Hope for Full Life

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today connect our faith in eternal relationship with God to the hope of action, today, to bring greater fullness of life to the poor.

Preference for the poor

The reading from the First Letter of Peter describes a living Hope.

* [1:6–9] As the glory of Christ’s resurrection was preceded by his sufferings and death, the new life of faith that it bestows is to be subjected to many trials (1 Pt 1:6) while achieving its goal: the glory of the fullness of salvation (1 Pt 1:9) at the coming of Christ (1 Pt 1:7).1

 

Psalm 111 is praise for God’s Wonderful Works.

* [Psalm 111] A Temple singer (Ps 111:1) tells how God is revealed in Israel’s history (Ps 111:2–10). The deeds reveal God’s very self, powerful, merciful, faithful. The poem is an acrostic, each verse beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.2

 

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus lovingly challenges the Rich Man.

* [10:23–27] In the Old Testament wealth and material goods are considered a sign of God’s favor (Jb 1:10; Ps 128:1–2; Is 3:10). The words of Jesus in Mk 10:23–25 provoke astonishment among the disciples because of their apparent contradiction of the Old Testament concept (Mk 10:24, 26). Since wealth, power, and merit generate false security, Jesus rejects them utterly as a claim to enter the kingdom. Achievement of salvation is beyond human capability and depends solely on the goodness of God who offers it as a gift (Mk 10:27).3

 

Eileen Wirth shares a shout out for the heroes of today’s church who prioritize the needs of the poor as Jesus demands in today’s gospel from Mark. She thinks about those who volunteer at homeless shelters, food pantries and similar programs. Even if they continue to live comfortable lives in nice homes, as most such people do, they don’t need to worry about camels passing through needles eyes to enter heaven. They bring the Church’s “preferential option for the poor” to life.

But far from being solemn and noble, most such people that I know are fun to be around because they get joy from serving others and having a purpose in life greater than their own pleasure. For years I had a poster quoting Dr. Albert Schweitzer, a Protestant medical missionary, saying that the happy people are those who have sought and found how to serve. I’ve always found that to be true. Take a note from St. Ignatius and discern when you feel good about yourself. I’ll bet it’s when you’ve done something kind for someone or thrown $20 into a Red Kettle instead of $5. Jesus asks us to make such giving, including giving our time and talents, a way of life, not just an occasional gesture.4

 

Don Schwager quotes “Seek the life that endures,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"The Lord said to a certain young man, 'If you would enter life, keep the commandments' (Matthew 19:17; Mark 10:17; Luke 18:18). He did not say 'If you would have life' but 'If you would enter life,' defining that life as eternal life. Let us first consider then the love of this life. For this life is loved, whatever its quality; and however troubled it is, however wretched, people are afraid to end it. Hence we should see, we should consider, how much eternal life is to be loved, when this miserable life that must at some time be ended is so loved. Consider, brothers, how much that life is to be loved when it is a life you never end. You love this life, where you work so much, run, are busy, pant. In this busy life the obligations can scarcely be counted: sowing, plowing, working new land, sailing, grinding, cooking, weaving. And after all this hard work your life comes to an end. Look at what you suffer in this wretched life that you so love. And do you think that you will always live and never die? Temples, rocks, marbles, all reinforced by iron and lead, still fall. And a person thinks that he will never die? Learn therefore, brothers, to seek eternal life, when you will not endure these things but will reign with God forever." (excerpt from SERMON 84.1.9)5

 

The Word Among Us Meditation on Mark 10:17-27 asks us, “What might we be lacking in our life?” Perhaps empathy for a family member, or patience with your children, or the courage to spread the good news. What Lenten practice would open us up to receiving the grace to follow him more closely?

The man in the Gospel “went away sad” because he couldn’t let go of his attachments and make an active decision to rely on the goodness of God (Mark 10:22). Don’t let that happen to you this Lent! Let Jesus show you how you can grow closer to him these next six weeks. God is good, so you can trust that he will lead you in the way that is best for you. “Jesus, I want to trust and follow wherever you lead me this Lent.”6

 

Friar Jude Winkler comments on scholarship concerning the author of the Letters of Peter. Thirty years after Jesus' death, Peter speaks to a generation that had no personal experience of Jesus. The passing of a camel through the eye of a needle may be a Jewish exaggeration technique used by Jesus. Friar Jude reminds us that we are guided in our spiritual life by the Grace of God.

