that Guy

Jeremiah 7:23-28; Ps 95 If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts; Luke 11:14-23

Today is the feast of St. Guy of Pomposa.
No he is not the one pictured above from the food network. Same name but different Guy, you get it....

Today is my first encounter with St. Guy. He lived during the 11th century in Italy. From early on he was moved to give away everything and embrace the life of a hermit for three years before entering the abbey at Pomposa.

His wisdom and holiness became the talk of the town and people from all over flocked. That Guy was Good and Holy.

I love that Guy. What a Guy! Pun intended.

Of course in Italian his name is probably Guido, which means leader. Yet, with a name like Guido you would think he belonged to the Mafia. In some sense, he belongs to God's Mafia, also known as the Church Triumphant or otherwise the Communion of Saints. St. Guy pray for us.

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The words of Jeremiah strike to the heart today, "They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me...They have not obeyed me nor paid heed; they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their fathers...This is the nation that does not listen to the voice of the Lord, its God, or take correction. Faithfulness has disappeared; the word itself is banished from their speech."

Wow! SOunds the people of Jeremiah's time were in need of a holy Chiropractor to un-stiffen their necks, to un-harden their hearts, to loosen their joints so that they may once again seek to Lord.

The phrase that takes the ticket for our day and age is, "this is the nation that does not listen to the voice of the lord, its God, or take correction."

Isn't that true for all of us. We love to think we are right, all the time. We love to think that others are wrong. We love to presume that we could never be wrong. But we are wrong.

We can be wrong in our ways, in our thinking, in our acting. It is exactly this reality that makes the presence of God so essential for healthy living. We live in age that says that everything is dependent upon my personal opinion or whim. We have created a world view that seeks to eliminated the objective truth God seeks to reveal in Christ through his Church.

Our necks are stiffen and our hearts are harden when it comes to admitting that perhaps we can be wrong and that truth is not equal with our personal opinions.

It is true we must have a personal relationship with God, with Christ. But we do so because Jesus is a person, Our relationship must be mediated by his truth, his presence, his teachings not rooted or based in what I might think is good for me.

This is the error we face.

Like in the gospel, we must be willingly to allow Jesus, the one who waves the finger of God, to remove our armor, the wills we have built. We must let his truth penetrate in order to guide.

We must be willing to be corrected often.

Otherwise, we will be too hard.

teach them to your children

Deut. 4:1,5-9; Psalm 147 Praise the Lord Jerusalem; Matthew 5:17-19

In today's first reading we encounter Moses standing before the people of Israel and giving them a last minute pep talk, getting them ready to enter into the promise land.

Moses will not be joining them in the promise land, he will be handing the reigns over to another. Of course, we know transitions can be tough and trying times. How often do we encounter people seeking to take advantage of times of transition for their own advancement.

Moses aware of the human element at play in every community, he takes these last breaths of his to encourage and warn the people about fidelity and infidelity. He reminds them of all that God has done and all that God will do and all that God ask from his people as they receive the promise God had desires to give them.

Today's reading ends with these words, "Take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children's children."

The future of the nation of Israel is dependent on the future generation and how they are taught and guided. This generation is meant to be formed and shaped by the words and deeds of God as he revealed himself in the desert wanderings.

You would think this is a no brainer. You would think that training and educating the children is par for the course. But apparently it wasn't then and certainly isn't now.

I once had a couple who told me that they were not going to teach their children the faith because they wanted them to choose on their own. They didn't want to interfere with their children.

This seems to be a common misunderstanding that many parents embrace today.

If we do not teach our children, if we do not formed them and shape them, then what will they stand on. If do not give them a foundation or basis of right and wrong or good and evil then what will their minds grab hold of, what will be the anchor of strength in their life.

Parents tell me they don't want to indoctrinate their children. Isn't not teaching them, still teaching them! Isn't refusing to pas son doctrine in itself indoctrinating them!

