LENT V : EZ 37: 12-14;: ROM 8: 8-11;Gospel: JN 11:1-45
There was a guy riding in a cab one day. He was new to the city and was looking for a good place to eat, so he leaned forward, tapped the cabby on the shoulder and said, "Hey, Buddy." The driver let out a blood curdling scream and lost control of the cab. He nearly hit a bus, jumped the curb and stopped just inches from going through a huge plate-glass window and into a crowded restaurant. For a few minutes, there was dead silence in the cab. All you could hear was two hearts beating like bass drums pounding out a quick march. The driver finally turned around and said, "Man, you scared the living daylights out of me." The passenger, who was white as a sheet and whose eyes were as big as dinner plates, said, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize tapping you on the shoulder would scare you so badly." The cabby said, "Well, it's not your fault. This is my first day driving a cab. But for the last 25 years, I drove a hearse." Someone coming back from death would take us by surprise. Raising of Lazarus not only surprised those around the tomb, but surprises even us, because that is most uncommon.
The raising of Lazarus is the sixth of seven signs in John’s gospel. It is also the last and greatest of the miracles worked by our Lord to prove that he is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, and that through faith in him believers will receive eternal life. In other words, Jesus wanted to make this, his last recorded miracle, a convincing proof of his claim to be what he was---the Messiah, sent by God to give new life, eternal life, to mankind. Of course the seventh miracle in John’s gospel is Jesus’ own resurrection.
Traditional Jewish belief had it that the soul of a dead person somehow remains with the body for three days. After three days the soul departs finally from the body never to return, and that is when corruption sets in. When Martha objects to the opening of the tomb and says, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days” (Jn 11:39), she is expressing the common view that this is now a hopeless situation. Is that why Jesus delayed coming to the funeral, to let the situation become “impossible” before acting on it? G.K. Chesterton once said, “Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all.” In traditional Jewish mentality bringing back to life a person who is already four days dead and decaying is as unthinkable as the prophet Ezekiel’s vision in which the grey, dry bones of the dead are miraculously restored to life.
For the early Christians the story of the raising of Lazarus was more than a pointer to the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus rose on the third day; his body never saw corruption. For them this miracle is a challenge to never give up hope even in the hopeless situations in which they found themselves as individuals, as a church or as a nation. It is never too late for God to revive and revitalize a person, a church or a nation. But first we must learn to cooperate with God.
How can we cooperate with God so as to experience God’s resurrection power in our lives and in our world? Well, everyone knows the answer already: faith. But that is not the point that John makes in this story. In fact there is no one in the story, not even Mary or Martha, who believed that Jesus could bring Lazarus back to life after four days dead. No one expected him to do it, so expectant faith is not the emphasis here. Rather the emphasis in the story on how we cooperate with a miracle-working God is placed on practical obedience and doing God’s will.
To effect the miracle, Jesus issues three commands and all of them are obeyed to the letter. That is how the miracle happens. First, Jesus said, ‘Roll away the stone.’ So they rolled away the stone”. Did the people understand why they should do this heavy work of rolling away the tombstone to expose a stinking corpse? You bet they didn’t. But it was their faith in Jesus expressing itself not through intellectual agreement with Jesus but through practical agreement with him, through obedience. Why didn’t Jesus command the stone to roll away all by itself, without bothering the people? We don’t quite know. All we know is that divine power seems always to be activated by human cooperation and stifled by non-cooperation. As C.S. Lewis said, “God seems to do nothing of Himself which He can possibly delegate to His creatures.” God will not do by a miracle what we can do by obedience.
The second command Jesus gives is directed to the dead man: “‘Lazarus, come out!’ and the dead man came out” . We do not know the details of what transpired in the tomb. All we know is that Jesus’ word of command is followed by immediate obedience. Lazarus gropes his way out of the dark tomb even with his hands and feet tied up in bandages, and his face all wrapped up. Even a man rotting away in the tomb can still do something to help himself.
The third command again is addressed to the people, “Unbind him, and let him go” (verse 44). Even though Lazarus could stumble himself out of the tomb, there was no way he could unbind himself. He needs the community to do that for him. By unbinding Lazarus and setting him free from the death bands, the community is accepting Lazarus back as one of them.
Many Christian individuals and communities today have fallen victim to the death of sin. Many are already in the tomb of hopelessness and decay, in the bondage of sinful habits and attitudes. Nothing short of a miracle can bring us back to life in Christ. Jesus is ready for the miracle. He himself said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10). Are we ready to cooperate with him for the miracle. Are we ready to roll away the stone that stands between us and the light of Christ’s face? Are we ready to take the first step to come out of the place of death? Are we ready to unbind (i.e. forgive) one another and let them go free? These are the various ways we cooperate with God in the miracle of bringing us back to life and reviving us as individuals, as a church, and a nation.
We often bind ourselves with chains of addiction to alcohol, drugs, gossip, envy, prejudices, hatred and uncontrollable anger and bury ourselves in the tombs of despair. Sometimes we are in the tomb of selfishness, filled with negative feelings such as worry, fear, resentment, hatred, and guilt. Jesus asks us today to seek his help and that of the community around us to loosen those chains and come out of tombs of our own creation. Let us ask Jesus during this Holy Mass to bring the light and the power of His Holy Spirit into our private life and liberate us from our tombs.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
IIIrd Sunday in Lent . Cycle A
EX 17: 3-7; ROM 5: 1-2, 5-8;Gospel: JN 4: 5-42
A thirst could be physical or spiritual. Often it is both, as in the case of the unnamed woman whose meeting with Jesus by Jacob's well gave us today's gospel story. Physically she is thirsty, thirsting for water, and that brings her to the well day after day. But spiritually also she is thirsty, an inner thirst which drives her from one man to another and for which she can find no satisfaction. By the time she meets Jesus she is in her sixth marriage, and yet she is able to tell Jesus "I have no husband," indicating that she is probably already looking for the seventh.
Numbers are often significant in biblical interpretation. According to the biblical symbolism of numbers, six is a number of imperfection, of lack, of deficiency. The woman in her sixth marriage is, therefore, in a situation of lack and deficiency. Seven, on the other hand, is a number of perfection, completion and sufficiency. Jesus comes to this woman as the seventh man in her life. She opens up to him and finally experiences the satisfaction of all of her soul's desiring, the full assuaging of her spiritual thirst.
God created us with a thirst for his friendship, for divine wisdom, and for everlasting truth and love not in order to torture us, but to lead us towards the real paradise. But when we let ourselves be seduced by plastic paradises instead, his treasures go undiscovered, and our desires go unsatisfied.
As the Catechism puts it: The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself .Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for. (#27).Isn't this the kind of experience we wish for ourselves and for all in this season of Lent?
This unnamed woman was coming to the town well in the middle of the day, the Gospel tells us, the hottest time of the day, when none of the other women in the town would be coming to the well. She wanted to avoid them or it could be that she was ostracized as a social leper by the community. Human society organizes itself by erecting boundaries - national, ethnic, religious, and gender. Jesus shows in today's gospel that in order to reach out to the other and create the necessary conditions for conversion, one must be prepared to challenge these man-made boundaries and break the dividing walls of prejudice.
According to the convention of the times, Jews were not supposed to interact with Samaritans. Walls of prejudice built on the foundations of ethnicity and religion kept them apart. Jesus broke these boundaries when he asked the woman for a drink, as her reaction shows:
"How is it that you, a Jewish man, ask a drink of me, a Samaritan woman?" Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans" (John 4:9).
That was not all. It was also against the moral norms of the day for a man to engage a woman in dialogue in a public place. And yet Jesus engages this woman in the longest dialogue we have in all the four Gospels, an act which even his own disciples saw as morally questionable:
Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, "What do you want?" or, "Why are you speaking with her?" (John 4:27)
If Jesus had kept within the bounds of the expected behaviour of his day, there was no way he could have gone beyond a superficial brush with the woman, which would invariably lead to superficial results. Why does Jesus make such a tremendous impact on the woman? Because for the first time in her life she meets a man who really understands her. In her excitement she forgets her water jar and physical thirst (and so also does Jesus); and she runs back to the village inviting the villagers to come and see "a man who told me everything I have ever done" - probably the first man to know her so well without rejecting her. Before you know it the convert has become a missionary bringing others to Jesus and to the joyful experience of conversion.
When Jesus reveals himself to her, her life turns around, one-hundred-and-eighty degrees. She runs back to the village announcing the good news to anyone she can find. And we know from the Gospel that Jesus and his disciples ended up spending three days there, and the whole town came to believe in him. They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world." (4:42)
We see that there are two stages in the believing or conversion process: a. believing because of what someone told us about Jesus, and b. believing because we have come personally to know Jesus ourselves. Lent is the period when the Church invites all her children who still believe on the strength of someone else's witnessing to come to Jesus personally and believe, not because someone told us, but because we have known him and experienced his love personally in our own lives.
Evangelization is as some one said - one beggar telling another beggar where he found bread. We should lead the hungry and the thirsty to the table of life. Let’s ask ourselves: Can I do what she did? Invite friends and neighbors to Jesus and salvation?
