sunday gospel

The Universal Search For God

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by Angela Lambert

magi

January 8th, 2017 Feast of the Epiphany

Gospel Matthew 2:1-12 NAB

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, He inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet: And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; since from you shall come a ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel.” Then Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage.” After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.

Meditation Reflection:

Epiphany means “the manifestation of the divine.”  God manifested the Savior to the world, from the poor Jewish shepherds, to the wise Magi from the East. All human persons seek God, whether they call their search one for the divine or not.  It may begin as movement toward God’s Goodness through the conscience, toward His Truth through the pursuit of wisdom, or toward His Beauty through captivation by His creation or art.

Even those who attempt to deny the search, witness to its inherent reality in our nature. Those who develop a direct antagonism for religion expressed in a defiant atheism, reveal that they have grappled with the search, evidenced by their conclusion.  In addition, true atheism expresses a negative despair, rather than a fulfillment of life or joy.  If God’s nonexistence were true, shouldn’t it satiate our nature rather than leaving us feeling depressed?  If we are merely animals, shouldn’t we be content with food, security, and a nap?  And yet we are not.   On the other hand, those who seemingly ignore the search due to idling in the superficial pleasures of the world, also reveal something of the human person’s natural inclination toward God.  If a child shirked healthy food and exercise in favor of foods that pleasure the palette and sedentary entertainment, his body’s natural development would be harmed, evidenced by less development than normal and increased sickness.  Similarly, those who neglect the healthy development of the soul suffer similar emotional and spiritual disfigurement as well.

The birth of Christ fulfilled the desire of all humankind.  God created us with the capacity for love, destined for eternal life, and union with the divine.  The Jews tasted this through His revelation in the Old Covenant and His many signs and miracles.  The Gentiles also sensed this through their observations of creation and philosophy. As a result, the Jewish shepherds learned of Christ’s birth by the appearance of angels, and the magi from the East learned of Him through sighting a new star.  Although the journey may begin in different places and a person may traverse by different means, nevertheless, all converge on Christ.

In addition to the universal search for God, humankind evidences a universal desire for redemption.  We sense the eternal law in our conscience, as well as the pang of guilt for transgressing that law so many times and the feeling of helplessness to be able to perfect ourselves. For instance, we look to psychology, television, news, science, and nutrition, to discover the explanation as to why we do what we know we should not do.  After finding an explanation we seek the cure – again through self-help guides or better diet.  And yet we continue to feel guilt and unrest.  We continue in behaviors we know are self-destructive and negative.  We need a savior.

False gods and false prophets always promised cures in return for some kind of personal gain, promising quick cures that always came up short.  Similar to marketing scams , they do more to manipulate the person’s wound rather than heal it.  Christ proves the opposite of the false gods and demonstrates His authenticity by rejecting anything worldly we might offer.  He came poor and died poor.  He lived a hidden life for thirty years and avoided vainglory by never staying too long in one place during His public ministry and often commanding those He healed to tell no one.  Rather than lengthen His life, it was shortened.  He proved on the Cross that He did not come to take from us, but to give selflessly and unconditionally to us.

Jesus is the Savior we yearn for and there is no gimmick.  He did not come to manipulate, He did not offer false hopes or promises.  He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, who offers pure, loving, relationship.  He alone satiates our search and nourishes our development.  The magi searched for God and found Him.  Jesus promises us as well, that all who seek Him shall find Him.  Hopefully we, like the Magi, can have the courage to venture out in search of the Lord.  Contemplating this mystery, Archbishop Fulton Sheen observed “No one who ever meets Christ with a good will returns the same way he came” (Life of Christ).

Consider:

  • Reflect on your journey to God.  What “pointed” you toward Him, like the star did for the Magi?
  • Has your search for God grown lax at times? How did your spiritual life atrophy afterward?
  • How might you reinvigorate your search for God? Could you increase your search through prayer, reading of Scripture, studying the faith, or fellowship with friends of faith?
  • Consider the gift of our savior. How has Christ freed and healed you?  What do you need Him to free you from, or heal you, of today?

Make a Resolution (Practical Application):

  • Choose one way to invigorate your search for Christ.
    • Ideas: Read a chapter of a Gospel each day; Read a book about Christ by an inspiring author, make time to visit with a Christian friend about the Lord, join a Bible study, read the lives of the saints and learn from their pursuit of Christ, talk with your family about Christ…

 

~ Written by Angela Lambert © 2017

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Mary’s Motherhood and Christian Discipleship

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by Angela Lambert

virgin-of-the-grapes

January 1st, 2017; Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

Gospel Luke 2:16-21 NAB

The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.
When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Meditation Reflection:

“Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.”  When it comes to their children, mothers are contemplatives; they treasure and reflect on every little thing and never tire of gazing at their children in love.  I will never forget the first night I spent with my son in the hospital. The nurse urged me to sleep after an exhausting birth, but I couldn’t stop holding him and staring at him.  I was overcome with a love there is no vocabulary to describe, and in awe of this mystery beyond comprehension.  With each subsequent child, I experienced the same awe.  Moreover, rather than dividing my love, each child multiplied it by expanding my heart with love for each of them individually.

As Mary gazed with love on her child, she gazed not only on her son, but the Son of God.  Mary was the first person to contemplate the mystery that Jesus is both God and man, creator and savior, born to die that we might live.  She is the first to love Him with her whole heart and the only to have the privilege of loving Him with a mother’s heart.

When God the Son took on a human nature, He allowed Himself to become weak and vulnerable.  He experienced human development and the daily process of growth and maturation we all go through.  Mary and Joseph were not merely day care providers for Jesus.  They were the first disciples of Christ and lived their vocation as His family to the fullest.  As God, Jesus had all the divine attributes.  As man, He shared DNA with Mary, He adopted Mary and Joseph’s mannerisms, He received a formation within the context of His family.  Though He is both God and Man, Jesus is one Person.  As a result, since Mary is the mother of Jesus she is rightly called Mother of God.  This does not mean she is the origin of the Trinity.  However, we must remember that mothers are mothers of people, not merely bodies.  It would be strange to say that I am the mother of my son’s body but not the mother of my son the person.  In the same way, to bifurcate Mary’s motherhood as merely that of part of Jesus would be to bifurcate Jesus Himself.  Jesus is one Person, the Second Person of the Trinity, who, since the moment of His incarnation, is forever simultaneously both God and Man.

