FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT

Lk 15:1-3, 11-32

Dear Friends, Today’s parable enjoys the popular name of the Prodigal Son. This title loses much of the drama and message of the parable. It is definitely about three persons. Each character has much to teach us. Luke’s magnificent parable, by whatever name, continues this Lent’s theme of repentance.

The first son’s story tells of greed and indulgence encountering the harsh limits of the human condition. The way out is repentance leading to an encounter with mercy. His story tells us as sinners that no step toward God, no matter however small or feeble, will go unanswered.

The s second person is the father. Here we have the great insights into the potential of loving human relationships overcoming the power of possessions and prestige. He shows us clearly the importance of people over property. The father’s response deals with the abandonment of both sons. It is hardly possible to have a more simple and profound mirror of the unconditional love and mercy of God.

The father’s love shows us that God’s love is neither earned nor deserved. It is extravagant, uncalculating, absolute and free. God loves the sinner while he is still a sinner. This divine love is there even before the repentance. It is this divine love that makes the change of heart possible for all of us sinners.

In the second son we have the image of interior alienation that has festered like a cancer over the years. The African American community has a rich description of this experience. It is called the pity party. His self-absorption blinded him to the beautiful love right in front of him. Instead, a hidden anger and jealousy blocked out all the blessings of an incredible parent.

The first son found himself lost in the dark pit of total failure and utter despair. The painful conclusion was the degradation of feeding the pigs. He approached his father in fear and trembling with his well prepared plea for minimal acceptance. His last-hope spiel was cut off by the outrageous rush of mercy and forgiveness by the father.

The whole scene is a litany of violations of expected behavior by the father. It was totally uncouth to leave the house, and even worst, to run. The embrace was completely out of character for an older man in this culture. The fattened calf in these circumstances was simply unheard of. Every accepted ritual for an offended father was shattered in a total loss of dignity. All the broken cultural norms gave further force to the father’s overwhelming cry: I love you! I forgive you! I accept you in great joy! You are back and nothing else matters. On with the party!

The same routine, in a more subtle way, was carried out in the case of the second son. The father left the house once again in violation of the demands of his dignity. He gave no credence to the despicable description of him as a horrible and unconcerned father. The hostility and anger was met with his hand reaching out in mercy and understanding. The self-pity was countered with an invitation to give all that he had. The withdrawal was challenged with the invitation to join the celebration.

He did not let the son’s pathetic anger and jealousy obstruct the dialogue. His only response to a sea of negativity was love, patience, encouragement and acceptance.

There is an even deeper message for us that relates to the overall experience of Jesus and his ultimate rejection. He was accepting the sinners and tax collectors while the Pharisees and Scribes stay wrapped up in the rigidity of their self-righteousness. The first son’s story is pure gospel. The lost are found. The sinners are being forgiven. The dead are rising to new life.

In contrast, the second son is clearly a model of the Jewish leaders locked into their resentment and hostility towards Jesus. They consider all the forgiven sinners as thieves of their privileged heritage. They wallow in the self-pity as Jesus forgives and accepts the tax collectors and sinners.

In the father’s actions, Jesus unveils the awesome wonder of the Father’s mercy and unconditional love. Our Lenten call is to recognize ourselves in both sons. We are invited to the party. We are called to let go of our blinding indulgence in the dead-end pursuits of a self-absorbed life. We are asked to forgo our self-pity and jealousy. Most of all, the utter life-robbing power of the long held grudge is laid out in utter simplicity.

The indispensable response on our part is clear. We need to accept ourselves in our broken condition. We are called to share God’s unconditional love with our brothers and sisters. We are asked to give up the feeling of resentment. We are invited to open up the dialogue in spite of all the perceived violations of our rights and dignity. We need to accept God’s ever-present love and mercy on our Lenten journey to the great party of Easter Sunday.

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THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT

Lk 13:1-9

Dear Friends, We begin Lent each year with a clear message, “Repent and believe in the gospel!” After having measured Jesus’ temptations and his Transfiguration in light of our life experience and struggle, we now journey three weeks in Luke’s Gospel on the theme of repentance.

Today’s gospel selection has a story of two tragedies and a parable of the fig tree.. The two disasters, one the product of human cruelty and the other an accident, are explained by Jesus as a call to repent. Jesus is clear. Any interpretation of these events as punishment from God for the victims is totally off the mark. All people are liable to death. It may come from injustice or the foibles of both nature and human mistakes or even human malice. In fact, it seems that the good are more prone to this fate of unearned suffering. Nevertheless, death is inevitable for all.

We have before us in today’s gospel a clear choice. We need to realize that death and God’s judgement are always close. Whether at worship in a church or standing next to a wall or whatever the circumstances, we know neither the day nor the hour. Our choice is to accept openly the reality of death or to live in a state of denial.

Today’s gospel passage raises the question? Am I with Jesus or against Him? We are confronted with the reality that we do not control the timeline. The moment of death is totally beyond our direction. Jesus is referencing the two tragedies to emphasize the harsh limits of our mortality. In the parable of the fig tree, we also have a message of God’s mercy. We are called to make that decision for Jesus without delay. This is our Lenten task.

Jesus is using these two events, along with the fig tree parable, to invite people to take stock of their lives. The issue is this: are we ready to meet God? It is an unambiguous call to repentance, a time to examine the state of our life in the light of God’s call.

As always, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus is most helpful in understanding the message of today’s gospel. His life is a clear message that bad things happen to good people. Jesus’ life is a clear manifestation that we can live in communion with God no matter what happens. Jesus shows us that life goes on and love prevails over all in the end.

Likewise, it helps to see Jesus as the gardener in the parable. He both is a person of compassion and the promise of the God of “the second chance.”

The Lenten season is a time for us to take stock of our life. The Lenten message invites us into the mystery of our merciful God. It is a time to accept our sinful condition and plunge into the sea of God’s cleansing mercy that awaits us. We are called to produce the fruit of a good life. Through Jesus, God is offering us the ultimate overture of love. This offer of love is wrapped in a mercy that washes away our sins if we only open our heart to receive the gracious call to life, forgiveness and love. The best place to start is to recognize both our sinfulness and God’s mercy.

Today’s gospel is quite clear. Now is the time to act. We have no guarantee for tomorrow! The fig tree is a sign to us that we may well be in our final year to bear fruit. The limits of the human condition are very real!

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THE SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

Lk 9:28-36

Dear Friends, Each Lent, we have the Transfiguration story on the second Sunday. This tantalizing peak at the glorious Christ offers us a challenge to move deeper into the reality of a Suffering Messiah and our own life. We are relentlessly pulled in an opposite direction of the Cross by the values of a consumer society. At first glance, and even third glace, it is hard to figure out how our search for happiness fits the somber message of Lent.

