Tuesday, December 28, 2010
The Solemnity of Mary
When the angel Gabriel greeted Mary at the mystery of the Annunciation, he used those familiar words: Hail, full of grace. Hail is an ordinary greeting in Greek, but it also can be translated as rejoice or be joyful. The next part of his greeting or message is Full of grace. The Lord is with you. The other translation for full of grace is highly favored. What joy could be greater than having the Lord with you? What grace or favor could be higher than having the Lord with you? He is Emmanuel, the promised of ages. We have Him with us and our joy is full. We have Him with us today in the sacrament and in the word. Today we celebrate the mystery of His Mother. All the other miracles of salvation history are linked to this miracle. Without the birth of Jesus in the flesh, all flesh would not have been redeemed in the mystery of His death and resurrection. The grace that Mary has been given is the first and greatest grace of God's plan of salvation. The Lord is with you Mary in a way that no one else can know, but today we can imitate you, Mary, and ponder all these mysteries in our hearts as you pondered the mysteries of God's favor to you. Mary has changed Eve's curse into a blessing. She is the new daughter of Zion. Through Mary all her ancestor and forbears have found a blessing. Mary without seed has born as her fruit the one who bestows blessing on the world and redeems it from the curse that made it sprout thorns. Mary is blessed among women, because, although a creature by nature, she became, in reality, God's mother, the Theotokos. Enclosed within her womb is God himself. God makes His abode in her. God makes His abode in us today in the mystery of the Eucharist. God came forth from Mary, like a bridegroom, winning joy for all and bestowing God's light on all. We are called then to carry a little bit of that light and joy to our darkened and sad world. Mary is like a clear and shining sky in which God has arisen like the Sun. This sun will fill all things with the divine warmth and His life-giving brightness. Our tiny eyes cannot see all the light. Our tiny lips cannot sing all the praise that is due, but tiny Jesus in the manger breaks our bonds and limits and fills our hearts with joy.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Christmas Excitement
Christmas is a time of great excitement, the giving of gifts, the visits of relatives and friends, sometimes rarely seen. It is one of those nights when you want to stay up all night. And we should stay up to see the miracle: God has become man for our sakes. We should have suffered eternal death, if Christ had not been born in time.We would be lost if he had not hurried to help us. Let us joyfully celebrate the coming of our salvation and redemption. Let us celebrate the festive night on which he who is the great and eternal day came from the great and endless day of eternity into our own short night of time.
A light has dawned that shall ever blaze. Christ the light shines in our hearts and turns night into day. We proclaim this little baby the King of Kings. The angels sing their song of praise and lift up his name with glorias and mighty choruses of sound and yet...it is a silent night, a holy night.
This gift of the Word made flesh is indescribable and full of mystery. The warmth of God's love stands in great contrast to the coldness of the human heart. God cannot give a better gift than Himself. We can see the light eternal somehow getting brighter. Our dazzled eyes somehow behold the sun of grace. This life, this light, this Word, this joy saves us from hopelessness and despair. Fear is banished. Death has lost its sting. Darkness has been driven away. Deafness is shattered. Mercy has a human heart. Loving kindness has a human face. Divine love takes human form. The Prince of peace lies in a manger, his hands too tiny to hold any weapons except to hold the bright blue air.
And so we all come to the manger, from every land and city and town with our petitions for love , mercy, pity, and peace. We say: Save us, might Lord, little Child, from all our distress. You the Word will grow up to be a healer and a teacher. Heal and teach us now.
A light has dawned that shall ever blaze. Christ the light shines in our hearts and turns night into day. We proclaim this little baby the King of Kings. The angels sing their song of praise and lift up his name with glorias and mighty choruses of sound and yet...it is a silent night, a holy night.
