options

Philippians 3:17- 4:1; Psalm 122 Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord; Luke 16:1-8

In today's readings we are given two options as far as living it the world. 

St. Paul tells us that there are those who live as "enemies of the cross of Christ."

Jesus in the gospel exhorts us to be "children of light."

We have options.

St. Paul tells us to be "enemies of the cross" is to live in such a manner that our minds are preoccupied with earthly things.  We remain grounded and thus never sore.  In such a lifestyle, we choose to clip our own wings and refuse to live the fullness of our own dignity and our end will be how we choose to live, buried beneath an empire of sand.

Jesus tells us that to be "children of light" then we must be prudent.  We must keep one eye on the end, what lies ahead.  We keep our eyes looking beyond then we will truly be a bright spot in a dark world. 

Our reach must always be beyond our grasp, other wise what's a heaven for.  This is how we live out our life as children of light; those who illumine the path for all to see; this is how we truly become light of the world,  light for the world.

If we keep heaven in the foreground then we live with a heavenly air and we shall truly dwell in the kingdom of light and god will be all in all.

We have options. One leads to destruction the other leads to life on high in Christ Jesus.

morning prayer

  This is the morning prayer for the liturgy of the office...

sometimes the prayer resonates wonderfully with what is needed in our life.

"Lord, as daylight fills the sky, fill us with your holy light.  May our lives mirror our love for you whose wisdom has brought us into being, and whose care guides us on our way."

Every time we receive the Eucharist we are filled with this light, every time we go to confession we are filled with this light, and when light comes to fill, it fills every crevice and every place available with such tremendous ease.

This is the gift of grace in our life.

Come Lord Jesus, come fill me, drive away the darkness with your wonderful light.

hate and renounce

Philippians 2:12-18; Psalm 27 The Lord is my light and salvation; Luke 14:25-33

 Does Jesus really mean what he says?

In today's gospel passage Jesus tells his disciples that we should hate our father, mother, wife, children, brother, sister, even his own life or we cannot be his disciple. 

Later he tells his disciples that we should renounce all our possessions or we cannot be his disciple. 

Wow!

Hate and renounce!

What gives?

Jesus tells his disciple that if we are going to do it then we need to be fully involved.  If we are going to be witnesses to and for the Kingdom of God then we need to be ready to be consumed by and for the Kingdom we witness. 

Only when we are consumed can we truly be that which "shine like lights in the world" as St. Paul exhorts the early Christian community in today's first reading. 

Jesus in the gospel is helping us understand what it means to be zealous, to have zeal for the Kingdom. 

We can't be lukewarm, our light can't burn some of the time.  Complete and total consummation is required for discipleship to be fully realized and for the witness to be genuine.

In the book of Maccabees chapter 2, there is a story told of Mattathias who was full of Zeal. 

The King at the time was demanding that all make sacrifices to the pagan gods.  Mattathias was astounded by such decree.  When one of the Jews approached the altar to profane himself and the Israelites with such an act of idolatry, Mattathias was consumed by Zeal and he sprang to action and killed the man before he could offer the sacrifice of  sacrilege and tore down the false altar. 

Then he fled to the mountains leaving behind all his possessions.  Upon his death bed he says this, "arrogance and scorn have now grown strong; it is a time of disaster and violent anger.  Therefore my sons, be zealous for the law and give your lives for the covenant of our fathers."

Jesus isn't asking us to kill anyone but in some sense he is asking us to be zealous for the law, that is to truly love God above all and our neighbor as ourself.  We must let our love for God inform our love for others and not the other way around.  

Too often have we compromised our love for God because we are afraid we might offend our neighbor.  How tragic! How insulting to God!

Jesus is also asking us to give our lives for the covenant of our fathers.  In deed, every time we gather around the altar we witness the covenant, we enter into the covenant by which Jesus sheds his blood, he renounces his possessions and he chooses to hate all so that he might love God truly and only then does he love us properly. 

We are called to give our lives in the same manner.  Ordered love is what we are called to be about so that our witness might be purified and our light might shine. 

Pope Benedict on Monday in his homily exhorts us, "If God loved us freely and shows that love in Christ gift of himself, we too can make our lives a free gift for others."

This is what hate and renunciation is about.  It isn't negative but rather positive.  It is about making space in ourselves so that we might become the gift of properly order love to the world and thus we will be "blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine like lights in the world, as you hold on to the word of life..."

As you let the word posses you, you will dart like sparks through the stubble of the world setting the world a blaze with zeal for the Lord.

attitude

Philippians 2:5-11; Psalm 22 I will praise you Lord in the assembly of your people; 

Luke 14:15-24

St. Paul tells us today to"have among yourselves the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus."

What is an attitude?

Often times when we think of attitude we think of two classifications: good and bad. 

