Facing the Dazzling Light of Jesus Christ

Mosaic of Jesus  in Wash. DC Basilica

In Sunday's Gospel according to Luke, Jesus speaks of the destruction of Jerusalem’s Temple. For Luke, the end of Jerusalem was the prelude to the end of this world. The author uses apocalyptic imagery: wars and earthquakes, famines and plagues, persecutions and betrayals. In the midst of it all, Jesus counsels us to persevere in our life/work of discipleship.

This word of God brings us toward the end of the liturgical calendar, which relives the story of our salvation. In Advent we re-experience the hope for a Messiah. We then have Christmas, the birth of the Messiah. Lent culminates in the dying and rising of Jesus at Easter, and finally, after Ordinary Time, Jesus Christ will come “in great power and glory.” Next Sunday we crown him king of the universe.

Yes, we celebrate the story that began in Genesis: “God created the heavens and the earth,” and that ends on the last page of Revelation: “Come, Lord Jesus.” God will transform this universe into a glorious kingdom in all its fullness. How, we don’t know.

But the question is not how. Rather the question is, are we ready to enter into the dazzling light of Jesus Christ, gloriously alive, when He does come to us in the mystery of our own dying.

You may have read Harold Kushner’s book Living a Life That Matters. As a clergyman, Kushner has cared for many people in their last moments. Those who had the most trouble with death were those who felt they had never done anything worthwhile.

Sunday’s word of God asks, are we ready to face Jesus Christ? What attitudes and behaviors do we have to change now? The key question is quality of life, not length of years. Ultimately, we each will have to stand before the awesome light of Jesus Christ where we will see who we really are, for better or worse.

Life is precious—and so “Be prepared” is an everyday Christian motto.

The beatitudes can be a good guide. Here’s one paraphrase: “If we strive to seek God in our everyday lives; if we spend time listening and consoling; if we heal wounds and build bridges; if others see in us goodness, joy, and serenity; if we can see the good in everyone and seek the good for everyone, blessed are you. You are the face of God in our midst.” Think of your own paraphrases of the beatitudes and live them.

The word of God invites us to be prepared now to stand in the awesome light of Jesus Christ gloriously alive. May that word of God inspire each one of us to value each day of our lives as a gift from God and to become the best version of ourselves today. Amen!

Persevering in Discipleship with Jesus

The Call of Jesus to Discipleship

The word of God highlights the transitory nature of human life with its limitations and shortcomings. But, says the author, take courage; God gifts us with wisdom to help us discern what’s the right thing to do. Some of today’s so-called gurus and pundits seem to marginalize God. God’s word challenges us to anchor our lives in wisdom: to do the right and love goodness and walk humbly with God.

We also heard St. Paul, in a letter from prison, asking a slaveholder to welcome back a runaway slave as a brother in Christ. Now some may ask, why didn’t Paul specifically condemn slavery? Others, of course, argue that the society and times then were different. In any case, Paul sees the dignity of every human being and asks us, do we love others as brothers and sisters of Jesus?

In the Gospel according to Luke, Jesus challenges us to make discipleship our first priority. In the two parables here, Jesus cautions us not to naively rush into discipleship without gauging the cost. If discipleship with Jesus our priority, then all of our other relationships will thrive. God will bestow upon us the grace, power and energy of the Spirit, to persevere in a life of discipleship with Jesus, who is our way, our truth, and our life.

If we commit ourselves to worthy goals, if we persevere, we can achieve many good things.
We have many examples, religious as well as secular. I give you one: Mother Teresa of Calcutta whose feast day we celebrated last Thursday.

Mother Teresa is a model of perseverance in faithfulness to God, prayer, and love. She joined the Sisters of Loreto and began teaching in India. Seventeen years later, she felt the calling to work among the poorest of the poor. Eventually she studied the basics in nursing, and began to care for the poor, sick, and dying on the streets of Calcutta. In 1950, she founded the Missionaries of Charity, whose numbers expanded to over 4,500 sisters in more than 600 missions in 133 countries today. There is also a male branch and an association of Lay Missionaries.