This gift of the Word made flesh is indescribable and full of mystery. The warmth of God's love stands in great contrast to the coldness of the human heart. God cannot give a better gift than Himself. We can see the light eternal somehow getting brighter. Our dazzled eyes somehow behold the sun of grace. This life, this light, this Word, this joy saves us from hopelessness and despair. Fear is banished. Death has lost its sting. Darkness has been driven away. Deafness is shattered. Mercy has a human heart. Loving kindness has a human face. Divine love takes human form. The Prince of peace lies in a manger, his hands too tiny to hold any weapons except to hold the bright blue air.
And so we all come to the manger, from every land and city and town with our petitions for love , mercy, pity, and peace. We say: Save us, might Lord, little Child, from all our distress. You the Word will grow up to be a healer and a teacher. Heal and teach us now.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
September 11
I do not know whether the passing of a man is good or bad, but I only know that it makes me sad when so many pass away so quickly in a searing explosion of concrete, steel, flame, and dust. Is slow any better? Shakespeare's skepticism about the passage of man is inviting:
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms;
Then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lin'd,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well sav'd a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans every thing. Jaques in As You Like It(II.vii)
The slow sinking of the body to the ground pulled there by the inevitable gravity of life would seem terrifying if we did not live it out in little bits every day.
The ancients thought it was better to go darkly into that black night than to rage madly at the coming of the night. But is it better to go quickly?
How long were the hours of Jesus on the cross?
How long before he slumped down in the breathlessness of death?
And so when copper flames fall by the thousands, like tongues of fire, like red-poached leaves of passing that fall too too early in the autumn, I think of that too bright flame of love that seems to be extinguished on the charred wood of the cross. No, no, not burnt out but loved by a Lady in Blue who stood by the cross and tried to warn us that death was coming. And so she stood by two towers seven years ago and wept with us over the fallen. Stabat mater dolorosa juxta crucem lacrimosa dum pendebat Filius. The Gospel exhorts us to love out enemies, but to Mary we were the enemies because we put her Son to death. Yet she loves us in the moment that command of Jesus from the Cross was given: Mother, behold your Son. And so Mary is our life, our sweetness, and our hope in this valley of tears. In this Eucharist Jesus is the Bread of Life and our hope for the years to come.
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms;
Then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lin'd,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well sav'd a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans every thing. Jaques in As You Like It(II.vii)
The slow sinking of the body to the ground pulled there by the inevitable gravity of life would seem terrifying if we did not live it out in little bits every day.
The ancients thought it was better to go darkly into that black night than to rage madly at the coming of the night. But is it better to go quickly?
How long were the hours of Jesus on the cross?
How long before he slumped down in the breathlessness of death?
And so when copper flames fall by the thousands, like tongues of fire, like red-poached leaves of passing that fall too too early in the autumn, I think of that too bright flame of love that seems to be extinguished on the charred wood of the cross. No, no, not burnt out but loved by a Lady in Blue who stood by the cross and tried to warn us that death was coming. And so she stood by two towers seven years ago and wept with us over the fallen. Stabat mater dolorosa juxta crucem lacrimosa dum pendebat Filius. The Gospel exhorts us to love out enemies, but to Mary we were the enemies because we put her Son to death. Yet she loves us in the moment that command of Jesus from the Cross was given: Mother, behold your Son. And so Mary is our life, our sweetness, and our hope in this valley of tears. In this Eucharist Jesus is the Bread of Life and our hope for the years to come.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
The Man Born Blind
How does one come to faith?
It is like coming to receive sight as the blind man born blind in the Gospel today. Put yourself in his shoes or rather his eyes. Close your eyes and imagine what it is like to never see the world around, never to see the ones you love or even the ones you hate. What is color? What is bright? What is blue sky? What is sun?
The blind man's other senses are there and useful. When Jesus says Go and Wash in the pool of Siloam, his ears are working, his heart is full of hope and working and his legs and will are working.
