Progressive positions

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today urge us to stand up in our faith as we contemplate the fear of the false self around dying.

Witness on the Way

In the Second Letter of John the community is cautioned against progressive positions that may be compromising the truth about the humanity of Jesus.

* [9] Anyone who is so “progressive”: literally, “Anyone who goes ahead.” Some gnostic groups held the doctrine of the Christ come in the flesh to be a first step in belief, which the more advanced and spiritual believer surpassed and abandoned in his knowledge of the spiritual Christ. The author affirms that fellowship with God may be gained only by holding to the complete doctrine of Jesus Christ (1 Jn 2:22–23; 4:2; 5:5–6).

In the Gospel from Luke, Jesus continues to discuss the end times with the Pharisees.

* [17:36] The inclusion of Lk 17:36, “There will be two men in the field; one will be taken, the other left behind,” in some Western manuscripts appears to be a scribal assimilation to Mt 24:40.

Barbara Dilly finds the message today is that even though we know the difference between walking in the truth and being deceived, we have much difficulty making wise choices in practice.

The choices to remain in the teachings of Christ are difficult because we get distracted with the activities of life.  We certainly all know that. We can easily get dragged down. Still, the hope that I feel after reflecting in the lessons for today is that if we take time out to treasure the Lord’s promises to us and to accompany each other in following the commandments, it is a lot easier to stand erect and raise up our heads.

A Post by Franciscan Media shares the charity of St. Margaret of Scotland on her memorial today.

Margaret of Scotland and her husband served orphans and the poor on their knees during Advent and Lent. Like Christ, she was charitable the “messy way.”
Although she was very much caught up in the affairs of the household and country, she remained detached from the world. Her private life was austere. She had certain times for prayer and reading Scripture. She ate sparingly and slept little in order to have time for devotions. She and Malcolm kept two Lents, one before Easter and one before Christmas. During these times she always rose at midnight for Mass. On the way home she would wash the feet of six poor persons and give them alms. She was always surrounded by beggars in public and never refused them. It is recorded that she never sat down to eat without first feeding nine orphans and 24 adults.

Don Schwager quotes “Those working in the field are sowing the Word of God”, by Ambrose of Milan, 339-397 A.D.

"'He that will be on the housetop, do not let him go down. He that will be in the field, do not let him turn back.' How may I understand what is the field unless Jesus himself teaches me? He says, 'No one putting his hand to the plough (plow) and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God' (Luke 9:62). The lazy person sits in the farmhouse, but the industrious person plants in the field. The weak are at the fireplace, but the strong are at the plough. The smell of a field is good, because the smell of Jacob is the smell of a full field (Genesis 27:27). A field is full of flowers. It is full of different fruits. Plough your field if you want to be sent to the kingdom of God. Let your field flower, fruitful with good rewards. Let there be a fruitful vine on the sides of your house and young olive plants around your table (Psalm 127:3). Already aware of its fertility, let your soul, sown with the Word of God and tilled by spiritual farming, say to Christ, 'Come, my brother, let us go out into the field' (Song of Solomon 7:11). Let him reply, 'I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride. I have gathered my vintage of myrrh'  (Song of Solomon 5:1). What is better than the vintage of faith, by which the fruit of the resurrection is stored and the spring of eternal rejoicing is watered?" (excerpt from EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 8.43.27)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 17:26-37 tells us that Francis Xavier was an ambitious young man who sought success in the scholarly world.

Living in Paris, he had many opportunities to take advantage of all that the world had to offer. But an older student named Ignatius of Loyola saw something special in Francis—something that could be fulfilled only as he let go of the life of scholarly success that he valued so highly. And so Ignatius befriended him and challenged him—patiently but repeatedly—to put God above his worldly ambitions: to “lose his life” instead of seeking to “preserve it.”

Friar Jude Winkler explains the Docetism that may have been the progressive problem in the community addressed by John. He notes the difficulty of a rapture interpretation of the Gospel text today. The best sign of the end times, according to Friar Jude, is grey hair.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, concludes his daily reflection urging us “So do not be afraid.” Death to false self and the end of human life is simply a return to our Ground of Being, to God, to Love. Life doesn’t truly end; it simply changes form and continues evolving into ever new shapes and beauty.

Paul then contrasted the true self with what we are calling the false self and he called “sin” (7:14-25). It is the self that is always passing away. This is our cozy image of ourselves as individual and autonomous, as separate from God and everyone and everything else. When this “separate” self is all we think we are, no wonder we are afraid of dying. Because this is all we know and have—if we have not discovered our soul, that is. The false self is terrified of death because it knows the mental construct that it calls “myself” is indeed passing away because it is merely self-constructed and fragile. The false self has no substance, no permanence, no vitality, only various forms of immediate gratification.

Our “progressive” culture has stoked fear of death and urges us to take control, when our True Self recognizes our connection to the Source and Summit of Life transcends death and shows us the Way to live through the End Time.

References

(n.d.). 2 John, chapter 1 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved November 16, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/2john
(n.d.). Luke, chapter 17 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved November 16, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/luke/17
(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved November 16, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
(n.d.). Saint Margaret of Scotland – Franciscan Media. Retrieved November 16, 2018, from https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-margaret-of-scotland/
(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved November 16, 2018, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
(n.d.). Meditations - The Word Among Us. Retrieved November 16, 2018, from https://wau.org/meditations/
(2017, December 30). 2018 Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved November 16, 2018, from https://cac.org/2018-daily-meditations/