HIS HEART WAS MOVED WITH PITY FOR THEM

Dear Friends, Jesus has a plan to take the disciples away for rest and prayer. He is sidetracked by the large gathering of people. Mark says, “His heart was moved with pity for them.” (Mk 6:34)

Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time 

Mark 6:30-34

This Greek word that is here translated, pity, is used two other times in the Gospels. In these two cases, it is translated, “compassion”. It means very strong feelings of deep concern. The Good Samaritan experienced these feelings as he came upon the victim on the roadside. (Lk 10:33) The father of the Prodigal Son is described with the same feelings. “While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion.” (Lk 15:20)

Another beautiful description of compassion is an old saying: One shows compassion that sees another person weep and tastes the tears. Compassion is the bridge from sympathy to action.

One of the most powerful and sensitive statements from Vatican II captured this rich evangelical call for compassion: “The joys and the hopes, the grief and anguish of the people of our time, especially of those who are poor or afflicted, are the joys and hope, the grief and anguish of the followers of Christ as well.” (Gaudium et Spes #1)

As Jesus is filled with compassion, his first response is to teach the people. Jesus’ basic message to the people is of a God of love. He heals some and shortly he will feed the hungry crowd but his fundamental gift is an invitation into a love that will go far beyond the necessary healing and the urgent hunger of the large crowd that is a symbol for all humanity.

Jesus’ message to all is that in our broken and troubled human condition there is an opening to new life and the wondrous love of a gracious God. The fundamental struggle of the Gospel of Mark is the failure of the disciples, as a mirror of us, to trust in the goodness and love of the God revealed by Jesus.

Jesus, acting in the desolate countryside and throughout his gospel journey, makes the divine message of love very real. He did this by always responding to the needs of those in his presence. This is how he is calling us to share in his mission to make the divine love real in our world. We are invited to share this love first with those present in our relationships and responsibilities. Then we are urged to continually expand our horizons of inclusion.

Our faith journey is similar to the disciples’ described by Mark. We, too, are burdened with the urge to move ahead on our own agenda. Like the disciples, we often find fault with Jesus’ plan and much prefer a plan of our own. The gospel lays out what should be the true goal of our life: to move away from our own self-centeredness to Jesus’ summons to make God the center. It is a struggle for us all the way.

Jesus, in his compassion, is patient with us as he was serene and peaceful with the crowd on the seashore, and especially with the disciples. Yet, he insists that his message is the way to truth, freedom and true happiness. His words are the gift of wisdom and light no matter how much his poverty and rejection and apparent failure shatter our common sense idea of reality. The Jerusalem call with the clear implication of suffering and death was a major impediment for the disciples. It remains the same for us today. Losing our life just does not seem to be the way to save our life.

Our agenda, like the crowd and the disciples, is for Jesus to fix our problems. Jesus, indeed, has compassion on our predicament of being flawed human beings. However, Jesus wants to fix us in a much deeper and total way. Jesus’ plan goes way beyond our very limited program. Jesus has a plan of compassion that shatters the narrowness and constraints of our dreams and hopes. The love revealed in his life and word open the possibility of satisfying the deepest hungers and longings of our heart that so often escape our awareness in the rush of life.

We need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and be open to a new and marvelous journey of love in the midst of all our anxieties and fears. His compassion holds a hope we have hardly dreamt of. Deep personal prayer is the surest way to get in touch with this reality of true life and freedom buried behind the fear and disquiet in the depth of our hearts.

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OUR CHRISTIAN CALL TO BE MISSIONARY DISCIPLES

Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary time

Mk6:6-13

Dear Friends, Jesus invited the Apostles to join the battle between good and evil, sin and grace. Their weapons were their experience with Jesus, the power of God’s word, the call to confront the demons and the healing power of God revealed in Jesus. These elements are the basic seed of what we have come to call evangelization. This is proclaiming the saving word of Jesus to transform individuals and all reality. This is the Church’s thrust into the ongoing conflict of good and evil. Like the Apostles, we are called to share in this glorious struggle. As Pope Francis continually tells us it is absolutely crucial to our Christian call to be missionary disciples.

The problem is that the work of being missionaries, particularly in our Catholic tradition, has been set aside for the “professionals”. The call to be missionaries for the folks in the Sunday pews has been woefully neglected in our Christian formation. For most of us, our awareness and connection with the Church’s missionary activity has meant to be generous with the second collection.

Mark’s words today possess a very unsettling consequence. Our identity as Church members means we have been sent. Like the first Apostles on this very first missionary journey, we are called to travel light and proclaim the word.

The only preparation the first Apostles had was their encounter with Jesus. Their message was a call to repentance. Their action was to confront the power of evil in the reign of the demons. They were to present the wonder of God’s healing power. The highlight of the mission was to proclaim the miracle of God’s saving word.

Today, Pope Francis never tires of calling us to understand our Christian vocation is one of being missionary disciples. The heart of the missionary message will always be the same. It is the love of God calling all to new life in Christ Crucified and Christ Risen. Early in his exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel, the Pope says, “being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but an encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.”

All of this seems so far from the average experience of the faithful Church members in our time. Yet, today’s gospel is just part of a clear mandate found in all the Gospels: to follow Christ includes preaching the gospel. This is part of Vatican II’s call to lay responsibility in the Church.