Go and Wash
Jesus tells us today Go and Wash your sins away in the pool of my forgiveness and mercy and then your eyes will be clear and you will see the world as you have never seen it before, full of wonderful things and beautiful things that God has given to us, full of wonderful people and beautiful people that God has given to us and we like the blind man go back to Jesus in gratitude for our sight and we receive the greatest sight, the sight of Jesus, the healer, the teacher, the redeemer, the Son of God. And if you look really closely at Jesus, you see that he is flesh and blood like any human being. You can see the blue veins and the red arteries and the clear eyes that see into the depths of your soul.
Some people don't like to see Jesus.
Some people refuse the gift of sight. They say he cannot heal, he cannot forgive sins. It is all some kind of trick or optical illusion. It is so sad for those people in the Gospel today and it is so sad for the people in our world today. They have so many things dancing before their eyes, so much noise pounding in their eyes that they cannot hear the command of Jesus Go and Wash.And we who have sight today
come and see Jesus in the mystery of the Eucharist. We cannot see the Body that is nailed to the cross in the mystery of the sacrifice. We see only the bread, but it is the same Body. We cannot see the blood that is poured out from the wounds and the head and the heart, but it is the same Blood. Let us come to Jesus today with gratitude for the gift of faith.Friday, February 15, 2008
More Reality TV
Look out, Dr. Phil! Move over, Tony Robbins. Mr. T. is on a mission to change real people's lives. In TV-Land's new Reali Tee show, Mr. T. dishes out a new kind of self-help and, of course, the name of the show is I Pity the Fool.
But this might not exactly line up with what Jesus says in the Gospel today. "Whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna." Jesus demands forgiveness in response to anger: 'Love your enemies'; 'turn the other cheek'; 'forgive 70 times 7 (i.e., endlessly)'On anger itself Jesus made rigorous demands, though not ones unknown within his Jewish milieu: 'If you are angry with a brother you will be liable to judgment . So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there . and go, first be reconciled' (Matt 5. 22-24). So anger - according to Jesus - must be overcome, controlled, dissipated, and as soon as possible, Quoting from Psalm 4. 4, the epistle to the Ephesians insists: 'Be angry and sin not. Do not let the sun go down on your anger' (Eph. 4. 26). So dissipate that anger before sundown or at least before the Mr. T. show comes on. If not, it will lead to judgement - God's wrath against us. So there is an implicit distinction here between righteous divine wrath and sinful human negative rage, the latter of which must be speedily overcome. How to overcome? Leave your gift: a gesture of humility. On the cross Jesus did not get angry with his enemies when he had every right to.
Surely if Jesus had said that anger could lead to damnation it could not here be encouraged. The only way around this problem was to make a further distinction within human anger, between 'righteous indignation' on the one hand (such as evidenced by Jesus himself in the cleansing of the Temple), and 'sinful anger' on the other, the former being wholly justified in some circumstances, but never if it led to the destructive consequences of the latter: either prophetic, righteous anger or negative, destructive anger.
In Paul's letter to the Galatians in chapter 5, Paul lists, on the one hand, the 'works of the flesh', which include 'enmities, strife, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions ..', and on the other hand, the 'fruit of the Spirit': 'love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control' (vs. 22-23). These are gifts of grace through faith in Christ. The prayers of Jesus' forgiveness from the cross has enabled us to receive these gifts from the Father through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit reconciles us to God and to one another if we can these gift with wholeness and totality of heart. Receiving the gift of the Eucharist means letting go of our weapons, our grudges, our resentments and picking up the gift that is Jesus himself.
But this might not exactly line up with what Jesus says in the Gospel today. "Whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna." Jesus demands forgiveness in response to anger: 'Love your enemies'; 'turn the other cheek'; 'forgive 70 times 7 (i.e., endlessly)'On anger itself Jesus made rigorous demands, though not ones unknown within his Jewish milieu: 'If you are angry with a brother you will be liable to judgment . So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there . and go, first be reconciled' (Matt 5. 22-24). So anger - according to Jesus - must be overcome, controlled, dissipated, and as soon as possible, Quoting from Psalm 4. 4, the epistle to the Ephesians insists: 'Be angry and sin not. Do not let the sun go down on your anger' (Eph. 4. 26). So dissipate that anger before sundown or at least before the Mr. T. show comes on. If not, it will lead to judgement - God's wrath against us. So there is an implicit distinction here between righteous divine wrath and sinful human negative rage, the latter of which must be speedily overcome. How to overcome? Leave your gift: a gesture of humility. On the cross Jesus did not get angry with his enemies when he had every right to.