Peter had a hard time with the message of the Suffering Messiah the first time around. He could not connect his idea of the Messiah of God, to Jesus’ declaration to take up your cross and follow me.

Peter’s dilemma was this: Jesus was the Messiah. How could He suffer? Jesus just deepened Peter’s confusion when referring to the disciple’s acknowledgement of him being the Messiah. Jesus “rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone.” (Lk 9:21)

No doubt we share Peter’s confusion when we try to equate our belief in an all loving and an all-powerful God and the horror of Japan’s catastrophe at Hiroshima or so many other devastating human catastrophes. Peter’s dilemma is our dilemma. How do we link the divine goodness and suffering on an incomprehensible scale and even the consistent occurrence of affliction in our daily lives? We witness the slaughter in our cities and the total waste of life, both young and old, as a result of the gangs. Much bigger than the problem of immigration is the gross poverty around the world that forces people to leave their homes.

In the Transfiguration, Jesus reaffirms his divinity, a divinity compassionately concerned with all human suffering. However, the Transfiguration takes place on the road to Jerusalem where He will be rejected, suffer and die. The Father says, “This is my Son, the Chosen one. Listen to him.” (Lk 9:35) This is the key to the placement of the Transfiguration story on this second Sunday of our Lenten journey. Here we will find the way out of Peter’s confusion and our confusion.

The message the Father wants the disciples to hear is clear. Jesus is the Suffering Messiah and the disciples need to follow him. “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Lk 9:23)

Jesus makes this message more breathtaking in his conversation with Moses and Elijah. “and He spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.” (Lk 9:31) This was his path to the fullness of the Kingdom through his Passion, Death and Resurrection.

Lent is a time to prepare to celebrate the Death and Resurrection of Jesus the Christ with new joy, stronger faith and growing love. This is the great mystery of our faith and our life. It is a call to conversion, an invitation to the mystery of gospel that celebrates a Crucified Christ. it is a call to move away from the superficial and into the depths of our heart to face our sin and Jesus’ merciful love.

As many times as we have heard the story, it still holds the seeds of light and wisdom, of hope and tenderness. It reminds us how close God is to us and how thin the curtain between the divine and human truly is. We are always on the edge of our human frailty and mortality. Equally, we are on the edge of eternal life and happiness. Whether it is the brokenness of our relationships, the consequences of sin, or the corruption of our world, we need to accept our personal and social valley of tears and “Listen to Him!” (Lk 9:35) He will reveal anew that the last word is not sickness, the dark side of family life, injustice, prejudice, and the foibles of nature’s awesome power or even death. The last word revealed in the Crucified and Risen Christ is life and the victory of love. Once again, our journey to Jerusalem in Lent and, more so in our life, is an invitation to enter into the Mystery. This Mystery joins the Divine and suffering, the suffering and glorious Messiah. It leads to the victory of Easter.

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ADVANCED CONTEMPLATION-1

The Way of Prayer: A Guide to the Footsteps of Jesus

The material in this selection is a more advanced message for readers who are more urgent in their search for the gift of contemplation. This is first in a series of blogs on the Christian life, prayer and self-knowledge.

I

The Easter Vigil is the most sacred of all liturgical celebrations. The Liturgy of the

Light is the first of four parts. It centers on the proclaiming of the Exsultet, the

Easter hymn of singular beauty and sovereignty. This song celebrates the Easter

victory of life over death, grace over sin, love over hatred. There is a crescendoing

announcement expressed ten times in a description that begins “This is the

Night…” In this story of salvation there are two stunning statements between the fourth and fifth declarations of “This is the Night…”. They challenge us to address the wonderful glory of the Easter reality.

O truly necessary sin of Adam,

Destroyed completely by the Death of Christ!

O Happy fault that earned so glorious a Redeemer!

Some verses later, the song continues:

That sanctifying power of this night

Dispels the brokenness, washes faults away,

Restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to the mourners,

Drives out hatred, fosters concord and brings down the mighty.

Part of the great mystery of Christ Crucified and Christ Risen that we celebrate in the three holy days of the Triduum is this. We see Christ as the New Adam. He is offering us a way out of the sinful state we were born into. Because of the sin of Adam and Eve, every human being comes into the world with a deep brokenness, a disoriented heart and blinded mind. Our natural state makes us the victims of ignorance and pulled toward division, isolation and hatred. 

This state of Alienation leads away from God in every possible way. The clear message of the Exsultet is that God is calling us back to the original innocence. The vocation of every person is to forsake the Alienation, the inheritance of our first parents, and direct our whole being to the pursuit of God.

Our true destiny is to restore ourselves and all persons and all creation as one in God. This is the goal of the true and authentic Christian life. Jesus has given us an invitation and an opportunity for personal transformation. This is how the message of the Exsultet becomes reality in our life. Jesus calls: “Come and see.” (John 1:39) Jesus reveals: “I am the way and the truth and the life.” (John 14:6) Jesus gives us the path to freedom and life: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mk8:34)

Along with the sacraments, prayer becomes a central issue in refocusing our life in harmony with the beautiful message of the Exsultet. This is the message and the call of the gospel. This is walking in the footsteps of Jesus. A common name for this search for personal transformation is the spiritual life.

II

Here is a description of the spiritual life that I have found very helpful. It is the quest for self-transcendence. This is a long, painful process. It involves moving from ourselves as the center to making God the center of our reality. This is the Christian journey in the footsteps of Jesus. Every part of our life is involved in the personal transformation from selfishness to service and love.

Deep and personal prayer is critical along with our relationships, responsibilities and commitments. This mature prayer integrates and authenticates all of our life in the pursuit of God.

III

Here is a simple description of the spiritual journey. There is the beginning. In this initial state the consequences of our sinful condition hold sway along with the superficiality resulting from a consumer culture. We take that first step away from our original sinfulness and selfishness. Then there is the actual journey which involves a conversion process. We begin the long road to freedom from our self-centered ways. Self-knowledge is a tedious but healing and redemptive element of this process. Eventually we have a sense of arrival. We gain an awareness of movement away from the dominance of the ego. These three steps of beginning, journey and arrival are the advancement of the spiritual life. 

There is true experience of progress. We have begun to transform the deep distortions of our heart with gospel values. Though we do not realize it at the moment, this is just the first step of a long, wearisome journey. The process will repeat itself over and over and over again. It is a spiraling passage to our center where God resides.

At each stage we see things with a more acute perspective but never with total clarity. The repeating conversions create a depth of purification and transformation. These new insights are far beyond our power to envision at the beginning of the journey. Each stage offers new horizons, new inclusiveness, new openness to reconciliation. Once we thought it was progress to see two sides to every story. Eventually we begin to see that often there may be several sides to the story. The same is true with our racism and our attitudes to different states of sexuality.

 Many other prejudices have held sway with no challenge. Each new level of awareness invites us to face turmoil and new choices. Slowly we begin to see the great chasm between what we want and what we need.