When Jesus became personal with this woman and started asking embarrassing questions about her five husbands, she cleverly tried to change the subject and talk about religion. She didn’t want Jesus to get personal. But Jesus wanted to free her, forgive her, shape her life in a new direction, and change her. He wanted to offer this woman living water. At the end of the long heart-to-heart conversation Jesus revealed himself to her as the Messiah, which in turn led her to faith in him.
We need to allow Jesus free entry into our personal lives. Jesus wants to get personal with us, especially during this Lenten season. Jesus wants to get into our “private” lives. We have a “private” personal life which is contrary to the will of God. Christ wishes to come into that “private” life, not to embarrass us, not to judge or condemn us, not to be unkind or malicious to us. Rather, Christ comes into our “private” personal life to free us, to change us and to offer us what we really need: living water. The living water is the Holy Spirit. The living water is the Spirit of Jesus and his love. We can find this living water in the sacraments, in prayer and in the holy Bible.
In the words of that Samaritan woman let’s pray: Lord give me that living water, so that I may never be thirsty again.
A thirst could be physical or spiritual. Often it is both, as in the case of the unnamed woman whose meeting with Jesus by Jacob's well gave us today's gospel story. Physically she is thirsty, thirsting for water, and that brings her to the well day after day. But spiritually also she is thirsty, an inner thirst which drives her from one man to another and for which she can find no satisfaction. By the time she meets Jesus she is in her sixth marriage, and yet she is able to tell Jesus "I have no husband," indicating that she is probably already looking for the seventh.
Numbers are often significant in biblical interpretation. According to the biblical symbolism of numbers, six is a number of imperfection, of lack, of deficiency. The woman in her sixth marriage is, therefore, in a situation of lack and deficiency. Seven, on the other hand, is a number of perfection, completion and sufficiency. Jesus comes to this woman as the seventh man in her life. She opens up to him and finally experiences the satisfaction of all of her soul's desiring, the full assuaging of her spiritual thirst.
God created us with a thirst for his friendship, for divine wisdom, and for everlasting truth and love not in order to torture us, but to lead us towards the real paradise. But when we let ourselves be seduced by plastic paradises instead, his treasures go undiscovered, and our desires go unsatisfied.
As the Catechism puts it: The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself .Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for. (#27).Isn't this the kind of experience we wish for ourselves and for all in this season of Lent?
This unnamed woman was coming to the town well in the middle of the day, the Gospel tells us, the hottest time of the day, when none of the other women in the town would be coming to the well. She wanted to avoid them or it could be that she was ostracized as a social leper by the community. Human society organizes itself by erecting boundaries - national, ethnic, religious, and gender. Jesus shows in today's gospel that in order to reach out to the other and create the necessary conditions for conversion, one must be prepared to challenge these man-made boundaries and break the dividing walls of prejudice.
According to the convention of the times, Jews were not supposed to interact with Samaritans. Walls of prejudice built on the foundations of ethnicity and religion kept them apart. Jesus broke these boundaries when he asked the woman for a drink, as her reaction shows:
"How is it that you, a Jewish man, ask a drink of me, a Samaritan woman?" Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans" (John 4:9).
That was not all. It was also against the moral norms of the day for a man to engage a woman in dialogue in a public place. And yet Jesus engages this woman in the longest dialogue we have in all the four Gospels, an act which even his own disciples saw as morally questionable:
Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, "What do you want?" or, "Why are you speaking with her?" (John 4:27)
If Jesus had kept within the bounds of the expected behaviour of his day, there was no way he could have gone beyond a superficial brush with the woman, which would invariably lead to superficial results. Why does Jesus make such a tremendous impact on the woman? Because for the first time in her life she meets a man who really understands her. In her excitement she forgets her water jar and physical thirst (and so also does Jesus); and she runs back to the village inviting the villagers to come and see "a man who told me everything I have ever done" - probably the first man to know her so well without rejecting her. Before you know it the convert has become a missionary bringing others to Jesus and to the joyful experience of conversion.
When Jesus reveals himself to her, her life turns around, one-hundred-and-eighty degrees. She runs back to the village announcing the good news to anyone she can find. And we know from the Gospel that Jesus and his disciples ended up spending three days there, and the whole town came to believe in him. They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world." (4:42)
We see that there are two stages in the believing or conversion process: a. believing because of what someone told us about Jesus, and b. believing because we have come personally to know Jesus ourselves. Lent is the period when the Church invites all her children who still believe on the strength of someone else's witnessing to come to Jesus personally and believe, not because someone told us, but because we have known him and experienced his love personally in our own lives.
Evangelization is as some one said - one beggar telling another beggar where he found bread. We should lead the hungry and the thirsty to the table of life. Let’s ask ourselves: Can I do what she did? Invite friends and neighbors to Jesus and salvation?
When Jesus became personal with this woman and started asking embarrassing questions about her five husbands, she cleverly tried to change the subject and talk about religion. She didn’t want Jesus to get personal. But Jesus wanted to free her, forgive her, shape her life in a new direction, and change her. He wanted to offer this woman living water. At the end of the long heart-to-heart conversation Jesus revealed himself to her as the Messiah, which in turn led her to faith in him.
We need to allow Jesus free entry into our personal lives. Jesus wants to get personal with us, especially during this Lenten season. Jesus wants to get into our “private” lives. We have a “private” personal life which is contrary to the will of God. Christ wishes to come into that “private” life, not to embarrass us, not to judge or condemn us, not to be unkind or malicious to us. Rather, Christ comes into our “private” personal life to free us, to change us and to offer us what we really need: living water. The living water is the Holy Spirit. The living water is the Spirit of Jesus and his love. We can find this living water in the sacraments, in prayer and in the holy Bible.
In the words of that Samaritan woman let’s pray: Lord give me that living water, so that I may never be thirsty again.
Friday, March 11, 2011
FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT.
LENT I SUNDAY ; GEN 2: 7-9, 3: 1-7; ROM 5: 12-19;Gospel: MT 4: 1-11
William Willimon in his book “What’s Right With the Church” tells about leading a Sunday School class that was studying the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. After careful study and explanation of each of the three temptations, Dr. Willimon asked, "How are we tempted today?" A young salesman was the first to speak. "Temptation is when your boss calls you in, as mine did yesterday, and says, 'I'm going to give you a real opportunity. I'm going to give you a bigger sales territory. We believe that you are going places, young man.' ‘But I don't want a bigger sales territory,’ the young salesman told his boss. ‘I'm already away from home four nights a week. It wouldn't be fair to my wife and daughter.’ ‘Look,’ his boss replied, ‘we're asking you to do this for your wife and daughter. Don't you want to be a good father? It takes money to support a family these days. Sure, your little girl doesn't take much money now, but think of the future. Think of her future. I'm only asking you to do this for them, the boss said.” The young man told the class: “Now that’s temptation.”
Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to find out what he was made of. The first temptation was “to turn stones into loaves of bread.” Lent is a time to look at such temptations, sin and the consequences. Lent was originally established for new Christians, those who experienced a call. They were to spend forty days and forty nights preparing for their baptism. If at the end they still wanted to follow Jesus, then on Easter Eve they would be baptized as the sun was rising in the east, signaling the new day, the new era, inaugurated because of the Resurrection.
But later the Church used the forty days as a time of renewal for those who were already Christians, because at a certain point everyone in the empire became a Christian, everyone was baptized as infants. So the time of Lent was used as a time of renewal and recommitment to the Christian life, examining our lives in light of the one we are supposed to follow.
Since the Church begins the season with a reflection on the origins of sin among us, the main themes in today’s readings are temptation, sin, guilt and forgiveness. We are told of the temptations offered to our Lord, submission to which would have destroyed his mission. Today’s readings give us the notion that testing comes to us by an agency apart from and in opposition to God. But the truth is that, while testing comes from the outside, temptation comes from within ourselves. However, the good news is that, though we are tempted and often succumb, God’s grace provides the way of salvation for us. Testing is to strengthen us in faith, while temptation is to weaken our faith. Testing comes from God and temptation comes from evil source.
Like Adam and Eve in the first reading today, we are all tempted to put ourselves in God's place. Consequently we resent every limit on our freedom, and we don't want to be held responsible for the consequences of our choices. Temptation is a very real part of life: temptation to stray from the values we hold dear, temptation to take short cuts, to avoid struggle, to find the easy way through.
God helps us in our temptations so that we may not fall away from our faith. Jesus told Peter that he prayed for him and others that he may not fall away. In the garden of Gathsemene Jesus told his disciples to pray with him so that they may not fall into temptation.
A teen-age boy told his parents he was going to run away from home. "Listen," he said, "I'm leaving home. There is nothing you can do to stop me. I want excitement, adventure, beautiful women, money, and fun. I'll never find it here, so I'm leaving. Just don't try to stop me!" As he headed for the door, his father leaped up and ran toward him. "Dad," the boy said firmly, "you heard what I said. Don't try to stop me. I'm going!" "Who's trying to stop you?" answered the father, "I'm going with you!" In our weak moments of temptation Jesus is going with us, because he knows we cannot fight it ourselves.
Every one of us is tempted to seek sinful pleasures, easy wealth and a position of authority, power and glory, and to use any means, even unjust or sinful ones to gain these things. Jesus serves as a model for us in conquering temptations by strengthening himself through prayer, penance and the active use of the ‘Word of God’. Temptations make us more powerful warriors of God by strengthening our minds and hearts. By constantly struggling against temptations we become stronger. Each time one is tempted to do evil but does good, one becomes stronger. Further, we are never tempted beyond our power. In his first letter, St. John assures us: “Greater is the one who is in us, than the one who is in the world (1 John 4: 4). We may be strengthened by St. Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 10:13: "No testing has overtaken you, that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and [God] will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing [God] will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it."