Pope France has consistently called us to take up the challenge to be faithful to Jesus’ directive to preach the gospel. His call is consistent in appealing to us to see ourselves as missionary disciples. This truly challenging duty should begin with two fundamental tasks to initiate this missionary effort. First and foremost is the continual encounter with Jesus that will express itself in the witness of our life. Secondly, we must be open to change how we see ourselves as good followers of Christ. We must begin to be open to learn how we can develop missionary skills. We need to see ourselves as people who are “sent” to join the battle of good and evil. Our primary weapon is our relationship with Jesus. The other particulars of the missionary task is where we need help and guidance.

Today’s selection from Mark offers us a few key a few insights for our missionary efforts. By reason of the limited resources the Apostles had, Jesus was making sure that his missionaries were embracing the culture of the people to whom they were preaching. The gospel proclamation must always be sensitive and respectful to the culture while maintaining the goal to transform the culture through the power of God’s word. In other words, we must always take people where they are.

Secondly, by going two by two, Jesus showed the importance of community in the process of proclaiming the Good News. The Church is always a community with a mission.

Thirdly, the lightness of the travelers’ resources also has a message about their missionary undertaking. The fewer the resources, the freer we will be able to point out the prophetic consequences of Jesus’ teachings. The more entrenched the Church becomes in the culture, the cost will always be paid in reducing the cutting edge of the gospel message.

Near the end of The Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis says the following:

“I dream of a ‘missionary option’, that is a missionary impulse capable of transforming everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, time and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channeled for evangelization of today’s world rather than for her self-preservation.”

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FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME B

Mark 6:1-6

Dear Friends, In today’s Gospel we read in verse two: “Many who heard him were astonished. They said where did his man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given to him: What mighty deeds have been wrought by his hands!” (Mk 6:2)

No doubt, the residents of the town had heard of the raising of Jarius’ daughter, the cure of the woman, the healing of the demoniac and probably the quieting of the storm at sea. In a town with no evening news on TV and no morning paper, Jesus gave them quite a bit to talk about at their break time and all throughout the day.

The surprising conclusion was strong and clear. Their opinion of Jesus was forceful and without hesitancy in their opposition. In verse three we read: “Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary?...And they took offense at him.” (Mk 6:3).

The townsfolk showed their astonishment in the many deeds of Jesus. On the other hand, they showed no interest in the wisdom and truth and healing generosity flowing from the witness of his mighty deeds.

Jesus understood the challenge he was placing before the people of Nazareth. It is the same issue for us today. The first public words he proclaims lay out a clear invitation to change, to move out of the comfortable rituals and prejudices that reduce God to a manageable size and image. Jesus said, “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mk 1:15).

The folks had no confusion about Jesus. He was calling them to change. Jesus was calling them out of their contented niche, their clinging to a past and a present of convenience and comfort. Jesus was calling them, and us today, to a future that demands a deep trust and faith and change!

Jesus was not into accommodation, easy adjustment or reassurance. Jesus was and is inviting us into a Mystery that shatters our little world. He wants to draw us into a faithful response that deals with the paradox of the first being last, of the leader being the servant, of losing your life to save it, of taking up your cross to walk with the Savior to Jerusalem.

It is truly amazing how we can domesticate and trivialize Jesus’ gospel message to fit our limited measure of God. For some, it is the gospel of prosperity. For others it is the safe and secure answers to all of life’s mysteries some find in their limited interpretation of the Baltimore catechism. We are fearful of the unknown and the ever expanding challenge of the future. In one way or another we are inclined to create a Jesus to distract or eliminate that basic fear of our mortality.

Jesus comes to call us in faith to that future. He wants us to know he is with us in the sicknesses and trials, the ever growing demands of aging, the losses of security in today’s economy where the average CEO earns two hundred times the average worker.

Jesus wants us to be open to the poor and down trodden. Jesus pleads with us to see his presence in the immigrants. There is no crisis, communal or personal, that faith cannot overcome if we are willing to walk with Jesus on his terms not ours.

The folks of Nazareth were among the first of legions down through history to suffer the scandal of the Incarnation. For them, there was no way “the carpenter, the son of Mary” could do all these mighty deeds. In their closed mentality, God could not come that close to our daily struggles. God had to be hidden far away. Our only contact with God was through our religious rituals and traditions. This was the safe way.

The Incarnate Jesus was offering another way to experience God. Jesus was revealing a God present in our daily life and struggles. God was being displayed as one in our midst through our relationships and responsibilities. As Teresa of Avila so famously stated, “We will find God among the pots and pans.”

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THE THIRTEENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Mark 5:21-43

Dear Friends, In Jesus’ time, people had a much different idea of the presence and the power of the demons than our Hollywood version so popular today in movies like “The Exorcist”. In the time of Jesus, people had a basic vision of good and evil. Evil and the demons were fundamentally the same in the view of the people. Evil was the power of the demons. It was the driving force that controlled people in a way that seriously limited their freedom.

Today’s Gospel passage presents Jesus as the victor in these two battles with the wicked demonic powers. Jesus invites his followers to see in his presence a gracious God setting the woman free from the curse of twelve years. In the young daughter, Jesus reveals a message of hope in the ultimate expression of good over evil. The combined story of the two females verifies the power of Jesus over evil expressed in sickness and death. These two dramatic incidents mirror Jesus’ own ultimate victory in the Resurrection. Like the Resurrection, we have a message of the victory of life and love on the journey to our original innocence.