Surely if Jesus had said that anger could lead to damnation it could not here be encouraged. The only way around this problem was to make a further distinction within human anger, between 'righteous indignation' on the one hand (such as evidenced by Jesus himself in the cleansing of the Temple), and 'sinful anger' on the other, the former being wholly justified in some circumstances, but never if it led to the destructive consequences of the latter: either prophetic, righteous anger or negative, destructive anger.
In Paul's letter to the Galatians in chapter 5, Paul lists, on the one hand, the 'works of the flesh', which include 'enmities, strife, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions ..', and on the other hand, the 'fruit of the Spirit': 'love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control' (vs. 22-23). These are gifts of grace through faith in Christ. The prayers of Jesus' forgiveness from the cross has enabled us to receive these gifts from the Father through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit reconciles us to God and to one another if we can these gift with wholeness and totality of heart. Receiving the gift of the Eucharist means letting go of our weapons, our grudges, our resentments and picking up the gift that is Jesus himself.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
The Three Faces of Evil
The desert was scorching and the hot wind blew with a salty and alkaline tang that seemed to make you more thirsty than you were. This was the place that John the Baptist had known, but he was gone now. It was a long time: forty days and forty nights: the same time as that during which Moses remained on Sinai and the people of Israel succumbed to temptation. It was a long time: after the first temptation in the garden. The snake had slithered into the garden a long time ago to tempt Eve and Adam. And now the Great Tempter had returned not to the garden for it was gone now but to the desert where he had tempted so many after Adam and Eve. And he was always a liar. You will not die, he said, but they did. Make the golden calf, rebel against God, he won't do anything to you and now he dared to come before the Redeemer to tempt him, to draw him away from his mission and the will of the Father. Eat of the tree - it looked so good to Eve. Eat the bread you have made with your miraculous powers. What can be the harm in that? Jesus was very hungry. What's wrong with a little bread to nosh on? Miracles are for others, not himself. And so right at the beginning of his mission of healing the devil tried to divert him away from the true use of his powers- to heal and to save. “It is written:
One does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes forth
from the mouth of God.”
Jesus is aware of the importance of the second part of his mission: teaching. He is the Word of God, sent forth to teach. He tries to teach the devil the truth. The Father of Lies backs away and tries another strategy.
As if he were aware of the coming suffering of Jesus, he mocks Jesus' trust in the Father by quoting back at Jesus the great psalm of trust and confidence in the Lord.
Throw yourself down. Your whole mission here is suicide anyway. Get it over with quick. Unlike the people of Israel in Deuteronomy 6:16, Jesus refuses to "test" God by demanding from him an extraordinary show of power.
The Father of Lies tries another lie: I will give you all the kingdoms of the world. Ah, the temptation of politics and power. How many have so recently spent fortunes and principles and time to be No. 1! Jesus is already the King of Kings and he must be crowned with his crown of thorns. The worship of Satan to which Jesus is tempted is probably intended to recall Israel's worship of false gods. His refusal is expressed in the words of Deuteronomy 6:13. The devil left and the angels came. The devil had been one of them, but he had rebelled and now was in a permanent state of rebellion.
The angels ministered to Jesus in the desert as they had at his conception, his birth and his baptism, and now like the prophet Elijah, they helped him on his journey to the mountain of God.
Let us partake today of the Bread of Angels.
One does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes forth
from the mouth of God.”
