Serves to meet Him

The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary point out the path through which the faith and hope we experience in the contemplation of a world and life in which Love dominates can be realized. The cynical mind or the partial vision which Peter was described as having in the Gospel yesterday do not comprehend change through service.  Peter is rebuked by Jesus as one who is taken by the temptation that the change desired will come through an exercise of Divine power in the manner of kings and emperors. Friar Jude Winkler compares the sense of justification by God declared in the letter of James with the justification by faith as proclaimed by Paul. He notes that the use of Abraham as the example of both may be confusing for the modern Western mind but Jewish thought of the time would delight in wrestling with the truth which is part of both claims. Our apparent need to have an answer “right” or “wrong” makes it difficult to tease out the deeper and real situation. Mary Longo of Creighton University tells of her discussion with a Protestant friend which led to an understanding that the practice of faith is supported by works. She cites the apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis Evangelii Gaudium or The Joy of the Gospel as an inspiration to become that missionary Church which is Christ in the lives of the people through action. A phrase attributed to Pope Francis is that the shepherd must smell like the sheep. We need the faith proclaimed by Paul to be reassured that the cross we pick up every day is not the action which returns us to reconciliation with God. Jesus makes that reconciliation through His Cross. Our cross is a communion with the work of Jesus through which He is made known to the entire world. Unlike the rich and powerful who must struggle daily to keep their power and prestige, James tells us that when we deny our self aggrandizement and serve we transcend from those who the Gospel from Mark notes are ashamed of Jesus and His Way to those who act to meet Him in the sheep around us.

Who He is

The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionaryremind us of how we hear and act, perhaps unconsciously, in ways to anticipate our own success and recognition that we should be privileged. The letter of James identifies a problem in the community to which he was writing where partiality was shown in seating and attention to the rich. The hope that some of the good fortune and success of the rich may accrue to us through our special attention to them may lie behind this action. Friar Jude Winkler comments that the tone of James rebuke of the rich may seem somewhat Marxist to our ears. The Christian treatment of wealth continues to be a challenge. In his apostolic exhortation EvangeliiGaudium - "The Joy of the Gospel" Pope Francis reminds of our misapplication of wealth through the falsehood of the “gospel of prosperity”. Friar Jude reminds us that gifts from God, like wealth and position, are for the service of others. Mark Latta of Creighton University echoes Pope Francis and presents the answer of Peter to Jesus question from the Gospel of Mark at Caesarea Philippi about who He is as “You are the Messiah”. Friar Jude compares Peter to the blind man in the Gospel of Mark from yesterday who is healed in stages. Peter does not fully understand that Jesus is not the conquering leader to return Israel to the time of the Kingdom of David as he tempts Jesus to abandon His prophesy of rejection and death at the hands of the religious authorities. The action of Love which confronts the power of false gods and privilege through Presence with the poor and seeking to welcome the outcast is the momentous decision which Father Robert Barron declares Jesus puts before us all at Caesarea Philippi. The magnificent video series Catholicism sets this scene of decision in a strong manner for our consideration.

You can see

The text from the Gospel of Mark today in the Roman Catholic Lectionary tells of a unique healing miracle by Jesus of a blind man. This episode is only recorded in Mark and it is a two stage healing which is initiated by friends bringing the blind man to Jesus and Jesus pausing during His encounter with the man to ask "Do you see anything?" (Mark 8:23). The first reading today from the Letter of James extols us to go beyond a faith based in ideas and plans to faith which is love in action. The partial opening of our consciousness of the Presence of God in the world may come from study, preaching, idealism, exegesis and contemplation. This spiritual preparation is eye opening. We may understand from our study that we are called to be Christ in the world. Our faith action may involve accepting the other who is brought to us through our daily experience. We may be the friends who help the other to find some acceptance. We may be the influence that opens the eyes of the other to possibilities of seeing life differently. Like Jesus, we need to check in with those who are travelling with us and assess how they are seeing. What is the state of their spiritual and physical health. We need to continue to offer our hands of presence and support in faith that the healing of others, like our own spiritual growth, is a process, as noted by Michael Kavan of Creighton University, which requires our participation and the witness of the great crowd of members of His Body which surround us. Our faith in the Transcendent Presence to change how we see and understand is strengthened by the practices of concern for the outcast and rejection of dark influence which are enumerated by the psalmist today as characteristic of those who will not be moved from their life in faith which improves the vision of their spiritual eyes.