There seemed to be no remedy to both the woman and Jairus, the father. This just set the scene for the revelation of Jesus’ compassion and tenderness. The interactions of the woman and the father with Jesus express human desperation encountering a God of tender mercy and compassion. The woman had come up empty on all fronts. In total abandonment and weakness, she reached out to touch Jesus. She walked away not only healed, but transformed in the depth of her being. She now was saved, now at peace, and most of all, now a very special daughter of God. The father was engulfed in hopelessness and desperation. Jesus revealed the source of all hope in the gift of his daughter’s return to life.

The stories also show Jesus’ power over the demonic effort to crush human freedom. The laws of cleanliness in the practice of the Jews often had unintended consequences. For the bleeding woman, not only did she have the burden of her personal sickness, she was totally isolated socially from the community because of the state of her impurity. She was, for all practical purposes, as isolated as a leper. When she touched Jesus, it was a gross violation of the laws of purity and even more, an incredibly daring gesture for a woman in her times.

Jesus transformed the violations of the woman into an expression of independence and hope. When he touched the dead body of the young daughter, he was also in grave defiance of the purity laws. He turned his actions into a message that those on the margins have a place of honor in God’s kingdom.

The message for us is clear. We need to bring our burdens and anxieties to Jesus. We need to know and trust that Jesus also wants to heal us and to set us free. The two beautiful females in today’s story, along with the despairing father, are models for us. The message is clear and strong. Turn to Jesus!

The Jesus who shines out in the drama of these two stories is an incredible display of kindheartedness and warmth. Facing the suffering and death of the two”daughters”, he crashes through the restraints of the purity laws. He talks to a woman in public and he touches a corpse!

Jesus identifies faith as a basic trust in God. The essential message of today’s gospel passage is, “Your faith has saved you.” (Mk 5:34) Jesus continues to call forth that trusting faith as a benediction for all his followers of yesterday, today and tomorrow. God is a God who fosters hope as He is always calling us through the apparent barriers of death to new life.

After all these centuries, we must continue to seek the power of the Strong One over the evil that still diminishes woman’s role in the Church and in society; still falls short in celebrating the GLTBQ community’s dignity in all of life; still is weak in hearing the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth. We still are in need of the healing touch for families wracked by the addiction of a member and of families being destroyed by pathological divisions of one sort or another. Likewise, we are in need of the hunger for justice that flowed from the heart of the bleeding woman and the grieving father. They took the first step on the road to freedom and justice. We are called to be the same as vessels of Jesus’ love and healing power for our brothers and sisters.

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TWELFTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Mark 4:35-41

Dear Friends, The first words of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark are, “This is time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel.” (Mk 1:15)

Jesus then proceeds to teach, to call the disciples and to heal. All of these actions are expressions of the kingdom. They all lead to the question of who is this person, Jesus.

In our own lives we all approach Jesus in the beginning as one who will help us, one who will solve our problems and one who will, indeed, heal us.

In today’s story from Mark, Jesus is drawing the disciples into a deeper experience and challenge. He is with them in the storm. The storm is a symbol of the vulnerability of life. It gathers all that is fragile and frightening about our daily experience. It exposes the profound and pervasive truth that as creatures, the security of life is ultimately out of our control.

The disciples are not really asking Jesus to stop the storm. They simply want him to share their fear and anxiety and maybe help remove some water from the boat.

Jesus has a different agenda. “Quiet. Be still’. Then the wind ceased and there was great calm.” (Mk 4:39)

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DEEP PERSONAL PRAYER AND ORIGINAL SIN-3

Merton’s Encounter with God in Downtown Louisville

Tomas Merton, maturing as a Trappist monk, had grown into a contemplative state of prayer. This is the most advanced phase of deep personal prayer. This momentous spiritual development opened the way for him to have an extraordinary mystical experience. It involved a special experience and realization of the presence of God leading to an intense personal enlightenment.

This mystical event in Merton’s life is a very helpful guide in understanding the acute need for deep personal prayer. This constant struggle with our sinful condition is our painful heritage of our first parents.

Merton was on his way to becoming a major international spiritual force in the Twentieth Century and beyond. On March 18, 1958 he was in Louisville, KY., a city close to his Gethsemani Abbey. He needed to get some printing done. Amid the large crowd of shoppers on the street, he had a great moment of illumination. Merton wrote:

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THE ELEVENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Mark 4:26-34

Dear Friends, Most of the parables, like today, begin with the words “the kingdom of God is like…” or something similar. The kingdom is God’s plan for reality. It is the ultimate reversal and makeover of our sinful world. All persons, things, relations and history itself are to be made new according to the law of love and the law of justice. There is a new world coming. Jesus, in his teachings and his life, and most especially in his death and resurrection, unveils that new world. This new reality is God’s active and creative love fully manifested and permeating all humanity and the rest of creation.

The very first words of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark are about the kingdom of God. “After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14-15)

This message of the kingdom of God is the central teaching of Jesus. It is the outcome of all the promises of the Old Testament beginning with Abraham and continuing to the prophets. It is our return to the original innocence in the Garden before the sin of our first parents.

Jesus invites us into this new world, the kingdom, by calling us to repent and embrace the gospel. Our entry into the kingdom begins with our repentance and acceptance of the call of Jesus. This reign of God starts within us and moves outward to create a world of justice and peace, a new day of reconciliation and unity, of healing and hope. In our day this especially is celebrated when we respect and work for the integrity of creation.