While we move forward by faithfulness to the struggle, each stage along the way enlightens us to see God’s goodness and our sinfulness more clearly. Humility becomes more important with each step of growth. The irony is that we recognize our personal limits and weakness and sinfulness much more clearly as we make progress in our pursuit of God. 

We see our sinful state with always more transparency with each step forward!

Another paradox of the spiritual journey is this. At each stage, we make significant progress from the previous stage. Yet we are more or less blind to the upcoming progress. That only happens when we do the necessary steps for the next conversion along the way. 

We are regularly tempted with the distortion that we have finally arrived. The many phases of the spiritual journey always involve a deeper degree of prayer, more detachment, and especially confronting our addictions, which often cripple us from any further progress. 

Along the way, self-knowledge and humility shine the light in the darkness.

IV

The spiritual life seeks to transform us into that person described in the Exsultet:

That sanctifying power of this night

Dispels the brokenness, washes faults away,

Restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to the mourners,

Drives out hatred, fosters concord and brings down the mighty.

To accomplish this goal, to be a new person in the image of Christ, we will continue with some helpful material in the coming weeks. We will offer reflections on the Journey of self-knowledge, the Journey of Prayer, the Journey of Lectio Divina, the Journey of Christian Meditation and finally, some considerations on Teresa of Avila’s Program of Humility, Detachment and Charity.

All of these reflections aim to help us to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. The Importance of Self-Knowledge on the Christian Journey.

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FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

Luke 4:1-12

Dear Friends, We began our Lenten journey on Ash Wednesday with the command, “Repent, and believe in the Good News.” Lent, we need to remember, is a time to enter within, to examine the hidden depths of our heart. As we enter more deeply within, we will find our brokenness but also a real possibility of peace. Even more, we will discover God’s mercy in abundant supply. The challenge of Lent urges us to free our heart, our mind and our life to grapple with the great truth of our faith, Jesus Christ Crucified and Jesus Christ Risen. These six weeks of repentance and reflection need to lead us to celebrate the Pascal Mystery. Lent prepares us for the most solemn holy days of the Triduum at the end of Holy Week.

On this first Sunday of Lent, we have the story of Jesus’ temptations. In the story, we have echoes of the temptation of our parents in the Garden and the rebellious followers of Moses in the desert. Contrary to these earlier victories of Satan, Jesus is the victor this time.

The temptations all come down to what kind of Messiah Jesus was going to be. The devil offered an attractive expression of a leader who would save the world with the values of the world: personal power, military and political might and wonder-working aimed at enthralling the masses. Jesus would achieve personal prestige, wealth, and control in the extreme. Jesus chose a different path, service and love over possessions and celebrity. Jesus elected to simply share our humanity. This exposed him to all the consequences of being faithful to God in a sinful and unfair world. This would lead to a suffering Messiah, a Messiah of humility and selflessness, not power and privilege. Jesus chose his way of leadership and the power of weakness that was revealed in the washing of the feet and all the events of that fateful weekend.

In his rejection of Satan, Jesus reveals to us the truth of our own lives. We are rooted in and called by a gracious God who has a great plan. This divine plan is infinitely better than all the attractions and deceptions of power, pleasure, wealth and control that make up the devil’s trickery.

God shows us in Jesus that his love will win out in the end. We need to use this time of Lent to pray, reflect and enter into ourselves. This demands slowing down to seek opportunities for silence and prayer. The Church offers a treasure for the spirit in the liturgical readings of the daily masses and especially the Sundays masses of Lent. The Church invites us into the Word of God to guide us in the footsteps of Jesus. We are summoned into the “Jesus game” where you win by losing.

This is the choice Jesus reveals in today’s Gospel passage. We need to be reminded that the devil is still playing his destructive games. The devil’s program is always the same. His deceiving action always offers evil wrapped up in the guise of the good and appealing. Yet, it is ultimately the destructive evil which is the only option in his bag of tricks. Jesus offers another choice beyond Satan’s relentless deceptions. It is a choice that leads to the victory of good over evil, of life over death. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus! This is our Lenten task!

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EIGHTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Lk 6:39-45

Dear Friends, Today, Luke again addresses the incredibly demanding task of being fair and just with our neighbor. Luke is reminding us of the severe difficulty of honest, healthy and caring relations between human beings. Only with severe difficulty do we really know what is going on inside another person. When it comes to retribution or justice we need divine wisdom. God sees the heart and acts with generosity, understanding and compassion. We are invited, through today’s gospel message, to try to do the same.

Luke is actually offering a summary of Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain and its invitations into the upside down world of Jesus. The blind guides he warns us about are those who think they see clearly. The people who admit their limited vision and pocket-sized understanding of God’s ways are the ones who we should trust. They offer the best possible guidance toward the light that helps us to see as Jesus sees.

Last week’s selection ended with the admonition not to judge and condemn our brothers and sisters and everybody else! Today’s first set of examples has two statements that are brilliantly clear about not judging and condemning our neighbor. They are the blind leading the blind and the quite humorous observation about the beam in the eye. Both of these insights surround and enlighten the main message of Luke in this section: “No disciple is superior to his teacher; but when fully trained every disciple will be like his teacher.” (Lk 6:40)

The carpenter-shop example of the beam seems quite appropriate to our common experience. Our awareness of our judging and condemning others most often comes slowly and in small steps. It is not as if we can simply pull the beam out of our blinded eye. We have to do the carpenter thing. We need to shave it down in a small step-by step-process.

An example of this is how we get rid of some of the common destructive forces in our culture: racism, sexism, consumerism and ageism. These realities block us in our relationship with our neighbor. We do not wake up one day and have mindset totally free to embrace racial equality or to cast off the hidden benefits of white privilege. Likewise, we do not move smoothly and painlessly to become enthused about the LBGT agenda. Our heart is seldom free of the desire for the next upgrade on our many possessions. One final observation of this struggle is our reluctance to face the truth of the aging process.

We constantly struggle to enter into Jesus’ gospel reality. So often, it is the blind leading the blind. We see this in the slow and reluctant exposure of the sexual abuse scandal in the Church.

It is the seemingly ever-present beam that hinders our experience of the “other” whether that “other” is our mother-in-law or the illegal immigrant driving the polluting car without the smog sticker.

We move forward removing the beam with the help of our Sunday liturgy, daily deep personal prayer and truly compassionate patience with others. It is all about becoming like our teacher. The sayings in today’s gospel are simply making concrete what Jesus taught us last week: “Be merciful as you Father is merciful.” (Lk 6:36)

The first step in becoming like our teacher is to acknowledge our sinfulness and blindness. This is the easiest way to shave the beam of our egoism and self-grandiosity. This is a steady journey to self-knowledge. It is the gentle but consistent shaving of the blinding beam of self-centeredness.. This frees us to gradually see with eyes of compassion, forgiveness and love. This is keeping our eyes on Jesus.