Mary revered our Lord as both.  She nurtured His human needs and she worshipped His divinity.  She, like Him, obeyed the Father in all things.  She was the first human to live fully God’s plan for all mankind – union with God of heart, mind, and will.  Moreover, she is the only human to love Him as her Son and to be loved by Him as His mother.

This deep, pure, motherly love of Mary extends to each one of us as well.  From the Cross, as Christ suffered and died for our redemption and rebirth, He entrusted Mary as mother to St. John.  In doing so, He gave all of us to her as her children.  In baptism, we are united to Christ as His Mystical Body.  In consequence, we are also united to Mary as our mystical Mother.  Rather than dividing her love, each person who accepts her as mother, multiplies her love and experiences the same tender attention she gives to each of her children.  Christ shares our nature, and He has also shared His Heavenly Father and His earthly Mother with us.  Through Christ we become adopted sons and daughters of God and cherished children of Mary.  Through Christ’s condescension to become our brother, He has invited us into His own family.

Mary is the mother of God because God became man.  Mothers never tire telling anyone who will listen about their children.  Moreover, mothers love their children simply for who they are, not merely what they do.  If we ask Mary, she will share with us about her Son and teach us how to love and follow Him for Who He is, and not merely what He can do for us.

“She is so full of love that no one who asks for her intercession is rejected, no matter how sinful he may be. The saints say that it has never been known since the world began that anyone had recourse to our Blessed Lady, with trust and perseverance, and was rejected.” St. Louis de Montfort

Consider:

  • How has meeting someone’s mother taught you something new about a person?
  • What do you cherish about your mother’s love?
  • If you are a parent, consider the mystery of your love for your children. Imagine Mary’s love for Jesus at each of the stages of growth your kids have experienced.
  • Adoptive parents repeatedly report that they love their adoptive kids as if they were theirs biologically. Consider Mary’s motherly love for you as her adoptive child, whom she loves as her very own.
  • Reflect on Christ’s love for Mary as His mother.
    • Consider the deep feelings of admiration and appreciation He has for her.
    • Reflect on their relationship and connection as mother and son.
    • Consider the comfort and strength He drew from her during His public ministry, knowing He had one person who understood His mission and supported Him no matter what.

Make a Resolution (Practical Application):

  • This week, read and reflect on the words of Mary in Scripture.
  • Ask Mary to be your mother and go to her each day with your needs. Ask her to tell you about Jesus and teach you how to follow Him.
  • Pray a decade of the rosary each day. Consider using the Scriptural rosary if you can.
    • (I have never prayed the rosary without experiencing some kind of grace. Mary always brings us to Jesus.)
    • Pope St. John Paul II said, “To pray the Rosary is to hand over our burdens to the merciful hearts of Christ and His mother.”

 

~ Written by Angela Lambert © 2017

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We Have Seen His Glory! Awe of God and Christmas Witness…

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by Angela Lambert

nativity

December 25th, 2016; Christmas Liturgy

Gospel John 1:1-18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God. And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. John testified to him and cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’” From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace, because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.

Meditation Reflection:

Why, on Christmas, do we read John’s lofty, deep, theological reflection on Jesus as the Word, or Logos, rather than a quaint story of Mary and Joseph in the stable? Let’s consider.  For the past four weeks, we have contemplated the coming of Christ.  We examined the spirit of repentance necessary to receive Him, which John the Baptist so boldly and faithfully proclaimed.  We reflected on Mary’s fiat, her “yes” that made the Incarnation and our redemption possible, and Joseph’s “yes” which provided the incarnate Lord with a family.  Hopefully we have developed a deep appreciation for the Lord’s covenantal relationship with humankind, His desire for relationship, and His gracious condescension to include us in some small way in His work of our redemption.

Now, on Christmas Day, the Church invites us to stand in awe together, as God the Son, the Logos, the 2nd Person of the Trinity, who took a human nature at the moment of His conception, makes the invisible God visible at His holy birth.  Jesus Christ, God and man, born to die, once and for all debunked any misconceptions we may have formerly held; whether that of the distant god of the desists, or the hedonist, narcissistic gods of the pagan mythologies.

I love so very many verses in the Scriptures, but John 1:14 is my absolute favorite.  John the beloved disciple, passionately gives witness to his ineffable gift of seeing God: “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory.” John identifies Jesus as the Word, or Logos in Greek.  In doing so, he affirms Jesus’ eternal divinity.  Lest we be deceived into thinking Jesus existed merely as an exceptional human person in history, John makes clear that the Son of God, through Whom all things were created, has taken on a human nature to redeem His creation.

Recall in Genesis chapter 1, the way in which God created.  “And God said, ‘let there be light’, and there was light” (Genesis 1:3).  God created out of nothing, by speaking.  To speak, we employ words.  Thus, Church Fathers have described the Trinitarian work of creation as God the Father speaking, God the Son as the Word spoken, and God the Holy Spirit as the goodness by which everything was declared good.  On Christmas day, therefore, we contemplate this beautiful and gracious mystery, that the Word through whom we received our existence, also became man to restore our fallen nature to its original end – union with God.

God’s love however. always exceeds our expectations and knows no other possibility than generosity.  Thus, John describes Jesus’ mission from the Father as establishing “grace upon grace”.  By this he means that instead of merely restoring us to our original manufacturer settings, Christ elevated our nature to an even higher order.  Through Baptism, God dwells in our very soul.  Through the Incarnation, our human nature became forever united to the divine nature in the Person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  Not even the angels can boast of this.

People first encountered Jesus as a man who then demonstrated He was God.  John invites us today to contemplate that Jesus is the eternal God, who became man.  Moreover, the God made man, Who opened for us entirely new horizons of living through the power of His grace and the gift of being children of God.

God literally dwelt among us, and He continues to literally dwell among us in His Eucharistic presence.  He united Himself with our human nature, and He unites with our soul personally at Baptism and ever more deeply the more times we give Him our own “yes.”  When we do this, we, like John, “see His glory.”  Christianity, at its foundation, is not a religion of “the book”, it is a religion of “witness to the risen Lord.”  Yes, this is expressed infallibly and inspired by the Holy Spirit through Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition.  However, contrary to secular assumptions about our faith, we do not believe because we have found a convincing philosophy in a book we read by a great guru (similar to say Buddhism), but because we have encountered the risen Christ – real, alive, and active in our lives.  We have proof because we have seen the transformation that He has accomplished in our souls, which we know is not false modesty but a true miracle.  Like the Samaritan woman at the well in John chapter 4, overcome with joy and astonishment, we witness to this encounter and invite others to “come and see.”  Eventually they can say, as her fellow villages exclaimed, “It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

God has made His dwelling with us – Halleluiah! His light has cut through the darkness and given us hope. The Word has become man and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory!