Today’s parables of the sowing of the seed and the mustard seed tell us something of the kingdom in our life. The journey from the small seed to the life-giving bread seems very improbable. Likewise, it is the same with the growth of the very small mustard seed. “But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.” (Mk 4:33)

The meaning of the parables is that the reign of God, God’s kingdom, is the seed within us and in all reality. Whether you get the news on the internet, TV or the newspapers, it does not seem likely that the law of love is going to win out. We need to be like the farmer. We need to trust in the seed that is God’s lifegiving and transforming presence no matter how unlikely it may seem. God is truly at work. We become the life baring seeds with a life of integrity and authenticity and trust. No matter the apparent failure, we need to be patient and walk in hope of God’s presence. So often, it seems so improbable, if not impossible. In today’s parables, Jesus is telling us despite the appearances, God will eventually produce life beyond our dreams. Patience and trust rooted in faith are the message of Jesus in today’s parables.

The parable of the “The Seed Gowing Secretly” describes the nature of God’s work in the human scene. Most often, disciples, past and present, are filled with anticipation of quick and dramatic visible results. That is not usually the case. This situation does not mean that God is not at work. God is always on the job in the hearts of the disciples as well as the hearts of all human beings. The parable is telling us that God’s grace will ultimately win out. There will be a transformation of reality. God will win out with a final conquest of the demonic powers. This victory will come, however, according to God’s schedule not ours.

We need to trust that God is truly with us no matter how hidden the divine presence seems in the flow of our daily experience. We need to know that the God Jesus reveals is a God of unconditional love. We neither merit nor deserve the divine embrace but it is our gift always and everywhere. While all that life coming from the small seed seems ever so improbable, even more implausible is the gift of the unconditional love of God for us. It is the ultimate and greatest miracle of life. We are the seeds of even richer and more abundant life in God’s kingdom when we walk with Jesus.

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DEEP PERSONAL PRAYER LEADS TO FREEDOM-2

Like anything worthwhile, deep personal prayer comes at a cost, substantial personal sacrifice. It involves eliminating major personal habits of selfishness. Many of these negative behaviors are hidden beyond our awareness. Deep personal prayer raises them to consciousness. A choice has to be made. It is like the parable of the Sower. Our life presents to the seed several different destinations: the rocky ground, the busy path, the thorns, or the rich soil. These negative options for the seed are possible because of our attachments and addictions, the attraction of the dark side of our culture and the overriding demand to consume more. In addition, we need address our social reality driven by racism, sexism, classism and seemingly countless other expressions of division and hostility. The rich soil is possible as a choice only if we deny these negative forces that are so intense and immediate. If we are to produce the abundant fruit available in the rich soil that comes from deep personal prayer, we need to forsake the steady demands of the ego. Jesus declared this truth in harsh clarity: to save our life we need to lose our life. (Mt 10:39)

In the battlefield that is the human heart, sooner than later, our efforts at deep personal prayer make us aware of the cost inherent in beginning the search for God. This exploration is both serious and truly challenging.

At the same time, the movement of God’s grace, like a silent whisper in the depths of our heart, beckons us to encounter the reality of love that is God. No matter how soft, no matter how gentle, this call to love by a patient but unyielding God, will not go away. Often, this voice of God arises to a point of clarity only in the pain and anguish or even in the debris of life.

This is the troublesome condition of the human heart in its most authentic pursuit of what is real. The central struggle is between oneself as the point of emphasis or God as the central focus. Deep personal prayer leads us to the choice that promises life, freedom and all manner of love that is God revealed in Jesus Christ.

Only in faithfulness to this search for our deepest truth do we learn that God is our partner in the human venture. Likewise, it is God’s loving compassion that pursues us every moment in our life. God delights in loving us with an everlasting passionate love. This Hound of Heaven embraces us as we are in all our brokenness and misguided ambitions of grandiosity.

For most of us, most of the time, love for God remains a tiny hidden spark longing to become a consuming flame. However, our continuous search for happiness in the wrong places darkens or even blinds us to this divine treasure. Much more often than not, we turn to God only as we need help in our agenda seeking what we think we need to be happy. Our involvement with God is mostly about our self-perceived program. This is the basis of our frustration in life. This misdirection is a barrier for a life of deep personal prayer. This is the adjustment we need: to take the spotlight off ourselves and put it on God. This is the goal of deep personal prayer.

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TENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Mark 3:20-35

Dear Friends, Today we renew our journey with Jesus in the gospel of Mark. For the next twenty three weeks we will have the privilege of sharing the Jesus of Mark as a guide for the struggles, joys and uncertainty of our lives.

In today’s Gospel the religious leaders and his family are in conflict with Jesus. They both experience a misunderstanding and a misrepresentation of Jesus’ message. Even though they are very different, they do, however, share a common goal. They see a need to transform Jesus to fit their image of who they think Jesus should be. They have been the predecessors of this frequent endeavor down through Christian history. There are few of us who do not continually try to make Jesus in our image. We are relentless in making Jesus a more comfortable fit. We consistently like to take the sting out of his message. We never are quite up to his challenge and his persistent effort to tear down our fences of false security and exclusion. This is how we end up with the Gospel of Prosperity or a Jesus locked into the almost tribal limits of a culture or ethnic group. There are seemingly endless falsehoods trying to amend the Jesus of the Gospels to a less demanding model.

Mark is making another important point in highlighting the family’s problem with Jesus. Often times, control by one’s closest family members is a major hindrance to an individual’s choice for the Kingdom. Frequently, this family pressure can be can be as powerful as the captivity of the demon over human freedom.