In the final section of today’s gospel, Jesus makes the clear and obvious point. Our heart is the true source of our commitment. Only a clean heart produces good fruit. The image of the tree and its yield of good fruit demonstrates what is happening when there is authenticity in the person. The words of our lips ultimately only have meaning if they are connected to a wholesome heart. Good fruit happens only when the heart is focused on God’s call to walk with Jesus.

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THE JOURNEY OF ABRAHAM AND DEEP PERSONAL PRAYER

Salvation History

There are countless ways the Bible has been used and abused down through history. We need to continuously return to a simple truth about the Sacred Book and its message. An accurate description of the Bible is this: the Bible is the story of Abraham and his family and their experience of God.

The Bible is the story of the Chosen People. It leads to Jesus and his saving acts of his death and resurrection we commonly call this story Salvation History. Salvation History, as it relates to the Bible, covers the two thousand years from Abraham to Jesus and the beginning of the Church.

Salvation History centers the story around several main characters. In the Old Testament there are Abraham and the Patriarchs. Then there is the story of Moses, the Exodus and the Covenant. Joshua, the Judges and Samuel proceed to the time of the Kings. Here David dominates with his son Solomon. The continual pattern of sinfulness by the kings leads to the rise of the prophets. It also leads to the division of the Jewish nation and the eventual exile in Babylonia.

The return from exile finds the Jewish people, God’s Chosen, in an almost continual state of oppression up to, and including, the time of Jesus. Jesus and his saving acts open up the beginning of the Church.

The Bible has a very selective choice of material in the two thousand years from the call of Abraham to the ministry of Peter, Paul and the other Apostles. This, indeed, is the story of Abraham and his family and their experience of God. It is a unique history teaching all humanity how to acknowledge and respond to the loving presence and experience of God in their lives. The central theme is a growing mindfulness of God’s presence among a struggling and broken people where love and grace are in a seemingly endless conflict with selfishness and sin.

Salvation History describes forces of good and evil in relentless combat. It places the focus on God’s saving presence in the midst of a besieged and fragmented people. Love and grace win out over selfishness and sin in the person of Jesus.

II

Abraham

Abraham emerges suddenly and surprisingly at the beginning of chapter twelve of the book of Genesis.

There is a dramatic call and promise that will influence the entire text of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. This promise and call also have an impact on the rest of the Bible. “The Lord said to Abram: “Go forth from the land your kinsfolk and your father’s house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation…All communities of the earth will find blessing in you.” (Gen. 12:1-3)

Abraham’s story is a good reflection of the common human journey. It is a mixture of failure and faithfulness, sin and grace and, in Abraham’s case, an ultimate surrender to God.

The story of Abraham in the Bible is the presentation of an ideal person of faith. Abraham, as displayed in Genesis, is the product of editing over centuries by the biblical authors. Their description of this man of faith was portrayed as the ideal man of faith for all Jews to imitate. No doubt, in reality, Abraham’s life was less heroic and more ambiguous. He shared in our common struggle in responding to the emptiness in our heart. He, like all of us, longed to transcend the crippling limits of our mortality.

In common with all humanity, he was searching for the definitive goal of a permanent happiness and fulfillment. Abraham was able to move away from the false gods of his family and tribe. He made a basic surrender to a presence that gradually evolved in his awareness to a Loving Person.

He lived a life of integrity, openness and searching for more. His loving relations with others, along with a search for authenticity in his personal life, unveiled the Mystery held deep within him. This was the God that was calling him to a new life wrapped up in the promise of a fruitful posterity and an abundant land.

Gradually, this deep hunger within his heart directed him to this call and this promise that was God. The honesty and truth of his lived experience opened up to the Mystery that is the divine presence that engulfs all human reality.

At the conclusion of his life, Abraham owned little land beyond the burial plots for Sarah and himself. Then he is challenged to face the total destruction of his great posterity. This was the supreme test in the sacrifice of Isaac. Somehow Abraham’s faith let him go beyond what seemed to be God’s empty promise. His faith in God became a light in a very dark world.

Abraham’s faithfulness in this final darkness was presented by the biblical authors as an appeal to the Jewish people. They had lost their land, their kings and their temple. There seemed to be nothing in life to give them hope. Now, only God offered a meaningful way into the deepest hunger in their hearts. These were hearts fearful and darkened by the ravages of history.

They simply wanted happiness. Abraham modeled for them a way not to a passing happiness with material prosperity and security. On the contrary, Abraham witnessed to an unending experience of happiness in a life of faith in God. Abraham was calling them to the only choice for real life, a life only faith in the God of their ancestors could provide.

III
Abraham and Deep Personal Prayer

There is a lesson for us in Abraham’s journey of faith. The events of his life portrayed in Genesis 12-25 constantly pulled him deeper into the distressing questions of the human venture. There was a relentless encounter with an apparent darkness and emptiness. The promise and the call increasingly seemed like an elusive fantasy.

The question for us, is how did Abraham handle this search for what appeared to be an evasive God? One answer, for sure, was the integrity and honesty of his own life. In spite of the biblical authors’ effort to present Abraham as the ideal man of faith, we can see that sin and grace were the constant struggle in his life.

Likewise, Abraham had to have prayerful reflection on the frequent disquieting predicaments in his life. He had to ponder God’s word and presence in his personal experience. He had to search for God’s will. Obviously, this led him to grow gradually in trust and faith, in commitment and service to God and neighbor.

There was a great difference between the man who was willing to give up is wife to the Pharaoh and the man whose faith had grown to a point that he was willing to sacrifice Isaac.

It is prayer that makes the internal journey away from selfishness to generosity with God a possibility. Prayer is the great liberating event that carries us beyond the common-sense experience of reality into the infinite wisdom of God’s presence in our life.

The story of Abraham is many things. For sure, it is a story of a person of deep personal prayer. It is a story of one who searched and pondered God’s presence in his lived experience. As prayer demands, Abraham brought his reflections to action, actions driven by God’s will. He let this prayerful experience expand his awareness over his lifetime. This led to a sense of wonder. He was loved by God.

In the end, nothing else mattered. In this love he found true freedom that transcended the call and the promise that had anchored so much security and direction his life.

Deep personal prayer will do the same for us. We need to remain faithful and generous in seeking to understand God’s word. We need to strive to embrace God’s will. This encounter with the divine is a call and a promise of a love without limits or conditions. Like Abraham, we will learn that God’s darkness is truly the fullness of light.

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SEVENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Lk 6:27-38

Dear Friends. Today’s gospel selection offers more of Luke’s challenging message of the Sermon on the Plain. The passage could hardly be more demanding. Turn the other cheek, offer the tunic as well, do not demand the loan to be repaid and respond to a curse with a blessing: all of these commands lead to the most unlikely possibility, to love our enemy. This command is uttered at the beginning and near the end of this passage. In between is a list of particular actions that show concretely how this love may be expressed.