Consider:

  • Consider Christ’s divinity.
    • Reflect on His divine attributes – eternal, perfect, infinite, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving.
    • Reflect on His eternal Sonship to the Father.
    • Contemplate His work in Creation. Re-read Genesis chapter 1 and consider Christ, the Word, at work in our original beginning.
  • Consider Christ’s Incarnation and Redemptive work.
    • Reflect on how the Son became man, to suffer and die for our salvation.
    • Human persons are made in the image and likeness of God. Because of Original Sin and the Fall, we distorted that image.  Consider how Christ is at work in a new creation, restoring and elevating human kind to an even higher level of union with God.
  • Consider your witness of seeing Christ’s glory.
    • How has Christ transformed you. How has He freed you, strengthened you, enlightened you, and loved you?
    • In what ways do you experience Christ’s nearness?

Make a Resolution (Practical Application):

  • If you, like John or the Samaritan woman, were to give witness to meeting the Christ and seeing His glory, what would you say?  Write a testimony of your own eye witness of Christ’s true presence and saving action in your own life.
    • You don’t have to share it with anyone. You can simply take it to prayer and offer it as a prayer of praise and thanksgiving.
    • At the same time, as St. Peter advises, “always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence” (1Peter 3:15). If an opportunity arises to share your testimony, pray for the grace and courage to give loving witness.

 

~ Written by Angela Lambert © 2016

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Looking for a Savior

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by Angela Lambert

 

Jesus and Pilate

November 13th, 2016; 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel Luke 21:5-19

“While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, “All that you see here– the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” Then they asked him, “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?” He answered, “See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time has come.’ Do not follow them! When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky. “Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.  You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death.  You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

Meditation Reflection:

Oftentimes we imagine being a Christian means merely letting Jesus smooth out the rough edges of our lives to make it happier and more beautiful.  The Jews made this mistake by imagining that in fulfilling the law and the prophets the Messiah would simply restore the Davidic Kingdom to its former earthly glory.  To be fair, the Incarnation of the Son of God liberated us at an unimaginable level. God’s merciful love exceeds anything we have experienced or could expect.  He also exceeds all expectations of philosophy and the wisdom of the Greeks.  The Jews experienced a taste of God’s powerful action and the Greeks touched on the heights of God’s wisdom.  Jesus, the power and wisdom of God, makes both of these accessible to all and redirects our efforts toward an everlasting destination.

Christ counsels us to view this life as a pilgrimage and a battle.  We develop our faith, hope, and love, on earth which will bring a deep sense of joy but will never create an earthly utopia.  If we hope to find fullness here we will be sorely disappointed.  Just look at the reactions of the people to the current election.  Although presidents have a great deal of power, they are not omnipotent.  Moreover, their policies certainly affect our daily lives but the transformation of heart and development of culture is something only Christ can do through His grace and His followers.  Both candidates have significant flaws and neither are our savior.  The presidential election can never be the beginning of building a utopia or the end of the world, depending on your perspective.  Our reaction ought to be proportionate – working diligently for the common good within our democratic system but relying on Christ alone for the salvation of souls and the spiritual elevation of our country.  We can find relative happiness here, but for our joys to be lasting we need to direct them toward their true end – the heavenly kingdom.

Christ promises to equip us for both the physical and the mental battle.  As long as we live in the tension of sin and its effects, we will have to struggle against ourselves and others who oppose Christ’s kingdom, even family and friends.  Nevertheless, Jesus, the Wisdom of God, provides the supernatural insights to answer the world’s mistaken propaganda or the pressures applied by those we care about.  He also strengthens His disciples with supernatural perseverance to endure the physical suffering or possible martyrdom inflicted by worldly combatants.

As Catholics, we too enjoy beautiful churches that express the glory of God. Rightly so, we adorn them with gorgeous art, precious metals, and the finest materials.  We do this as an act of worship, as demonstrating concretely to ourselves and the world the value of God and of His sacrificial love.  Christian churches are an icon, a sign pointing to a heavenly kingdom much more enduring.  The magnificence of the sight of God will make all earthly analogies disappear. We ought to enjoy earthly icons of beauty, goodness, and truth in churches, nature, and most importantly in persons.  At the same time, we need to daily recall to where they point and adjust our expectations and priorities accordingly.   We should still aim for greatness, justice, and perfection, but remember that it will come to fulfillment in the eternal kingdom where Christ reigns victorious.

Consider:

  • At the end of your life, what do you hope will endure from it afterward? Consider the lives you have and might still change, the love with which you imbue the world, the truths you fought to defend, the family relationships you have built.
  • Imagine your life from the perspective of entering heaven. Though all is certainly a grace, what would you be proud of?  What would you regret? How might you live each day with more eternal purpose and significance?

Make a Resolution (Practical Application):

  • Begin each day by surrendering it to the Lord.  Look for three opportunities each day to build the kingdom of God – by acts of mercy, service, defending truth, helping someone heal or find justice, sharing the good news of Christ, offering up personal disappointments or suffering as a sacrifice… At the end of the day write down the things that built the kingdom of God.  Reflect on any missed opportunities and pray for the grace to act on them tomorrow.

Previous Related Posts:

~ Written by Angela Lambert © 2016

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Keeping Things in Perspective

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by Angela Lambert

perspective

November 6th, 2016; 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel Luke 20:27-38

 Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.” Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called out ‘Lord,’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”

Meditation Reflection:

As Christians, we profess a belief in life eternal with Christ in Heaven, yet we can sometimes operate in our daily lives forgetful of this mystery.  Like the Sadducees we ask Christ silly questions about heaven.  When we attach ourselves too much to earthly life, we fall into the trap of imagining heaven as merely an extension of the present but with a few more perks.

Jesus reminds us of the incomparable difference between our journey to God here and union with God there.  As St. Paul put it, “Eye has not seen and ear has not heard what God has ready for those who love Him” (I Corinthians 2:9).  Even the good things we experience here are merely a prelude to heaven.  Here we experience a taste, there we will enjoy the feast.

