Reassured on the Mountain Top

 

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate our spiritual lumination experiences when our vision or understanding was remarkably expanded.

 

Mountaintop Clarity

The reading from the Book of Genesis relates the command to Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.

 * [22:1–19] The divine demand that Abraham sacrifice to God the son of promise is the greatest of his trials; after the successful completion of the test, he has only to buy a burial site for Sarah and find a wife for Isaac. The story is widely recognized as a literary masterpiece, depicting in a few lines God as the absolute Lord, inscrutable yet ultimately gracious, and Abraham, acting in moral grandeur as the great ancestor of Israel. Abraham speaks simply, with none of the wordy evasions of chaps. 13 and 21. The style is laconic; motivations and thoughts are not explained, and the reader cannot but wonder at the scene. In vv. 15–18, the angel repeats the seventh and climactic promise. Moriah: the mountain is not given a precise geographical location here, though 2 Chr 3:1 identifies Moriah as the mountain of Jerusalem where Solomon built the Temple; Abraham is thus the first to worship there. The word “Moriah” is a play on the verb “to see” (Heb. ra’ah); the wordplay is continued in v. 8, “God will provide (lit., “see”)” and in v. 14, Yahweh-yireh, meaning “the Lord will see/provide.”1

Psalm 116 is a thanksgiving for recovery from illness.

 * [116:15] Dear in the eyes of the LORD: the meaning is that the death of God’s faithful is grievous to God, not that God is pleased with the death, cf. Ps 72:14. In Wis 3:5–6, God accepts the death of the righteous as a sacrificial burnt offering.2

The reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans declares the power of God’s Love in Christ Jesus.

 

* [8:31–39] The all-conquering power of God’s love has overcome every obstacle to Christians’ salvation and every threat to separate them from God. That power manifested itself fully when God’s own Son was delivered up to death for their salvation. Through him Christians can overcome all their afflictions and trials.3

In the Gospel of Mark, three disciples witness the Transfiguration.

 

* [9:2–8] Mark and Mt 17:1 place the transfiguration of Jesus six days after the first prediction of his passion and death and his instruction to the disciples on the doctrine of the cross; Lk 9:28 has “about eight days.” Thus the transfiguration counterbalances the prediction of the passion by affording certain of the disciples insight into the divine glory that Jesus possessed. His glory will overcome his death and that of his disciples; cf. 2 Cor 3:18; 2 Pt 1:16–19. The heavenly voice (Mk 9:7) prepares the disciples to understand that in the divine plan Jesus must die ignominiously before his messianic glory is made manifest; cf. Lk 24:25–27. See further the note on Mt 17:1–8.4

Mary Lee Brock shares that her walks on the local trail help her feel God’s love through the beauty of nature.

 It is more challenging to explore the patterns of disordered attachments that lead me away from God.  I pray for the grace to help me become aware of what I am clinging to in my life that is getting in the way of my relationship with God.  This awareness can lead me to a stance of indifference, of freedom. I pray to God to help me be willing to sacrifice my distractions.  Help me to live a good life but not to cling to the security of that life at all cost.  Help me to be generous with my love and attention to others and not to cling to fulfilling my own needs first.  Help me to bring joy to others but not cling to a need to be the center of other’s attention. As we hear today in the letter to the Romans:  If God is for us, who can be against?5

Don Schwager quotes “The transfiguration of Jesus,” by Jerome (347-420 AD).

 

"Do you wish to see the transfiguration of Jesus? Behold with me the Jesus of the Gospels. Let him be simply apprehended. There he is beheld both 'according to the flesh' and at the same time in his true divinity. He is beheld in the form of God according to our capacity for knowledge. This is how he was beheld by those who went up upon the lofty mountain to be apart with him. Meanwhile those who do not go up the mountain can still behold his works and hear his words, which are uplifting. It is before those who go up that Jesus is transfigured, and not to those below. When he is transfigured, his face shines as the sun, that he may be manifested to the children of light, who have put off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light (Romans 13:12). They are no longer the children of darkness or night but have become the children of day. They walk honestly as in the day. Being manifested, he will shine to them not simply as the sun but as he is demonstrated to be, the sun of righteousness." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 12.37.10)6

Peter Edmonds SJ, a member of the Mount Street Jesuit community, traces the path through Mark’s Gospel that we will follow over the coming year.

 

Mark situates his narrative of the Transfiguration straight after Jesus’s warning to his disciples that he would suffer and die in Jerusalem. This vision of glory was to show his disciples that his destiny also included resurrection and future glory. Perhaps because of the Transfiguration, Mark felt no need to include resurrection appearances of Jesus in his gospel. The Transfiguration prefigures the resurrection and is a necessary supplement to the story of the Temptation. Christian life is a promise of glory as well as a warning about conflict.7

The Word Among Us Meditation on Romans 8:31-34, inspired by “He . . . handed him over for us all.” (Romans 8:32) comments that on the Mount of Transfiguration, God offered Jesus as a gift of glory: “This is my beloved Son,” he said yet again, adding an impassioned plea: “Listen to him” (Mark 9:7). Still, even Peter misunderstood the gift. He sought to capture Jesus’ glory as a static memorial rather than a living presence.