We are all affected by the culture around us, just like fish are affected by the water quality of the lake where they live. And the culture around us has become drunk with science and technology - so much so that it has completely forgotten this basic truth, that man cannot live on bread alone.
With our genius for science and technology we seem to be on the road to being able to turn stones into bread . The popular culture is trying to make religion into a totally private thing - like a hobby. If society can perfect itself through scientific progress, why do we need God? We need God because society can NOT perfect itself - we do not live on bread alone. We need God because every new invention can either be used for good purposes or bad purposes, and without God's grace we will neither be able to identify the good ones, nor will we be strong enough to choose them. We need God because he is the source of truth, and our souls yearn for truth as much as our bodies yearn for bread.
Hence, during this Lent, let us confront our evil tendencies by prayer , by penance and by meditative reading of the Bible. Let’s use this season of Lent to rediscover who we are before God and say yes to God and no to Satan as Jesus did.
William Willimon in his book “What’s Right With the Church” tells about leading a Sunday School class that was studying the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. After careful study and explanation of each of the three temptations, Dr. Willimon asked, "How are we tempted today?" A young salesman was the first to speak. "Temptation is when your boss calls you in, as mine did yesterday, and says, 'I'm going to give you a real opportunity. I'm going to give you a bigger sales territory. We believe that you are going places, young man.' ‘But I don't want a bigger sales territory,’ the young salesman told his boss. ‘I'm already away from home four nights a week. It wouldn't be fair to my wife and daughter.’ ‘Look,’ his boss replied, ‘we're asking you to do this for your wife and daughter. Don't you want to be a good father? It takes money to support a family these days. Sure, your little girl doesn't take much money now, but think of the future. Think of her future. I'm only asking you to do this for them, the boss said.” The young man told the class: “Now that’s temptation.”
Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to find out what he was made of. The first temptation was “to turn stones into loaves of bread.” Lent is a time to look at such temptations, sin and the consequences. Lent was originally established for new Christians, those who experienced a call. They were to spend forty days and forty nights preparing for their baptism. If at the end they still wanted to follow Jesus, then on Easter Eve they would be baptized as the sun was rising in the east, signaling the new day, the new era, inaugurated because of the Resurrection.
But later the Church used the forty days as a time of renewal for those who were already Christians, because at a certain point everyone in the empire became a Christian, everyone was baptized as infants. So the time of Lent was used as a time of renewal and recommitment to the Christian life, examining our lives in light of the one we are supposed to follow.
Since the Church begins the season with a reflection on the origins of sin among us, the main themes in today’s readings are temptation, sin, guilt and forgiveness. We are told of the temptations offered to our Lord, submission to which would have destroyed his mission. Today’s readings give us the notion that testing comes to us by an agency apart from and in opposition to God. But the truth is that, while testing comes from the outside, temptation comes from within ourselves. However, the good news is that, though we are tempted and often succumb, God’s grace provides the way of salvation for us. Testing is to strengthen us in faith, while temptation is to weaken our faith. Testing comes from God and temptation comes from evil source.
Like Adam and Eve in the first reading today, we are all tempted to put ourselves in God's place. Consequently we resent every limit on our freedom, and we don't want to be held responsible for the consequences of our choices. Temptation is a very real part of life: temptation to stray from the values we hold dear, temptation to take short cuts, to avoid struggle, to find the easy way through.
God helps us in our temptations so that we may not fall away from our faith. Jesus told Peter that he prayed for him and others that he may not fall away. In the garden of Gathsemene Jesus told his disciples to pray with him so that they may not fall into temptation.
A teen-age boy told his parents he was going to run away from home. "Listen," he said, "I'm leaving home. There is nothing you can do to stop me. I want excitement, adventure, beautiful women, money, and fun. I'll never find it here, so I'm leaving. Just don't try to stop me!" As he headed for the door, his father leaped up and ran toward him. "Dad," the boy said firmly, "you heard what I said. Don't try to stop me. I'm going!" "Who's trying to stop you?" answered the father, "I'm going with you!" In our weak moments of temptation Jesus is going with us, because he knows we cannot fight it ourselves.
Every one of us is tempted to seek sinful pleasures, easy wealth and a position of authority, power and glory, and to use any means, even unjust or sinful ones to gain these things. Jesus serves as a model for us in conquering temptations by strengthening himself through prayer, penance and the active use of the ‘Word of God’. Temptations make us more powerful warriors of God by strengthening our minds and hearts. By constantly struggling against temptations we become stronger. Each time one is tempted to do evil but does good, one becomes stronger. Further, we are never tempted beyond our power. In his first letter, St. John assures us: “Greater is the one who is in us, than the one who is in the world (1 John 4: 4). We may be strengthened by St. Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 10:13: "No testing has overtaken you, that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and [God] will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing [God] will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it."
We are all affected by the culture around us, just like fish are affected by the water quality of the lake where they live. And the culture around us has become drunk with science and technology - so much so that it has completely forgotten this basic truth, that man cannot live on bread alone.
With our genius for science and technology we seem to be on the road to being able to turn stones into bread . The popular culture is trying to make religion into a totally private thing - like a hobby. If society can perfect itself through scientific progress, why do we need God? We need God because society can NOT perfect itself - we do not live on bread alone. We need God because every new invention can either be used for good purposes or bad purposes, and without God's grace we will neither be able to identify the good ones, nor will we be strong enough to choose them. We need God because he is the source of truth, and our souls yearn for truth as much as our bodies yearn for bread.
Hence, during this Lent, let us confront our evil tendencies by prayer , by penance and by meditative reading of the Bible. Let’s use this season of Lent to rediscover who we are before God and say yes to God and no to Satan as Jesus did.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
IXth - Sunday in Ordinary time
DEUT 11: 18-26;ROM 3:21-25;: MT 7:21-27
Ever heard of counterfeit $100 bills? sure, a lot. Ever heard of counterfeit toilet paper? No. Why not? Because it is not worth it. The existence of counterfeits indicates how precious a thing is: the more precious it is, the more counterfeit you get. Spirituality is a very precious commodity. The proof is in the amount of counterfeit spiritualities in circulation. Counterfeit spirituality did not begin with us.
Acts 19 reports a curious incident that happened when Paul was preaching in Ephesus. Paul was performing so many miracles in Ephesus that the other religious ministers in the city became envious of him. They were losing their members to Paul. So some of them decided to observe and copy what Paul was doing. Paul was doing mighty works and casting out demons by invoking the name of Jesus. They thought they had discovered his secret formula, and they took off to go and implement it in their own ministry. Seven sons of a Jewish high priest called Sceva, who were professional exorcists tried to use the name of Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” But the evil spirit said to them in reply, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” Then the man with the evil spirit jumped on them, overpowered them and handled them so badly that they fled out of the house naked and bruised all over. The moral of the story: Who you are comes before what you do or say.
This is what Jesus is trying to teach his followers in today’s gospel story. He gives thumbs down to some people who say words of faith. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Matt 7:21). He even gives thumbs down to some people who do works of faith. “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers’” (vv 22-23). By saying “I never knew you,” Jesus indicates that the fundamental and most important thing is him knowing us and we knowing him. In other words, the relationship between Jesus and us is more important than the performance we put up in terms of words and deeds. We have to be Christians, people who know Christ, before we can act or speak Christian. We must have a direct, personal relationship with Christ. This is what gives meaning and potency to the words of faith we speak and the works of faith we perform. Otherwise we are no better than the seven sons of Sceva.
The seven sons of Sceva represent all those who try to profess the Christian creed outwardly and perform Christian works and projects but without being Christian on the inside. The seven sons of Sceva did not surrender their lives to Christ; all they wanted was to profit from the amazing grace that is available to Paul, the servant of Christ. They did not love Jesus; they loved something that Jesus gives. It was self-interest through and through. Paul professed Christ because he wanted to know him, love him and serve him.
Professing the faith by word of mouth is good. Involvement in concrete works of faith is great. But for these to have any meaning for eternal salvation, we must, first and foremost, cultivate a direct and personal relationship with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We can make all sorts of grandiose plans, we can even see our plans benefiting other people as these plans are laid and carried out. But if our plans remain OUR plans, set in OUR terms, and without consulting God, at some stage, cracks in their foundation will begin to show.
Take the case of a talented architect who wanted to show off his
skills in architectural design. He goes to his drawing board and
drafts what he regards as his masterpiece design. He never bothers to
consult other experts like a soils or a seismic engineer perhaps, to
see if his design can be executed on the ground he had chosen as
planned. Had he done so, he would have discovered that his design must
adapt to the actual soil conditions, and not the soil conditions adapting to his design. He will have to adjust or alter his plans and submit to the limits and boundaries imposed by nature.
Something similar can be said about following God's will. Human plans
must be exercised within God's will, for it is God's will that must be
its solid foundation. Otherwise, human will and freedom would just
sway unsteadily when left unguided, and exposed to the many forces in
the world. And so, the parable of Jesus makes real sense: the wise
man, the one who follows the will of God, builds his house upon the
rock; the foolish man, the one who follows his own will, builds his
house upon the sand. The rains fell, the floods came, and the house
upon the sand is gone. But the house upon the rock remains.