These are the two words that are associated with attitude. 

But there is more to attitude then just good and bad, positive or negative behavior. 

The word attitude actually comes from Italian word that means posture.  It refers to how we physically stand and move in the world.  In fact Ballet speaks of attitudes when it refers to particular dance postures and moves. 

What was Jesus' attitude?

We see his attitude on the Cross.  There his arms are raised high and wide open.  This is a posture of complete surrender.  It is both spiritual and physical.  

In the mass when we pray the 'Our Father', we are asked to extend our hands outward and upward.  We do this to imitate the attitude of Jesus. We do this to surrender ourselves to the prayer and allow ourselves to be fully involved in what we pray so that we can live the same way as we stand and move in the world.

It is good randomly throughout the day to lift your arms upward and outward in the posture of surrender, in the attitude of Jesus.  When we do so, we open ourselves up to God's grace and we allow the selfishness to subside and give way to magnanimity of soul, making space so Jesus may take control. 

Have the attitude of Christ, when you don't let his attitude have you with arms outstretched upward and outward. 

  

name calling

Philippians 2:1-4; Psalm 131 In you O Lord I have found my peace; Luke 14:12-14

Today in the life of the Church we celebrate the memorial of Martin de Porres.  

Martin grew up in serious poverty.  He was the illegitimate child of a black woman from Panama and a Spaniard noble man in Peru.  His father despised him because Martin favored his mother in complexion and eventually Martin's father abandoned them.

Martin was called many names growing up: mullato, half-breed, bastard child.  

He refused to let the names determine his value and what he valued. 

Though he was despised by his earthly father, he did not turn against his Father in heaven. It was his devotion to the Father in heaven that gave him strength to rise above is circumstance and to devote his life to the least in the kingdom. 

Martin dedicated his life to helping to poor, the slaves, the prisoners, the sick.  Since he was born the least he dedicated his life to the least. 

 

As his reputation spread of doing good people from all over started to call him a new name, "Martin the Charitable."

Martin knew that he could not change the fact that he was a half-breed, illegitimate son of a father who did not care but he also knew he could not change the reality that he was child of God, it was this heritage that determined his value and the value of others and nothing less. 

Martin lived out the words of St. Paul,

 "humbly regard others as more than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interest, but also for those of others."  

He also followed through on the gospel, 

"When you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.  For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

"God of all mercy, you transformed Saint Martin de Porres and made him a new creature in your image.  Renew us in the same way...may each of us also be called by a different name, so that our names may be called in Heaven." 

All souls: Deus Caritas Est

Wisdom 3:1-9; Psalm 23 The Lord is my Shepherd there is nothing I shall want; Romans 5:5-11, 6:3-9; John 6:37-40

Today we pray for those who have died.  We remember today that the real frontier that awaits us all is not the one between earthly life and death but rather that which is between life with Christ and life without him. 

St. Paul reminds us that if we have faith in Christ and are Baptized in him nothing can separate us from his love not even death. 

The Christian faith tells us that there are two permanent realities that await us: Hell and Heaven. 

Hell is a real possibility.  Hell reminds us that God has an unconditional respect for the freedom he has given us.  We have a personal responsibility to choose our destiny, to cooperate with the gift of faith.  Hell is a relationship in which we are completely isolated and alienated from all that is good and beautiful.  It is a permanent state of rejection.

Heaven is the definitive completion of the human existence which comes through love which faith tends.  It is a relationship of complete communion and intimacy with God and with those who are in God.  It is a communion that is fully alive and vibrant.

We cannot pray for those in Hell for they have made their choice.  We need not pray for those in Heaven for they are already there and are praying for us. 

Who do we pray for today? 

This is where the Church's  teaching on Purgatory comes in.

In the book of Revelation 21:27, John tells us that "nothing profane shall enter heaven."

What does this mean?  It means that only those who have been perfected shall enter heaven. 

We are saved by the full ascent of faith.  However, this basic option of faith often times lies buried beneath layers of wood, straw, and stubble and needs to be dug out.  Our fundamental yes to Christ is often hidden because we drag our feet and continue to cling to small sins and attachments to evil that weigh us down like barnacles on a ship.  These need to be removed. 

In this life we experience purging with every act of faith and charity thus we remove ourselves from these things; but sometimes we die with them.  What next?

St. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 3:13-16, 

"the work of each will be made clear.  The Day will disclose it.  That day will make its appearance with fire, and fire will test the quality of man's work.  If the building a man has raised on this foundation  still stands, he will receive his recompense; if a man's building burns, he will suffer loss.  He himself will be saved, but only as one fleeing through fire." 

This fire of purgation is nothing but the divine flame of Jesus' love that burns brightly and seeks to cut open our closed heart and melt it and pour it in to a new mold so that it might fit into the living organism of the glorified body.  Through the fire we are made into perfected vessels of God's glory. 