The parents who tell me this really are not concerned about their children. They are more concerned about themselves. THey excuse themselves form the very responsibility God places upon them. They use their children as a scape goat. Rather, they embracing the role as guardian they pass the buck to their unsuspecting child who is thrown to the wolves with the defense.

Most time I reminds the parents that they go out of the way to protect the health of their child. They buy the best diapers, the best lotion, the best clothes. they spend countless dollars of good food and good nutrition. They take their child to the doctor when he is sick. They do all this for the body, won't they also have the same concern for the child's spirit.

Common sense has been trampled upon in our society. Perhaps it was the same in the time of Moses.

It is time to rediscover this reality. It is time for parents to be parents. It is time for them to give them a foundation to stand on so that they know what it good and evil, right and wrong. Without a foundation the children are left to their own device and we know how that turns out.

Give them a foundation. What they do with it is their business. Not to give them anything is like refusing to feed them and clothed them. Even CPS would have something to say about that.

tattletale

Matthew 18:21-35

In today's gospel we here those familiar words spoken by JEsus, "seven times seventy" when asked the question "how often must I forgive someone?"

Now isn't that a question for the ages. How often must i forgive when someone offends, hurts, ridicules, betrays, hates, harms and the list goes on.

The ultimately the question is really about when is enough a enough.

The reality is this. Forgiveness doesn't entail putting oneself continually in harms ways. Sometimes we have to choose to love from afar, from a distance.

Forgiveness doesn't mean we are gluttons for punishment as they say. We have to be smart. Giving the gift of forgiveness does not mean we leave our brain at the door.

We have to learn from our experience. We must take what we learn and live smarter, better, more resourceful. At the same time we can forgive and choose not to bound by thoughts of vengeance, grudging, revenge and the like.


So forgive seventy times seven, it makes life truly blest.

However, what is most fascinating about this particular passage is the story Jesus tells about the servant who is forgiven his debt by the king but yet refuses to do the same to his servant. Rather than do to others has he received he tries to hold the burden over the head the other.

He takes the mercy he was given and chooses to uses it as a power trip. Rather than being humbled by the gift he allows his pride cause a uprising.

As you notice in the story what is really fascinating are the onlookers. The spectators who know what has happen, who know the mercy that was given. They are bothered by the unforgiving servant's actions.

Rather than stand idly bye and do nothing they interfere, they stand in the way. Rather than turning a way and choosing not to get involved they take a stand for justice.

Mercy and justice go hand in hand.

This is what we must do. We must be like the spectators who upon seeing injustice act in order to rectify. They refuse to be silent and they choose to step in and make a change rather than let the innocent suffer at the hand of a brute who is too prideful to let humility be his guide.

"Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to the master and reported the whole affair."

They were tattletales. And isn't that great.

Sometimes we got to get involved and let justice truly be served.

Reflection by St Peter C.

Every now and then I come across a reflection from a saint and I think that it worth sharing with many. This morning a came across a little Ditty from St Peter C. Here it is in it's entirety. Read it slow and let it sink it like a nice summer shower. May it water the furrows of your soul giving your will and intellect nourishment.

Second reading
From a sermon by Saint Peter Chrysologus, bishop
Prayer knocks, fasting obtains, mercy receives

There are three things, my brethren, by which faith stands firm, devotion remains constant, and virtue endures. They are prayer, fasting and mercy. Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy receives. Prayer, mercy and fasting: these three are one, and they give life to each other.

Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them; they cannot be separated. If you have only one of them or not all together, you have nothing. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others you open God’s ear to yourself.

When you fast, see the fasting of others. If you want God to know that you are hungry, know that another is hungry. If you hope for mercy, show mercy. If you look for kindness, show kindness. If you want to receive, give. If you ask for yourself what you deny to others, your asking is a mockery.

Let this be the pattern for all men when they practice mercy: show mercy to others in the same way, with the same generosity, with the same promptness, as you want others to show mercy to you.