There are two ways of approaching this difficult call of Jesus that totally miss the point. One is for us to not take the teaching seriously as if it were just impossible to do. This is, by far, the most common practice. The second is to take the teaching literally as if we must respond specifically the same way in our life.

The third approach is doable but deeply challenging. Jesus is speaking in prophetic language that is not literal but which addresses the deepest deceptions of our false consciousness. Jesus is insisting on a fundamental attitude that is foolish in comparison to the standards of the world but is a mirror of God’s attitude of unlimited mercy. This sense of direction only makes sense when are goal is clear. We must strive to share God’s attitude toward our enemies. We have the clearest and most beautiful example of Jesus on the cross: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Lk 23:34)

All the examples Jesus gives demand an exorbitant generosity. We are asked not to respond in the face of injury, insult and unreasonable demands. We are to have no claim of revenge no matter how gross the injustice. The practical conclusion of Jesus’ list of particulars is a nonviolent response to our enemies’ many personal expressions of violence and degradation against us. At the heart of Jesus’ program of mercy is this. There is no real life, no true and enriching satisfaction in revenge. Only a forgiving and merciful love can bring us to the most authentic experience of life.

On the surface, the actions Jesus sets out for us make no sense. This is the case whenever Jesus operates from the prophetic manner of speech.

Jesus states this in his words: “You will be children of the Most High, who is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful just as your Father is merciful.” (Lk 6:35)

This approach of Jesus is calling us to this attitude of mercy. The specific demands are not rules of behavior. They are aimed at developing a general approach to life that avoids judging others, that is open to forgiveness and that is generous in loving. Jesus is calling us to expand the narrow horizons of our heart so we may be the vessel of mercy and forgiveness to all and, in particular, to our enemies.

We are not able to love our enemies with the same warmth and depth of feeling we have for our loved ones. We can, however, bless them and pray for them. The words of the Our Father about forgiveness tell us a truth so commonly forgotten. Our lack of forgiveness closes our heart to God’s mercy for us.

No matter how our enemies may insult, mistreat or injure us, we are called to seek what is good for them even in the midst of their continuing hostility for us.

In verses 33 to 35 Jesus is asking us to go beyond the ordinary. We are called to take the extra step. The measure of our conduct is a call to outdo our culture and the practical norms of our society. The seeming nonsense of loving our enemies is only possible when we imitate our loving and merciful God. God loves the sinner and the saint. The life and teachings of Jesus are a call for us to enter into this divine universal love. Today Jesus invites us into some very concrete attitudes that we need to take on. “Love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” (Lk 6:34-35)

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A JOURNEY OF LOVE

From Contemplative Prayer to Contemplation:

Many people of goodwill share a common desire to become more contemplative. This generally means a desire for a deeper spirituality. This move to a more profound level is called for by our pastors and religious leaders, by our friends and spouses and, in our day, especially from Pope Francis. The common understanding for this appeal to the contemplative lifestyle has a general meaning. It is an entreaty to slow down, to get out of the rat race and to give more time to reflection, spiritual reading and prayer. While all of this is a truly wholesome and spiritual development, it is not contemplation. As often as not, it is an obstacle to contemplation. This generic approach is not only a cheap substitute, it frequently blinds one to the real cost in self- sacrifice that true contemplation demands.

Today, there is much discussion about contemplation among spiritual theologians. One issue is whether contemplative prayer is contemplation. Like all of theology, this type of intellectual pursuit offers a real contribution to the faith community. However, the issue in the lives of most people is more concrete and immediate. It is not definitions and clarifications, as helpful as they may be, that most people want. They are focused on the experience that will bring one closer to God.

The goal for most tested and mature Christians is authentic spiritual experience leading to the honest pursuit of God. This is possible only by sacrifice and discipline that opens to recollection and prayer. This approach will facilitate being present to God in the midst of the day’s rush. Stillness and silence are great gifts even in small doses during the day. Likewise, this search for God in a contemplative lifestyle includes more extensive times of silence and withdrawal. It will grow to periods of prayer for twenty or more minutes in one’s daily routine.

This style of contemplative prayer is a move away from thinking and imagining. It is a move to listening and loving. It seeks a wordless presence to God. There are numerous styles of contemplative prayer prevalent today that enrich the search for true contemplation. Among the several different Christian options, centering prayer and Christian Meditation are the most common.

Whatever the style of contemplative prayer, the real issue is the authenticity of the experience. Is it bringing us closer to God? Is it opening us to God’s presence in the world? Is it helping us in serving our neighbor? Or, as is often the case, is it a spiritual indulgence looking for a “Make me feel good Jesus”? The Answer is in the Gospel Lifestyle It is easy to find the answer to the question about true contemplation. Does our life model the gospel message of Jesus more generously than before? Are we on the move to genuinely walk with Jesus? Is our heart becoming more inclusive and less judgmental? Is that log in the eye beginning to diminish?

The person who faithfully passes from contemplative prayer to an authentic experience of contemplation has certain characteristics flowing from the extraordinary experience of God. There is a deep, inward attentiveness to God’s movement within self and the world. Stillness, silence, focused awareness and reflective attention to the world, all are manifestations of the true contemplative experience. Genuine contemplatives usually live a life of enriched relationships and expanding responsibilities. They differ from most people in their generous openness to the messiness of life. This flows from their primary commitment to seek God in all things.

This openness to God is driven by a lifestyle that prioritizes prayer and moves away from self and to the other. The conflict between prayer and action melts into a single purpose of seeking God in all things and at all times. This is in contrast to most people who are settled in their spiritual life. Their common priority is action. Prayer plays a much less prominent role.

Contemplation: God’s New Active Presence

Three outstanding consequences of contemplation are purification, enlightenment and transformation These elements take place at a deeper and expanding pace as the contemplative experience grows to be more pervasive and complete in the individual. John of the Cross sees contemplation as the loving knowledge of God infused into the individual. It reveals and purifies the massive self-centeredness that had withstood all previous efforts to eliminate it over many years of real spiritual progress.

Most often, this new awareness is a truly shocking experience. This leads to a new enlightenment allowing the individual to see both the present and past as a time of incredible self-absorption. What had been considered generous service and self-sacrifice now appears to be deeply flawed and wrapped up in a distorted personal agenda. It is a stunning and humbling experience for the person to see one’s life in the light of God’s truth rather than from the platform of self-interest. This opens up to another fundamental insight in the experience of contemplation.

