birth of John the baptist: what will this child be?

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

John along with Mary are the only two birthdays we celebrate in the liturgy of the Church outside of course, the Birth of Christ himself.

Thus, we must pause today to remind ourselves that the birth of John the Baptist is a big deal. John's birth marks the beginning of the fulfillment of the divine promises: John is the prophet who is destined to be the immediate precursor of the Messiah, to prepare the people for his coming.

He begins what Isaiah speaks of in today's first reading, "my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth." God has big plans and John the Baptist is sent to prepare the way for the plan of God to unfold in Christ.

John's life shows us that our life, if it is to be meaningful, must always be "relative" to Christ and is fulfilled by accepting him, which connects us to God's big plans.

The program of life that John the Baptist lived can be summed up in this little phrase pressed upon his lips in the gospel, "He must increase, I must decrease." Here in lies the program of our lives.

Here in lies the answer to the question posed in the gospel, "What, then, will this child be?"

The million dollar question that is pressed upon the lips of many parents as they hold their children in their arms and watch they grow. Most parents have big dreams.

None had bigger dreams than God the Father. But then again this is no dream. This child shall become the "voice" crying in the wilderness to "prepare the way of the Lord." This Child shall stand before the crowd and point at Christ and proclaim, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world."

This child is the voice of the ages because He points toward the eternal Word himself, Jesus the Christ.

The beauty of John the Baptist is that he never speaks just to hear himself talk. Every time he opens his mouth, it is filled with meaning and leaves a lasting impact. He never says anything that didn't mean something. There are no careless words that leave his mouth; all are spoken directly and assertively and purposefully.

Every word is directed toward the Word, the face of God in Christ. Never upon the lips of John the Baptist do we find those words often thrown about in our life, "I didn't mean anything by it." John means something and this something is a someone, Christ.

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.

This alone invites all to become part of God's big plans.

self-praise

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

In the gospel for today we hear these words from Jesus,

"Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name? Then I will declare to them solemnly, 'I never knew you, Depart form me, yo evil doers."


First of all, obviously or at least seems to me to be obvious that, "on that day" refers to the end of time and the beginning of eternity. This is judgment, this is the last judgement, when we shall meet the Lord face to face.

Think about that moment for a moment. What would we say in that moment?

In dying every man arrives at the moment of truth. There is no concealment, no hiding.

What is shocking about the the people referred to in the gospel is what they say. In the moment of truth, looking into the face of Christ who redeemed them, whose blood was spilled for them, they sing their own praises.

"Lord, Lord, did we not...."

Self-praise before the Lord who deserves our praise.

What audacity! What perversion! No wonder Jesus' response is what it is, "I never knew you. Depart from me yo evil doers."

Think again about the response of Jesus, "I never knew you."

Jesus did not know them because they did not know him. They knew about him but they did not get to know him. They were too busy stroking their own egos.

Be on the look out for self-praise. So what is our response then.

Perhaps the psalmist has it right, "give thanks to the Lord, for he is good."

Self-praise becomes praise of him. This is our proper response when standing before the Lord on our knees in thanksgiving.

Thus, thanksgiving is preparation for that day when it comes.

This is how we prepare for the moment of truth. Giving thanks and praise prepares us for the moment that awaits us.

On earth as it is in heaven....

Credit line of faith

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

"He took him outside and said:
“Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can.
Just so,” he added, “shall your descendants be.”
Abram put his faith in the LORD,
who credited it to him as an act of righteousness."



Just a bit today on our first reading. Now to get the full impact of today's selection you have read the entire section otherwise you will miss the beauty of Abram's faith.


Before this particular section I have copied above, Abram is complaining to God because he remains childless. HE questions God as to how he can be a father of many if he doesn't even have one heir. This is a pretty good question to pose.

So in order to get Abram to relax and trust, God takes him outside and ask Abram to look around and to count the stars.

In other words god tells Abram, "lets take this outside."

Now go back to you childhood for a moment. Remember those days when you would look up into the night sky and try to count the stars. I am sure we have all tried to count stars at least once in our life. Each time we attempted it, we got quickly overwhelmed by the vastness of the sky and we lost count because of the beauty and awe that filled us.

Now this isn't what happens to Abram.

At first glance we think this may be the case, but if you read further in this particular passage of Genesis ch 15 you discover that God takes Abram outside to count stars in the middle of the day.