Some times we pledge to be obeying God’s will and in practice behave as if we know better than God. An elderly Scottish woman was making her way through the countryside. Each time she came to a crossroads she would toss a stick into the air. Whichever way the stick came down was the direction she went. At one intersection, however, an old man saw her toss her stick into the air not once, not twice, but three times before resuming her journey. The old man was curious. "Why are you throwing your stick like that?" he asked. She squinted and replied, "I'm letting God direct my journey by using this stick." "Then why did you throw it three times?" asked the curious old man. "Because," she said, "the first two times He was pointing me in the wrong direction." We may laugh at this. But some times we go by our human wisdom than relying on Divine wisdom.
Our faith is primarily for living in, not for looking at or talking about. It must be lived in deed and truth” (1Jn 3:18).In his encyclical Spe Salvi, Pope Benedict XVI, recalls that “the Christian message is not only “informative” but “performative”. That means: the Gospel is not merely a communication of things that can be known; it is one that makes things happen and is life changing. Christianity is not an ideology, or a simple ethics program; it is, above all, a personal commitment with Somebody.
Let’s build our spiritual edifice on the living stone of Jesus by doing the will of the heavenly father in heaven.’ May the Lord be praised now and for ever.
Ever heard of counterfeit $100 bills? sure, a lot. Ever heard of counterfeit toilet paper? No. Why not? Because it is not worth it. The existence of counterfeits indicates how precious a thing is: the more precious it is, the more counterfeit you get. Spirituality is a very precious commodity. The proof is in the amount of counterfeit spiritualities in circulation. Counterfeit spirituality did not begin with us.
Acts 19 reports a curious incident that happened when Paul was preaching in Ephesus. Paul was performing so many miracles in Ephesus that the other religious ministers in the city became envious of him. They were losing their members to Paul. So some of them decided to observe and copy what Paul was doing. Paul was doing mighty works and casting out demons by invoking the name of Jesus. They thought they had discovered his secret formula, and they took off to go and implement it in their own ministry. Seven sons of a Jewish high priest called Sceva, who were professional exorcists tried to use the name of Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” But the evil spirit said to them in reply, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” Then the man with the evil spirit jumped on them, overpowered them and handled them so badly that they fled out of the house naked and bruised all over. The moral of the story: Who you are comes before what you do or say.
This is what Jesus is trying to teach his followers in today’s gospel story. He gives thumbs down to some people who say words of faith. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Matt 7:21). He even gives thumbs down to some people who do works of faith. “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers’” (vv 22-23). By saying “I never knew you,” Jesus indicates that the fundamental and most important thing is him knowing us and we knowing him. In other words, the relationship between Jesus and us is more important than the performance we put up in terms of words and deeds. We have to be Christians, people who know Christ, before we can act or speak Christian. We must have a direct, personal relationship with Christ. This is what gives meaning and potency to the words of faith we speak and the works of faith we perform. Otherwise we are no better than the seven sons of Sceva.
The seven sons of Sceva represent all those who try to profess the Christian creed outwardly and perform Christian works and projects but without being Christian on the inside. The seven sons of Sceva did not surrender their lives to Christ; all they wanted was to profit from the amazing grace that is available to Paul, the servant of Christ. They did not love Jesus; they loved something that Jesus gives. It was self-interest through and through. Paul professed Christ because he wanted to know him, love him and serve him.
Professing the faith by word of mouth is good. Involvement in concrete works of faith is great. But for these to have any meaning for eternal salvation, we must, first and foremost, cultivate a direct and personal relationship with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We can make all sorts of grandiose plans, we can even see our plans benefiting other people as these plans are laid and carried out. But if our plans remain OUR plans, set in OUR terms, and without consulting God, at some stage, cracks in their foundation will begin to show.
Take the case of a talented architect who wanted to show off his
skills in architectural design. He goes to his drawing board and
drafts what he regards as his masterpiece design. He never bothers to
consult other experts like a soils or a seismic engineer perhaps, to
see if his design can be executed on the ground he had chosen as
planned. Had he done so, he would have discovered that his design must
adapt to the actual soil conditions, and not the soil conditions adapting to his design. He will have to adjust or alter his plans and submit to the limits and boundaries imposed by nature.
Something similar can be said about following God's will. Human plans
must be exercised within God's will, for it is God's will that must be
its solid foundation. Otherwise, human will and freedom would just
sway unsteadily when left unguided, and exposed to the many forces in
the world. And so, the parable of Jesus makes real sense: the wise
man, the one who follows the will of God, builds his house upon the
rock; the foolish man, the one who follows his own will, builds his
house upon the sand. The rains fell, the floods came, and the house
upon the sand is gone. But the house upon the rock remains.
Some times we pledge to be obeying God’s will and in practice behave as if we know better than God. An elderly Scottish woman was making her way through the countryside. Each time she came to a crossroads she would toss a stick into the air. Whichever way the stick came down was the direction she went. At one intersection, however, an old man saw her toss her stick into the air not once, not twice, but three times before resuming her journey. The old man was curious. "Why are you throwing your stick like that?" he asked. She squinted and replied, "I'm letting God direct my journey by using this stick." "Then why did you throw it three times?" asked the curious old man. "Because," she said, "the first two times He was pointing me in the wrong direction." We may laugh at this. But some times we go by our human wisdom than relying on Divine wisdom.
Our faith is primarily for living in, not for looking at or talking about. It must be lived in deed and truth” (1Jn 3:18).In his encyclical Spe Salvi, Pope Benedict XVI, recalls that “the Christian message is not only “informative” but “performative”. That means: the Gospel is not merely a communication of things that can be known; it is one that makes things happen and is life changing. Christianity is not an ideology, or a simple ethics program; it is, above all, a personal commitment with Somebody.
Let’s build our spiritual edifice on the living stone of Jesus by doing the will of the heavenly father in heaven.’ May the Lord be praised now and for ever.
Friday, February 18, 2011
VII SUNDAY HOMILY:Cycle A
LEV 19:1-2,17-18;1 COR 3:16-23;Gospel:MT 5:38-48
One of the easiest things in the world to do is to become a Christian. It is ridiculously easy. All you have to do is confess you are a sinner, repent of your sin, believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sin and was raised from the dead, and surrender your life to Him as your Lord and Savior; and you become a Christian immediately and instantaneously. There is not an easier thing in the world than to become a Christian. But at the same time, one of the most difficult things in the world is to be a Christian.
We live in the country of "I want." I want my rights; I want my happiness; I want my way; I want my money. Rights are considered as American as apple pie. The best known part of the Constitution is the Bill of rights. Today rights don't so much protect the innocent as they promote the guilty. If you're going to be a real Christian you're going to have to give up some rights. Eye for an eye or tooth for a tooth.. this is what you have been permitted or allowed; may be your right to get even with. But Jesus says you have to give up this right and forgive unconditionally.
Today’s readings explain the basis of Jewish and Christian morality, the holiness of the loving, merciful and compassionate God. God’s chosen people are expected to be holy people sharing God’s holiness by embodying His love, mercy and forgiveness. Hence the first reading from the book of Leviticus gives the holiness code: “Be holy, for I the Lord, your God, am holy.” It also gives us the way to share God’s holiness: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” In the second reading St. Paul gives us an additional reason to be holy. We are to keep our bodies holy because we are the temples of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit lives in us. In the gospel passages taken from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus condemns even the mild form of the “Law of the Talion,” the tribal law of retaliation. For Jesus, retaliation, or even limited vengeance, has no place in the Christian life.
If someone strikes you on your right cheek show him the other as well. Striking someone on the right cheek requires striking with the back of one’s hand, and according to Jewish concept it inflicts more insult than pain. Jesus instructs his followers to forgive the insult gracefully and convert the offender. It may not be an easy thing to do, but a Christian has to do it.
In Bill Adler's popular book of letters from kids, an 8 year-old boy from Nashville, Tennessee makes this contribution: "Dear Pastor, I know God wants us to love everybody, but He surely never met my sister." Sincerely, Arnold. We can all love people who are at a safe distance, but it is very hard to love people who are close to. I can love the world, it is people I cannot stand.
Roman law permitted its soldiers and other officials to require people to carry a burden for a mile. Service of this sort could be quite oppressive. Here Jesus tells us that a Christian has the duty of responding, even to seemingly unjust demands by helping or serving gracefully, not grudgingly. The principle is this: When we respond to an onerous duty with cheerfulness rather than resentment, we may win over the one who gave us the duty.
Cardinal Francis Xavier Van Thuan spent 14 years in prison in Communist Viet Nam. They arrested and even tortured him, trying to get him to give up his Catholic faith. But instead, he chose to live his faith passionately, even in prison, work camps, and solitary confinement. Here is how he describes what happened. In the beginning, the guards did not talk to me. I was terribly sad. I wanted to be kind and polite with them, but it was impossible. They avoided speaking with me.
One night a thought came to me: “Francis, you are still very rich. You have the love of Christ in your heart; love them as Jesus has loved you.” The next day I started to love them even more, to love Jesus in them, smiling and exchanging kind words with them.