In the personal transformation that evolves from true contemplation, there is a clear and demanding mindfulness of the need for God’s mercy. God is the loving and merciful Creator and we are the sinful but loved and forgiven creature. Likewise, there is a growing intimacy with Christ that is new and consuming. Love for Christ moves from words and phrases to a life-driven force far exceeding any previous experience. Jesus Christ, as the Wisdom of God, grows in one’s consciousness beyond any other spiritual practice.

All of these qualities of personal change and insight are part of moving away from the self as the center of one’s being. In turn, there is an overwhelming revolution of perspective placing God at the center of one’s being. This is only possible with God’s immediate and concrete help in true contemplation. All of this transpires in a journey of love leading to our true destiny of union with God.

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SIXTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Lk 6:17, 20-26

Dear Friends, Luke’s Gospel has a very strong theme of reversal. In his view of salvation, there truly is “Good News” for the poor and marginalized. Likewise, as Mary proclaimed the Magnificat, we read:

“He has shown might with his arm
And dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart
He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones
But lifted up the lowly
The hungry he has filled with good things
The rich he has sent way empty. (Lk1:51-53)

There are many startling statements about the poor and rich, the weak and the strong spread throughout the Gospel of Luke. They are expressions of this theme of reversal. This pattern of great change will erupt as part of the coming reign of God that Jesus is preaching.

These bombshells of Jesus are like flashes of lightening that grow into a shocking thunder of surprise and wonder. It starts with the Magnificat of Mary. This great reversal is set out in even deeper clarity in the Beatitudes in today’s gospel reading. Jesus is saying that this proclamation of the Kingdom renders a new experience of reality. This is the great reversal where the poor are blessed and the rich are now the new losers. It takes some deep faith and commitment to grasp this shattering of a common-sense perception of reality. The values of the world are put in total disarray. The onset of the Kingdom introduces an absolutely new way, completely new values. The only harder dimension of this salvation story is to comprehend that the Savior was born in the poverty of swaddling clothes and died in the total abandonment of the cross.

The Bible’s use of the term blessed usually does not define the quality of the person’s moral state. It refers to the benefits that are coming from an action of God. It is like winning God’s lottery. The blessings of the Beatitudes express the values being revealed in the upside-down world of Jesus’ coming salvation. To be poor, hungry, weeping and reviled rather than rich, full, laughing and held in esteem are the new norms. Jesus is explaining the new reality that is the great reversal. Jesus, to be sure, is not denying the pain and loss of the poverty, hunger, personal devastation and rejection. He is declaring a turnaround of what most people hold as rewards and disadvantages. There will be a great upheaval flowing from the coming action of God in the Kingdom.

Jesus is not blessing poverty and deprivation, anguish and misery. He is pointing out two truths: first is that the coming of the Kingdom addresses the condition of suffering and deprivation; secondly, the experience of the newly blessed tends to help the person be more receptive to God’s coming. The new reality will mean the loss of these hurting elements. The action of God in Jesus unveils a new reality and freedom. Wealth, prosperity and the other woes are obstacles to the new norms of God’s Kingdom.

While the economic and social dimension of being “poor” cannot be trivialized by some spiritual interpretation, the biblical tradition includes all the afflicted no matter what the cause of their condition. The poor are those whose bleakness and impoverishment benefit from God’s saving action.

All throughout his Gospel, Luke gives us stories, miracles and teachings and experiences that flesh out this meaning of “poor” in Jesus’ proclamation of the good news of the great reversal. The role of women is a highlight throughout the text. The parables of the good Samaritan, the prodigal son and the widow challenging the unjust judge along with the story of Zacchaeus are concrete examples of the two-fold blessings of the Kingdom: first the simple blessing of the great reversal and secondly the personal integrity of one embracing the great reversal.

Pope Francis has a great insight of what happens when we do not respond to Jesus’ invitation as Zacchaeus did. In The Joy of the Gospel (#54), the Pontiff says, “Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other peoples pain and feeling a need to help them as though all this were someone else’s responsibility and not our own.”

The power of Jesus’ insight on the great reversal of the blessings and the woes was set in motion by his teachings and his actions. Jesus unveiled the presence of the reign of God penetrating the human condition of every person. In the Beatitudes, we find a portrait of Jesus. A true encounter with Jesus invites the disciple to become like him who is the most authentic expression of the Beatitudes. Jesus’ message penetrates and renovates us. Now we are truly blessed with a heart set on the Kingdom. Embracing the great reversal leads to seeing and hearing with new eyes and ears. We begin to see the pervasive injustice and poverty of our world. We begin to hear the cry of the poor. The integrity of our response is our way into the Kingdom.

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JOHN OF THE CROSS

A Brief Introduction

When I read John of the Cross now after decades of struggle in the spiritual journey, I look back to my seminary days. I wonder what, if anything, I understood from my class on John of the Cross. Today, I can understand the common idiom: “You don’t begin with the classics. You slowly grow into that wisdom.”

Early on, it was easy to experience John as a negative force far removed from the ordinary human experience. Now, John sparkles with a gospel intensity and a gifted intelligence that brings clarity and wisdom to the pilgrimage to God. In the end, John makes clear that it is all about love.

If you wanted to grasp a central theme of John’s work, the idea of conversion away from self and towards God would be an excellent place to start. His writings and message are movement away from sinfulness to the furthest limit of love. He delves into the complexities of the human person as he exposes the growing withdrawal from self-absorption to the final stages of union with God. It is a simple journey from self to God. On the other hand, it is an incredibly complex journey brilliantly described by John. The gospel reality and all its simplicity and lucidity lays out the call to walk with Jesus with extraordinary force and escalating beauty. John is all gospel in his teachings.

John showed how the theological virtues play a critical role in the purifying process of contemplation. The role of dark faith is foundational to all his work. Likewise, he shows how the interaction between faith and love draw the human effort into one action seeking God. John sees faith and love as virtues that either grow in the quest for God or they stagnate and die. The road to God demands continuous effort both in times of darkness and in times of light.

John’s teachings demand an unremitting process of destroying idols. This is the road to freedom in Christ. This road brings us to intimacy with Christ. This is the consequence of the many purgations and the growing wisdom that comes from contemplation. This liberation from all the obstacles that have kept us from God now open up endless new horizons of love.

Now we understand the depth and wonder of Christ’s command to love our neighbor as Jesus as loved us. Now we have new ears to hear the cry of the poor at home and in the distant lands. Now we can hear the cry of the earth in a way that God invites us to encounter the divine presence in all of God’s creation both animate and inanimate.

The true thrust of John’s message is a purgation and enlightenment through the powerful and prayerful experience of contemplation. This personal liberation leads to the ability to truly embrace Jesus’ gospel call to life and love.