 Jesus is here. Accept him. Let him change your heart. “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but you still offer yourself to me. Help me to embrace you so that my soul may be healed.”8

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the actions of Abraham that show his deep love for Isaac and deep trust in God. The passage from the Letter to the Romans is a hymn of enthusiasm. Friar Jude reminds us of Jesus' connection to the Songs of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah.

 

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares that every viewpoint is a view from a point. Unless we recognize and admit our own personal and cultural viewpoints, we will never know how to decentralize our own perspective. We will live with a high degree of illusion and blindness that brings much suffering into the world. This is what Simone Weil (1909–1943) meant in saying that the love of God is the source of all truth. Only an outer and positive reference point utterly grounds the mind and heart.

 

We all play our games, cultivating our prejudices and our unredeemed vision of the world. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) and other scholastics said that all people choose as objective good something that merely appears good to them, foreseeing the postmodern critique by 700 years. No one willingly does evil. Each of us has put together a construct by which we explain why what we do is necessary and good. This is the specialty of the ego, the small or false self that wants to protect its agenda and project itself onto the public stage. [3] We need support in unmasking our false self and in distancing ourselves from our illusions. For this it is necessary to install a kind of “inner observer.” Some people talk about a “fair witness.” At first that sounds impossible, but with patience and practice, it can be done and even becomes quite natural.9

We pray to be open to the Spirit that guides us in and through experiences of spiritual enlightenment.

 

References

1	(n.d.). Genesis, CHAPTER 22 | USCCB. Retrieved February 28, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/genesis/22
2	(n.d.). Psalms, PSALM 116 | USCCB. Retrieved February 28, 2021, from https://www.usccb.org/bible/psalms/116
3	(n.d.). Romans, CHAPTER 8 | USCCB. Retrieved February 28, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/8
4	(n.d.). Mark, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB. Retrieved February 28, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/9
5	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - Online .... Retrieved February 28, 2021, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/022821.html
6	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved February 28, 2021, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2021&date=feb28
7	(2011, December 5). The Voice of Saint Mark: Year B and the Gospel of ... - Thinking Faith. Retrieved February 28, 2021, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20111205_1.htm
8	(2021, February 26). 2nd Sunday of Lent - The Word Among Us. Retrieved February 28, 2021, from https://wau.org/meditations/2021/02/28/181129/
9	(2021, February 28). How Difficult It Is to See Clearly — Center for Action and .... Retrieved February 28, 2021, from https://cac.org/how-difficult-it-is-to-see-clearly-2021-02-28/

 

Ordained in Covenant of Love

 

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to build a rule of life that recognizes our invitation to a Covenant of Love and Wisdom.

 

Practice a rule of life

The reading from the Book of Deuteronomy is a concluding exhortation to be faithful to the Covenant to which God invites us.

 

The title of Deuteronomy in Hebrew is Debarim, “words,” from its opening phrase. The English title comes from the Septuagint of 17:18, deuteronomion, “copy of the law”; this title is appropriate because the book replicates much of the legal content of the previous books, serving as a “second law.” It brings to a close the five books of the Torah or Pentateuch with a retrospective account of Israel’s past—the exodus, the Sinai covenant, and the wilderness wanderings—and a look into Israel’s future as they stand poised to enter the land of Canaan and begin their life as a people there.1

Psalm 119 praises the glories of God’s Law.

 * [Psalm 119] This Psalm, the longest by far in the Psalter, praises God for giving such splendid laws and instruction for people to live by. The author glorifies and thanks God for the Torah, prays for protection from sinners enraged by others’ fidelity to the law, laments the cost of obedience, delights in the law’s consolations, begs for wisdom to understand the precepts, and asks for the rewards of keeping them.2

In the Sermon on the Mount from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus calls us to Love for our enemies.

 

* [5:43–48] See Lv 19:18. There is no Old Testament commandment demanding hatred of one’s enemy, but the “neighbor” of the love commandment was understood as one’s fellow countryman. Both in the Old Testament (Ps 139:19–22) and at Qumran (1QS 9:21) hatred of evil persons is assumed to be right. Jesus extends the love commandment to the enemy and the persecutor. His disciples, as children of God, must imitate the example of their Father, who grants his gifts of sun and rain to both the good and the bad.3

Steve Scholer asks: “How do we respond in a hate-filled world, in a way that Jesus would approve of?  Do we just disengage from the world, cancel our subscription to “biased” newspapers and magazines, stop watching anything on TV except cooking shows, or trade in our smartphones for an old-fashioned flip phone?”

