Living a Life of Purpose

Rembrandt's Storm on the Sea of Galilee

Happy summertime and happy Fathers Day!

The word “father” or “dad” evokes many images. My father had a sense of humor. He possessed in abundance, as all good fathers do, love, commitment, support. Communication (we spent time together, especially at the family dinner tqble). Faith (we went to church together). And forgiveness (and he wasn’t afraid to say he’s sorry). A father is a blessing.

So, what did the word of God say to us Sunday?

In the seventh century before Jesus, Jeremiah complains to God: “I'm trying to do what you want me to do, and yet people are slandering me; they want to trip me up.”That happens sometimes to us. Some people make life difficult.

But Jeremiah doesn't let these problems stop him. He will always trust in God. Jeremiah exemplifies courage and perseverance in doing good, in the face of all kinds of obstacles.
St. Paul in his letter to the Christian community at Rome reflects upon the human condition; he sees violence, death, and injustice everywhere. Who can save us, Paul asks? Jesus Christ, of course. Jesus righted our relationship with God and one another. Because Christ lives, we live in relationship with God.

In the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus says three times: “do not be afraid.” Yes, do the right thing, no worries. God is with us. Have faith in God.

Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl discovered that people could put up with incredible sufferings, if they saw that these hardships had some greater meaning. In their hearts, people yearn for something or someone beyond themselves. When a person finds something that gives transcendent meaning to life, they see more, live better and, in short, they become men and women of faith.

We are by nature believers. Our Christian faith is radically different.   It is a gift from God through baptism that empowers us to relate to the triune God as creator, redeemer and sanctifier.  Faith is richer and deeper than belief.  Faith is about connectedness to Jesus; it's relational. '' Belief is a profession of the essential truths of our faith as in the Nicene Creed we proclaim every Sunday.

Pope St. John Paul II, who often encouraged us to live fearlessly, wrote:
“It is no accident that we are here. Each and every human person has been created in the ‘image and likeness’ of the One who is the origin of all that is. We have within us the capacity for wisdom and virtue. With these gifts, and with the help of God’s grace, we, a faith-filled people, can build a civilization worthy of the human person.” So let us continue to live lives worthy of our status as sons and daughters of God our Father.

The Purpose of my Life

Rublev's Icon of the Trinity

Happy Fathers Day! The word “father” or “dad” evokes various images and traits. I think of qualities my father possessed in abundance (qualities all good fathers possess): Love, commitment, communication, spirituality. We spent time together. And my father had a good sense of humor.

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, the feast of the triune God, the fundamental and distinctive truth of Christianity. We begin every liturgy “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” and are sent forth at the end with the blessing of the “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

Now when we hear the word “God,” what images do we think of? The Bible gives us many. A walking companion. As loving as a mother. A God who wants to share his wisdom with us. The parables of the good shepherd and the prodigal son are balanced with the parable of the last judgment.

The images cannot capture fully the inexhaustible reality of God.

And no human relationship can completely satisfy us. St. Augustine wrote, “Thou hast made us for Yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in You.” Yes, we were born to live in relationship with God -- the triune God.

The book of Proverbs personifies wisdom as a woman, as creative energy, as a playful companion of God who witnesses the mighty acts of God. The early Christians saw Jesus in this wisdom image, God’s Word made flesh among us. St. Paul waxes eloquently about the saving work of Jesus Christ. Through him we have a right relationship with God.

In the Gospel, Jesus alludes to the mystery of the triune God: The Spirit that comes through Jesus and the Father will guide us into all truth.

The mystery of the triune God (one yet distinctive in modalities or movements of "persons"--Father, Son, and Spirit--none is the “other”; a God who is love) invites us to reflect upon our relationship with God and one another.

We are forever trying to make better sense out of our lives. Especially in moments of crisis, people often ask fundamental questions: What is the purpose of my life? Where is my life going? Through the cycle of our own human development, at times, we wonder. We accomplished so little, and now it is almost over. What was it all about? Life seems marred by too many tragedies.

We also have awesome experiences. A starry sky, the joy of friendship, the golden rays of a sunrise or sunset, the accomplishment of a goal. Such experiences can take us out of ourselves and into the presence of an awesome power. We begin to experience the transcendent dimension of our lives.
Yes, a purposeful and gracious God is responsible for this magnificent universe and for our very lives. Yes, this God became flesh in Jesus and is alive among us by the power of the Spirit.

This triune God, the model of self-giving love, empowers us to reach out in love to one another with compassion, forgiveness, a ready smile, a kind word, a helping hand.  And in reaching out in love, we become like the triune God in self-giving love.

Pray for the grace today, to quote the musical Godspell, to see God more clearly, love God more dearly and follow God more nearly in our daily lives. Amen.

Who Is Jesus?

In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus asks, “Who do you say I am?” In other words, what does Jesus mean to us? What do we mean to Jesus?

The Gospel writers give us four different portraits or faces of Jesus because they wrote to four different audiences and emphasized four different ways to follow Jesus.

Jesus is a rabbi or teacher in Matthew; so too should we be teachers, especially by example and the practice of virtue.
In Mark, Jesus is a suffering Messiah; so too we may have to cope with illness or make sacrifices.
In Luke, Jesus is a healer or peacemaker; so should we be in our relationships with one another.
In John, Jesus calls us "friend"; so too should we seek Jesus as a friend especially in prayer.

What image of Jesus inspires us to become a faithful disciple of Jesus?

How did the early Christian community see Jesus? The more the early Christian community reflected on who Jesus was, the more they saw Jesus not only as the fulfillment of their hopes but the foundation. The eternal Word! The Gospel according to John captures this magnificently: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

This God-human Jesus was a real historical person, flesh and blood. He experienced, as we sometimes do, fatigue, hunger, satisfaction, joy, friendship, anger, disappointment and loneliness.
He was a teacher, a prophet who preached that the kingdom of God was breaking into our lives. He worked signs and wonders, proclaiming that good ultimately would triumph over evil; he possessed authority to forgive wrongdoings; he promised eternal life.He had a unique relationship with God; he was one with God, true God and truly human. He was crucified, died and then raised up in glory to God. And he is alive in our midst today, especially in the sacramental life of the Church community.

Jesus taught not only that the kingdom of God was breaking into our lives but also that we can share in this kingdom. By living prayerfully; by recognizing that our lives have an ultimate purpose because our lives are no accident; by seeing in Jesus, the Word made flesh, the face of God; by reaching out compassionately and generously to people who touch our lives each day; by experiencing the presence of the living Christ in our sacramental life; and by being ready to let go of our earthly life, in the mystery of death, so that we can be one with God forever.

Jesus taught that God is our Father, a compassionate God, always near us. As disciples we too will experience pain and grief and disappointment, and love and friendship.

Jesus then challenges us to “take up our crosses” (Matthew 16:24), whatever they might be; and to follow Jesus’s life is to find our own. For the only Gospel some people may ever know is how we live our everyday lives.