Jesus is aware of the importance of the second part of his mission: teaching. He is the Word of God, sent forth to teach. He tries to teach the devil the truth. The Father of Lies backs away and tries another strategy.
As if he were aware of the coming suffering of Jesus, he mocks Jesus' trust in the Father by quoting back at Jesus the great psalm of trust and confidence in the Lord.
Throw yourself down. Your whole mission here is suicide anyway. Get it over with quick. Unlike the people of Israel in Deuteronomy 6:16, Jesus refuses to "test" God by demanding from him an extraordinary show of power.
The Father of Lies tries another lie: I will give you all the kingdoms of the world. Ah, the temptation of politics and power. How many have so recently spent fortunes and principles and time to be No. 1! Jesus is already the King of Kings and he must be crowned with his crown of thorns. The worship of Satan to which Jesus is tempted is probably intended to recall Israel's worship of false gods. His refusal is expressed in the words of Deuteronomy 6:13. The devil left and the angels came. The devil had been one of them, but he had rebelled and now was in a permanent state of rebellion.
The angels ministered to Jesus in the desert as they had at his conception, his birth and his baptism, and now like the prophet Elijah, they helped him on his journey to the mountain of God.
Let us partake today of the Bread of Angels.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
The Baptism of the Lord
The Trinity is manifested today in the sound and in the sight and in the motion. The sound of the Lord's voice above the waters had been heard for many centuries. The voice of the LORD is over the waters, the LORD, over vast waters. The voice of the LORD is mighty; the voice of the LORD is majestic. The Lord led his people through the depths of the Red Sea. The Lord led Joshua and the Ark across the Jordan river into the Promised land. The Lord led Elijah across the Jordan river to be taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot. The Father speaks today of the love for His Son. This is my beloved Son. We worship a God of love.
The sight of the Lord in the flesh is hidden in the mystery of the plan of creation. How could God take our flesh? He made our flesh. The LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being. Just as God brought the earth out of the waters of chaos, Jesus emerges today from the waters as creator, sanctifier, purifier, and healer. We worship a God who is close to us and cares for us.
The motion of the Holy Spirit is part of our everyday life as Christians and as spiritual persons. The motion of the Holy Spirit, descending like a dove
and coming upon Jesus, is setting the seal of the Spirit on the work of God. Our first day as Christians when we emerged from the waters, the Holy Spirit descended on us and gave us a new name: we are now like Jesus the beloved of the Father, adopted offspring of the Father, branches grafted onto the vine of life, newly born, washed clean and pure and innocent in the waters of new life. We have died and have drowned the old life and we have emerged from the waters and drawn in the breath of new life.
We could look at this moment as but the beginning of Jesus' public ministry as a teacher and healer and savior. Our baptism was but the beginning of our life as Christians and we learned and were healed and saved and we continue today in the mystery of the Eucharist to learn to be healed and to be saved.
The sight of the Lord in the flesh is hidden in the mystery of the plan of creation. How could God take our flesh? He made our flesh. The LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being. Just as God brought the earth out of the waters of chaos, Jesus emerges today from the waters as creator, sanctifier, purifier, and healer. We worship a God who is close to us and cares for us.
The motion of the Holy Spirit is part of our everyday life as Christians and as spiritual persons. The motion of the Holy Spirit, descending like a dove
and coming upon Jesus, is setting the seal of the Spirit on the work of God. Our first day as Christians when we emerged from the waters, the Holy Spirit descended on us and gave us a new name: we are now like Jesus the beloved of the Father, adopted offspring of the Father, branches grafted onto the vine of life, newly born, washed clean and pure and innocent in the waters of new life. We have died and have drowned the old life and we have emerged from the waters and drawn in the breath of new life.
We could look at this moment as but the beginning of Jesus' public ministry as a teacher and healer and savior. Our baptism was but the beginning of our life as Christians and we learned and were healed and saved and we continue today in the mystery of the Eucharist to learn to be healed and to be saved.
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