 

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares his belief in the eternal nature of the True Self and its ability to connect us to ultimate purpose and meaning.

Only your soul can know the soul of other things. Only a part can recognize the whole from which it came. But first something within you, your True Self, must be awakened. Most souls are initially “unsaved” in the sense that they cannot dare to imagine they could be one with God/Reality/the universe. This is the illusion of what Thomas Merton (1915–1968) called the “false” self and what I have taken to calling the “separate” or small self that believes it is autonomous and separate from God. Thomas Merton said that the True Self should not be thought of as anything different than life itself—but not my little life—the Big Life. [1] Franciscan philosopher John Duns Scotus (c. 1266–1308) said that the human person is not different or separate from Being itself—not the little being that you and I get attached to and take too seriously, but Universal Being or “the One in whom we live, and move, and have our being,” as Paul said to the Athenians (Acts 17:28).7 

The Spirit reveals our connection to full life in the Body of Christ that is realized in our practice of preference for the poor.

 

References

1	(n.d.). 1 Peter, CHAPTER 1 | USCCB. Retrieved February 28, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1peter/1
2	(n.d.). Psalms, PSALM 111 | USCCB. Retrieved February 28, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/111
3	(n.d.). Mark, CHAPTER 10 | USCCB. Retrieved February 28, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/10
4	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - Online Ministries. Retrieved February 28, 2022, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/022822.html
5	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved February 28, 2022, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2022&date=feb28
6	(n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved February 28, 2022, from https://wau.org/meditations/2022/02/28/321531/
7	(n.d.). Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 28, 2022, from https://cac.org/themes/transformation-and-the-true-self/

 

Fruit of Life

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today contrast a sense of determinism about the action in our lives being a consequence of our inherent nature and the New Life in the Spirit that witnesses Love through our actions.

Tree and Fruit

 

The reading from the Book of Sirach describes tests in Life that determine how people act.

* [27:4–7, 11–15] The importance of effective speech is a favorite wisdom topic; e.g., cf. 20:1–8, 18–20; 22:27–23:15.1

 

Psalm 92 is thanksgiving for vindication.

* [92:14] Planted: the just are likened to trees growing in the sacred precincts of the Temple, which is often seen as the source of life and fertility because of God’s presence, cf. Ps 36:9, 10; Ez 47:1–12.2

 

The reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians explains the Resurrection event.

* [15:35–58] Paul imagines two objections that the Corinthians could raise: one concerning the manner of the resurrection (how?), the other pertaining to the qualities of the risen body (what kind?). These questions probably lie behind their denial of the resurrection (1 Cor 15:12), and seem to reflect the presumption that no kind of body other than the one we now possess would be possible. Paul deals with these objections in inverse order, in 1 Cor 15:36–49 and 1 Cor 15:50–58. His argument is fundamentally theological and its appeal is to the understanding.3

 

The Sermon on the Plain in the Gospel of Luke teaches using the example of a tree and its fruit.

* [6:20–49] Luke’s “Sermon on the Plain” is the counterpart to Matthew’s “Sermon on the Mount” (Mt 5:1–7:27). It is addressed to the disciples of Jesus, and, like the sermon in Matthew, it begins with beatitudes (Lk 6:20–22) and ends with the parable of the two houses (Lk 6:46–49). Almost all the words of Jesus reported by Luke are found in Matthew’s version, but because Matthew includes sayings that were related to specifically Jewish Christian problems (e.g., Mt 5:17–20; 6:1–8, 16–18) that Luke did not find appropriate for his predominantly Gentile Christian audience, the “Sermon on the Mount” is considerably longer. Luke’s sermon may be outlined as follows: an introduction consisting of blessings and woes (Lk 6:20–26); the love of one’s enemies (Lk 6:27–36); the demands of loving one’s neighbor (Lk 6:37–42); good deeds as proof of one’s goodness (Lk 6:43–45); a parable illustrating the result of listening to and acting on the words of Jesus (Lk 6:46–49). At the core of the sermon is Jesus’ teaching on the love of one’s enemies (Lk 6:27–36) that has as its source of motivation God’s graciousness and compassion for all humanity (Lk 6:35–36) and Jesus’ teaching on the love of one’s neighbor (Lk 6:37–42) that is characterized by forgiveness and generosity.4

 

Tamora Whitney comments that the worst kind of blindness, which is almost incurable, is the judgmental spirit.