Jesus proposes to the Sadducees that contemplating the life of the angels can provide some insight into this mystery.  Like humans, angels are persons with rational intellects, free will, and the ability to love.  Unlike humans they do not have bodies, are neither male nor female, and do not procreate.  Each angel was individually created by God and is completely unique, so much so that some have compared it to being like different species from one another.  Because they live in eternity, their choices are permanent.  When God created them they each had the choice to either accept or reject God’s will for their life and His mission for them.  Some said yes to God’s will and others rejected it.  Those who rejected God’s will we call the fallen angels or demons.  Human persons have more than one moment to choose or reject God, but that space of time does have limits.  For us it ends when we die; at which moment our choice becomes permanent.

Consequently, the space of time in which we live on earth really is only a preparation for eternal life.  During this short period, we either choose to grow our love for God or develop a disdain for Him.  Only during our earthly lifespan can we develop and increase our capacity for God.  At the moment of death the opportunity for change ends.

In addition, it’s our chance to aid others in their chance of heaven, even in its most basic form – the beginning of life itself.  Whereas God created all of the angels at once, He creates human persons over a course of time and includes them in His work.  As a result, openness to life means openness to God’s creation of persons who will live eternally.  Those called to spiritual motherhood or fatherhood also contribute to this mystery as they minister to the birth and development of the child’s love for God which is necessary for true life.

The Sadducees’ challenge to Christ with the hypothetical situation of a woman married seven times, merely exposed their ignorance of God.  On earth marriage develops our capacity for love, self-gift, and sacrifice.  It brings new life into the world as well as caring for the development of each family member.  Marriage itself is not needed in heaven because no new life will be born there.  It is the eternal life of those who already exist.  Moreover, love will be perfected as we enjoy the perfect love of God and one another. The relationship of love experienced in marriage will remain a relationship of love in heaven.  However, the title of husband or wife will be eclipsed by the fullness of the title son or daughter of God and sister and brother in Christ.

As the liturgical year comes to a close (Advent marks the beginning of the “New Year” in the Church), we contemplate the end times and remember that this experience of earthly life will eventually come to an end.  We all get bogged down in our daily routine and anxious over matters that, if we considered our heavenly destination, shouldn’t really weigh us down.  Moreover, we could make better use of our limited time if we consider things from an eternal perspective.  This life is a preparation and an opportunity to participate in God’s work of spreading His kingdom.  The more souls that come to accept His will and love on earth, the more that will join the wedding feast of love in Heaven for eternity.

Consider:

  • How does a heavenly perspective change your earthly perspective?
  • When feeling discouraged, remember that this life is a journey not the destination. Endless, secure happiness cannot be found here but the work to attain it in heaven can.
  • Through prayer, identify one area where you struggle to accept God’s will over your own.
  • Each angel has a mission from God. You also have a mission.  How is God calling you to serve?
  • Consider first God’s vocational calling:
    • Is it to work for the salvation of your spouse through love and sacrifice and to possibly grow the human family by being open to life and to raising children in knowledge and love of the Lord?
    • Is it to administer the sacraments as a priest to bring eternal life to spiritual children?
    • Is it to spend your life in prayer and sacrifice for souls as a religious sister or brother?
    • Is it to devote your time and energy to God in a unique way as a single person, ready to do His will at every moment?
  • Consider next God’s occupational calling: How do you grow your love for God and develop it in others through your work?
    • Consider your special apostolate. Does God include you in His work of physical or emotional healing, protecting, providing, instruction of souls, encouragement, etc.?
    • How can you incorporate a heavenly perspective into your daily work? How do your daily activities and duties provide opportunities to detach from selfishness and develop greater love and compassion?  How might you help others to heaven through your work?

Make a Resolution (Practical Application):

  • Begin each day by writing down the tasks, challenges, and opportunities you anticipate that day.  Next to each, write one way it can be directed toward helping yourself and others to heaven.  For example, will it grow a virtue or minimize a vice if tackled with the help of grace?  Is it an opportunity to help others journey to God – either by giving them physical life, sustaining their life, healing, protecting, or developing an aspect of their soul?
  • Identify where your will is most at odds with God’s and do one thing each day to offset it. It could be a refusal or fear to do something God asks of you or an unwillingness to let go of something and trust God in the situation.
  • Pray the Serenity Prayer or the Suscipe of St. Ignatius each day. Click here for a pdf of the two prayrs: serenity-and-suscipe-prayers.

Related Posts:

Real Realism

The Glorious Reign of Christ Our King

The Sight of God… Gospel Meditation for the Feast of All Saints

~ Written by Angela Lambert © 2016

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Tough, Gentle Mercy

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by Angela Lambert

 

littleacts-of-kindness

October 29th, 2016; 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel Luke 19:1-10

At that time, Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”

Meditation Reflection:

As Jesus’ disciples, we too share in His mission to seek and save the lost.  During the Jubilee Year of Mercy, Pope Francis has exhorted us to be more proactive in this mission – to intentionally practice mercy daily through concrete actions and to make efforts to see those in need of help around us.  People who are lost, by definition, don’t know their way back home.  Thus, we need to seek them out, to find them where they are drifting, and to gently walk the journey back with them.

How do we do this?  It depends on the relationship and the situation.  The one consistent in every attempt however, is prayer.  Since we follow Christ, we must begin by listening to Him and letting Him lead.

Each person and each situation require prudence and a tailored response.  I can propose some general ideas and lessons I’ve learned, but every lost or drifting soul must be cared for on a prayerful and individual basis.

Seeking the lost begins at home with the people God has entrusted to us.  It’s much easier to dote on our children than to discipline them and to complain or criticize our parents or spouse than to gently correct them.  Yet, those closest to us can drift away and get lost if sins get left unchecked.  Although people make their own choices, we must do what we can to seek them out when they begin to pull away from God or goodness.

For parents, this means doing the work of discipline.  For young children, it teaches them self-control, right from wrong, and starts them off on the right track with good habits.  For teens, it can be trickier.  Their struggles are heavier, more embarrassing at times, and better hidden.  Discipline has to not only reform their habits but also their minds and hearts.  How to reach a child’s heart is a daunting task to attempt and one prone to failure, nevertheless we have a Christian and parental duty to try the best we can out of love.  We must endeavor to be bold, suck it up, and lovingly try to help them get back on track just as our heavenly Father does for us.

