The great Pretenders….

Today in our daily mass readings we read from St. Matthew’s gospel, chapter six, the way we are to live as people who follow Jesus. He states that to follow him we will need to pray, fast, and give alms. Not only that but he very clearly shows us the models that we are not to follow: those who like to show everyone else how pious they are. He then calls them hypocrites, from the Greek which means “pretenders”.

I couldn’t help but think of that song of which I have the melody playing in my head but can’t seem to find the words to. Anyhow, I digress!

Jesus asks each one of us to be motivated by one thing only: communion with God. It is this desire that sustains our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Minus communion with our Creator our efforts are meaningless. That means that love of God will move us from selfishness to selflessness. Hmm…. I wonder if anyone is listening? I know I need to!

The reality of many Christians and I mean all Christians alike is that we have become too concerned with what we do for God and not what God has done for us. We try to impress people with our knowledge of God’s word but yet we call others who don’t agree with our interpretation damned! I believe Jesus poignantly pointed out to the “sola scriptura” (the law alone, sorry modern day Protestants– no offense intended) advocates of his time, the scribes and Pharisee’s that they were misled in their understanding of the scriptures and who Jesus is.

We offer prayer after prayer and recieve man’s applause: we certainly have recieved our reward! Pretenders love the attention of others and love to hear how great they are. Pretenders look and appear to be pious and holy yet inwardly they are cold and heartless to the poor, the downtrodden, the afflicted, the hurting, the lonely, the aged, the unborn, and so on and so forth.

If our love of God does not blossom in love for neighbor we are like clanging symbols! If our love our God moves us to be concerned only with our own problems we are doomed to loneliness and despair.

Jesus says to follow him. If we have eyes to see we should see Jesus in our neighbor, our wife, husband, children, parents, the unlovable, the marginalized, and everyone else God places in our lives. May the Spirit convict our hearts to review our spirituality to see what really motivates our walk with the Lord.

Are we pretenders or are we Christians?

What is it?

This past Sunday we read from the book of Dueteronomy the promise made by God to the Israelites: not by bread alone shall you eat… Not even the manna given them in the desert as a result of their lack of trust was God going to bring Israel to salvation. It was through the Bread of Life, Jesus Son of God, who is the bread come down from heaven for which we will all be saved.

In St. John’s gospel we read precisely what the manna of the desert is NOT: Jesus Christ! Scandalous was the response by most of those who heard this declaration in Chapter 6 right after two other miracles to announce to the people who Jesus really is. And so troubling was this announcement to those who heard it that many returned to their former life and STOPPED following Jesus because of it.

Interestingly enough Jesus never states that he meant this teaching metaphorically or symbolically, or even spiritually. He meant it literally and they could not believe: “this is a hard saying, who can listen to it?”

Today many Christians tell Catholics, Orthodox Christians (I mention the two oldest Christian religions because it is only the “man-made” denominations that seem to struggle with this teaching. One must wonder why?) and the like that we worship wafers, cookies, lifeless bread. Many Christians believe Jesus meant this only symbolically. So when they witness such things they too ask, “What is it? (Hebrew for manna).

May Catholic’s never cease to proclaim Jesus as the bread come down form heaven. It is the Bread of Life who will sustain our spiritual lives. As a matter of fact, it is because of the Bread of Life that we live life in the Spirit for it is he who is Spirit and Life. What greater God than to have a God who wants to be completely consumed by us so that we may become what we eat!

Amen, the Body of Christ, Amen,  the Blood of the Lord, eating your body, drinking your blood, we become what we recieve, Amen! Amen! (excerp from a song tiltled “AMEN, EL Cuerpo De Cristo”, copyright 1996 By John Schiavone. Sacred. Octavo. Published by OCP)

That they may be one….

I find it disheartening when I hear people taking great pride in the fact that Christianity is divided. It makes me reflect on John 17 all the more and the Spirit within me weeps at the message we send to all people of goodwill: The body of Christ is divided!