I began to tell them stories of my trips abroad, of how people live in America, in Canada, in Japan, in the Philippines… about economics, about freedom, about technology. This stimulated their curiosity and they began asking me many questions.
Little by little we became friends. They wanted to learn foreign languages, French, English… And my guards became my students! Cardinal Van Thuan’s truly Christ-like approach to his relationship with his atheist, Communist guards, led to some remarkable experiences. The Cardinal describes how one guard agreed to let him make a wooden cross for himself even though it was severely forbidden to have any religious signs at all. When the guard at first objected, the Cardinal answered, “I know, but we are friends, and I promise to keep it hidden.”
So the guard walked away and let the Cardinal make his cross. In another prison, Cardinal Van Thuan asked another guard, who had also become his friend, for some electrical wire.
Here is how the conversation went:
The guard, frightened, answered: “I learned at the Police Academy that when someone asks for electrical wire it means they want to kill themselves!”
“Catholic priests don’t commit suicide.” Said the Cardinal.
“But what do you want to do with electrical wire?”
“I would like to make a chain to carry my cross.”
“How can you make a chain with electrical wire? It’s impossible.”
“If you bring me two small pincers, I’ll show you.”
“It’s too dangerous!”
“But we’re friends!”
Three days later the guard brought the wire and the pincers, and together they made a chain for his cross – the atheist Communist police officer helping the imprisoned bishop with his vestments.
That’s the power of Christ-like love, the love we are all called to live.
Some people criticize Christianity for this teaching in particular.
They say that followers of Jesus are just wimps. They say that instead of fighting for what’s right, Christians passively allow themselves to be taken advantage of. But this is actually a very superficial criticism.
The most powerful force for change in this world full of conflict and sin is not vengeance or violence, but forgiveness.
The Roman Empire was built by force and violence, but it passed away a long time ago. Christ’s Kingdom, the Church, is built on the deeper power of forgiveness and unconditional love, and it has not only outlasted the Roman Empire, but it is still growing today. And in the first centuries of Christianity, when the Roman Empire tried to destroy the Church by force, by persecution, it was precisely the Christian’s power to forgive and endure that made the Church grow. Pagan Romans would watch the trials, tortures, and executions of the Christians. And no matter how unjustly the Christians were condemned, no matter how cruelly they were tortured, they never condemned their enemies in return. That example produced a steady stream of converts to the Christian faith, because the pagans had never witnessed such self-sacrificing nobility and courage. When we give in to bitterness, hatred, and the desire for vengeance, we lose the power of God’s grace at work in our hearts. And that power is the only power capable of conquering evil, of ending the cycle of destructive violence, of bringing resurrections out of crucifixions. A Chinese Proverb says, "Whoever pursues revenge should dig two graves; one for the avenged and one for himself."
Jesus demands that we should forgive, pardon and be generous whether or not our offenders deserve it, and even if we are not loved in return. He also tells us to pray for those who willfully cause us suffering, hardship and unhappiness. Only in Jesus we are able to love those who hate us. Let’s ask the Lord to help us to love those who hurt us and are hard to love.
Let me conclude with an example of Christian forgiveness.
Toward the end of the Revolutionary War, a turncoat traitor, named Michael Whitman, was captured. At his trial it was proven that he had given the British army invaluable assistance on numerous occasions. He was found guilty of spying and sentenced to death by hanging. Michael Whitman was from a town called Ephrata. Word got back to that town of his imprisonment and impending execution. There was a Baptist preacher who also lived in that town whose name was Peter Miller. He heard about Michael Whitman's plight and walked 70 miles in the cold and the snow to Philadelphia to see George Washington. George Washington and Peter Miller were very close friends. Miller had done a great many favors for the army; he had given them spiritual nourishment and emotional strength during difficult times. When he came in to see George Washington he said, "General, I have a favor to ask of you." Washington said, "What is it?" He said, "I have come to ask you to pardon Michael Whitman." George Washington was stunned. He said, "Pastor Miller, that's impossible. Whitman has done everything in his power to betray us, even offering to join the British and help destroy us. I cannot be lenient with traitors, and for that reason I cannot pardon your friend." Peter Miller said, "Friend! He's no friend of mine. He's the bitterest enemy I've ever had in my life. For years he persecuted me and harassed me. He did everything he could to hurt my church and to hinder the preaching of the gospel. He even waited for me one time after church and beat me almost senseless, spitting in my face, knowing full well I would not strike him back." He said, "General, let's get this straight—Michael Whitman is no friend of mine." George Washington was puzzled. He said, "But you asked me to pardon him." He said, "I have, and I ask you to do it to me as a personal favor." He said, "Why?" He said, "Because that's exactly what Jesus has done for you and for me." With tears in his eyes, George Washington walked into the next room and soon returned with a paper on which was written the pardon of Michael Whitman. Peter Miller went personally with him to the stockade, saved Michael Whitman from the hangman's noose, and personally took him back to his own home where he led him to faith in Jesus Christ. Peter Miller was right. What he did for Michael Whitman Jesus Christ has done for us, and on the cross He spoke to us as we should speak to others: "With malice toward none; with charity toward all."
One of the easiest things in the world to do is to become a Christian. It is ridiculously easy. All you have to do is confess you are a sinner, repent of your sin, believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sin and was raised from the dead, and surrender your life to Him as your Lord and Savior; and you become a Christian immediately and instantaneously. There is not an easier thing in the world than to become a Christian. But at the same time, one of the most difficult things in the world is to be a Christian.
We live in the country of "I want." I want my rights; I want my happiness; I want my way; I want my money. Rights are considered as American as apple pie. The best known part of the Constitution is the Bill of rights. Today rights don't so much protect the innocent as they promote the guilty. If you're going to be a real Christian you're going to have to give up some rights. Eye for an eye or tooth for a tooth.. this is what you have been permitted or allowed; may be your right to get even with. But Jesus says you have to give up this right and forgive unconditionally.
Today’s readings explain the basis of Jewish and Christian morality, the holiness of the loving, merciful and compassionate God. God’s chosen people are expected to be holy people sharing God’s holiness by embodying His love, mercy and forgiveness. Hence the first reading from the book of Leviticus gives the holiness code: “Be holy, for I the Lord, your God, am holy.” It also gives us the way to share God’s holiness: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” In the second reading St. Paul gives us an additional reason to be holy. We are to keep our bodies holy because we are the temples of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit lives in us. In the gospel passages taken from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus condemns even the mild form of the “Law of the Talion,” the tribal law of retaliation. For Jesus, retaliation, or even limited vengeance, has no place in the Christian life.
If someone strikes you on your right cheek show him the other as well. Striking someone on the right cheek requires striking with the back of one’s hand, and according to Jewish concept it inflicts more insult than pain. Jesus instructs his followers to forgive the insult gracefully and convert the offender. It may not be an easy thing to do, but a Christian has to do it.
In Bill Adler's popular book of letters from kids, an 8 year-old boy from Nashville, Tennessee makes this contribution: "Dear Pastor, I know God wants us to love everybody, but He surely never met my sister." Sincerely, Arnold. We can all love people who are at a safe distance, but it is very hard to love people who are close to. I can love the world, it is people I cannot stand.
Roman law permitted its soldiers and other officials to require people to carry a burden for a mile. Service of this sort could be quite oppressive. Here Jesus tells us that a Christian has the duty of responding, even to seemingly unjust demands by helping or serving gracefully, not grudgingly. The principle is this: When we respond to an onerous duty with cheerfulness rather than resentment, we may win over the one who gave us the duty.
Cardinal Francis Xavier Van Thuan spent 14 years in prison in Communist Viet Nam. They arrested and even tortured him, trying to get him to give up his Catholic faith. But instead, he chose to live his faith passionately, even in prison, work camps, and solitary confinement. Here is how he describes what happened. In the beginning, the guards did not talk to me. I was terribly sad. I wanted to be kind and polite with them, but it was impossible. They avoided speaking with me.
One night a thought came to me: “Francis, you are still very rich. You have the love of Christ in your heart; love them as Jesus has loved you.” The next day I started to love them even more, to love Jesus in them, smiling and exchanging kind words with them.
I began to tell them stories of my trips abroad, of how people live in America, in Canada, in Japan, in the Philippines… about economics, about freedom, about technology. This stimulated their curiosity and they began asking me many questions.
Little by little we became friends. They wanted to learn foreign languages, French, English… And my guards became my students! Cardinal Van Thuan’s truly Christ-like approach to his relationship with his atheist, Communist guards, led to some remarkable experiences. The Cardinal describes how one guard agreed to let him make a wooden cross for himself even though it was severely forbidden to have any religious signs at all. When the guard at first objected, the Cardinal answered, “I know, but we are friends, and I promise to keep it hidden.”
So the guard walked away and let the Cardinal make his cross. In another prison, Cardinal Van Thuan asked another guard, who had also become his friend, for some electrical wire.
Here is how the conversation went:
The guard, frightened, answered: “I learned at the Police Academy that when someone asks for electrical wire it means they want to kill themselves!”
“Catholic priests don’t commit suicide.” Said the Cardinal.
“But what do you want to do with electrical wire?”
“I would like to make a chain to carry my cross.”
“How can you make a chain with electrical wire? It’s impossible.”
“If you bring me two small pincers, I’ll show you.”
“It’s too dangerous!”