In the world of Jesus’ time, people felt the demons were in charge. The evil spirits’ control of the world was seen in sickness and sin, oppression and poverty, natural disasters and political domination. Jesus’ exorcisms were a clear sign that the dominion of Satan was being destroyed by the Strong Man who was Jesus. All of Jesus’ exorcisms were signs of his victory over the demons, a victory of liberation from all manner of evil. This liberation was an invitation to a new future filled with hope. All the signs pointed to the breakthrough of God’s new day. The Kingdom of God was, indeed, at hand.

The Scribes responded with a rigidity and childish argument easily refuted by Jesus. Their own opinion and mindset was their measure of reality. They had no room in their mentality for Jesus’ deeds of healing and casting out of the demonic forces. They were obstinate. They would not be changed by reality based facts

Their great sin was to identify the power of God’s Spirit in Jesus’ action against the demons as the actual power of the demons. This is the rejection of the Holy Spirit and the total distortion of Jesus.

The family had another problem. They felt Jesus was out of his mind. The local boy from Nazareth was shattering all kinds of traditions and religious practices. Jesus had become a controversial figure challenging all the authorities, big and small. He was tearing down barriers and opening up to all manner of strange religious activity.

The family hoped to bring him home and talk some sense into him. They wanted none of his new changes. The simple the traditional way of Nazareth was quite sufficient.

Jesus responded to his family as he did to all of Israel waiting for the Messiah. He declared that his beliefs were not rooted in family ties or unbending religious traditions. His true family were those who accepted his message of good news and the coming Kingdom. These were the people who transcended the natural bonds and now walked in the new light and truth of his Father’s Kingdom. The accepted normal would never be the same.

Today we face the same challenge as the religious leaders and his relatives from Nazareth. Our task is to receive Jesus on his terms. We need to live outside the bubble of an inflexible doctrine and rigid traditions. Our call is to embrace the ever-expanding boundaries of his message of inclusion. We need to recognize the uncertainty that comes with Jesus’ call. It is only a trusting faith that guides one in the darkness that opens the way in the footsteps of Jesus. This obscurity only fades into light when we are faithful in joining Jesus on the road to Jerusalem. Becoming part of Jesus new family means we face the daily task of finding our new brothers and sisters in those who Jesus calls “the least of my brothers.” (Mt. 25: 40) Our task is to be able to hear Jesus call us mother, brother and sister in the midst of life’s ever troubling challenges to our faith and search for God.

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THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

Mark 14:112-16, 22-26 

Dear Friends in Christ, Culture wars seldom produce a satisfying result between the two sides. Most often, the conflicting parties follow a path deeply divided by a clear “either/or” option. Truth is seldom the eventual product in this type of conflict. Much more often than not, the neglected “both/and” approach opens the way to truth.

In the Protestant Reformation in the mid fifteen hundreds, the true understanding of the Eucharist was the victim of a partisan-driven search for power and control against the other side. The majority of the Protestants denied the true presence and the priesthood along with other truths about the Eucharist. In response, Catholics put a great emphasis on the true presence and the priesthood.

In the pre-Vatican II liturgy, the emphasis was on the transcendent and the individual. The local church was a very sacred space. This was by reason of the prominence of the true presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. This was marked by the candle next to the tabernacle which took a place of distinction in the center above the altar. Then there was the pronounced sense of silence. The role of the genuflection added to this sense of the sacred. A further point of definition was the exclusivity of the priest highlighting the sacredness of the real presence. The priest alone could touch the sacred host and vessels. Added significance to the true presence was expressed in public processions with the Blessed Sacrament, especially on the feast of Corpus Christi.

All these factors led to strong investment in individual piety. The Mass became a prayer between Jesus in the sacramental presence and the individual. The sense of community and responsibility for the elements of social responsibility and the demands of history got lost I the process.

When Vatican II came along, its first act was to reform the liturgy. A sense of communal worship was the dominating step in transforming Catholic worship in accord with the demands of the Gospel. In this movement to the” both/and” approach, the true presence was balanced by a deeper understanding of the Eucharist as a community celebration and a call to service. Likewise, the document of Vatican II called for balance by speaking of the twofold importance of the Word and Sacrament. We have been asked to see Jesus as the Suffering Servant who gave his life for many. In Mark’s gospel passage today, the reference to the body and blood is the action of Jesus in his self-giving that took place on the Cross. This is an invitation through participation in the Eucharist to serve the needs of our brothers and sisters. The same message is so very clear in John’s passage at the Last Supper that portrays the washing of the feet.

1. In the big moment of change proclaimed by Vatican II, there is:
2. a balance between individual piety and communal concern and service;
3. an invitation to participation through concern for the needs of our brothers and sisters and the demands of history along with a commitment to the true presence and deep personal prayer;
4. a call for lay participation rather than clerical dominance;
5. a renewal of the importance of the scriptures in the liturgy and the overall life of the Christian community.

There are many more changes issued by the Council but these four have nurtured a liturgical devotion that puts the emphasis on an encounter with Christ leading to building up the community both as a servant of the Kingdom and a vibrant witness to the Gospel.

Ever since Vatican II we, as a Christian community, we have worked to create a dynamic experience of Jesus through the liturgy. The renewal of the liturgy has been the driving force of our communal transformation. In the active participation in the liturgy, we continually try to make the liturgical prayer the source and summit of our faith. Here we encounter Jesus as the first disciples did. This insight the iconic statement from the Council’s liturgy document lays out the basic elements of this liturgical renewal.