Therefore, let prayer, mercy and fasting be one single plea to God on our behalf, one speech in our defense, a threefold united prayer in our favor.

Let us use fasting to make up for what we have lost by despising others. Let us offer our souls in sacrifice by means of fasting. There is nothing more pleasing that we can offer to God, as the psalmist said in prophecy: A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; God does not despise a bruised and humbled heart.

Offer your soul to God, make him an oblation of your fasting, so that your soul may be a pure offering, a holy sacrifice, a living victim, remaining your own and at the same time made over to God. Whoever fails to give this to God will not be excused, for if you are to give him yourself you are never without the means of giving.

To make these acceptable, mercy must be added. Fasting bears no fruit unless it is watered by mercy. Fasting dries up when mercy dries up. Mercy is to fasting as rain is to the earth. However much you may cultivate your heart, clear the soil of your nature, root out vices, sow virtues, if you do not release the springs of mercy, your fasting will bear no fruit.

When you fast, if your mercy is thin your harvest will be thin; when you fast, what you pour out in mercy overflows into your barn. Therefore, do not lose by saving, but gather in by scattering. Give to the poor, and you give to yourself. You will not be allowed to keep what you have refused to give to others.

Give something To drink

Jesus in his conversation with the Samaritan at the well ask her to give him something to drink. St Augustine in his commentary on this passage tells us that Jesus ask for a drink because He is thirsting for her faith.

Think about that for a moment. How often we ask Jesus to do things for us? How often we are on the seeking and wanting end of the conversation with God, yet we seldom reflect on the fact that Jesus also is on the seeking end or the wanting end. Jesus wants something from us. He is thirsting for our faith!

Have we given him something to drink? Have we sought to quench his thirst for faith?

What a marvelous way to live out lent seeking to quench the thirst of Jesus by living out our faith boldly and courageously refusing to be stymied.

The Samaritan women leaves the well and goes and tells everyone about Jesus. By her changed life she quenched the thirst of Jesus. He gives her living water of faith and she in turn gives to others. In giving she quenched the desire of Christ.

Instead of thinking about what you desire for God to do or what you desire to change this lent, spend a few moments thinking about what God desires. What does God desire but nothing less than a drink or a drop of faith from us.

Give him something to drink and never thirst again. In giving we receive!

Here are a couple of morning hymns to Jump start the day and recharge for lent


"Nearer, still nearer, close to Thy heart,
Draw me, my Savior—so precious Thou art!
Fold me, oh, fold me close to Thy breast.
Shelter me safe in that “Haven of Rest”;
Shelter me safe in that “Haven of Rest.”

Nearer, still nearer, nothing I bring,
Naught as an offering to Jesus, my King;
Only my sinful, now contrite heart.
Grant me the cleansing Thy blood doth impart.
Grant me the cleansing Thy blood doth impart."

"Glory be to thee who safe hast kept,
and hast refreshed me whilst I slept;
grant, Lord, when I from death shall wake,
I may of endless light partake.

Lord, I may vows to thee renew;
scatter my sins as morning dew;
guard my first springs of thought and will,
and with thyself my spirit fill.

Direct, control, suggest, this day,
all I design, or do, or say;
that all my powers, with all their might,
in thy sole glory may unite.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
praise him, all creatures here below;
praise him above, ye heavenly host;
praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen."

Preparing for this Sunday

Here is a reflection on this up coming gospel about the Samaritan Women who encounters Jesus at the well. Talk about life changing encounters. Read the reflection and prepare your mind and heart for the encounter that awaits you this third Sunday of lent.


Reflect on these words by Jean Vanier in light of the Gospel of the Samaritan woman: "Our brokenness is the wound through which the full power of God can penetrate our being and transfigure us in God. Loneliness is not something from which we must flee but the place from where we can cry out to God, where God will find us and we can find God. Yes, through our wounds the power of God can penetrate us and become like rivers of living water to irrigate the arid earth within us. Thus we may irrigate the arid earth of others so that hope and love are reborn."