“But we’re friends!”
Three days later the guard brought the wire and the pincers, and together they made a chain for his cross – the atheist Communist police officer helping the imprisoned bishop with his vestments.
That’s the power of Christ-like love, the love we are all called to live.
Some people criticize Christianity for this teaching in particular.
They say that followers of Jesus are just wimps. They say that instead of fighting for what’s right, Christians passively allow themselves to be taken advantage of. But this is actually a very superficial criticism.
The most powerful force for change in this world full of conflict and sin is not vengeance or violence, but forgiveness.
The Roman Empire was built by force and violence, but it passed away a long time ago. Christ’s Kingdom, the Church, is built on the deeper power of forgiveness and unconditional love, and it has not only outlasted the Roman Empire, but it is still growing today. And in the first centuries of Christianity, when the Roman Empire tried to destroy the Church by force, by persecution, it was precisely the Christian’s power to forgive and endure that made the Church grow. Pagan Romans would watch the trials, tortures, and executions of the Christians. And no matter how unjustly the Christians were condemned, no matter how cruelly they were tortured, they never condemned their enemies in return. That example produced a steady stream of converts to the Christian faith, because the pagans had never witnessed such self-sacrificing nobility and courage. When we give in to bitterness, hatred, and the desire for vengeance, we lose the power of God’s grace at work in our hearts. And that power is the only power capable of conquering evil, of ending the cycle of destructive violence, of bringing resurrections out of crucifixions. A Chinese Proverb says, "Whoever pursues revenge should dig two graves; one for the avenged and one for himself."
Jesus demands that we should forgive, pardon and be generous whether or not our offenders deserve it, and even if we are not loved in return. He also tells us to pray for those who willfully cause us suffering, hardship and unhappiness. Only in Jesus we are able to love those who hate us. Let’s ask the Lord to help us to love those who hurt us and are hard to love.
Let me conclude with an example of Christian forgiveness.
Toward the end of the Revolutionary War, a turncoat traitor, named Michael Whitman, was captured. At his trial it was proven that he had given the British army invaluable assistance on numerous occasions. He was found guilty of spying and sentenced to death by hanging. Michael Whitman was from a town called Ephrata. Word got back to that town of his imprisonment and impending execution. There was a Baptist preacher who also lived in that town whose name was Peter Miller. He heard about Michael Whitman's plight and walked 70 miles in the cold and the snow to Philadelphia to see George Washington. George Washington and Peter Miller were very close friends. Miller had done a great many favors for the army; he had given them spiritual nourishment and emotional strength during difficult times. When he came in to see George Washington he said, "General, I have a favor to ask of you." Washington said, "What is it?" He said, "I have come to ask you to pardon Michael Whitman." George Washington was stunned. He said, "Pastor Miller, that's impossible. Whitman has done everything in his power to betray us, even offering to join the British and help destroy us. I cannot be lenient with traitors, and for that reason I cannot pardon your friend." Peter Miller said, "Friend! He's no friend of mine. He's the bitterest enemy I've ever had in my life. For years he persecuted me and harassed me. He did everything he could to hurt my church and to hinder the preaching of the gospel. He even waited for me one time after church and beat me almost senseless, spitting in my face, knowing full well I would not strike him back." He said, "General, let's get this straight—Michael Whitman is no friend of mine." George Washington was puzzled. He said, "But you asked me to pardon him." He said, "I have, and I ask you to do it to me as a personal favor." He said, "Why?" He said, "Because that's exactly what Jesus has done for you and for me." With tears in his eyes, George Washington walked into the next room and soon returned with a paper on which was written the pardon of Michael Whitman. Peter Miller went personally with him to the stockade, saved Michael Whitman from the hangman's noose, and personally took him back to his own home where he led him to faith in Jesus Christ. Peter Miller was right. What he did for Michael Whitman Jesus Christ has done for us, and on the cross He spoke to us as we should speak to others: "With malice toward none; with charity toward all."
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Vth Sunday in Ordinary Time- Cycle A.
Is.58:7-10;Icor.2:1-5; Mt.5:13-16
The Psalm 27:1 says: The Lord is my light and my salvation. Saints and mystics of all times have played on the image of God as light. The word ‘divine’ comes from a Sanskrit root, ‘div’, which means ‘to shine’. Light is from beyond our world; it is from the sun. Without sun or moonlight this planet would be a dark place. There would be no life, because every living thing owes its existence to light and is a form of light. We can never be self-sufficient. We are part of the whole physical system and we could never exist on our own. The same is true of our spiritual reality too. It would be as strange to think oneself spiritually self-sufficient as physically so. “Now in the Lord we are light.”
The ancient philosopher Aristotle wrote somewhere that of all the five senses we possess, sight is the most valued. By the sense of sight, we understand most about the world. By their nature, human beings are creatures who, above all, want to see and understand. That is why phrases like 'I see' can refer to both physical sight and to understanding something. Other phrases like, 'it finally dawned on me' use the imagery of light to indicate understanding something. Last Sunday we heard Christ's teaching that the pure of heart will see God. Faith will one day give way to vision, the beatific vision of eternal life with God and all the saints and angels. So faith connects us to God, the eternal light.
In today’s gospel Jesus says to his disciples, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). But elsewhere in John 8:12 Jesus says of himself, “I am the light of the world.” Who then is the light of the world, Jesus or his followers? This apparent contradiction is resolved by another passage in John 9:5 where Jesus modifies the statement about himself: “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” This shows that Jesus is talking about the flesh and blood embodiment of the light. As long as he is physically present in the world he is the light of the world, but when he is no longer physically present his followers now assume the role of being the light of the world.
The followers of Jesus are like the reflectors on road. The reflectors are useful at night only when light shines on them. Without head light shining on them they won’t be visible and useful. So the light they give depended on the light from another source. Otherwise they could not help one to see them. So when Jesus told his disciples they were the "light of the world," he meant they were to be reflectors of the light of God. God is the illuminating source. God provides the light that is reflected from us. And God needs us to be reflectors of God's light to a world of darkness. That is what the responsorial psalm also says today: The just man is a light in darkness to the upright. “Once you were darkness,” wrote St Paul, “but now in the Lord you are light” (Eph 5:8).
The role of the Christian in the world is defined by two words in today’s gospel: salt and light. Now what do these mean? In ancient times salt was the ultimate seasoning that gave taste to food. Without salt food would be tasteless. Jesus is saying that as salt is to food, so are Christians to the world. Christians are in the world to give it flavor, and protect it from corruption, like salt prevents corruption of meat and fish; or to become agents of healing, like saline gargling heals your sore throat. How can we make the world a sweeter place? We find the answer in the parallel passage in Mark: “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another” (Mark 9:50).
As salt we are called to be sweet disciples, friendly and kind, living at peace with everybody. As light we are called to show the way. Without light we bump into each another and fall into the ditch. But light says: “Here is the road, take it; here is danger, avoid it.” Without light and salt the world would be in a very bad shape, uninteresting and impossible to live in. With light and salt the world becomes a safer and better place. It is our duty as Christians to make the world a better place. In the rite of Baptism there is use of salt and light. Salt is used in blessing holy water and candle is lighted from the Easter candle.
Jesus tells His disciples that there is a difference between showing-off and showing-up. Showing-off is a play of pretense. Showing-up is a display of truth. Each of us is in a constant process of revealing our selves, even if we are not aware of it or really sure of the self we are revealing. Every gesture speaks volumes and others can read the signs and hear the wordless statements.
Salt and light apparently, may look contradictory. The salt, as is the case with yeast, cannot be seen once mixed but can be perceived; it can be tasted, relished. There are many persons that “can hardly be perceived”, as they are like “little ants” working and doing good all the time. Light, instead, cannot be hidden. There are persons that “can be seen from afar”: Mother Therese of Calcutta, the Pope, Mother Angelica. When we avow our own faith in difficult moments, we are light to others. And in certain environments, today, the mere fact of attending Mass may be the subject of jokes and general mockery. Going to Mass then is already to be “light”. And light is always detected and seen, no matter how small it may be. A little light may change the night.
If there is so much darkness and bitterness in the world today it is because we as Christians have failed in our job to be salt and light in the world.
A missionary had the occasion to put this question to the great Mahatma Gandhi, “What is the greatest hindrance to Christianity in India?” His answer was swift and decisive: “Christians.” It is said that the world would be a more Christian place today were it not for the Christians. The Christians that constitute a hindrance to Christianity are not the real and committed ones, of course, but those who bear the name Christian but, judging from the way they talk and behave, no one would suspect they have anything to do with Christ.
If I see growing dishonesty, corruption, immorality, violence, the diminishing respect for human life, and the increase in abortion in the world, whose fault is it? Let us put it like this: if the house is dark at night, there is no sense in blaming the house. That's what happens when the sun goes down. The question to ask is, "Where is the light?"
If meat goes bad, there is no sense in blaming the meat. That is what happens when the bacteria are allowed to breed unchecked. The question to ask is, "Where is the salt?"
If society becomes corrupt like a dark night or stinking fish, there's no sense in blaming society. That's what happens when fallen human society is left to itself and human evil is unrestrained and unchecked. The question to ask is "Where is the church?"