“The celebration of the Eucharist, as an action of Christ and the people of God…is the center of the whole Christian life, for the universal church, the local church and for each and every one of the faithful….the Liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the fount from which all its power flows….All who are made children of God by faith and baptism should come together to praise God in the midst of the church, to take part in the sacrifice and to eat the Lord’s supper.” (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 1963, #2, 10, 41)

In the Eucharist, true active participation means that we are asking God to make us an instrument of his peace and a contributor to God’s plan for salvation. Through the liturgy, we are becoming the Body of Christ to continue the proclamation of the Good News to all humanity.

In the reception of Communion, we are energized in this call to continue Christ’s work. Jesus comes to us in the most intimate way possible to renew us into his image. This presence is first and foremost about Jesus calling us into a new reality. It is a time to share at the deepest level with One we know loves us. This conversation should be about God’s plan first. Then we can approach our many personal concerns and worries. Love is the dominating dimension of the basic Eucharistic moment of grace and intimacy in the reception of Communion. Jesus is calling us into a new way. There should be less concern about ourselves and more attention given to God’s presence in our brothers and sisters along with the needs of our family, friends, community and the world.

We all would do well to examine ourselves to see how much effort and attention we give to this encounter with the living Christ at the time of communion.

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TRINITY SUNDAY

Matthew 28: 16-20

Dear Friends, A learned pagan philosopher described the Christians in the second century this way: “They love one another. They never fail to help widows; they save orphans from those who would hurt them. If they have something they give freely to the person that has nothing; if they see a stranger, they take him home and are happy as though he were a brother. They do not consider themselves brothers in the usual sense, but brothers instead through the Spirit, in God.”
In today’s Gospel we have the command of Jesus to do three things: make disciples of all peoples, baptize them and teach them to observe all that He has commanded us. In Jesus we have the continual unveiling of love of the Father. Jesus is the ultimate gift that keeps on giving, keeps on calling and keeps on loving!

Today’s Gospel tells us why God had saved us: Love, which is the reality of the relations between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Father has chosen to lay out the clarity and power of this love through the saving acts of his Son through the Spirit. This love has no limits, has no conditions and needs no invitation. This saving love simply is the foundation of all reality.

On this feast of Trinity Sunday we recall that Jesus is the full revelation of God, a God of unlimited and unconditional love. All of Jesus’ teachings are anchored and contained in this command that we love as Jesus has loved us. This is how we share in the mystery of the Trinity.

Today’s Gospel sets this command to love before us . God takes the initiative: “God so loved the world.” (Jn 3:16) In loving the world God shows us that all are invited into this loving encounter that is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus fleshes out this totally inclusive love in the stories of the Samaritan, the publican, Magdalene and so many other expressions of acceptance and mercy.

Likewise, the Gospel tells us the purpose of God’s mission: “God did not send the Son…to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him and enjoy eternal life.” (Jn 3:16-18)

Jesus invites us into the mystery of love and life that is the Father and Son and Holy Spirit. The choice is ours. We can accept or reject. The problem is we do not get to set the terms of either the acceptance or rejection.

This choice brings us into the great irony of life. We are driven to think and act as if we have a better plan than God. Our choices drive us to seek true happiness. In the process many just reject Jesus altogether. Others spend a lifetime placing side bets and trying to reconfigure Jesus into a more comfortable, watered down version. We want the price to be right according to our standards and not the Gospel. Few have the openness to live as the early Christians described by the pagan philosopher.

The great joy of today’s feast and every proclamation of the Gospel is that God never gives up on us. In Jesus, we are constantly called to accept Him as the way, the life and the truth. Slowly, life tends to teach us that Jesus really does have a better plan both for here and hereafter.

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PENTECOST SUNDAY

John 14: 15-16, 23b-26

Dear Friends,If there ever has been a time to be careful for what we pray for, it is on this Pentecost Sunday. In the Response we pray: “Lord, send out your Spirit and renew the face of the earth.” When the Spirit comes, an explosion of creativity follows. Our comfortable boundaries are under siege.

The Spirit gifted the new-born Church. though it was wrapped in poverty and bewilderment, it was able to gather an extensively diverse group of people, driven by a wide-range of cultures, into a semblance of unity. In spite of all the many self-interests, a fragile but growing unity prevailed. This was the work of the Spirit.

All of today’s readings uncover this action of the Spirit. The presence of the Spirit is an unsettling event. It opens up the depth and breadth of Jesus’ revolutionary message. There is a creation of new worlds with expansion of horizons, calling us to accept the new, the different and the neglected. The Spirit shatters our sense of security, and often, our confidence rooted in false independence. The Spirit always pushes for more, for new ways to include others.

The disciples who received the Spirit, as described in Acts, were only shortly removed from being dominated by the search for power, prestige and wealth in their commitment to Jesus. (Mk 8:22-10:52) With the enlightenment of the Spirit, Jesus’ message had a new transforming power within their hearts. Now the Good News of God’s unconditional love and limitless mercy penetrated their entire being. The mystery of the crucified and risen Christ now opened their eyes and hearts. Reality now was experienced with a graciousness and beauty that directed them away from selfishness to the liberating journey of love. With the guidance of the Spirit, they now were at home in Jesus’ upside-down world. Finally, they longed to serve, to wash the feet, to be last and desired to lose their life so they could walk in the new reality of life and truth revealed in Jesus.