The impurities that have weighed us down, that we have carried with us are now removed.  This purgation is a product of God's mercy and love shown to us one the cross.  Redemption belongs to Christ but we too have a personal responsibility for appropriating the gift of redemption in our life. 

God refuses to remove our personal responsibility. 

Analogy 

Purgatory is like the going to dentist.  My mother used to take me to the dentist because she loved me and she wanted me to have healthy teeth.  Though she loved me she could not brush my teeth for me, that was my responsibility. 

While in the chair, the dentist would be peering from above gazing into my mouth.  And there all my sins would be revealed.  All those moments of dragging my feet in not flossing, all those moments of dragging my feet and not brushing as I should was revealed.  The tartar and plaque was evidence of my neglect; so was the receding gum lines and the cavities.  There the dentist worked to remove all that which had built up over time.  It hurt.  I had to suffer the loss of that which had become part of me; I had to suffer the loss of that which was a product of my neglect, a product of my refusal to love myself. 

My mother could not do it for me; but it was because of her love I was given the opportunity to be renewed and reformed and refreshed. 

Then the dentist polished my teeth and I was a brand new man restored and made whole enabled to receive fully the reward, usually a sweet candy, a sweetness that always points to Heaven. 

The question remains how can our prayers be effective?

How do we pray for the dead?  How does what we do help those who are being purged?

The central expression of Christianity is self-substituting love.  Jesus substitutes his love for us so that we might be redeemed.  When we are baptized, we share in the ministry of Christ.  We become ministers of reconciliation, ambassadors of Christ, as St. Paul tells us.

We share in the charity of Christ.  

We must remember that God could have done redemption without us but he always chooses to incorporate us in the work of redemption.  This is why he took the form of flesh.  Thus he chooses to allow us to be a part of redemption not only for ourselves but also for others.

Also, we must remember, it is a greater act of charity to allow others to participate in charity as well, rather than just to do it alone. 

Our praying for the dead and offering sacrifices for them does not take away from the charity of Christ but it magnifies it.  We do because Christ did.  

We must never forget that we are all part of the body of Christ and we are all connected.  What one does affects all, when one rejoices we all rejoices and when one suffers we all suffer.  

Praying for the dead is sharing in the charity of Christ and is fully realizing the impact of being a member of the Body of Christ. 

Those who are dead look at us and say, "I hope in you for me" and when they get to heaven we say, "I hope in you for me."  It is a beautiful tapestry of charity that reflects most perfectly the God, Deus Caritas Est,  as Sacred Scripture reveals, God is love, a love that is forever communal and thus in eternity God will be all in all.

Sabbath

Philippians 1:1-11; Psalm 111 How great are the works of the Lord; Luke 14:1-6

For Israel the observance of the Sabbath with scrupulous care was the central expression of life in the covenant with God.

The dispute about what did and did not belong to the Sabbath was at the heart of Jesus' difference with the people of Israel, especially the Pharisees.  

The Sabbath was about imitating God who rested.  It was the one day of the week in which all things ceased and rest was embraced so that the circle of the family could be reformed.  It was a vital part of living the faith and a vital aspect to society.

In the gospel today Jesus is dining with one of the leading Pharisees.  A leading Pharisee was one who lived with a strict interpretation of the law and who was a model of behavior for all other Pharisees. 

Jesus encounters a man suffering from dropsy.  Dropsy was a illness in which the body was retaining fluid which usually led to swelling of the legs and feet.  Congestive heart failure was probably the reason behind the swelling.  It is a very common ailment that accompanies old age.

The man with dropsy was probably a family member of the Pharisee.  On observing the Sabbath, the Israelites were forbidden to travel long distances and had to remain at home. 

The clearest way of reforming the inner circle of the family was to spend time together and this was a positive result of observing the Sabbath. 

Jesus in performing the miracle seeks to clarify the importance of tending to the people who need assistance as an integral part of observing the Sabbath, as imitating God. 

The question he posed is still very salient to us today. "Who among you , if your son or ox falls into Cistern, would not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?"

Jesus reminds us that it is good to care for animals but never to the neglect of persons. 

Secondly, that what we would do for a child we should also be willing to do for all.  Jesus stretches our concern for all and includes all in the inner circle of our family.

In the Sabbath is meant to reform the inner circle of our family and reform society, then our family must never be a closed circle but must always make room for all at the table.

In Christ we are strangers no longer; in Christ the table is meant to be room for all. 

As we move forward in our life, we must always keep a space at our table for all, including the outcast, the sick, the immigrants, and those who are different than us.  This way we truly learn to be godly in our life and the Sabbath rest penetrates our very lives. 

We must not just keep the Sabbath but we must let the Sabbath keep us.