Transcend to Isaiah 58 living

The message of the texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today urges us to consider the deep implications and opportunities to draw closer to God through actions which place service of the poor, oppressed, disadvantaged and outcast as action in our daily life. Our practice of fasting is a discipline of cleansing. Barbara Dilly of Creighton University declares that the words from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah today really kick our butts. The situation which surrounded the people of Jerusalem when they returned from exile in Babylon is, according to Friar Jude Winkler, the background for the text today which was written at that time. The promise of a restored Jerusalem seems distant to the returnees. They are drawn to ritual fasting as a way to seek the support of God. This discipline of clearing out the distractions which come from our over consumption and over concern with our own comfort is a personally healthy exercise. We can give some food and clothing away from our excess as we are moved toward the social justice described in Isaiah. The transcendent call of Jesus, who is presented as the Bridegroom in the passage from the Gospel of Matthew today, is to action of mercy, compassion, inclusion and generosity which becomes our live style. Self denial through ritual fasting is very appropriate for times of mourning in life, as Friar Jude comments. Our awareness of others and other movements which are not centered on us is the first step to the life change which brings our action toward the people we encounter closer to the model set by Jesus, our transcendent power to carry out the fast which brings the justice described in the Book of Isaiah.

Choose to serve

The psalm today in the texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today is entitled The Two Ways. It is Psalm 1 and the choices offered are the happiness of those who delight in the Law of the Lord or the dispersion and destruction which befalls those who follow the path of the wicked. Friar Jude Winkler comments on the blessings and curses which are associated with the Covenant between God and his people expressed in the words from the Book of Deuteronomy which was written when the Israelites were facing a conquering enemy who may take them into exile. The reality of life and death as the options in the words of Moses may not appear as clear to us. The Book of Deuteronomy is frequently cited by Christian Testament authors and quoted in the Gospel by Jesus. One theological study uses this Book as inspiration for development of a theology of work. It is in the workplace that the daily choices between good and evil and our daily opportunities to take up our cross and die to self as Jesus directs us to do in the Gospel today from Luke often occur. We share the experience of Edward Morse of Creighton University that the life and death choices seem distant but the decision to follow Jesus is daily and continuous. We decide not to join the scoffers and critics mentioned in Psalm 1 but to be merciful and forgiving to those we encounter. We are convinced that the path with Jesus invites us to share is living out the Words of Eternal Life and we have His intimate Presence to remind us to choose life in service of others.

Change the rhythms

The texts today in the Roman CatholicLectionary celebrate the beginning of the annual penitential season of Lent. The power of this season comes with our openness to change the rhythms of our daily life. Friar Jude Winkler reminds us that this change involves the way we think and live and our whole attitude to life. The Prophet Joel uses strong language to exhort the people of Israel to see that they had allowed God to slip from being a part of their daily consciousness. The prophet looked at natural disasters of drought and locusts as signs that following the will of the Lord was no longer the direction of His Covenant People. Commentators are stirred by the strength of the call to action of Joel which caused radical changes in behavior. The disaster to the people of Israel was averted in their return to God. Paul declares to the Corinthians that the time is now to accept the reconciliation that Jesus is with God and turn to following His Way as the path to change. The Gospel from Matthew was written to an audience with Jewish heritage after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Friar Jude notes that the rabbis had instructed the people to approach God for reconciliation of sin through the practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. These practices help to break the cycle of our daily lives which too often have little time set aside for God and others. The dilemma of modern life in serving perceived family need is identified by Diane Jorgensen of Creighton University as being really busy and needing the pause to come home and rediscover a rhythm which includes prayer, self denial and presence with others. Happy homecoming this Lent.

Holy and transformed

The first letter of Peter in the texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today reminds us of the long history of our relationship with God which includes the Prophets of ancient Israel who looked to the time of Jesus when the means of being transformed into holiness as God is holy would be revealed. Friar Jude Winkler tells us that the Letter of Peter refers to the Book of Leviticus in the directive to be holy as God is holy. The Gospel from Mark today presents some apparent difficulty of Peter in understanding the theme in Jesus teaching of releasing our hold on the material things of life. The reflection of JohnMcKinnon on this passage of the Gospel is entitled Finding True Family. He associates the hundredfold of “houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions” (Mark 10:30) with transformation to seeing community through the eyes of God. This revelation of the unique dignity given humanity, created in the image of God, is visible through the grace of God in the hundredfold who Peter knows in the immediate followers of Jesus but also through growth in holiness we can see the Love of God for all in all people and through all circumstances of persecution. Don Schwager reminds us that should we not be surprised if we lose favor and experience ridicule, intimidation, and injury when we take a stand for truth and righteousness in the light of our vision of others with the eyes of God. As Amy Hoover of CreightonUniversity wrestles with the nature of holiness, she finds some experience of the Divine in living the tensions and contradictions which are the life of the believer. The first will be last, the last first but John McKinnon notes that this is not a replacement of the rich with the poor but a movement of rich and poor to a realization that in the hundredfold of followers of Jesus there is no division based on power, privilege or position. The Kingdom to which we are invited is the transformation in holiness which the Prophets foresaw.