Leaven and perseverance

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today offer us some guidelines which we can use to assess our journey as believers. The Letter of James addresses the experience of temptation. He clearly rejects any idea that temptation comes from God and he identifies a path which we often follow when we let the allure and pleasure of the temptation confuse us into imagining outcomes of our misadventure which may be ok and acceptable. The temptation is brought to us through our own desire and like the leaven, which we will consider in the Gospel from Mark, it diffuses our living to love and serve others into including some love and service for ourselves. The possibility that temptation could actually lead to a better situation for us without actually impacting others is born in our imagination. James identifies this as the path to sin where we act to satisfy our need for power, privilege and personal gratification. Marty Kalkowski from Creighton University shares how our desire to “keep it all together” may blind us to the opportunity to see and hear Christ in the encounters with the people in our lives. The disciples in the Gospel account from Mark are questioned by Jesus about their inability to see the temptation in the leaven of the Pharisees which the dailyexegesis blog identifies as blatant legalism and hypocritical actions. Those who parse their spiritual journey into what I will do to follow the rules of God and what I am then left to do for me are stuck in the process leading to sin explained in the letter of James. The leaven of Herod which seeks a powerful leader to compel people to live a righteous life is another temptation to reduce the invitation of an intimate relationship with Jesus in communion with the whole world to an enforcement of morality. The path which Jesus invites the disciples to see and the Word he calls them to hear is in His action to bring love, mercy and compassion to all. The baskets of broken pieces were twelve for the tribes of Israel and seven, the number symbolic of completeness, for the rest of the world. Pray with the psalmist that we are restored to the journey when our feet are slipping. 

Humble eyes see

The action of God in our lives can be unseen. The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today offer us some food for thought and reflection on this possibility. The first letter of James addresses some of the blocks which may have hidden the role of God from us. Faith is required and built often from the position where we fall on our knees. This opportunity to let God is identified by Marcia Shadle Cusic of CreightonUniversity as finding joy when we encounter difficulties and trials in life. The time frame in which we demand answers from God is often like that of the Pharisees in the Gospel today from Mark. Our blindness to what we have seen, heard and experienced prior to our time of questioning seems to brazen our demand that God act now. The child sometimes runs out of patience with the parent even though the long wait or the travelling to a destination is planned by the parent to lead to joy. The gift of humility opens our eyes to the reality that our life is gift which is not earned by our efforts. Our riches of power, privilege and prestige boil off and we are reduced to faith that the One Who Loves continues to have our joy as the outcome of the journey. Don Schwager quotes the words of Theresa of Avila who thanks God who never changes and gives us patience to see the will of God unfold in our lives. In harmony with the psalmist we faithfully give thanks for the humility that brings us back to living in the knowledge of the Love of God.

Filling the Law full

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today illuminate the difficulty of applying law to the behaviour of people. The Wisdom of Sirach which Friar Jude Winkler notes was written during the time of domination of Palestine by Greek rulers is a presentation of the quality of Jewish wisdom and thought in an environment dominated by Greek influence. The choice of life or death which echoes Deuteronomy and the freedom given to people to follow the guidance of God or to go on a path to death without the Wisdom of God is one which has prompted the question to God and religious leaders of what it is we must do to follow God. The psalmist prays that God teach him the ways of His statutes. The application of the Law seems to be at question here. Teachers often struggle to have their students move under the guidance of the spirit of the rules rather than the letter of the rubric. DrPeter Pett in his commentary on Matthew 5.17-48 describes Jesus as filling the law full and bringing out its deeper meaning. The details of regulations, which Friar Jude reminds us preoccupied the Pharisees who applied the tithe rule to grains of salt and leaves of mint, may give us excuses to forget compassion, mercy and love as we work to draw people to a law of love which Paul reminds the Corinthians that the wise of his age could not see or hear because Jesus who lived the fulfillment of law died on the cross as witness to the Divine Will of Love as the Law fulfilled. Joan Blandin Howard of Creighton University tells of a proceeding at court which is oppressively legal yet concludes with an enormous need to be filled with love, forgiveness and compassion for be anywhere near the justice of God. Our intention and our movement toward the treatment of the other as less than a child of God which we do by relating with them for our benefit, satisfaction or justification is the attitude which Jesus identifies as sinful anger, lust and deceit.  Joy J. Moore asks “What Is the Lord's Justice?” as she writes that Jesus exercises authority over the household laws and customs to call to account male privilege and lust. These sins, she notes, which start in the heart, cut to the most-intimate relationships.  Sirach reminds us: Choose wisely. Act rightly.

We have the perfect amount

The texts today from the Roman CatholicLectionary describe episodes which are specific and which prompt us to reflect on broad principles important to our lives as believers. Friar Jude Winkler explains how the eventual destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians is linked in Jewish belief to the actions of Jeroboam, the first king of the northern kingdom. He built altars in Dan and Bethel where God could be worshipped by the people of his kingdom. This would prevent them from going to Jerusalem and being seduced by the great city into reestablishing loyalty to the dynasty of Solomon. The broad principle of where is God worshipped is our reflection. Friar Jude suggests that there were many hill top locations in the land, at the time of Jeroboam, where people could go to experience closeness to God. We struggle today with the need to attend Church. We can find God at the seashore, in the woods and at the mall. The nature of the gift of Presence in our Eucharistic gathering is proclaimed by Don Schwager as the intimate union with Christ. He describes the feeding of the four thousand in the Gospel of Mark today as a prefiguring of the Eucharistic celebration. The significant symbolic meaning of the location of this nature miracle in pagan territory and use of the number seven in relation to the fish and the left over baskets is explained by Friar Jude as the perfect food (seven is the perfect number) offered to the entire world through the seven remaining baskets. Kyle Lierk of CreightonUniversity is reminded of the deep hospitality of poor people who invited him to come and eat when they had very little. Our food and possessions are for sharing. We have the perfect amount right now to give to others. When we call and invite others to share we present the love and compassion of Jesus that works miracles.