“But you spare all things, because they are yours, O LORD and lover of souls, for your imperishable spirit is in all things! Therefore you rebuke offenders little by little, warn them and remind them of the sins they are committing, that they may abandon their wickedness and believe in you, O LORD!”  Wisdom 11:26-12:2

When another adult in one’s family begins to stray, it requires just as much care and prudence.  It also requires greater understanding, compassion, and forgiveness on our part since we will likely be affected ourselves by their choices or we may struggle with feelings of disappointment or betrayal.  If we can be patient and prayerful however, knowing them so well can work in our favor to gently move them in a way that resonates with them personally.

Friends and acquaintances may be less open about their struggles but we can do small things to let them know we see they’re hurting and we are here to help.  Pray about whether to have a direct conversation or to indirectly point them through example, invitations, or suggestions.  Ask Mary to help you see their need and do what you can to meet it.  It may be material needs that can be met with physical gifts, emotional needs that can be met with a listening ear or a word of encouragement, loneliness which can be soothed through invitation to coffee or dinner, or spiritual need which might be aided by being brave enough to share your own faith openly with them or to pray with them.

little-acts-of-love-2

Consider:

  • When have you received merciful love? How did it change you?
  • How have the challenges you have faced enabled you to recognize the same struggle in others and better equipped to help?
  • Who do you find the most difficult to love and who do you find it easiest to care for?

Make a Resolution (Practical Application):

  • Pray for Christ to show you an opportunity to offer mercy to someone each day this week.Works of Mercy
  • Consider joining with others to help: volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center, lead a bible study, volunteer at a food shelf, organize meals for a neighbor or colleague who is sick…

 

~ Written by Angela Lambert © 2016

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The Spiritual Merry-Go-Round

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by Angela Lambert

merry-go-round

 October 23rd 2016; 30th Sunday in Ordinary Tie

Gospel Luke 18:9-14

Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

Meditation Reflection:

When we reach out to Christ in our crises, needing a savior, we experience the reality of His saving grace along with the reality of our own weakness.  Together, these produce humility in the soul, a recognition of our dependence on God and His graciousness.  Unfortunately, over time fallen human nature tends to forget the extent of God’s help and exaggerates its own abilities.  Likewise, together, these produce pride in the soul, a false conviction of our own independence.

In the Old Testament, we can find account after account of this cycle with the People of God.  It looks something like this:

  1. They love and obey God and things are going well.
  2. As things go well they begin to attribute it to themselves and grow lax in their fidelity to God.
  3. God warns them to turn back to Him and His help, otherwise on their own they will suffer defeat at the hands of an enemy.
  4. They ignore God’s warning, put their trust in themselves and/or false gods, and a foreign enemy conquers and enslaves them.
  5. They cry out to God in their helplessness and need, realize their mistake, and beg Him to help.
  6. God liberates and restores them.
  7. They love and obey God and things go well….and the cycle starts over.

Most of us can relate to this cycle in our own lives, whether one begins with stage #1, having grown up in the faith before falling away or at #2 trusting in oneself until hitting rock bottom.  Time has a funny way of dulling or obscuring our memories and unless we make a conscious effort to cultivate gratitude and humility we can easily forget our need.  Not only does this diminish our relationship with God but it can also obscure our judgment of others.  Confident in our own success we can dismiss the struggles of others currently working through a spiritual crisis.  In Jesus’ parable, the Pharisee could be described as at stage 2 and the tax collector at stage 5.  From the Pharisee’s vantage point, his forgetfulness of His own redemption led to callousness toward the tax collector’s need.

Pope Francis addressed contemporary examples of this attitude in his book “The Name of God is Mercy.”  He describes what happens when we begin to take grace for granted, noting:

“This conduct comes when a person loses a sense of awe for salvation that has been granted to him.  When a person feels a little more secure, He begins to appropriate faculties which are not his own, but which are the Lord’s.  The awe seems to fade, and this is the basis for clericalism or for the conduct of people who feel pure.  What then prevails is a formal adherence to rules and to mental schemes.  When awe wears off, we think we can do everything alone, that we are the protagonists.

He even goes so far as to say he almost wishes the person to fall to produce the greater good of humility. He admits that “The degradation of awe’ is an expression that speaks to me.  At times, I have surprised myself by thinking that a few very rigid people would do well to slip a little, so that they could remember that they are sinners and thus meet Jesus.” (p. 97) Of course he does not wish someone to sin, however a reality check about the true state of our natural weakness and the need for grace many times only comes through the experience of failure.   Just as God allowed the Hebrews to stand on their own and fall in order that they might repent and return, Pope Francis acknowledges that by God allowing a person to stand on their own in virtue (which no one can do well or for long without grace) and fall He reveals a higher truth to them and deepens their conversion.

St. Paul, for instance, attributes his unanswered prayers for a suffering to be alleviated, to God’s efforts to protect Paul from falling to an even greater suffering of pride and self-aggrandizement from the extraordinary graces God had given to him.  God desires us to grow in holiness and reach perfection; surprisingly, that can sometimes mean allowing us to struggle a little so we remain on the right trajectory.

“Therefore, that I might not become too elated, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me. Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ, for when I am weak, then I am strong.“ 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

St. Augustine offers insights as well in his letter to Proba.  Commenting on St. Paul’s words in the above passage, Augustine encourages us that during times of suffering we may pray for God to remove the difficulty but not to despair if God chooses an alternative instead.  The alternative resolution may be greater provisions of His grace that you may endure the trial, rather than its removal so you can merely return to the illusion of self-sufficiency.

“In the kind of affliction, then, which can bring either good or ill, we do not know what it is right to pray for; yet, because it is difficult, troublesome and against the grain for us, weak as we are, we do what every human would do, we pray that it may be taken away from us. We owe, however, at least this much in our duty to God: if he does not take it away, we must not imagine that we are being forgotten by him but because of our loving endurance of evil, must await greater blessings in its place. In this way, power shines forth more perfectly in weakness. These words are written to prevent us from having too great an opinion of ourselves if our prayer is granted, when we are impatient in asking for something that it would be better not to receive; and to prevent us from being dejected, and distrustful of God’s mercy toward us, if our prayer is not granted, when we ask for something that would bring us greater affliction, or completely ruin us through the corrupting influence of prosperity.”