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FIFTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Luke 5:1-11

Dear Friends, In today’s gospel there is a phrase that Jesus uses that is especially pregnant with meaning. When he tells Peter to try again after a futile night’s work where he failed to catch even a few fish, Jesus tells Peter, “Put out into the deep…” (Lk 5:4)

Peter follows Jesus’ command.  A night of disappointment is transformed into a spectacular feast of abundance.  Then, there is a total switch in gears.  What had been so profoundly desired, the large catch of fish, all of a sudden, is put aside for a deeper and richer reality.  “When they brought their boats ashore, they left everything and followed him.” (Lk 5:11)  

What is the message for us today in this encounter between Jesus and Peter?  The key is “Put out into the deep…” (Lk 5:4)

The large catch of fish is a symbol. It opens up the treasures of life that are available when we pass beyond the superficial, when we go past the cultural demands that feed a self-centered existence. This is an existence defined for us by false values of a consumer-driven society that centers on ourselves and our indulgence.

Deep personal prayer is a call to enter into life at a level that opens into the mystery of God. Deep personal prayer holds the key to God’s call in the midst of the ordinary flow of our life. This kind of prayer is a profound reflection on God’s word and our experience.  This prayer seeks God’s will for us at this point in our life.

Jesus was beginning Peter’s transformation by showing him the way of faith, the way of a trusting acceptance of God’s word and will. Deep personal prayer will do the same for us as we ponder God’s word and seek God’s will in the daily experience of our relationships and responsibilities. It directs us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus just as Peter and his companions did.

In today’s gospel scene, Peter is performing his ordinary tasks, his usual responsibilities.  He is a fisherman.  Jesus transforms this familiar chore by inviting him to enter more deeply into the experience.  He is teaching Peter, and us, that the true spirituality is not outside of life, different from our ordinary experience.  We will encounter God by being more present to our life situation and all the demands and responsibilities it places on us. Deep personal prayer will bring us in touch with Jesus just as Peter was.

  A call to be spiritual, to have a more meaningful experience of God, is not to move outside of life but to re-possess life at the deepest level.  “Put out into the deep…” (Lk 5:4)

The Good News is that God is present to life.  We are not left to our destructive inclinations and the awful games we often play.  Peter recognized his brokenness in this regard.  He said, “Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.” (Lk 5:18)

Jesus did not abandon Peter to his sinful ways nor will he abandon us.  Grace and new life are always possible, always beckoning us. Deep personal prayer where we ponder God’s word and seek God’s will guide us to the depth of life where God beckons us. Like Peter, we have to “Put out into the deep…” (Lk 5:4) We will encounter a new, gracious reality.  We will see that our heart will be free to let go of all the obstacles that keep us from walking with Jesus.

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THE EXPERIENCE OF CONTEMPLATION

 

The vast majority of honest seekers of God do not achieve a very deep Experience of contemplation, if any. There are two reasons. It is a complex topic that requires a good dose of guidance. Much more significantly, contemplation involves an increasing and costly level of self-sacrifice. Contemplation is the consequence of a generous response from God over a long period of time. Most importantly, this rare spiritual event is a total gift from God. Contemplation is an enhanced presence and enriched experience of God. In the normal flow of spiritual struggle, we encounter a dimension of resistance in our surrender to God. Only contemplation, a totally new and different presence of God, can make this spiritual advance possible. Here is the heart of the matter. In letting go and letting God act more than us who are entangled in many excessive attachments. In the experience of contemplation, the newly enriched presence of God makes clear what we have to give up to advance the process of personal transformation. We are in a situation where we are beginning to understand that we cannot make these changes on our own. The new encounter with God in the contemplative state frees the paralyzing slavery of our selfishness. God's new presence creates a new freedom for us. Now we can let go and let God in His ability act in a way beyond all of the above.

This is the heart of the struggle that every human being faces as we come face to face with the overwhelming love of God. Is it me or is it God? Understanding contemplation can be a very helpful support as we face this repetitive choice of self-sacrifice on our journey. We are trying to secure the deepest hunger of our hearts, which is to be enveloped in the wonder of God's love. In the search for life-giving love, it helps to understand what contemplation is. Today there are many answers to that fundamental question. I am going to stick with my Carmelite tradition to present a very respected and accepted description of contemplation.

Contemplation is the irruption of God into the human soul. It is a silent, imageless and loving communion with God, which transcends all reflection and mental activity. According to Saint John of the Cross: "Contemplation is nothing other than a secret, peaceful and loving infusion of God, which if the soul allows it, inflames it with the spirit of love." (Dark Night I.10.6)

"Secret contemplation is a science of love that is a loving knowledge that illuminates and enamors the soul, elevating it step by step to God its Creator." (Dark Night II.18.5) It is clear that contemplation is infused, that is, it comes from God and cannot be calmed by us. Contemplation is a type of being and making a conversation without an intermediary and without the possibility of misinterpreting the communication. In contemplation, God does not come through the senses, the normal pattern of the astute. God comes from an unknown path directly infusing our being with a loving knowledge of God.

A distinguished Carmelite author, Marc Foley, OCD, has a Description of Contemplation that helps us begin to understand this truly difficult reality. He describes the first stage of spiritual life as follows. It is like the soft waves in the ocean sparkling with the different reflections of the sun. It is a beautiful sight to behold. This is the beginner's blessing with God's spiritual consolations that keep us from a life of absorption. Then gradually deepening clouds lead to increasing darkness. In this darkness, God resides in the deepest depths of the ocean, inviting the beginner to a new opportunity for spiritual growth. There is a call to embrace this striking dimension of God's presence. In this way, The original element is contemplation.

On this journey from the sparkling beauty of the sun-kissed waves to the silent darkness in the depths where contemplation is the new path of purification and transformative presence, several, almost shocking, changes take place. This total reversal is completely contrary to the common sense that anticipated the result of spiritual progress. Normally one would expect greater solace and expansion, a sense of peace and a sense of transcendental achievement. Reality is in complete contrast to this final Hollywood happiness. The new experience is more in tune with the Gospel version of reality with the passage to the new life that springs from the Passion and Death.

First, there is a constant retreat from the comfort of consolations. The individual finds himself in a situation developing and consuming darkness. There is a feeling of being abandoned by God. There is also a conviction of failure in the search for God. The anticipated feeling of comfort and accomplishment gives a feeling of anxiety and confusion. What had been a sense of achievement in all types of personal success gave way to a growing awareness that patterns of success were wrapped up in a personal agenda far removed from a gospel. Regardless, there is a shift away from a sense of personal control in the daily schedule to a slow openness of surrender to God's call in life's events. We are no longer in charge of the clock and the schedule opens up to life in a radically innovative way.

With the gift of contemplation there is a new movement in one's life. We no longer see God as part of our daily agenda. Now, God becomes our schedule. Two of the main consequences of contemplation are purging and enlightenment. These actions of God in the soul lead to personal transformation, preparing for union with God. This experience of God is more in tune with the success of the crucified Christ than the victory of the political messiah. In this contemplative process, any sense of success quickly gives way to a growing awareness of the depth of our personal sinfulness and brokenness. Prayer begins to go through a time of darkness and pain. A sense of strength and progress gives way to a new awareness of weakness and dependence on God's mercy. Basically, the beginning stages of contemplation are not a fun journey.