But I would like to assert that the mystery of Christ’s body can not take pride in this sad reality because of one important fact noted by the Second Vatican Council document on ecumenism: Christ’s body is not divided. He never intended for the body of Christ to be divided into numerous smaller bodies. It makes no sense and it contradicts John’s 17th chapter of his gospel.

When are we going to get it? When is the Spirit of GOD going to prevail upon us that divisions among God’s people is the poorest witness (Greek derivative: martyr) to the Gospel of love? When are we going to figure it out that one can not divide God into separate parts and one should not divide Christ’s body likewise. It makes NO sense. And I find this pride of those who perpetuate division as quite troublesome!

Spirit of the living God fall afresh on us. Mold us, melt us, form us, use us. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on us!

The Spirit of the Lord is upon us….

The entire week we read from St. John’s holy gospel about the Holy Spirit as described by Jesus. One only has to wonder what the conversation must have been like as Jesus speaks (chapter 14 – 16). It is not  coincidence that it is the beloved disciple who writes this in detail. Wasn’t it the beloved disciple who rested his head on the chest of Jesus? Wasn’t it the same disciple who had to have heard the heart of Jesus beating within his holy and sacred body while he rested upon his heart? And who else would it be to describe for us the “true” Spirit that Jesus wants all of us to encounter in our own lives?

Go to these chapters of John’s gospel and ask the same Holy Spirit who inspired John to write, to illuminate for you these words of the most powerful part of John’s gospel.

Lord, send your Spirit anew on each one of us that we may come to know you more intimately, more personally, more profoundly. Then may the Spirit that is Jesus within us compel us to share this good news with others! Amen.

Pope Benedict in America!

Just a note to ask all those who fall upon this blog to pray for our Holy Father as he visits our country. I find it truly amazing that at 81 years young his eyes reflect the Spirit of a much younger man (could it be the Spirit of our Lord Jesus maybe?). May God in his infinite mercy and compassion bestow upon him and all of us grace, mercy, and love!

The Spirit versus the Letter: Who knows the mind of God?

This past Sunday we heard that old familiar classic of the Good Samaritan. Who is the good guy? Why did the bad guys not get it? Blah, blah, blah.

Do I sound a little bored? Well, I must say in all honesty that I am. We hear the same sermon/homily that speaks of who was right and who was wrong and look at our world and see how we have responded.  And sadly I have a feeling most of us would have done the same thing as the “bad” guys in this interesting parable of our Lord’s.

The “spirit” versus the “letter” could be a more appropriate commentary as far as I am concerned because this challenges our way of thinking: each and every one of us. Why? Because it’s easier to follow the letter of the law. It requires little thought or reflection. We mechanically respond this way or that way because we know what the letter of the law says.

Jesus took issue with the letter of the law mentality that developed over many years in Judaism. And sadly it was a natural response to the Mosaic law. Supposedly we can know without a doubt that we are doing what we should be doing by having a nice checklist before us to follow. Wouldn’t life be so much easier? I know many folks who live this way. They have a checklist for everything. And not to be judgmental, Lord only knows I have a million faults, they come off as people who are not very happy.

Yes, they follow their list of what “to do” and “not to do” to the letter. But when a decision has to be made that requires more thought and does not fit nicely into their list of responses then a crisis results and their reaction may be correct but hardly considerate of all practical options.

Jesus introduced the concept that if we love the Father and responded in kind to our neighbor we would fulfill God’s revelation through the person of Christ. The Shema, a beautiful spirit-filled response to God’s love (see Duet 6:4-5), was the appropriate response and the foundation of living a life full of the spirit.

When you love the Lord with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your soul you live a “spirit-filled” life indeed. Why? Because you live a life of love. This is the heart of Jesus’ message. And to love God this way naturally radiates to our neighbor. Jesus was sent to deliver this message: stop judging other people! Love them as I have loved you.

Stop categorizing people so we can marginalize them. Stop placing people in the “box” of our narrow mindedness. Stop delivering judgment and lend a loving hand. Stop trying to make ourselves more superior to our neighbor. Stop, stop, stop! The list could go on. Look at the news and see how well we Christ-followers love our neighbor. We are a pathetic example of God’s love wouldn’t you say?