The story of Rose Hawthorne, daughter of the famous nineteenth century American author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, illustrates the influence of example. Rose’s family of origin was not even Christian, but Unitarian. The family traveled to Italy when Rose was just a girl, and the beauty of the art, architecture, and Catholic culture there impressed them. But at the same time, the mediocre lives of the Catholic Christians they met there turned them off. Nathaniel Hawthorne actually wrote about this, commenting on how little effect this beauty seemed to have on the people: "I really wonder that Catholics are not better men and women."
But if the bad example of some Catholics turned off Nathaniel Hawthorne, it was the good example of some other Catholics that led his daughter Rose to discover her calling. She and her husband became Catholic soon after their marriage, and Rose found herself deeply impressed by the visible presence of women consecrated entirely to God and the Church: Catholic nuns. After her husband passed away, she became a nun herself, actually founding the Hawthorne Dominicans for the Care of Incurable Cancer - a congregation still going strong today. One rule of this congregation is that they do not accept any money from a patient's family, as that could end up prejudicing them towards wealthier patients. That example of totally unselfish service made an impression on another famous American writer from the nineteenth century - Mark Twain. He was so impressed by Rose's work, in fact, that even though he was not a Catholic himself and had inherited a strong prejudice against Catholicism, he became one of Rose's first and steadiest benefactors.
As Catholics, the example of what we do and how we do it can either draw people closer to God, or push them further away.
As Christians and as salt and light in the world, let’s recognize that we Have a responsibility for the World. We have something the world desperately needs. And we are not the Source of Our Light, but we reflect a much Greater Light.
Let us pray to the Lord for one another that we always know how to be salt. And how to be light, if need be. That our daily chores are carried out in such a way that through our good deeds people may praise our Father who is in Heaven (cf. Mt 5:12).
The Psalm 27:1 says: The Lord is my light and my salvation. Saints and mystics of all times have played on the image of God as light. The word ‘divine’ comes from a Sanskrit root, ‘div’, which means ‘to shine’. Light is from beyond our world; it is from the sun. Without sun or moonlight this planet would be a dark place. There would be no life, because every living thing owes its existence to light and is a form of light. We can never be self-sufficient. We are part of the whole physical system and we could never exist on our own. The same is true of our spiritual reality too. It would be as strange to think oneself spiritually self-sufficient as physically so. “Now in the Lord we are light.”
The ancient philosopher Aristotle wrote somewhere that of all the five senses we possess, sight is the most valued. By the sense of sight, we understand most about the world. By their nature, human beings are creatures who, above all, want to see and understand. That is why phrases like 'I see' can refer to both physical sight and to understanding something. Other phrases like, 'it finally dawned on me' use the imagery of light to indicate understanding something. Last Sunday we heard Christ's teaching that the pure of heart will see God. Faith will one day give way to vision, the beatific vision of eternal life with God and all the saints and angels. So faith connects us to God, the eternal light.
In today’s gospel Jesus says to his disciples, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). But elsewhere in John 8:12 Jesus says of himself, “I am the light of the world.” Who then is the light of the world, Jesus or his followers? This apparent contradiction is resolved by another passage in John 9:5 where Jesus modifies the statement about himself: “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” This shows that Jesus is talking about the flesh and blood embodiment of the light. As long as he is physically present in the world he is the light of the world, but when he is no longer physically present his followers now assume the role of being the light of the world.
The followers of Jesus are like the reflectors on road. The reflectors are useful at night only when light shines on them. Without head light shining on them they won’t be visible and useful. So the light they give depended on the light from another source. Otherwise they could not help one to see them. So when Jesus told his disciples they were the "light of the world," he meant they were to be reflectors of the light of God. God is the illuminating source. God provides the light that is reflected from us. And God needs us to be reflectors of God's light to a world of darkness. That is what the responsorial psalm also says today: The just man is a light in darkness to the upright. “Once you were darkness,” wrote St Paul, “but now in the Lord you are light” (Eph 5:8).
The role of the Christian in the world is defined by two words in today’s gospel: salt and light. Now what do these mean? In ancient times salt was the ultimate seasoning that gave taste to food. Without salt food would be tasteless. Jesus is saying that as salt is to food, so are Christians to the world. Christians are in the world to give it flavor, and protect it from corruption, like salt prevents corruption of meat and fish; or to become agents of healing, like saline gargling heals your sore throat. How can we make the world a sweeter place? We find the answer in the parallel passage in Mark: “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another” (Mark 9:50).
As salt we are called to be sweet disciples, friendly and kind, living at peace with everybody. As light we are called to show the way. Without light we bump into each another and fall into the ditch. But light says: “Here is the road, take it; here is danger, avoid it.” Without light and salt the world would be in a very bad shape, uninteresting and impossible to live in. With light and salt the world becomes a safer and better place. It is our duty as Christians to make the world a better place. In the rite of Baptism there is use of salt and light. Salt is used in blessing holy water and candle is lighted from the Easter candle.
Jesus tells His disciples that there is a difference between showing-off and showing-up. Showing-off is a play of pretense. Showing-up is a display of truth. Each of us is in a constant process of revealing our selves, even if we are not aware of it or really sure of the self we are revealing. Every gesture speaks volumes and others can read the signs and hear the wordless statements.
Salt and light apparently, may look contradictory. The salt, as is the case with yeast, cannot be seen once mixed but can be perceived; it can be tasted, relished. There are many persons that “can hardly be perceived”, as they are like “little ants” working and doing good all the time. Light, instead, cannot be hidden. There are persons that “can be seen from afar”: Mother Therese of Calcutta, the Pope, Mother Angelica. When we avow our own faith in difficult moments, we are light to others. And in certain environments, today, the mere fact of attending Mass may be the subject of jokes and general mockery. Going to Mass then is already to be “light”. And light is always detected and seen, no matter how small it may be. A little light may change the night.
If there is so much darkness and bitterness in the world today it is because we as Christians have failed in our job to be salt and light in the world.
A missionary had the occasion to put this question to the great Mahatma Gandhi, “What is the greatest hindrance to Christianity in India?” His answer was swift and decisive: “Christians.” It is said that the world would be a more Christian place today were it not for the Christians. The Christians that constitute a hindrance to Christianity are not the real and committed ones, of course, but those who bear the name Christian but, judging from the way they talk and behave, no one would suspect they have anything to do with Christ.
If I see growing dishonesty, corruption, immorality, violence, the diminishing respect for human life, and the increase in abortion in the world, whose fault is it? Let us put it like this: if the house is dark at night, there is no sense in blaming the house. That's what happens when the sun goes down. The question to ask is, "Where is the light?"
If meat goes bad, there is no sense in blaming the meat. That is what happens when the bacteria are allowed to breed unchecked. The question to ask is, "Where is the salt?"
If society becomes corrupt like a dark night or stinking fish, there's no sense in blaming society. That's what happens when fallen human society is left to itself and human evil is unrestrained and unchecked. The question to ask is "Where is the church?"
The story of Rose Hawthorne, daughter of the famous nineteenth century American author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, illustrates the influence of example. Rose’s family of origin was not even Christian, but Unitarian. The family traveled to Italy when Rose was just a girl, and the beauty of the art, architecture, and Catholic culture there impressed them. But at the same time, the mediocre lives of the Catholic Christians they met there turned them off. Nathaniel Hawthorne actually wrote about this, commenting on how little effect this beauty seemed to have on the people: "I really wonder that Catholics are not better men and women."
But if the bad example of some Catholics turned off Nathaniel Hawthorne, it was the good example of some other Catholics that led his daughter Rose to discover her calling. She and her husband became Catholic soon after their marriage, and Rose found herself deeply impressed by the visible presence of women consecrated entirely to God and the Church: Catholic nuns. After her husband passed away, she became a nun herself, actually founding the Hawthorne Dominicans for the Care of Incurable Cancer - a congregation still going strong today. One rule of this congregation is that they do not accept any money from a patient's family, as that could end up prejudicing them towards wealthier patients. That example of totally unselfish service made an impression on another famous American writer from the nineteenth century - Mark Twain. He was so impressed by Rose's work, in fact, that even though he was not a Catholic himself and had inherited a strong prejudice against Catholicism, he became one of Rose's first and steadiest benefactors.
As Catholics, the example of what we do and how we do it can either draw people closer to God, or push them further away.
As Christians and as salt and light in the world, let’s recognize that we Have a responsibility for the World. We have something the world desperately needs. And we are not the Source of Our Light, but we reflect a much Greater Light.
Let us pray to the Lord for one another that we always know how to be salt. And how to be light, if need be. That our daily chores are carried out in such a way that through our good deeds people may praise our Father who is in Heaven (cf. Mt 5:12).
Sunday, January 30, 2011
IV SUNDAY HOMILY (Cycle A)
ZEPH 2:3, 3:12-13;I COR 1:26-31;Gosple: MT 5:1-12
“Happiness is that which all men seek.” says the great philosopher Aristotle. Aristotle also observes that everything people do twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, is what they believe will bring them happiness in one form or another. But the problem is that what people think will bring them happiness does not in fact always bring them true and lasting happiness. Think of the drunkard who believes that happiness is found in the beer bottle. One bottle too much and he is driving home, runs a red light, hits a car and wakes up the following morning in a hospital with plaster and stitches all over his body. Then it begins to dawn on him that the happiness promised by alcohol may be too short-lived. Or take the man who frequents the casino to deal excitement. By the end of the month he finds that his account is in the red and that he can no longer pay his house rent. Creditors go after him until he loses his house and his car. Then it dawns on him that the happiness promised by the casino is fake. So Aristotle says that the ethical person is the person who knows and does what can truly bring them not just excitement or pleasure but true and lasting happiness.
