Harmony with the will of God

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate restoration of our relationship with God as we seek to be present to the meaning of being His intimate family members.

Saint Sharbel Makhluf – Franciscan Media. Retrieved July 24, 2018, from https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-sharbel-makhluf/

The Prophet Micah describes the restoration of Judah by God who delights in mercy.

* [7:18–20] The final lines of the book contain a hymn of praise for the incomparable God, who pardons sin and delights in mercy. Thus the remnant, those left after the exile, is confident in God’s compassion and in the ancient promises sworn to the ancestors.

In the Gospel from Matthew, Jesus uses the arrival of His biological family to declare the attitude of those who are living as His spiritual family.

* [12:46–50] See Mk 3:31–35. Matthew has omitted Mk 3:20–21 which is taken up in Mk 3:31 (see note on Mt 12:22–32), yet the point of the story is the same in both gospels: natural kinship with Jesus counts for nothing; only one who does the will of his heavenly Father belongs to his true family.

The Catholic Culture Website marks the optional memorial for St. Sharbel (Charbel) Makhloof with a quote from Thomas Merton. On May 8, 1828 in a mountain village of Beka'kafra, the highest village in the near-east, St. Sharbel (Charbel) Makhloof was born to a poor Maronite family. From childhood his life revealed a calling to "bear fruit as a noble Cedar of Lebanon".

The spirit of Charbel still lives in many people. His miracles include numerous healings of the body and of the spirit. Thomas Merton, the American Hermit, wrote in his journal: "Charbel lived as a hermit in Lebanon—he was a Maronite. He died. Everyone forgot about him. Fifty years later, his body was discovered incorrupt and in short time he worked over 600 miracles. He is my new companion. My road has taken a new turning. It seems to me that I have been asleep for 9 years—and before that I was dead."

Scott McClure notes that Jesus was countercultural in his time on this Earth. Although we are told how countercultural our faith truly is, he feels as though sometimes we can see the world through such a lens of faith and fix our focus on holy men and women as models for our lives to such a point that we can forget this truth.

Who is your neighbor?

To use the words of Fr. Greg Boyle, SJ, Jesus models how expansive and inclusive his jurisdiction is. With an outstretched hand, he welcomes all who do the Father's will. The fullness of our Christian faith cannot exist apart from community just as the love of God derives from God's trinitarian being. Communion is not an abstract theological concept simply to understand but rather a truth to be lived. May we hold each other as brothers and sisters, expand our own jurisdictions and so bring to our world the realization of God's unfailing love.

Don Schwager quotes Gregory the Great (540-604 AD) on “My mother through faith”.

"If someone can become the brother of the Lord by coming to faith, we must ask how one can become also his mother. We must realize that the one who is Christ’s brother and sister by believing becomes his mother by preaching. It is as though one brings forth the Lord and infuses him in the hearts of one's listeners. And that person becomes his mother if through one's voice the love of the Lord is generated in the mind of his neighbor. (excerpt from FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 3.2)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 12:46-50 comments that in today’s Gospel, Jesus is saying is that something more powerful than a bloodline defines who belongs to his family.

Jesus placed this band of disciples on par with his own mother—sit with this truth for a moment. Now tell yourself that he thinks the same about you. You are in exactly the same situation: you are brother or sister or mother to Jesus. You want to please him; you want to follow him; you want to become more like him. Of course you’re going to stumble along the way, but you can still be sure of this reality: Jesus loves you just as you are right now.

Isaac Villegas is pastor of Chapel Hill (N.C.) Mennonite Fellowship. He comments that Mary reveals the passive power of surrender to God—“I am the servant of the Lord. Be it done to me according to your word.” The Most High comes to rest in the weak.

God desires people who offer their lives as spaces where good news is born. Mary’s hospitality to God, Moore writes, shows the kind of surrender that leads to “the forming of Christ in us as in her womb.” When we surrender ourselves to God, the Holy Spirit overshadows our body and begins to form Christ’s presence. Christians are weak people who make room for God. Discipleship is our unceasing struggle to welcome God into our midst, as Mary does, so that something unspeakably new and wonderful may be born in our world.

Franciscan Media reflects on the memorial of Saint Sharbel Makhluf. John Paul II often said that the Church has two lungs—East and West—and it must learn to breathe using both of them.

Remembering saints like Sharbel helps the Church to appreciate both the diversity and unity present in the Catholic Church. Like all the saints, Sharbel points us to God and invites us to cooperate generously with God’s grace, no matter what our situation in life may be. As our prayer life becomes deeper and more honest, we become more ready to make that generous response.

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the restoration of the Israelites and the way that Micah links it to the Exodus from Egypt. Jesus is told his “cousins” are outside in Catholic Tradition that Mary had one child. Our familiarity can often blind us to the gifts that others see in our love ones, Friar Jude suggests.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, declares that in all his life as a Catholic, He has held the orthodox belief that the “Real Presence” of Christ is communicated in the bread and wine of the sacred meal (rather shockingly taught by Jesus in John 6:35-58). This is not a magical idea, but simply the mystery of incarnation taken to its logical conclusion.

The Eucharist is an encounter of the heart, knowing Presence through our available presence. In the Eucharist, we move beyond mere words or rational thought and go to that place where we don’t talk about the Mystery; we begin to chew on it

We must move our knowing to the bodily, cellular, participative, and unitive level. Then we keep eating and drinking the Mystery until one day it dawns on us, in an undefended moment, “My God, I really am what I eat!” Henceforth we can trust and allow what has been true since the first moment of our existence: We are the very Body of Christ.

References

(n.d.). Micah, chapter 7 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved July 24, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/micah/7

(n.d.). Matthew, chapter 12 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved July 24, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/matthew/12

(2018, July 24). Optional Memorial of St. Sharbel (Charbel) Makhloof ... - Catholic Culture. Retrieved July 24, 2018, from https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2018-07-24

(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved July 24, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html

(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved July 24, 2018, from http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/

(n.d.). Saint Bridget, Religious (Optional Memorial - Mass Readings and .... Retrieved July 24, 2018, from https://wau.org/meditations/

(n.d.). Pregnant with God - The Mennonite. Retrieved July 24, 2018, from https://themennonite.org/opinion/pregnant-god/

(n.d.). Saint Sharbel Makhluf – Franciscan Media. Retrieved July 24, 2018, from https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-sharbel-makhluf/

(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archives - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved July 24, 2018, from https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/