 

I don’t think Jesus would approve of any of these actions, for his Gospel was not about retreating into the shadows, but rather living our faith and demonstrating daily our love and respect for all. Especially those with whom we disagree. Today’s Gospel ends with what some might call an impossible challenge: “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” We know we can only strive for perfection, but in so doing, we all can show a little, no, make that a lot, more kindness to those with whom we might not always agree. And, who knows, maybe they will return the favor.4

The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew reminds us that God loves everyone, not because they deserve it, but because he is God, and God is love. And because Christ is in us, we can learn how to love in the same way.

 Jesus is not calling us to a perfect outcome when it comes to loving everyone. But he is calling us to a more perfect outlook on those who trouble us. In some instances, this will take practice, prayer, and more than a few deep breaths. But when we stop seeing people as problems and start seeing them as pearls, we can be sure that we are beginning to love them. “Jesus, help me to see everyone as you see them so that I can love them as you love them.”5

Friar Jude Winkler discusses the gift of statutes and decrees from God in an ancient world that was terrified of offending the gods. The Chosen People would know what God expects of them. Friar Jude reminds us of the brokenness that is behind the hatred we may sense in others who need our love and generosity.

 

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, notes that few contemporary writers speak about modern monasticism with as much depth and clarity as spiritual teacher Beverly Lanzetta. She notes that an important aspect of any monastic community is a rule of life, or code of conduct.  In her recent book, A New Silence, Lanzetta explores ways in which the everyday contemplative practitioner can deepen their commitment to love of the Divine.

 

Over the years, I have composed and followed a personal rule of life. I include below excerpts from the original and longer rule, which you may find helpful in writing and living your own code of conduct.

1. Be faithful to the Divine in all that you do. Put the Divine will before your own. Ask, “What would God do?” and wait for the answer. Do not allow personal attraction or gain to cloud decision-making, or your soul’s intentions to be compromised.

2. Be simple of purpose. The basis of simplicity is centering on God. The heart of the monastic life is to live in God’s presence.

3. Love all of creation with Divine compassion. Total commitment brings change. Give to life your unparalleled commitment, and complete love, one that is without self-interest.

4. Offer yourself as a place of prayer. May your presence be one that heals divisions and expands hearts.

5. Be attuned to the splendor of creation, and the gentle web of existence. Celebrate embodiment. Actively work—both within yourself and in the world—to make the holy manifest.

6. Refrain from possession. Remember the transient nature of earthly life. Possession can occur on all levels: physical, emotional, psychic, spiritual. Love expands the spirit, possession contracts it.

7. Pray daily to grow in humility, and to be empty of the false self. Offer over to the Divine your regrets, sorrows, doubts, motives, and unresolved desires.

8. In all you do, practice no harm. Make a small footprint, tread lightly, become aware of the impact your actions have on others. The refusal to reflect on your motives leads to suffering (for others and also one’s self).

9. Treat all religions and spiritual paths with honor and respect. Enter silence. Keep faith alive.

10. Create community wherever you are. Make of your heart a home for the homeless, a refuge for the poor. Pray for the well-being of your monastic sisters and brothers.6

Contemplative practice of a rule of life that is based on love of others and nature helps the Spirit direct us to the perfect path.

 

References

1	(n.d.). Deuteronomy, THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY | USCCB. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/deuteronomy/0
2	(n.d.). Psalms, PSALM 119 | USCCB. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/119
3	(n.d.). Matthew, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/5
4	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - Online .... Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/022721.html
5	(n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://wau.org/meditations/2021/02/27/181000/
6	(n.d.). Wisdom: Weekly Summary — Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 27, 2021, from https://cac.org/wisdom-weekly-summary-2021-02-27/

 

Avoiding Anger

 

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate the role of Grace in our lives that has helped us avoid prolonged problems with selfish motives fueled by emotions like anger.

Action without anger

 

The reading from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel raises the question of our ways being unfair.

 

* [18:25] The LORD’s way is not fair: this chapter rejects the idea that punishment is transferred from one generation to the next and emphasizes individual responsibility and accountability.1

Psalm 130 is a hymn about waiting for Divine Redemption.

 

* [Psalm 130] This lament, a Penitential Psalm, is the De profundis used in liturgical prayers for the faithful departed. In deep sorrow the psalmist cries to God (Ps 130:1–2), asking for mercy (Ps 130:3–4). The psalmist’s trust (Ps 130:5–6) becomes a model for the people (Ps 130:7–8).2

In the Sermon on the Mount from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus teaches concerning anger.