Here is the rest of the passage for your reading enjoyment:

He then said to him,
“I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans
to give you this land as a possession.”
“O Lord GOD,” he asked,
“how am I to know that I shall possess it?”
He answered him,
“Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat,
a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
Abram brought him all these, split them in two,
and placed each half opposite the other;
but the birds he did not cut up.
Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses,
but Abram stayed with them.
As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram,
and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.

When the sun had set and it was dark,
there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch,
which passed between those pieces.
It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram,
saying: “To your descendants I give this land,
from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River the Euphrates."


Notice that the sun doesn't set until after Abram gets the animals for the sacrifice,
which means of course it was still day when God ask Abram to count the stars in the sky.

Now, think about that for a moment. God asks Abram to count the stars in the sky during the middle of the day. The stars are not yet out while the sun is shining. They are present but they are shielded form sight because of the light of the sun.

Now imagine Abram's surprise when God took him outside and asked him to count the stars in the middle of the day. What a lesson to learn.

St. Paul put it this way, "we walk by faith not by sight."

God invites Abram to be patient. God asks Abram to trust what he cannot see and to not let his sight bring blindness to his life of faith.

How often do we let our sight, what we see or not see, bring blindness to our life of faith?

When in doubt, step outside in the middle of the day and count the stars and be credited as one who is righteous.

This is the credit we live our life on. The credit line of faith helps us move beyond the line of sight that often hinders our ability to surrender, to love, to hope, to believe.

A simple lesson for today as we walk by faith and not by sight.

In the words of god to Abram that begin the passage, "Fear not..."

A little prose from A.J. Cronin:

"Life is no straight and easy corridor along which we travel free and unhampered,
but a maze of passage through which we must seek our way lost and confused, now and again checked in a blind alley.

But always, if we have faith God will open a door for us,
not perhaps one that we ourselves would ever have thought of, but
one that will ultimately prove good for us."

HOly Trinity

This past week Friday I was invited to a parishioners house to delve into her Genealogical research. She informed me that we were related through her late husband's family.

So i went and sure enough, we were related. My great, great, great grandfather and his great grandfather were the same person.

Johann Christ was the root of our relation. Johann's oldest son is my great great grandfather. In fact, JOhann, i discovered to my delight is buried in High Hill cemetery, the place I have been serving for the past year. IN fact, I spent friday afternoon at his grave sight.

It was neat to discover that i have a little Christ's blood in me....if you don't mind the play on words.

As I was looking through the records I was surprised to discover that through my great great great grandfather I was related, though distantly, to many of the parishioners here in Schulenburg.

What a small world. IN fact, when you do Genealogical digging, I discovered that the furthest you go back the more likely you are related to people you never thought possible.

THis discovery changes how one relates with others. I found my self feeling different and wanting to be better.

This is some degree is what the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity is about. This feast is about who God is from all eternity. IT takes all back to our root, where we all come from.

We come from that eternal communion of love that seeks to create space for the other. THis communion of love that is distinct yet the same. God doesn't have love but rather he is love, love that reaches outward toward the other.

This is the root of our life, the connect that binds us all together.
This is important. We are made in the image and likeness of God. Thus, who God is determines who we are called to be. God's revelation is our illumination.

IF we are to ever reach our potential that we too must learn to be as God is, that communion of love that doesn't seek it self in love but rather seeks to give that love away. Here in lies the source of our joy and happiness.

Remember the first words spoken by God in Genesis that is negative. Adam is alone in the garden with the animals and eve has not yet arrived and God speaks, "It is not good for man to be alone."

Why is it not good to be alone. Alone we can never enter into that mutual exchange of giving and receiving love. Only with another can we become who we are created to be and truly realize our identity and purpose as being made in the image and likeness of God.

Only in communion can we truly experience the truth our being. W eare all different but we are all the same in love as revealed by God as a Most HOly Trinity

Treasure

Today we hear these words from Jesus from the gospel of Matthew, "Store up treasures in heaven...for where your treasure is, there also your heart will be." Matthew 6:19-23


What occupies your heart most of the days and nights will reveal to your where you have decided to place your hopes and dreams. What occupies your heart shows you what treasure you have set your eyes upon.

Where is your treasure? Have you stored up treasure in heaven?