Mother Teresa showed us what holiness is: doing whatever our life's work is as best we can. Through a life of prayer despite her own “inner spiritual darkness,” and through a desire to meet people’s basic need for love, Mother Teresa taught us the priority of prayer and service in realizing one's true self as a son and daughter of God our Father.

There are many examples of perseverance in trying to do our life's work as best we can. In light of the Gospel theme, let us ask God to grace us with the energy and power of the Spirit to persevere in our life of discipleship with Jesus, to let the beatitudes in Matthew Chapter 5 be our spiritual guide so that we can indeed be grateful coheirs to the kingdom of God.

The Celestial Banquet

Jesus Christ Invites Us to the Banquet of Eternal life

Labor Day invites us to appreciate our work, and to recommit ourselves to doing our life’s work as best we can. That’s what holiness is about. God has committed some work to each one of us that He hasn’t committed to another. Yes, each one of us has a purpose. Aim to please God.

We’re also praying that God will keep safe those in the pathway of Hurricane Dorian.

The book of Sirach alerts us to be humble, dependent upon an all-good Creator. We are what we are by the grace of God. The good we do in life is the only thing that we will take with us to God in death.

The letter to the Hebrews contrasts two assemblies, one at Mount Sinai where God made a covenant with the Hebrews; and the other in the heavenly Jerusalem where countless creatures celebrate the new covenant or relationship God made with us through the bloody death and glorious resurrection of His son Jesus. Yes, God transformed us into his sons and daughters, coheirs to the kingdom of God. We are challenged to live a life worthy of that status.

In the Gospel, after watching how the so-called rich and famous proudly took places of honor at the table, Jesus told a parable, comparing the kingdom of God to a celestial banquet. All are welcome. But who will be seated at the table ? The humble, the people we may least expect to see.  The 20th century Catholic novelist Flannery O'Connor captures this parable powerfully in her short story "Revelation."

Jesus teaches us, “invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be…For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

The word “humility” derives from the Latin word humus, ground or soil, understood simply as down-to-earth, knowing who we are. Mary, Mother of God, showed humility in her song titled the Magnificat: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord … because the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” Yes, Mary rejoiced in the gifts God bestowed upon her, and so too should we.

Pride is the opposite. Pride thinks “self”-sufficient. The book of Genesis gives us insight. God made us in His image and likeness. But we wanted to be number one. We overstepped our limits. The legendary Adam and Eve broke all their relationships, hid from Gdiscipleship, beatitudesod, blamed each other, and the land barely produced sustenance.

Hence, we are born into a broken world. That is the Catholic understanding of original sin, a phrase St. Augustine coined. The biblical characters mirror us trying to play God. Humility recognizes that we are absolutely dependent upon an all-good God. Luckily, God had the final word, and became one of us in Jesus of Nazareth.

There is no human solution to the brokenness in our world. There is a power beyond us – God -- that can heal this brokenness, and we can participate in that healing by doing good for others. This awesome, all-good, and transcendent power became flesh in Jesus of Nazareth and is alive in our midst by the power of the Spirit. This same God invites us to live a life of discipleship with Jesus,  to reflect the beatitudes in our daily lives and to be generous with what we have so that one day we, gloriously alive with Jesus Christ can sit at the banquet of eternal life.
Amen.

Life, Liberty, Happiness

The Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5: 1-11

On the Fourth of July, we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. That document proclaims these truths: “…that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

The word of God speaks to those principles. For example, in the 9th century before Jesus, God called Elisha to succeed Elijah as a prophetic voice. Elisha answered God’s call with a “yes.” He didn’t know how life would unfold; he simply trusted in God.

God calls us to live a life of discipleship. Not yesterday or sometime in the future, but today!

We may sometimes judge others, like James and John in today’s Gospel, who wanted to obliterate two Samaritans for their lack of hospitality. But Jesus rebukes the disciples and continues to Jerusalem. On his way, someone asks to follow Jesus. Jesus’s reply indicates discipleship is making God your first priority.