Even with these new insights, gifted by the presence of the Spirit, they still struggled mightily to accept the Gentiles. They failed to see the God-given dignity of women along with countless other racial and ethnic challenges. The seeds of Jesus’ message were far from reaching full bloom in the days of the earliest believers. It is the same for us today where there is so much about the Church that fails to mirror the Gospel.

It took some time, but the first Christians who wore Jews’ eventually experienced their long-cherished birthright as the Chosen People in the light of the Gospel. They now understood their heritage as children for Abraham was not something that closed them in. I t became for them a world-shattering reality where all humankind was endowed with the call to the New Covenant. Ever so reluctantly they accepted Gentiles into the fold. With much struggle, they broke the bondage of the law and embraced the freedom of the Spirit. They saw clearly the infantile and destructive pull of the flesh. They recognized that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, faithfulness, gentleness self-control” (Gal 5:22-24).

As the disciples learned to listen to the Spirit, two things became obvious. They had to learn to listen to their hearts. This shattered their traditional and commonsense vision of reality. Secondly, they must assent to the challenging consequences of the Spirit’s presence. It always demands change, a disturbing experience. History tells us the demands and new horizons of the Gospel are never finished. The Spirit always has more to keep us from settling down to a comfortable status quo that we yearn for so dearly. The Spirit is always about the troubling encounter of new possibilities and new perspectives.

The disciples recalled Jesus telling them he would send the Sprit to deepen their awareness of his words. This helped them. As they faced the upheaval and confusion, they eventually learned this turmoil was often the by-product of the Spirit’s movement.

Two concrete and consequential examples of this struggle with change for the early Church were the delay of Jesus’ second coming and the previously mentioned reception of Gentiles into the Church. These two issues were truly traumatic events. These make the changes of Vatican II look like an argument over the color and size of the altar cloth.

The disciples learned that Jesus’ Spirit would open them to the future (John 16:13). Down through history this has been abused by many to foretell the end of the world and other self-serving predictions. In fact, this opening to the future is more in line with all of the Spirit’s work, the building up of the faith community in the footsteps of Jesus. This teaching about the future tells us the Spirit will guide us to see where God is at work moving the faithful community into a future God desires. This is what we mean by the signs of the times. The true future is walking in trust and love guided by God’s Spirit. This calls us to share the creativity of God and to oppose everything that diminishes this call to new life in any and all of our brothers and sisters.

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THE FEAST OF THE ASCENSION

Acts 1:1-11; Ephesians 1:17-23, & Mark 16:15-20

Dear Friends, Recently, I enjoyed the opportunity to get back at some teenagers. I love the creativity of their use of two words, “so” and “whatever” Their use of both words captures the content of a full paragraph. While the words are often somewhat disrespectful, they also are playful.

Recently, some teens, with varying degrees of anxiety, came to me with this latest “end of the world” prediction. I loved confusing them with the simple reply, “So!” before I gave a more informed response.

Of course, I had no concern about the end of the world. The liturgy of the feast of the Ascension has a very consoling and challenging message on this topic.

In the first reading from Acts, Jesus responds to the Apostles’ question about the end of the world in these words: “It is not for you to know the time or the seasons that the Father has established. …You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem…and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:7-8) The angel asks, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here looking at the sky?” (Acts 1:11) In other words, get on with the task of living and proclaiming the gospel. We share that task. The message of today’s feast of the Ascension is not the end of Jesus’ mission, but the beginning of our mission as disciples of Christ.

The next chapter in God’s story of salvation is our chapter. We are now called to declare the message of the Good News with our lives, our proclamation and our witness. This is the time of the Church. It is time of reaching out and lifting up, a time of service and celebration, a time of hope in spite of the continuing ravages of sin and injustice in our midst.

As Church, we have a clear mission from Christ. We must be open and involved in the world, the historical process so rooted in injustice and sin, yet called to redemption. As gospel people, we are not meant to be by-standers to the pain and suffering so pervasive in our time. The temptation is to just wait and see. This is not Jesus’ mandate. He tells us to go out to the whole world and preach the Good News. It is the very power of this divine word that will be the source of transformation of our broken world. Our calling in the midst of war and injustice is to seek peace and to live for justice. Violence, greed, oppression and neglect of the neediest must be met with the power of the gospel to transform this broken world into the seeds of God’s kingdom. Our task, in this time of the church, is to complete the mission of Jesus.

If we truly understand this call of Christ, we can reply to the constant predictions of the end of the world with the creativity of the youthful, “So!”.

The meaning of this beautiful feast of the Ascension is further captured in the words of the Preface of the Mass:

Christ, the mediator between God and men

Judge of the world and Lord of all

Has passed beyond our sight

Not to abandon us but to be our hope.

Christ is the beginning, the head of the Church;

Where he is gone, we hope to follow.

The Christian response to the end of the world is not fear and anxiety. It is hope rooted in the reality that Jesus is with us till end of time. We have no need for hopelessness and confusion. The true Christian response is a simple commitment to live with faith and trust in a God who has a better plan. Our part in that divine plan is to proclaim, serve and celebrate as we share the gospel. We must attempt to live the truth of Christ in our humble brokenness. We pray in the opening prayer of the Mass of the Ascension, “May we follow him into the new creation, for his Ascension is our glory and our hope.”

Many times, we have heard the stories of saints responding to the question, what would you do if you had only a day to live? They all say the same. They would continue living life to the full and seeking to do God’s will. The message of the Ascension tells us to do the same. Remember, God has a better plan!