But honestly folks, isn’t it much easier to sit on our judgment seats than to reach out to help someone? Isn’t it more comfortable to look at our little checklist and check off all the important things we need to do the follow the Lord? Isn’t it nice to be able to say that we know exactly what God thinks by using “our” interpretation of the Scriptures as justification for our actions? Don’t we feel superior when someone who honestly and sincerely needs support and love comes to us to ask for assistance because we can’t see them nor extend a helping hand first because we would be lowering ourselves to their sad circumstance?

 In order to respond as a person filled with the Spirit we must have a relationship with the Lord. How can anyone claim to live a life of the spirit and yet have no comunications with the Lord? To live a life filled with the spirit requires us to challenge our way of thinking. We cannot continue to practice what I call the mastery of the unholy trinity: Me, Myself, and I.  These three will always lead us to trouble.

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit tasks us to rely on them with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul. And this way of living is challenging because we do not know what the next moment holds for us. God will put us places we are hardly comfortable with. But this is the life of the Spirit. Jesus came to stir the comfortable out of complacency and presumption. The letter of the law was fulfilled through the person of Christ.

Get to know him. Fall in love with him. Allow him to write your checklists. Allow him to form you into aan image of his love. Allow him to use your hands, feet, eyes, ears to touch the world so they may know that our heavenly Father loves them very, very much.

Spirit versus the Letter? Who really knows the mind of God?

Trinity: Three people who really love us…

This Sunday we honor the Trinity ( http://www.usccb.org/nab/060307.shtml ). A belief in a word that is NOT mentioned in the Bible (don’t be afraid my dear fundamentalists friends) but inferred none the less and believed by orthodox (sound or correct in doctrine) Christians for two thousand years. And throughout time there have been many heresies that the Church has had to address and reeducate the beliefs of those who may have erred. We even have modern “Christians” who struggle with understanding and belief in this important understanding of who God is. And those who have gone off the beaten track will go unnamed here but they know who they are and they have to honestly ask themselves why they don’t believe.

Now I am not going to attempt to define the Trinity. I will leave that to theologians and others who dare to walk the fine line of heterodoxy (the quality of being unorthodox) and orthodoxy! I would like to offer another perspective: the presence of each, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in each of our live and how each may or may not make their presence known to us.

In St. Paul’s letter to the Romans chapter 5 he points out how the Trinity makes themselves present to us. “Brothers and sisters:
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained access by faith
to this grace in which we stand,
and we boast in hope of the glory of God.
Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions,
knowing that affliction produces endurance,
and endurance, proven character,
and proven character, hope,
and hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

So let’s reveiw what Paul states very eloquently: God gives of himself both the gifts of faith and grace. Jesus gives us his peace. The Holy Spirit reminds us of all the gifts we have received and gives God the glory due his holy name.

Notice something missing? He never states that we are the stars of the show. He never states our role other than reminding us that God initiates relationship with us and He pours the grace to respond. Today we want all the credit for our relationship with God yet we can see the evidence that our words and actions don’t correspond to one another. It is easy to say “Jesus is my Lord and Savior!”

It is not easy to say Jesus is Lord and Savior of my sexuality. It is not easy to say Jesus is Lord and Savior of my marriage and the very gift God gives each couple to bring forth new life into the world. It is not easy to allow Father, who creates, Son, who redeemes us and makes holy, and Holy Spirit, who sanctifies, to be leader of every aspect of our being.

We live an a world that talks the walk. We do not however, do a very respectable job of walking the talk. It is time for all believers to take a good look at themselves in the mirror and say to the Tinitarian God, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.” The time where Christains just dismiss beliefs because they are ”hard sayings, who can follow it” must pass from our vocabulary. We need to be humble servants who want the grace to understand. All of the “man-made” responses to difficult teachings are red herrings!