God knows our nature.  He knows our timeless struggle of cycling through humility and pride, gratitude and forgetfulness. Daily prayer and surrender to divine providence provide strong medicine to break the destructive cycle in our own spiritual lives.  Whenever we feel quick to judge or a little too self-sufficient, let us remember back to the times we cried out to our savior and received His mercy and in turn cultivate compassion and empathy for others crying out to our savior from their own needs.  As my mother frequently recites, “But for the grace of God, there go I…”

Consider:

  • When have you cried out to God to save you?  When has God’s grace liberated you from the snares of a sin or vice?
  • In what ways do you rely on God every day? How does His grace continue to transform you and bless you?
  • Is there someone you feel tempted to judge or feel calloused toward rather than compassionate? What is it that bugs you about them?  Is there a particular sin you are more harsh about than others?
  • Can you recognize the above seven stage spiritual cycle in your own life? Was there a point where God helped break the cycle or do you feel you still keep circling?  Which number might describe your current situation?

Make a Resolution (Practical Application):

  • Show compassion toward someone struggling with a sin or vice.  Reach out in a concrete way this week to encourage or strengthen them.
  • Pray the Litany of Humility each day this week.https://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/humility.htm
  • Make a gratitude list of all the things you only have as a result of God’s mercy.

 

~ Written by Angela Lambert © 2016

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Why Pray If God Already Knows?

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by Angela Lambert

father

October 16th, 2016; 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel Luke 18:1-8

Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. He said, “There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being. And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, ‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’ For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, ‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.’” The Lord said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says. Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Meditation Reflection:

If God is all-good, all-loving, all-knowing, and all-powerful, why should we pray?  Wouldn’t it be better to only offer prayers of thanksgiving or praise?  If we pray for someone or for something, are we not assuming we can change God’s mind and that to change His mind means there’s something lacking in His divine providence?

Questions such as these arise in many human hearts.  Jesus addresses it in this passage and points us toward some reasons we ought to pray, and more boldly, to pray for specific intentions. The great theologian Thomas Aquinas addressed these questions as well in the Summa Theologica (II.II.Q.83) and offers some clear questions and answers for us to contemplate.

In Article 2, “Whether it is becoming to pray,” he addresses this objection:

“Objection 1:  It would seem that it is unbecoming to pray. Prayer seems to be necessary in order that we may make our needs known to the person to whom we pray. But according to Matthew 6:32, “Your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things.” Therefore it is not becoming to pray to God.”

This seems like a valid argument and even cites Scripture.  If God knows what I need anyway, and certainly He knows it better than me, why should I pray at all?  I myself have felt a little silly at times praying for intentions as I imagined God saying, “I know this already, move on.”

Yet, Jesus instructs us to pray for our daily bread (Matthew 6:11), to call out to God day and night (Luke 18:7), that whatever we ask in prayer shall be given to us (MT 18:19, MT 21:22, MK 11:24JN 14:13, JN 15:7 and many more).  Moreover, St. Paul says to pray without ceasing (1 Timothy 5:17).  So why does God want us to pray for things if He already knows our needs?

Aquinas’ response provides insight for us:

“Reply to Objection 1. We need to pray to God, not in order to make known to Him our needs or desires but that we ourselves may be reminded of the necessity of having recourse to God’s help in these matters.”

First, we pray because we need to see the connection between our needs and God’s provisions.  If we don’t pray, we often take God’s gifts for granted or assume they resulted merely from chance, good luck, or our own efforts.  Through prayer, especially through persevering prayer, our disposition changes and we realize our total reliance on God’s graciousness.

Secondly, because of the transformative effect petitioning God can have on our faith and our relationship with God, sometimes God wills that something happens only if we pray for it.  Aquinas puts it this way: “Divine providence disposes not only what effects shall take place, but also from what causes and in what order these effects shall proceed. (II.II.Q.83A.2)”

In other words, God’s divine providence doesn’t change because of our prayers since God is all good and His desire is always perfect.  However, Aquinas points out that God’s divine providence desires not only certain good effects, but the prior causes of those effects as well.  For instance, God’s intention to provide for you might also include the source of that provision – either a particular job, an act of generosity by another, etc.  In consequence, we ought to pray for things because there are some things that God wills to give, but through the causation of our prayers.  Thus, He may provide a particular thing only if you pray for it because He wills that it be caused by your prayers.

If we ought to pray, then for what should we pray and for what shouldn’t we pray?  Should we pray for spiritual gifts only or can we pray for temporal things?

For example, early in my faith journey I was surprised at how God answered prayers and I noticed something.  I found that He kindly accepted my meager attempts and although I usually prayed for the solution to my problem, God saw the problem itself and provided a solution much more creatively and profoundly than I could have imagined.  As a result, I try to refine my prayers to petitions of presenting problems to the Lord and trusting in Him to provide the resolution.  Thus, my faith deepens as I see Him at work rather than prayers that feel like manipulation by demanding specific logistics.

 Aquinas offers insights into a couple of common questions in this regard that are helpful.  In Article 5, he presents this objection:

“Now according to Romans 8:26, “we know not what we should pray for as we ought.” Therefore we ought not to ask for anything definite when we pray.”  The objector in this case cites Scripture correctly but draws the wrong conclusion.  It’s true that our prayers are often misguided, like my earlier example.  Nevertheless, as Aquinas points out, Scripture also says, that the Holy Spirit will enable us to pray as we ought.  He writes, “Although man cannot by himself know what he ought to pray for, “the Spirit,” as stated in the same passage, “helpeth our infirmity,” since by inspiring us with holy desires, He makes us ask for what is right. Hence our Lord said (John 4:24) that true adorers “must adore . . . in spirit and in truth.””

God is a patient and kind guide.  He accepts the true prayers of our hearts no matter how bungled the words we use to express them.  In addition, the more we invite the Holy Spirit to direct our prayer, the deeper and more authentic our prayers become.

In Article 6, Aquinas tackles the even harder question of whether we ought to pray for temporal things, i.e. the needs of our earthly well-being. He makes an insightful distinction between prayers for our needs verses disordered wants, “order” being the key word.  When it comes to praying for specific things we ought to petition God, but to have them appropriately prioritized.  For example, of highest importance would be those needs relevant to the salvation our souls, the souls of those we love, and the advancement of God’s kingdom.  Next in order would be our daily needs – food, clothing, shelter, friendship, etc.  Last would be our wants (“If you feel like treating me Lord….would be awesome!”)

Prayer is not a letter to Santa.  It’s not a childish wish list.  Prayer is relational.  We converse with God and deepen our relationship as our loving Father listens to our needs and provides for them.  We converse with the saints and with each other as we unite in prayer before the Lord for a petition.  Thus we see the beauty of the Christian family and experience a deepening of unity with the people of God as we rely on each other’s prayers as well as our own.  God wills our good, and He also wills at times for that good to come through prayer.  As a mother I often anticipate my children’s needs but I appreciate when they humbly ask and acknowledge the connection between their need and my generosity.  God loves us dearly and provides so many things for which we never even asked or dreamed.  Yet, He desires to partner with us and to bring about good through our cooperating efforts both in action and also in prayer and sacrifice.

