upon truth as it has been issued forth through the proclamation of Peter, "you are the Christ the son of the living God."

As we encounter Peter's confession we recognize that faith is primarily received, a gift from on high, "for it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father." 

The church therefore is not a man made institution, but rather it is the Father's gift to the world.  Religion is not man made it is founded by Christ upon the confession of Peter raised on the blood of the martyrs, sent forth to bear the fruit of love to the world, love which finds its culmination in the Eucharist, take and eat this is given for you. 

The primacy of Faith leads to the primacy of Love, which is celebrated in the Mass validated by the office of Peter from which Truth flows forth to bring light in to the world. 

The Church is an instrument by which the world comes in contact with God's saving word and God's saving deed.  For every time we celebrate the Eucharist, we, like Peter, become witnesses of the sufferings of Christ, the suffering reality of love that gives its flesh for the life of the world.

What a beautiful Chair, a Chair that is truly one of nobility for it it bears the mark of truth that remains undivided through out the centuries. 

change

Jeremiah  17:5-10

The prophet in today's reading describe the man who finds his strength in flesh and whose heart is turned from the Lord as a man that is a barren desert that knows not the season of change.  

In the same breath, Jeremiah then inadvertently describes the person who has been faithful then as one who knows change frequently, seasonly. 

Change is important. 

John Cardinal Newman, a convert to Catholicism, whose birthday we celebrate today put it this way. 

"To be human is to change.  To be perfect is to change often."

The one finds within himself no room to change is the one who no longer follows Christ.  In the words of Jesus, to be perfect as your  heavenly Father is perfect, demands that we change and change often.

Under the watchful gaze of God via the plowshare of grace we shall become fertile soil, bearing much fruit...for we have been changed throughout.

Change...this is the lenten season  of change,

Lordship of service

Matthew 20: 17-28

Watching a basketball game, the most exciting and intriguing reality is not what happens above the rim but what happens below the rim way below.   If you notice the players as they rise from the bench they usually remove their outer shirt and throw it on the floor.  There at their feet are the ball boys scampering to get at the clothes and then they do something odd, they fold them nice and neat.  

When the players come off the court all sweaty, there are the same ball boys who hand them the towels only to have the sweaty remains tossed in their face.  Then they proceed to fold the towel. 

By their willingness to serve, the ball boys get to rub elbows with the higher ups.  In their humble service they are exalted. 

Jesus reminds us in today's reading that He came to serve and that true greatness is shown in being a servant of others.  

Watching Jesus we get a glimpse into the Lordship of God, the one who rules by service.  In Jesus God from on high comes down, below the rim, and shows us his rule, a law written in sweat and blood, a passionate service for the many.  God is a hands on ruler. 

Service becomes the way to ascent.  

Lent is about coming down to service and only then do we truly rub elbows with the one on high, for only then do we imitate his actions and truly enter into the strength of our dignity, image and likeness of God.