Why the dark side of contemplation?

John of the Cross has a simple and clear explanation of the importance of darkness, anxiety and pain at the beginning of the stages of contemplation. At the very beginning of the Ascension (Bk I.2.1) John offers three reasons for calling the new encounter with God in contemplation a dark night.

1. The individual needs to deprive himself of his appetites and worldly possessions. This loss is a movement into darkness.
2. The path of union, our final destiny, is only possible through a dark Faith that obscures the intellect.
3. The arrival point on the path is God and this is darkness.

John explains that darkness is not from God. It is our weakness. We must experience the purifying power of contemplation to prepare God as the final goal of our existence, union with God. John also uses the powerful example of the sun as a source of darkness. If we look directly at the sun, our eyes go blind. Darkness is the result of the concentration of overwhelming Light. The same thing happens with our experience of God. In our weakness and brokenness, we are unprepared for the all-consuming radiance of God's presence. Only contemplation has the ability to purify us so we can receive the full wonder of God's beauty and love.

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FOURTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Lk 4:21-30

Dear Friends, Today’s gospel passage offers a dramatic turn of events. It is a look back and a plunge into the future. It is hard to grasp the incredibly rapid transformation from “All spoke highly of him.” (Lk 4:22) to they “led him to the brow of the hill…to hurl him down headlong.” (Lk 4:29)

Their rejection was clear and emphatic. It had been foretold by Simeon in the Temple. “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted.” (Lk 2:34-35)

Looking to the future, the scene of furious and singular rejection will be repeated on a larger scale as Jesus arrives in Jerusalem. At the heart of both the earlier and later rejections, and the continuing rejection in our day, is Jesus’ message of universal love. Jesus presents a God who offers hospitality to all.

This image of God calls for change. A deep conversion must shatter the limited and comfortable religious vision expressed in the statement, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” (Lk 4:22) Isn’t he one of us? Doesn’t he share our sense of privilege and prestige and exclusion as God’s special people? The townsfolk quietly understood, just like the chief priests and scribes later on, that Jesus was a threat to their comfort and control.

They would have gladly made Jesus a local hero if they could set the agenda. They were the first in a long history of Christianity to try to make Jesus over in their image. Their Jesus would fit right in with their prejudices and ignorance, their lack of concern for the “other” in all its many manifestations that still are expressed in today’s headlines.

I recently heard a joke on this issue. They got rid of all the foreigners, immigrants and poor at the Nativity scene so only the donkeys and cows were left. Jesus understood clearly. He faced a choice about the integrity of his message and the reality of the God of universal acceptance and hospitality.

The “Nazareth game” is played out in our churches, parishes, communities and Church even today. We are ever into the Jesus make-over. We definitely are looking for the more comfortable model. “Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.” (Lk a4:30) He did the same with the hostile leaders who thought they were getting rid of him in the crucifixion.

That time Jesus passed through their midst in the resurrection and ascension. He does the same to us. Yet he never forsakes us. He is always calling us, like Peter, to a place we would rather not go.

Walking with Jesus involves a relentless shattering of our horizons. It makes a steady and consistent expansion of our reluctance to accept the “other.” Jesus’ message never lets us rest in the comfortable home of our prejudices and blindness. Jesus is always asking us to share the hospitality of the Father for all.

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THIRD SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21

My Dear Friends in Christ, In today’s gospel passage Luke has us experience Jesus’ message to his townsfolk. They gather in anticipation, and with a bit of apprehension, to encounter this Jesus that was causing a bit of a stir.

Luke uses this troubled homecoming to bring us into the salvific journey of Jesus. We are able to hear Jesus lay out his plan to confront evil and sin head on. Jesus, indeed, was giving both the people off Nazareth and us today the reason for his life and the reason for his death.

We hear Jesus lay out his plan of attack. He is going to confront sin and evil head on. He was talking about fulfilling the long-awaited promises of God. It was clearly the work of the Messiah. Jesus was tapping into the hunger rooted deep in the hearts of his townsfolk. This is the same hunger in every human heart. He was proclaiming a new day, a day of liberation, a day of salvation, an invitation to the original innocence.

For Jesus‘ immediate audience, the release of captives and prisoners did not mean early parole. They understood that it meant a release from sin and all its destructive results in their lives. Using the rich and unrestrained language of Isaiah, Jesus points to a liberation that embraced the whole person, body and soul, mind and spirit. The sin that Jesus will free people from goes far beyond personal guilt. It includes the deeply rooted expressions of evil in all human situations: the sexual abuse scandal in the Church, the long painful history of racism, the gross disparity of income, sexual slavery, a divorce rate over fifty percent, growing rejection of faith, the steady exploitation of our environment, and so much more.

In the life, teachings and ministry of Jesus, rooted in today’s words, women and children would find a welcome acceptance. The poor would also share this divine hospitality in someone who would defend them and proclaim their need and their dignity. All the many folks cast off to the side by one prejudice after another would find in Jesus the strong one to break the chains of isolation and denial. Jesus would make the words of Isaiah take flesh in Jesus’ program of inclusion.

When Isaiah talks of sight to the blind, he penetrates deeper than the physical level. The text also means the sight of those who have been in that darkness of a tunnel –like captivity that bursts open into the bright sunshine of the day. There is no darkness like the darkness of the spirit.

In the phrase “let the oppressed go free” (Lk 4:18), Jesus proclaims a program of social justice for the poor that will be a prominent part of Luke’s Gospel. Luke’s description of salvation includes the social and economic expressions of reality.

There is a part of the original Isaiah passage that Jesus does not quote. It is “a day of vengeance of our God.” (Isa 61: 2) On the other hand, he adds some words from Isa 58:5. By stressing the “acceptable year of the Lord” Jesus is entering deeply into the mystery of his mission. This acceptance is about the unconditional hospitality of God. Before all else, including the necessary conversion, all of us are the recipients of God’s acceptance. God’s love for us takes us as we are.

Jesus’ ministry will be one of acceptance. Judgment will come later. Jesus is on the mission to proclaim the hospitality of a merciful God. Jesus’ action will manifest and declare the welcoming acceptance of God along with the release from all forms of captivity and blindness that make up the human condition.

People will be accepted, not judged, in the agenda of Jesus. The conversion will be necessary. However, even the possibility of conversion, is based on God’s acceptance that Jesus sets out in today’s Gospel. Jesus is inaugurating a program of the hospitality of God for all humankind.

His Gospel message will be in conflict with human efforts to limit the message of Good News to protect entrenched self-interests. We will encounter that conflict with next week’s Gospel and the response and rejection of the people of Nazareth to God’s universal hospitality.

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