Consider:

  • Consider how connected we feel to those who we rely on for help and those whom we help.
  • Have you ever tried to struggle with something on your own for a long time before finally asking God for help? Were you surprised at how quickly He helped you once you asked?
  • Pray to the Lord for the needs of your soul. What sins do you need His grace to overcome?  What virtues do you desire to grow?  What desires would you like the Lord to give you?
  • Pray to the Lord for the needs of the souls of those you love. With what are they struggling?  Where do they need conversion?  What holy desires do they need from the Holy Spirit?
  • Pray for the needs of the souls of you enemies. Pray for conversion in their hearts and gifts of grace.  Pray for blessings in their lives.
  • Pray for your needs – material, physical, emotional, relational.
  • Pray for your wants from a spirit of joy in God’s generosity. Avoid a demanding or complaining attitude and accept it may not be God’s will. On the other hand, remember God’s fatherly love and His desire for your “joy to be full.”

Make a Resolution (Practical Application):

  • Make a prayer intention list in your prayer journal. Write the date or make a check mark next to the ones He answers.  (remember some might be answered soon others may require time and perseverance)
  • Pray a prayer of surrender each day to God’s divine providence and openness to what surprises He may send you.

 

~ Written by Angela Lambert © 2016

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How can God be both Justice and Mercy?

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by Angela Lambert

justice-and-mercy

September 11th, 2016; 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel Luke 15:1-32 NAB

Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So to them he addressed this parable. “What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.

“Or what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house, searching carefully until she finds it? And when she does find it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost.’ In just the same way, I tell you, there will be rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Meditation Reflection:

Justice versus mercy.  How can God be both? And how can we imitate Him when we need to apply concretely a mystery that surpasses our understanding?

In this Gospel Christ illuminates something of this mystery.  First, we should remember that we live in a highly competitive culture.  Consequently, we feel justice – giving each person his or her due – is necessary to keep things “fair.”  Secondly, as St. Augustine pointed out in The City of God, if we are earthly-minded and focused on building the “city of man”, then we often find ourselves at war with one another as we vie for limited resources.

The resources and good in the “city of God” however, Augustine notes, are unlimited.  Moreover, rather than being reduced when given away they multiply, and rather than being limited to temporary gain, they last eternally.

Our human tendency to want justice applied to others but mercy applied to us, often relates more to our striving to build the city of man rather than the noble cause for justice itself.  Justice is important, and God is justice as well as mercy.  However, we have to be aware of our own prejudices and since we suffer the effects of original sin, we tend to rationalize our double-standard.

The truth is, when God weighs our own faults and violations of divine and natural law, none of us will be able to balance the scale and achieve a just state.  We know God cares about justice because for us to rightly spend eternity with Him, the scale had to be balanced and so He sent His only Son to suffer and die for our sake, to tip the scale for us.  By helping us reach a state of justice, He acted mercifully.

To even begin to understand something of this mystery, of the harmony between Justice and Mercy in God, Jesus uses comparisons we can relate to – a shepherd looking for a lost sheep and a woman searching for a coin.  In each case you or I may not have cared.  They care because they view the sheep and the coin as their belonging.  When lost, they were impoverished in some way and in finding it their possessions became complete.  We belong to God.  You or I may not care about a particular person but God does.  He views each human person as His own treasure, and to lose one results in a loss, and to regain that person creates completion.

To clarify and impress this on us further, Jesus follows with the Parable of the Prodigal Son (verses 11-32).  Whereas in our work life if an employee or colleague leaves it may be disappointing but that person can be replaced by a new hire and eventually life goes on.  We see this in every realm of society – politics, business, entertainment, sports – except one.  The family.  If a child rebels and leaves his or her family, there remains a hole and a lingering pain for as long as the child remains estranged.  The family cannot simply find a replacement and move on with life.  It will always feel like a loss and incomplete.

The relationship between justice and mercy therefore can only be understood in light of relationship.  In the parable of the prodigal son, the rebellious child left home and eventually experienced the reality of the choices he had made.  With the money gone, he finally received his due, and this provoked conversion.  When he returned home, repentant and interiorly changed, his father was ecstatic to incorporate him back into the family.  The older son, focused on the earthly resources, became bitter at the apparent injustice.  It wasn’t fair.  Had he viewed it from a spiritual perspective, he would have seen that he had become enrichened.  Rather than focusing on the fattened calf he felt he “lost” to the feast of his wayward brother, he ought to have focused on the brother he gained back.

The deeper we grow in love, the more we begin to understand God’s ways.  Rather than seeing him merely as a judge, we need to see that He is foremost a father.  He will do what it takes to keep his family together and to help His children flourish.  Fathers and mothers make countless material sacrifices for their children and oftentimes with joy.  From the outside others might rightly marvel at how this could be.  Those who have children however, know by experience the deeper sense of satisfaction and pleasure one gains from these acts.

When considering justice and mercy, Christ exhorts us to view it in light of being God’s possession, His children, and love.

Consider:

  • Consider the difference between being an employee or member in comparison to being someone’s child. As we mourn the loss of so many lives 15 years ago today, 9/11, we feel pain not because we lost so many skilled workers, but because we lost sons, daughters, mothers, and fathers.  We feel sorrow at tragedies around the world too, but there is a particular pain associated with losing “our own”.  Consider that God views every one of us in this way.  You are God’s own.  You are God’s child.
  • Consider how love moves one to mercy and the more loving persons are, the more merciful they become.
  • Consider how you felt when you received mercy or when you gave mercy.
  • Reflect on how justice and mercy relate with one another. Sometimes being just enables one to be merciful.
  • Spend 5 minutes in silent prayer, just gazing on God who is Justice and Mercy.

Make a Resolution (Practical Application):

  • Pray each day for the conversion of someone who has left the faith. If possible, reach out to him or her through acts of kindness and mercy.
  • In light of the parable of the prodigal son, forgive someone who has returned to you apologetically.
  • If there is someone who has made serious changes (for the better) in his or her life, pray about giving them a second chance and incorporating them back into your life.
  • Practice one corporal work of mercy and one spiritual work of mercy each day this week. Works of Mercy
  • Pray Pope Francis’ Year of Mercy Prayer.