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DEEP PERSONAL PRAYER AND ORIGINAL SIN-1

Original Sin and Our True Destiny

I

Any true evaluation of our ordinary life will unveil a sea of chaos within us and our common life in society. There are patterns of irrationality, confusion and all manner prejudices and distorted reality that we accept as the human condition. Our lives are influenced by illusion and self-deception. The “Dear Abby” type of advice columns will never run out of customers. Likewise, the United Nations Security Council will always have situations of violence to consider. In the midst of all these personal and social struggles, a simple, dominant truth remains. We live in God and God lives within us. Our sinful condition leads us to neglect, if not totally forget, this most fundamental truth that we are made in the image of God.

Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk who was one of the great spiritual teachers in the 20th Century North America, stressed this truth of our oneness with God. He said we act as if we are pursuing this sense of being one with God. In fact, we already possess this oneness but we are blind and negligent of this because of Original Sin. We have to grow in awareness of the depth of our sinful condition and its consequences of how we experience reality.

The “Fall” that we inherit from our first parents has profound and extensive repercussions for all of us. We live in a world where disunity and separation are the strong inclination of the human heart. The patterns of division between “us” and “them” are innate and constant inclinations for all of us. Disputes in the church choir and antisemitism seem to never end. White supremacy and blaming the poor are staples of our sinful condition. Alienation and isolation are also the product of our sinful heritage. Our world is dominated by illusion and bias under the guise of common sense understanding of reality. The fact is, however, what is truly real is hidden by all of these deceptions. Our situation demands a transformation of consciousness to deliver us from the layers of lies we inherit from Original Sin. This transformation of consciousness is a process of enlightenment flowing in good part from deep personal prayer.

This is why we need a sincere commitment to personal spiritual growth through prayer. This spiritual activity invites us, slowly but steadily, into the awareness of the reality of our union with God. This is our calling, to be people pursuing the love that will set us free. It is always a struggle because of our captivity in the continual deception of our sinful condition. We must remember this axiom: the grace of God is in the struggle. Our destiny Is to be one with God. Deep personal prayer is one of the most significant means to achieve this divine destination. It is, indeed, the great treasure we must sell all to buy and embrace God’s plan for us.

This is what Merton was stressing when he said that what we are seeking is what we already are: united with God. We need to be purified and transformed to be both enlightened and energized to achieve this true destiny.

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SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

JOHN 15:9-17

Dear Friends, Some eleven and half weeks ago, we received the ashes with the command: “Repent and believe in the Good News.” During our common journey through Lent, hopefully, we have indeed repented and have also prepared ourselves to celebrate the great event of our faith, the Pascal Mystery of Christ’s Death and Resurrection. We are now entering the sixth week of Easter. During these days after Easter, we have been invited to embrace the great mystery of the final victory over death and our call to life eternal.

For the first three Sundays after Easter, we have been encouraged to measure our life’s daily experience with the unfolding revelation of Christ in the post-Easter appearances. Last week, we were invited to encounter Jesus, the privileged manifestation of God, as the true vine. As part of the vine, we experience the ever-present stream of God’s grace calling us to the fullness of life both now, and ultimately, in our personal resurrection.

In today’s readings, we have the simple but overwhelming proclamation that God is love. Our life’s goal is to accept that love and let it define our relations with God and our sisters and brothers. “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.” (John 15:9)

In today’s second reading from the First Letter of John, we have the conclusion of all revelation: “God is love.” (1 John 4:8) In the Gospel, we are called to share that love that is our gift in the Risen Christ.

Today’s Gospel makes clear that first and foremost, we are loved by Christ. This joyful message is repeated over and over again. In this love, we are called to keep his commandments. Jesus is calling us beyond the commandments of the Law. Jesus is asking us to love as he loves. “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.” (Jn 15:12)

Jesus is challenging us to open our hearts to love in a way that mirrors his total gift of self. We need to keep this ideal before us at all times. It will deliver us from the relentless pull of mediocrity and compromise. It will make our faith pulsate with life.

In the first reading, we are challenged to accept the new horizons of Jesus’ love. It is hard for us to appreciate earth-shattering experience of Peter and his companions when Cornelius and the others received the Holy Spirit. Thousands of years of Jewish privilege and exclusivity as God’s Chosen People were being confronted. It would take the early Church generations of struggle to overcome the ingrained prejudice and sense of privilege involved in accepting the Gentiles into the new Christian community.

The struggle continues in our own day in our Church, in our society and in our own heart. The political divide based on cultural conflict and a sense of exclusive ownership continues to divide and escalate hostility. Issues of race, gender, sexuality, economics and, the always divisive reality of religion, continue to be towering complications to today’s Gospel command: “Love one another.” (John 15: 11) The immeasurable and unconditional horizons of Jesus’ teachings of love will be a never-ending test for our heart’s yearning for clear boundaries and guaranteed comfort. Jesus has given us an extremely high model of love to follow. It is Jesus’ sacrificial love proclaimed from the Cross.

In the wake of God’s call to universal love, the flawed human heart has an equally universal call: “but not those people!” We all participate in a collective prejudice rooted in fear and mistrust. It is propped up with pride, arrogance and wrapped in ignorance. It is called the human condition. It is a long trip for all of us before we can own Paul’s words: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:28)

As we draw to the conclusion of the Easter Season, our task remains: to reflect on the glorious mystery of Christ Crucified and Christ Risen. It is our summons into the sea of mercy and love that is the Triune God revealed by Christ. We will do well to remember the significance of our beginning of this journey: “Repent and believe the Good News.”

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