Our Guide to Life

Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro

This Presidents Day, you might enjoy reading a best-selling presidential biography like “Leadership in Turbulent Times,” by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. The book highlights the true grit of Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson.

FDR has always fascinated me, primarily because he shaped, to some extent, two defining times in American history: the Great Depression and World War II. He addressed immense challenges with vision, optimism, persistence and political savvy.

Today’s scripture readings bring us wisdom about life and leadership. The Book of Sirach advises we have to choose between right and wrong, truth and falsehood, life and death. The choices will be a path either to salvation or damnation. God ultimately leads. We pray for God's grace to do the right thing.

St. Paul, in his letter to the Christian community in Corinth, writes about true wisdom, that is, Jesus Christ. The risen Christ is the revelation of God to us. Look always to Jesus and let His life and ministry be a guide.

In the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus describes what it means to be a disciple. Jesus employs four antitheses, opposites (“you have heard...but I say”). He emphasizes the importance of attitude over legalese. Our attitudes create our behaviors. If we have bad attitudes, we surely will behave badly.

Jesus gives examples, notably: “You have heard that it was said, you shall not murder; but I say to you: you shall not be angry.” Why? Because an attitude of anger or resentment can seethe into bad behavior. Discipleship with Jesus calls for a change of heart, a change of attitude, thinking and feeling positively, not negatively.

Jesus is our exemplar, our guide, of how to live well. Jesus challenges us to be a leader for others.

Jesus communicated purpose in ways that galvanized, energized and excited people. He generated trust which bound people together in their commitments. He inspired hope, with a clear vision of life in relationship with God forever. Jesus converted vision into action.

Matthew 23:10 advises, in so many words, that there is one messiah, one life-leader: Jesus Christ. Jesus calls us to be guides and leaders in our own situations. Yes, to be called by God to influence others is an enormous privilege, but it carries with it great responsibility. We have to possess confidence and character. First and foremost, confidence in God. The psalmists had that. God was their shield, their strength, their guide. Second, the quality of our life and our soul’s destiny will be measured by our character.

Our prayer might be:
Lord, help me to live a life of integrity, authenticity, humility and focus. Help me to have a similar concern for others as Jesus had for us. Give me compassion towards those who are struggling with life's problems. Help me to fix my eyes on our true wisdom, Jesus Christ. Help us to become like Him for others: men and women of confidence and character.

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.

Where There's Darkness, Bring Light

Caravaggio's Doubting Thomas

Jesus Christ lives, and because he lives, we live.

We continue to celebrate the Easter miracle.

And we can help create little miracles for others. A depressed person resurrected to hope; an alcoholic resurrected to sobriety; a troubled marriage resurrected to renewed love; an angry man resurrected to forgiveness; an estrangement bridged; an alienated person brought back to faith and kindness. Make miracle an action verb.

In the book of Acts, the disciples work signs and wonders, and a vibrant faith community is emerging and growing. That should inspire us to worship together and share, especially our time and talents in service.

The book of Revelation describes a Christian’s visionary experience of the God-man Jesus, risen and alive. The author encourages readers to persevere in their faith despite hardships, because good ultimately will triumph.

In the Gospel according to John, we have a post-resurrection appearance of Jesus in a Jerusalem house where the disciples hide behind locked doors. Jesus bestows upon the disciples the energizing Spirit, the abiding inner peace, and the overwhelming mercy of God. But the skeptical Thomas wasn’t there. Lo and behold, a week later Jesus appears again. Thomas then makes that awesome declaration of faith “My Lord and my God.”

Thomas the doubter is easily identifiable with many people. They're doubters, questioners; they demand to see compelling evidence that there's a God.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Every human being is made in the image of God. But we are fallen or flawed human beings.  And that is why we cry out for healing and mercy.

We seek God's mercy and forgiveness, and the forgiveness of one another. Jesus, through the mystery of his dying and rising, freed us from death and nothingness so we can live with God forever. God created us for a purpose; gifted us with life eternal; and reconciled us to Himself.

There are all kinds of indicators pointing to God: the order in the universe presupposes an orderer (e. g., a watch presupposes a watchmaker); hope presupposes a future; moral outrage presupposes a judge; and so forth.

Of course, there are also indicators that there’s no God—for example, evil or senseless violence. But faith in God is a calculated risk. The 17th French mathematician, inventor, and philosopher Blaise Pascal captured this risk in his famous wager or bet.  The bet goes like this:
One doesn't have certainty that God exists.
Not believing in God is bad for one’s eternal soul if God indeed does exist.
Believing in God is of no consequence if God does not exist.
Therefore, it is in my interest to believe in God. Think about that bet.

At a funeral mass, we hear the words, “For those who believe, life is not taken away, life is merely changed.” Let us pray that the gift of faith will empower us, like Thomas, to proclaim every day, “My Lord and my God.”

Every Picture Tells A Story

Rembrandt's Return of the Prodigal Son

This Sunday is known as Laetare Sunday. Laetare is a Latin word meaning “rejoice.” Why rejoice? Because we are close to our salvation, the Easter mystery.

In modern times, Easter is often boiled down to eggs and the Easter bunny. Many people ask, what’s the connection?

Originally, eggs laid during Holy Week were saved and decorated and then given to children as Easter gifts. Chocolate eggs appeared in the 19th century. And the Easter bunny? Rabbits usually give birth to a big litter, so they became a symbol of new life. Legend had it that the Easter bunny lays and hides eggs. Thus, the Easter egg hunt. So much for folklore.

What does the word of God say to us today? In the Gospel, the parable of the prodigal son has many levels of meaning, inviting us to see ourselves in the characters.

The younger son asked his father for his inheritance, squandered it—and then he “comes to his senses.” An amazing phrase! He realizes his true identity as a beloved son. His father unconditionally forgives and loves him and gives him a party.

The older son is “angry,” critical, finding his father’s generosity incomprehensible. Was the older son really listening to his father, and following his example? His father affirmed that “everything I have is yours.”

This parable may move us to ponder forgiving someone. If we can’t forgive on our own, pray for the grace to participate in the forgiveness of Jesus, who pardons those who come to him and try to start their lives afresh.

And who is this Jesus who loves and forgives us unconditionally?  Did you ever wonder what Jesus really looked like? Great painters give us different portraits. The Gospel writers Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John also give us different portraits, and various ways to bring forth Jesus. They faced a unique challenge. How portray someone completely human and yet completely divine? Moreover, they wrote to different audiences. Which Gospel is most authentic and best reflects the historical Jesus? They all do.

Mark was the earliest, shortly after scores of Christians perished during the persecution of Emperor Nero. Mark thought he ought to write who Jesus was, what he taught, and what he did. The Jesus in Mark is very human: the Messiah who suffers so that we can live forever. What happened to Jesus, Mark says, can happen to us too. Luke’s and Matthew’s portraits are similar.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus is noble, majestic, and divine. Remember how this Gospel opens: in the beginning was the Word. Yes, Jesus is completely human and completely divine. Jesus in John is the revealer of the mystery of God, the face of God among us.

Jesus, the God-man, is more than any one person can adequately describe. And so, each of us might ask: how do I reflect Jesus in my daily attitudes and behaviors? Rediscover a portrait of Jesus by prayerfully reading and listening to the Gospel. Let the portrait fire you up to become an ever-more-faithful disciple.