Do you want the treasure Christ offers for you?

We put many things way that we value; but how often do we have others put things away for us they value most of all?

I talked to my little nephew today who was going to the bank in shiner because they wanted to stash away some old coins they had purchased. They did not want to lose it.

Christ has stashed away a treasure for us. He values us that much. He does not want us to lose it. In fact the treasure is us who arrive where we are called. Jesus said he has prepared a place for us. He has prepared a place for us because he values us that much.

The place has been prepared for the treasure that God sees in us.

DO we want it? Do we live for it? Is our heart where our treasure is?

OUr Father revisited

"Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name...
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven...
Give us this day our daily bread...
forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us..
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen."


what i want you to pay attention to is what Jesus says right before He gives the disciples this prayer.

"Your Father knows what you need before you ask him..."

Think about that for a moment. Jesus acknowledges that we are needed. HE acknowledges that our needs are not known to us alone but are known by the Father. Then he gives us this prayer, which means this prayer is an answer to our needs but also a guide to help us understand exactly what we need.

Left to our own devices we want more than we need. ANd because of original sin we mistake our wants for our needs which usually gets us into hot water and if not hot then at least deep.


So if we analyze the prayer then we discover our basic needs in life that leads us and guide us home.

What do we need? There is the million dollar question.

There are five basic needs of the human person as it journeys forth in the spiritual life...

1) OUr Father who are in heaven hallowed be thy name...this is an invitation to adoration. The human person needs to adore something greater than its self. We need to adore the Father. This is a basic necessity of life.

2)Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven...This is an invitation to surrender. WE are invited to surrender to God's plan in our life. We need to let God's plan become our plan. Our often do our expectations interfere with God's workings. This surrender means God's will must be done in us on earth. Every person undergoes an experience of the agony on the garden, "Let this come pass but be not my will but yours."

3)Give us this day our daily bread...we do not live on bread alone, at least ordinary bread. In greek word for daily in this context is supernatural or supersubstantial. Our sustenance does not revolve around ordinary food but rather we need food that comes from God. Is this not the Eucharist, the bread of angels given by God for our nourishment. This is the bread we should knock at heavens door for each day. This is what we should hunger for.

4) Forgive us or trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us...this is an invitation for us to be like God. Lord, make our hearts like yours that we may do as you do. Forgiveness is not an option but a reality of life. We forgive because while we were sinners Christ died for us. HE did not wait for us to say we were sorry. His pride did not interfere with his ability to reach out to us long before we ever reached for him.

5) lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil...
God alone must escort through life. We need his guidance because we are weak and in need of his strength. We are reminded as we say this that we are not as strong as we think we are. We must stay connected by begging the lord to strengthen us daily and giving us the insight necessary so that we do not put ourselves in harms way.

Just a little reflection.

The five basic food groups are necessary for healthy living. The Our Father lays bare the basic necessity of the interior life as we seek to keep and guard a healthy relationship with God in Christ by the Spirit and with one another.

will of God done in us

Matthew 6

Today JEsus teaches us to pray, "Our Father who are in HEaven, Hallowed be thy name....thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven...lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil."

This prayer according to St. Augustin is a compendium of the gospel. IT teaches us everything we need to know and do in order to follow Christ faithfully.

St Cyprian reminds us as we pray, "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" that we should be reminded that God's will is done in us. His will is to be done in us and we cannot do this without his strength, his help, his protection. JEsus is the one in the garden that shows us the way; his agony is the preparation and educational tool necessary for us to understand how to surrender so that God's will shall be made known in and through us.

What is the will of God according to St. Cyprian,

"Humility in our daily lives, an unwavering faith, a moral sense of modesty in conversation, justice in acts, mercy in deed, discipline, refusal to harm others, a readiness to suffer harm, peacebleness with our brothers, a whole hearted love of the Lord, loving in him what is of the Father, fearing him because he is God, preferring nothing to him who preferred nothing t us, clinging tenaciously to his love, standing by his cross with loyalty and courage whenever there is any conflict involving his honor or name, manifesting in our speech the constancy of our profession and under torture confidence for the fight, and in dying the endurance for which we will be crowned-this is what it means to be a coheir with Christ, to keep God's command: this is what it means to do the will of the Father."


St. Cyprian pray for us.