Another word for true and lasting happiness is “blessedness” or “beatitude.” In today’s gospel, Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount shows that he really wants his followers to have true and lasting happiness, the happiness that the world and everything in it cannot give. This state of blessedness is what Jesus calls being in the “kingdom of heaven”. The eight beatitudes we have in today’s gospel constitute a road map for anyone who seeks to attain this happiness of the kingdom. The Beatitudes are as fundamental for Christ's teaching as the Ten Commandments were for Moses' teaching. The Sermon on the Mount is the heart of the Gospel, and the Beatitudes are the heart of the Sermon on the Mount.
Why does Jesus deem it necessary to establish these guideposts to the kingdom right from the very first teaching that he gives to the disciples? It is because of the importance of this teaching. Everybody seeks happiness. But often we look for it in the wrong places. Ask people around you what makes people happy and compare the answers you get with the answers Jesus gives. The world has its own idea of happiness. If a committee were set up to draw up the beatitudes, we would most probably end up with a list very different from that which Jesus gives us today.
Where Jesus says “Blessed are the poor in spirit” they would say “Blessed are the rich.” Where Jesus says “Blessed are those who mourn” they would say “Blessed are those having fun.” Where Jesus says “Blessed are the meek” they would say “Blessed are the smart.” Where Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” they would say “Blessed are those who wine and dine.” Where Jesus says, “Blessed are the merciful” they would say “Blessed are the powerful.” Where Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure in heart” they would say “Blessed are the slim in body.” Where Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers” they would say “Blessed are the news makers.” And where Jesus says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake” they would say “Blessed are those who can afford the best lawyers.”
We see that the values prescribed by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount are in fact counter-cultural. We cannot accept these teachings of Jesus and at the same time accept all the values of the society in which we live. Of course, Jesus does not demand that we abandon the world. But he does demand that we put God first in our lives because only God can guarantee the true happiness and peace that our hearts long for. Nothing in the world can give this peace, and nothing in the world can take it away.
The poor in spirit and those who suffer persecution gracefully realize that they are not the center of the universe - God is. The clean of heart realizes that other people don't exist just for the sake of his pleasure. The peace maker is concerned about the needs and problems of others. The merciful is concerned about the suffering of others. The mournful is concerned about the damage his sin does to the Church, the world, and other people. The meek cares more about getting things done than getting credit for doing things. Those who hunger for righteousness realize that their life has a higher purpose, that it's part of a bigger story. Underlying all the Beatitudes is this fundamental attitude that puts God and others ahead of self. It looks out at the world instead of staring in, fixated on self. This is humility,
the bedrock of basic human maturity. God loves this humility, because it opens the soul to receive his gifts. When we make the Beatitudes as a sort of checklist for us, we could see the areas we need to improve in.
“Blessed are the poor in Spirit, there is the kingdom of heaven”.William Barclay says this verse means, "Blessed is the man who has realized his own utter helplessness, and who has put his whole trust in God. If a man has realized his own utter helplessness, and has put his whole trust in God , he is blessed. And he will become completely detached from things, for he will know that things have not got in them happiness or security; and he will become completely attached to God, for he will know that God alone can bring him help, and hope, and strength.
The man who is poor in spirit is the man who has realized that things mean nothing, and that God means everything."
These beatitudes tell us that we find happiness in finding God. “Seek the Lord,” begins the first reading at today’s Mass. “Finding God” is not like finding a lost object. God is not lost. We are lost. So to find God is to find oneself. Or more correctly, it is to be found by God. The greatest seekers after God have known this. St Augustine (5th century) gave it one of its most famous expressions. “Late have I loved you, O beauty, so ancient and so new, late have I loved you! And behold, you were within me and I was outside, and there I sought for you, and in my deformity I fell upon those lovely things of your creation. You were with me but I was not with you….”
The Eight Beatitudes do not describe eight different people such that we need to ask which of the eight suits us personally. No, they are eight different snapshots taken from different angles of the same godly person. The question for us today, therefore, is this: “Do we live our lives following the values of the world as a way of attaining happiness or do we live by the teachings of Jesus. If you live by the teachings of Jesus, then rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.
“Happiness is that which all men seek.” says the great philosopher Aristotle. Aristotle also observes that everything people do twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, is what they believe will bring them happiness in one form or another. But the problem is that what people think will bring them happiness does not in fact always bring them true and lasting happiness. Think of the drunkard who believes that happiness is found in the beer bottle. One bottle too much and he is driving home, runs a red light, hits a car and wakes up the following morning in a hospital with plaster and stitches all over his body. Then it begins to dawn on him that the happiness promised by alcohol may be too short-lived. Or take the man who frequents the casino to deal excitement. By the end of the month he finds that his account is in the red and that he can no longer pay his house rent. Creditors go after him until he loses his house and his car. Then it dawns on him that the happiness promised by the casino is fake. So Aristotle says that the ethical person is the person who knows and does what can truly bring them not just excitement or pleasure but true and lasting happiness.
Another word for true and lasting happiness is “blessedness” or “beatitude.” In today’s gospel, Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount shows that he really wants his followers to have true and lasting happiness, the happiness that the world and everything in it cannot give. This state of blessedness is what Jesus calls being in the “kingdom of heaven”. The eight beatitudes we have in today’s gospel constitute a road map for anyone who seeks to attain this happiness of the kingdom. The Beatitudes are as fundamental for Christ's teaching as the Ten Commandments were for Moses' teaching. The Sermon on the Mount is the heart of the Gospel, and the Beatitudes are the heart of the Sermon on the Mount.
Why does Jesus deem it necessary to establish these guideposts to the kingdom right from the very first teaching that he gives to the disciples? It is because of the importance of this teaching. Everybody seeks happiness. But often we look for it in the wrong places. Ask people around you what makes people happy and compare the answers you get with the answers Jesus gives. The world has its own idea of happiness. If a committee were set up to draw up the beatitudes, we would most probably end up with a list very different from that which Jesus gives us today.
Where Jesus says “Blessed are the poor in spirit” they would say “Blessed are the rich.” Where Jesus says “Blessed are those who mourn” they would say “Blessed are those having fun.” Where Jesus says “Blessed are the meek” they would say “Blessed are the smart.” Where Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” they would say “Blessed are those who wine and dine.” Where Jesus says, “Blessed are the merciful” they would say “Blessed are the powerful.” Where Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure in heart” they would say “Blessed are the slim in body.” Where Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers” they would say “Blessed are the news makers.” And where Jesus says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake” they would say “Blessed are those who can afford the best lawyers.”
We see that the values prescribed by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount are in fact counter-cultural. We cannot accept these teachings of Jesus and at the same time accept all the values of the society in which we live. Of course, Jesus does not demand that we abandon the world. But he does demand that we put God first in our lives because only God can guarantee the true happiness and peace that our hearts long for. Nothing in the world can give this peace, and nothing in the world can take it away.
The poor in spirit and those who suffer persecution gracefully realize that they are not the center of the universe - God is. The clean of heart realizes that other people don't exist just for the sake of his pleasure. The peace maker is concerned about the needs and problems of others. The merciful is concerned about the suffering of others. The mournful is concerned about the damage his sin does to the Church, the world, and other people. The meek cares more about getting things done than getting credit for doing things. Those who hunger for righteousness realize that their life has a higher purpose, that it's part of a bigger story. Underlying all the Beatitudes is this fundamental attitude that puts God and others ahead of self. It looks out at the world instead of staring in, fixated on self. This is humility,
the bedrock of basic human maturity. God loves this humility, because it opens the soul to receive his gifts. When we make the Beatitudes as a sort of checklist for us, we could see the areas we need to improve in.
“Blessed are the poor in Spirit, there is the kingdom of heaven”.William Barclay says this verse means, "Blessed is the man who has realized his own utter helplessness, and who has put his whole trust in God. If a man has realized his own utter helplessness, and has put his whole trust in God , he is blessed. And he will become completely detached from things, for he will know that things have not got in them happiness or security; and he will become completely attached to God, for he will know that God alone can bring him help, and hope, and strength.
The man who is poor in spirit is the man who has realized that things mean nothing, and that God means everything."
These beatitudes tell us that we find happiness in finding God. “Seek the Lord,” begins the first reading at today’s Mass. “Finding God” is not like finding a lost object. God is not lost. We are lost. So to find God is to find oneself. Or more correctly, it is to be found by God. The greatest seekers after God have known this. St Augustine (5th century) gave it one of its most famous expressions. “Late have I loved you, O beauty, so ancient and so new, late have I loved you! And behold, you were within me and I was outside, and there I sought for you, and in my deformity I fell upon those lovely things of your creation. You were with me but I was not with you….”
The Eight Beatitudes do not describe eight different people such that we need to ask which of the eight suits us personally. No, they are eight different snapshots taken from different angles of the same godly person. The question for us today, therefore, is this: “Do we live our lives following the values of the world as a way of attaining happiness or do we live by the teachings of Jesus. If you live by the teachings of Jesus, then rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.
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