Paul, in his letter to the Christian community in Galatia, proclaims that Jesus has freed us from our worse selves (the vices of our dark side) so that we can be our better authentic selves (in a life of virtue). Yes, the Spirit of God lives and moves and breathes within us so that we can become our authentic selves. Paul may ask, how are we using that liberty?

This insight of St. Paul’s intrigues me. Freedom to be ourselves is what joy and happiness are all about. Everybody wants happiness. Many think that if they get enough money, fame, or power, they’ll be happy. But if so, explain how some celebrities who “had it all” sedated themselves with drugs. Happiness has to factor into life, work, relationships, and ultimately death.

Bishop Robert Barron, of “Word on Fire” fame, cites Michael Jordan as an example of someone who became his happiest not by playing any way he wanted but by mastering the basics.
So too with us. Mastering the basics of discipleship with Jesus.

Yes, we become our happiest by mastering the basics (e.g., the beatitudes). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus describes the kind of character we should have. The first beatitudes (or attitudes) focus on our relationship with God. The next steps, our relationships with one another.

Disciples recognize only God can fill their emptiness. That’s what it means to be poor in spirit. An awesome Creator gifted us with life. Disciples realize their fortune to be alive and are grateful. They know only God can heal and gift them with eternal life. They are gentle, considerate and unassuming. Disciples, above all, hunger for a right relationship with God.

Next: our relationships with one another. Fortunate are they who forgive and let go of anger and resentment. Happy are they who are pure in heart, who have integrity in their relationships; they will see God face to face.

And fortunate are they who are ready to suffer rather than betray their conscience, who try to do the right thing in all decisions in life. Now that’s a worthy pursuit.

Service and Sacrifice

Here Rests in Honored Glory an American Soldier Known but to God

This Sunday is Veterans Day. One hundred years ago, at the 11^th hour on the 11^th day of the 11^th month, the first World War ended. Irving Berlin, a Russian immigrant, became a U.S. citizen that year and composed the great hymn/prayer God Bless America in 1918.

Today we honor all of our Veterans for their service and sacrifice.

The word of God today coincidentally challenges us to trust God and to be generous. A non-Jew or so-called Gentile is down to her last handful of flour and a tiny bit of oil. Then Elijah asks for a bit of bread. Elijah asks her: trust in God. The woman has a dilemma. Trust and hospitality win; the widow gives all she has to Elijah. And miraculously, she has a never-ending supply. That truly was a great act of faith in God's providence.

In the Gospel, we hear of a widow who put her last two coins, a small sum, into the Temple treasury. Jesus comments that, in contrast to those who gave from their surplus, she gave “all she had to live on.” A great act of faith in God's providence.

The author of Hebrews speaks about the superiority of Jesus’s sacrifice to the many sacrifices in the Temple. Jesus through his death and resurrection opens up to humankind eternal life.

I remembered a newspaper photographer sharing a scene after a devastating earthquake. A long line of people waited for food. Finally, only one banana was left. A girl divided it into three parts for three other children, and she licked the inside of that banana peel. “In that moment I swear I saw the face of God!” wrote the photographer.

Yes, the word of God challenges us to ask ourselves: do we reveal the face of God to one another? As missionary disciples of Jesus, we ought to show the face of God every day, especially living the beatitudes that Matthew sums up so splendidly in Chapter 5 of his Gospel. I would like to think Jesus would say this about us.

If you’re working to pay the bills but making time to be with your children, blessed are you. You may never own a big vacation home, but heaven will be yours.

If you happily give your time to serve, and befriend the unpopular, the lost, blessed are you. Count God among your friends.

If you are overwhelmed caring for an ill relative, blessed are you. One day your sorrow will be transformed into joy.

If you refuse to compromise your integrity and ethics, refuse to rationalize that “everyone does it,” blessed are you – you will triumph.

If you try to understand others and make things work for the good, if you listen and console, if you manage to heal wounds and build bridges; if you can see the good in everyone and seek the good for everyone: rejoice and be glad. Jesus says you are the blessed of God. In the end, heaven is yours.