Jesus was particularly scathing about judgmental spirit because it elevates admittedly good concepts like rules, principles, standards – even religion—above the actual plight of human beings. Those in the biggest danger of the trip to the pit are those people who are constantly trying to fix others’ faults, trying to remedy others’ blindness, when they themselves cannot see clearly. Trying to take a speck from someone else’s eye is not appropriate or feasible until the log is removed from one’s own eye. People shouldn’t be criticizing others for faults they have themselves.5

 

Don Schwager quotes “Seeing the speck in another's eye,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"The word hypocrite is aptly employed here (Luke 6:42, Matthew 7:5), since the denouncing of evils is best viewed as a matter only for upright persons of goodwill. When the wicked engage in it, they are like impersonators, masqueraders, hiding their real selves behind a mask, while they portray another's character through the mask. The word hypocrites in fact signifies pretenders. Hence we ought especially to avoid that meddlesome class of pretenders who under the pretense of seeking advice undertake the censure of all kinds of vices. They are often moved by hatred and malice. Rather, whenever necessity compels one to reprove or rebuke another, we ought to proceed with godly discernment and caution. First of all, let us consider whether the other fault is such as we ourselves have never had or whether it is one that we have overcome. Then, if we have never had such a fault, let us remember that we are human and could have had it. But if we have had it and are rid of it now, let us remember our common frailty, in order that mercy, not hatred, may lead us to the giving of correction and admonition. In this way, whether the admonition occasions the amendment or the worsening of the one for whose sake we are offering it (for the result cannot be foreseen), we ourselves shall be made safe through singleness of eye. But if on reflection we find that we ourselves have the same fault as the one we are about to reprove, let us neither correct nor rebuke that one. Rather, let us bemoan the fault ourselves and induce that person to a similar concern, without asking him to submit to our correction."(excerpt from Sermon on the Mount 2.19.64)6

 

The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 6:39-45 comments that we all struggle. The good news is that, as Sirach says, “The fruit of a tree shows the care it has had” (27:6). That means it’s possible to change what fills our heart and comes out of our mouth. How? By allowing Jesus to care for us. The more we receive his care, the more our “fruit” will improve. As our heart is filled with his love, our words will be more loving and kind.

So take heart! Let Jesus convince you of his compassion. Come and receive the richness of his mercy. Let these attributes fill your heart, and it will become easier to speak words of forgiveness or understanding when you are wronged. Let him show you how he is fulfilling his promises in your life, even in ways you can’t predict, so that you can become more patient and trusting when life gets hard. Let his word shape your words. “Lord, fill my heart with what is pleasing to you.”7

 

Friar Jude Winkler discusses the wisdom of Sirach and the Sermon on the Plain about knowing what is behind the facade that people often create. The pain and isolation of death is always a part of our reality. Friar Jude reminds us that the Resurrection counters our fear and alienation.

 

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares that searching for and rediscovering the True Self is the fundamentum, the essential task that will gradually open us to receiving love from and giving love to God, others, and ourselves. We are created in the image of God from the very beginning (Genesis 1:26–27; Ephesians 1:3–4).

Jesus revealed and accepted a paradox in his entire being: the human and divine are not separate, but one! His life shouted it. I wonder why we so resist our same destiny? For most of us, this seems just too good and too dangerous to be true. There is so much contrary evidence! Many clergy fight me on this, even though it is quite constant in the Tradition. Is it because we are afraid to bear the burden of divinity? As Marianne Williamson says: “Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” [1] Maybe we realize subconsciously that if we really believed that we are temples of God (see 1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16), then we would have to live up to it.8

 

Led by the Spirit to discover our root, that bears an imago Dei, activates the seed that produces the fruit of love in our actions.

 

References

1	(n.d.). Sirach, CHAPTER 27 | USCCB. Retrieved February 27, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/sirach/27
2	(n.d.). Psalms, PSALM 92 | USCCB. Retrieved February 27, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/92
3	(n.d.). 1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 15 | USCCB. Retrieved February 27, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1corinthians/15
4	(n.d.). Luke, CHAPTER 6 | USCCB. Retrieved February 27, 2022, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/6
5	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - Online Ministries. Retrieved February 27, 2022, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/022722.html
6	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved February 27, 2022, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2022&date=feb27
7	(n.d.). Mass Readings and Catholic Daily Meditations for February 27, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2022, from https://wau.org/meditations/2022/02/27/320849/
8	(n.d.). Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved February 27, 2022, from https://cac.org/trusting-our-essential-self-2022-02-27/