 

* [5:22–26] Reconciliation with an offended brother is urged in the admonition of Mt 5:23–24 and the parable of Mt 5:25–26 (//Lk 12:58–59). The severity of the judge in the parable is a warning of the fate of unrepentant sinners in the coming judgment by God.3

Larry Gillick, S.J. comments that Jesus, here in the last chapter of Mathew’s Sermon on the Mount, can seem to be encouraging a prayer-practice of “quid pro quid,” a what for a what.  Seekers, askers, knockers seem to be promised to be the receivers.  So our modern-day digital mind might wonder if we have the correct words, phrasings, intentions to connect, convince and procure. What does it take on our part to get! The last verse of today’s Gospel has an invitation rather than an easy answer.

 

It is so difficult for us to know what’s good for us and so we ask, seek, and knock, and there is always an answer which sounds like, “Keep on keeping on with your seeking.” The Good Father in the words of Jesus, desires us children to learn through our facing our many desires, needs, wants, hungers, to be open to us when we knock with folded, prayerful, heartful, requests. Most of what we pray for is our avoidances of experiencing our human poverty of mind, body and soul. It seems that God will never remove those experiences from us, but seems to keep, personally, inviting us through those poverties, to receive what is good for us as humans and that is to receive what comes in the mail of life, every day, every moment.4

Don Schwager quotes “Are you ashamed to ask pardon?” by Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

 

"How many there are who know that they have sinned against their brothers or sisters and yet are unwilling to say: 'Forgive me.' They were not ashamed to sin, but they are ashamed to ask pardon. They were not ashamed of their evil act, but they blush where humility is concerned." (excerpt from Sermon 211,4)5

The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 5:20-26 comments it is God’s grace that enables us to enter the kingdom of heaven. This grace doesn’t absolve us from the call to holiness, but it removes the impossible burden of attaining by our own efforts the righteousness that God wants. That righteousness goes beyond avoiding murder, adultery, and the rest. Jesus makes it clear that “murder” includes anger, for instance. But by grace, as by a gift, God has saved us and welcomed us into a relationship with himself that makes righteousness possible. Through faith in Jesus, we receive the grace we need to live a life that pleases him.

 Remember too that God’s grace doesn’t end where your faith begins. By his grace, he promises to help you every step of the way. He helps you listen to him in prayer. He strengthens you to resist temptations and to persevere in life’s struggles. He softens your heart to say yes to him and to open yourself to the love he wants to give you. He changes your desires and renews your mind so that your life might testify to what is good, pleasing, and perfect in his sight (Romans 12:2). Lent is all about grace. God knows that we will fall short of his righteousness—and even of our Lenten penances. That’s why Jesus endured his passion and death. If we could do it on our own, Christ died for nothing.6

Friar Jude Winkler uses the passage from Ezekiel to underline our choice to choose evil is the source of our disconnection from God. God cannot force us to love Him, if we reject His love. Friar Jude reminds us that Jesus emphasized broadening the spiritual nature of the commandment against anger as he cites several examples of our ability to bring spiritual death to others.

 

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, believes that there are two necessary paths enabling us to move toward wisdom: a radical journey inward and a radical journey outward. For far too long we’ve confined people to a sort of security zone, a safe “lukewarm” midpoint, which the Bible warns us against, as to the Laodiceans (Revelation 3:15‒16). We’ve called them neither to a radical path inward, in other words, to contemplation, nor to a radical path outward, that is, to commitment on the social issues of their time. We prefer to stay in a secure middle position, probably because these two great teachers, the inner and the outer way, both cause pain. Failure and falling short are the best teachers; success has virtually nothing to teach us on the spiritual path.

 

It is Paul, one of the “holy fools” of our Christian faith, isolated but enthralled by a vision of universal Gospel, who can say, “Make no mistake about it: if you think you’re wise, in the ordinary sense of the word, then you must learn to be a fool before you can really be wise” (1 Corinthians 3:18). The holy fool is the last stage of the wisdom journey. It is the individual who knows their dignity and therefore does not have to polish or protect it. It is the man or woman who has true authority and does not have to defend it or anyone else’s authority. It is the child of God who has met the One who watches over sparrows and fashions galaxies, and therefore can comfortably be a child of God.  They and they alone can be trusted to proclaim the Reign of God.7

Our experience of poor choices and falling short are transformed by Grace into wisdom to hear and practice the lessons of Jesus for our journey.

 

References

1	(n.d.). Ezekiel, CHAPTER 18 | USCCB. Retrieved February 26, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/ezekiel/18
2	(n.d.). Psalms, PSALM 130 | USCCB. Retrieved February 26, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/130
3	(n.d.). Matthew, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB. Retrieved February 26, 2021, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/5
4	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - Online .... Retrieved February 26, 2021, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/022621.html
5	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved February 26, 2021, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2021&date=feb26
6	(n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved February 26, 2021, from https://wau.org/meditations/2021/02/26/180997/
7	(2021, February 26). Becoming Wise Fools — Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 26, 2021, from https://cac.org/becoming-wise-fools-2021-02-26/