Jesus promised that the keys of the kingdom would be given to Peter. Did Jesus lie? Jesus promised Peter that he would teach to loose and hold! Did he lie? Jesus taught Peter that the Holy Spirit would forgive or hold bound in heaven. Did he lie? Jesus said the Holy Spirit would remind us of everything he taught. Did Jesus lie? Jesus said he would be with his Church until the end of time. Did Jesus lie?

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit desire more than lip service from you and I. Or did Jesus lie to St. Paul as well (read especially Ephesian 5:23-32 for a clearer understanding about love and marriage) are not at peace (spiritual and temporal) because we have fooled ourselves (read Paul’s letter to the Romans Chapter 1: 18-32).

Maybe we have allowed our own unholy (read John’s first letter chapter 1:8 for further understanding) Trinity, Me, Myself, and I to be honored and worshipped as the gods of our lives.

I think we know who the liars are…

Interesting Memorial Day comments heard…

Something caught my attention yesterday as I watched the local news and then was mentioned again on ESPN radio: The real meaning of the holiday! It reminded me so much of the Christian mantra during the Christmas season: Jesus is The reason for the season.

Memorial Day now has as similar mantra. One can understand why we need the reminder. So many forget that we take time to honor the fallen who gave their life for us. It is not about the Indy 500, nor the Coca-Cola 600 (no offense intended race car fans!), nor baseball, apple pie, nor even Chrevolet. It is about sacrifices, whether known or not, by individuals who put themselves in harms way for reasons they believed in or simply because they were servants of their country.

Certainly one can not ever forget the sacrifices made by all those men and women who have given their lives for the country for which they served. Jesus did the same for you and I. Many people paid their respects by attending some worthy ceremony of rememberance, of which our little town had several.

Our country has long celebrated Memorial Day with reverence, respect, and honor. God bless all those who have given in the most supreme act of love and service. May their families be at peace until united with their loved ones in heaven.

What greater thing can one do than to give his/her life for their friends…

Who has dominion over your kingdom?

This past weekend we heard in the Holy Scriptures that Jesus was a king and his kingdom was not of this world. If it had been he would never have been turned over to Pilate. Then Jesus challenged all those who heard him: It is the truth that capivates those who follow him. He reiterates that there is absolute truth in the world.

Well, isn’t this just great? Jesus points out that the truth is what inspires his followers to acknowledge him as king of their lives. But how can this be in a world that believes that our human experience is what dictates truth and that all truth is relative? How can anyone really know the truth? Even Pilate in his cynical way responds to Jesus statement about truth by asking, “What is truth?”

The problem that Pilate had was that he stared truth right in the face and still missed it. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one can enter his kingdom unless he/she acknowledges this truth. So how do we look the Truth in the face and acknowledge him as king of lives? By the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would convict you and me of two things: Our sinfulness (blindness) and of the truth of who Jesus is and everything he ever taught. The Holy Spirit is the driving force; the acknowledger of truth; and it’s the Holy Spirit that drive us to our knees to seek this truth. One can not begin to know Jesus unless he speaks to the Truth face to face.

The Holy Spirit convicts us of who Jesus is: King of our lives. He is the truth; the absolute truth. He inpires truth in all who will listen to him.  Does Jesus have dominion over your life?

Similarities between Lazurus and me…

The first and most important similarity is the raising of this blog from the dead.

One of the major issues that I struggle with in my own spiritual life is spending far too much time on the internet. And with that comes great temptations to venture to areas that are most unsuitable for the spiritual life. In all of my humanity I have to resist the impulse to “surf” the net and that is why I have not been updating this blog. I am struggling with discipline!

God has blessed us with the technology to touch one another through the internet. He has blessed us with the intelligence to put so much information on the information superhighway that one can find almost anything the heart desires right at our fingertips in a moments notice. On the other hand, there is so much other stuff that fights for our attention. Without much discipline one can easily fall into the trap of no return.

Lazurus was raised from the dead by the Lord of Life. It is the Lord of Life who inspires the good in every person’s heart. The evil that can sometimes take hold of us can be restored by the Lord of Life. I pray that we are all aware of the spiritual battle that can be won only by staying focused on the Lord of Life and resisting the temptation that leads us to a spiritual death. Amen.