*Additional meditations on forgiveness and mercy: https://taketimeforhim.com/2016/04/09/love-and-mercy-in-superabundance/

https://taketimeforhim.com/2016/04/02/divine-mercy-can-you-believe-it/

https://taketimeforhim.com/2016/03/12/the-life-changing-power-of-grace-and-mercy/

https://taketimeforhim.com/2015/12/12/prepare-for-the-coming-of-christs-mercy-by-giving-mercy/

~ Written by Angela Lambert © 2016

* To receive these weekly posts automatically in your email just click the “follow” tab in the bottom right hand corner and enter your email address.

 

Following Christ At All Costs

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by Angela Lambert
INDIA - OCTOBER 01: Mother Teresa and the poor in Calcutta, India in October, 1979. (Photo by Jean-Claude FRANCOLON/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

INDIA – OCTOBER 01: Mother Teresa and the poor in Calcutta, India in October, 1979. (Photo by Jean-Claude FRANCOLON/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

September 4th, 2016; 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel Luke 14:25-33 NAB

Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’ Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. In the same way, anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”

 Meditation Reflection:

How can Christ, whose new commandment to us was to “love one another as I have loved you” simultaneously ask that we hate our family members?  As we celebrate the canonization of Mother Teresa, we can look to her example to illuminate this paradox. Jesus’ challenge that “whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be my disciple” proved a difficult task and one that required great love, detachment, and grace for Mother Teresa who left her home, her family, and even her beloved convent to serve the poorest of the poor on the streets in India.  Jesus rightly warns to count the cost before we set out on a project lest we find ourselves giving up midway.  Discipleship calls for a total gift of self, in response to the Lord who made the ultimate gift of self for us through His Incarnation, Death, and Resurrection.

In a perfect world, or at least in heaven, loves do not compete with one another and we aren’t painfully pulled in opposing directions.  In our current fallen state however, we come to crossroads where we must choose between two loves.  It’s one thing to forsake the love of a material good or a sinful habit, but the hardest love to forsake is that of someone with whom we have an intimate relationship who refuses to share us with Christ and gives us an ultimatum.

This ultimatum may not sound as direct as “it’s me or Christ!” but it will likely pit some aspect of following Christ against something the person wants of you.  Following Christ results in a life of sacrifice that’s counter-cultural.  Authentic Christians don’t blend in and that bothers people who don’t want to stir the waters. Living your faith, even quietly, can prick the conscience of another and result in lashing out to ease his or her own angst.  Similar to Jesus, Christians offer love unconditionally to others.  Unfortunately, the same is not always true on the other end and the painful choice between following Christ or making the person you care about happy must be made.

This choice takes as many forms as there are relationships.  For a teen it can be a couple breaking up because one chooses purity over promiscuity or being left out of social gatherings because of a refusal to drink.  For a young adult it can be a person choosing the religious life despite the discouragement of parents, or moving away from family and friends for a service they are called to by Christ. For parents it can mean getting the silent treatment from a child because you refuse to condone their wrong behavior.  For a spouse it can mean suffering the anger of the other sometimes even divorce because one refuses to compromise living out his or her faith to appease the other’s sin.  No one wants a rift in their family- whether between parents, children, or spouses.  At the same time not everything is in our control except our own decision to follow the Lord.   Navigating these situations can be confusing and spiritual direction should be sought to sort out how to authentically love in particular situations.

Mother Teresa desired to follow Christ and to give her whole life in love to Him.  First it meant leaving her family to join the Sisters of Loreto as a nun and serve in India as a teacher.  Next, she received her “call within a call” to go out into the streets and serve the poorest of the poor.  She was happy as a nun and asked Jesus if she could just serve Him more devoutly in the way she already was.  Each time however He repeated His request for her to satiate His thirst for souls by ministering to the poor and destitute.  He would ask her each time, “Wouldst thou refuse Me?”

Mother Teresa felt torn between two loves.  Her love for the other sisters, her students, and her life in the convent was certainly a noble love, but discipleship called her to follow Christ to a place that meant she would have to choose between the two.  Ultimately, Mother Teresa could not surrender her love for Jesus to anything else and so she gave up and gave in to the Lord.  As she followed Christ, Mother Teresa surrendered everything to Him – material goods, physical comforts, family, and even the convent.  She went into the most destitute streets with nothing but a sari and a passion for Jesus.

Mother Teresa did not want to have come so far only to turn back.  She had made a choice for Christ, to be a disciple, whatever may be.  Hopefully our discipleship will bring greater peace to our families and relationships and maybe our sacrifices will not be as large as Mother Teresa’s.  Only Christ knows the crosses we will have to carry but He asks that we be ready to face whatever may come with single minded devotion, lest we come so far only to turn back.

Contrary to cultural demands, Christians cannot compartmentalize their faith.  We are followers of Christ at church, at home, at work, when alone, or when with friends.  We have to be prepared that some people, even some we for whom we care deeply, may not tolerate our discipleship and choose to leave us.  In these instances, we can look to Christ for the grace and grit to carry our cross, a cross which He promises will end in a resurrection.

This Sunday, may we count the cost and, with the grace of Christ, decide to follow Him to the end.  The joy of Mother Teresa, and the light of love and mercy her life became, serves as a witness for us of the glorious destination of discipleship – a project worth completing!

Consider:

  • Are you a disciple of Christ?  If the answer is yes, what moves you to love Him and to follow Him? If the answer is no or not yet, what attracts you about Christ or piques your curiosity?
  • In what ways has discipleship caused you to live counter-culturally? Has it strained any of your relationships?
  • How has carrying your cross produced resurrections and blessings in your life? What have been some of the fruits of your discipleship?
  • What cross are you carrying right now? In what way does it resemble Jesus’ cross? How does it bring you closer to Him as you share in His experience?
  • It feels good to accomplish something hard that required grit and perseverance. Consider how it will feel to “finish the race” as St. Paul says, and to have followed Christ (with the help of His grace) to the end.

Make a Resolution (Practical Application):

  • Learn more about Mother Teresa or read a collection of her writings or quotations.
  • If you feel tension between following Christ and appeasing someone you love, seek spiritual direction this week from your priest or a wise and holy person you know. Reach out in person, by phone, or email.
  • Pray an Act Of Consecration to Jesus each day this week.

~ Written by Angela Lambert © 2016

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