Release our hold

The texts today from the Roman CatholicLectionary invite us to consider growing in our relationship with Jesus through a change in our attitude and experience. The Gospel from Mark places Jesus on a journey and we as His followers should expect that we journey and change scene and encounter different circumstance and people as we move toward the glory of intimacy with God which gives us dignity and life as proclaimed today in the first letter of Peter. According to Friar Jude Winkler, some Scripture scholars question the authorship of the Letter of Peter because of the quality of the Greek and the nature of the theology. Silvanus, who put the ideas of Peter into Greek was likely responsible for the quality writing. Our assumption that God may not have used a Galilean fisherman to express such a marvelous heritage from God is questioned by Friar Jude as being a fault with our reasoning. The change in our attitude encouraged by this letter goes deeper to the mystery of how we need to be open to share in suffering in the cross carried by Jesus. Our tendency to turn away from personal hardship may be a choice to turn away from greater intimacy with the Shepherd who is inviting us into His ministry. GregO'Meara, S.J. of Creighton University is hopeful that the rich young man who addresses Jesus on the road may not have gone away forever. He reminds us of our experience that God does not give up on us. The events and circumstances of our lives continue to invite us to join His mission. The reflection of Don Schwageron this passage from Mark reminds us that it is not only wealth which we hold onto and thereby chose over Jesus but our habits, passions, privileges and positions are too often placed above the invitation of Jesus to join Him on the journey. With wealth and the other tokens which fill our concerns, it is not so much having them that is the problem as it is holding on to them when our growth to glory invites us to let them go.

A Divine Look at Anxiety

Anxiety is a debilitating condition. The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary offer us a look at our anxiety from a position of relationship with God. Friar Jude Winkler tells us that the passage from the Prophet Isaiah comes from the Babylonian exile when the Jewish people questioned whether they had been forgotten by God. The author of this text uses the image of God as nursing mother to convey how closely God is connected to our daily needs in our relationship with the Divine. The actions of the Apostle Paul which are recorded in the Christian Testament are clearly those of a faithful servant to the commission of Jesus to bring the Good News to all. Paul prepared and acted with both prudence and under the guidance of Providence. He tells the Corinthians that he must leave the judgment of his actions to God. One source of our anxiety is the judgment of our actions by others and by God. We become anxious over rejection, criticism, our reputation, legacy and pride. We are concerned that we may be discovered to be negligent, a fraud or a sinner. The application of the proclamation by Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew that we cannot serve two masters may be a key to addressing some of the anxiety over our actions. When we respond to the invitation to be servant of the Will of God and seek out the humility, sincerity, wisdom, patience and perseverance which is antidote to anxiety, we rest in the peace experienced by Dan Clendenin and practice the discipline of St Ignatius, cited by Andy Alexander, S.J. ofCreighton University, that we should therefore use those things which help us achieve the end for which we are created and that we should shun those things which get in the way of our fulfilling our purpose. 

Let the children come

The mystery of dependence on Jesus is a reflection for us from the texts today in the Roman Catholic Lectionary. The letter from James encourages us to pray for healing when we are suffering. Our dependence is not passive. We are encouraged to act to bring those needing healing to the presbyters who will, as Friar Jude Winkler notes, stand in the person of Christ to make visible the action of God in our lives through a sacramental anointing. The continuing mission is to act to gather the lost and misdirected by sin back to the community which witnesses to Christ. The witness we choose to give to Christ may miss the point as Mark A. Copeland notes in his exegesis of the Gospel today from Mark. Jesus disciples act with mistaken zeal to keep the parents from bringing children to touch Jesus as He shared the healing power of God. The author describes Jesus as using His displeasure or anger with the actions of the disciples as a learning opportunity for them. When we allow our attempts to act for Jesus to depend on Him rather than our impulses or assumptions we will be more genuine in the message we send to others. This dependence is shown as loving action in support of those who, like little children, are completely dependent and whom we might on our own mission ignore. In addition, as Chris Duffy, S.J of Creighton University identifies, we are invited by Jesus to return to the childlike dependence on loving parents which makes each day filled with the joy of discovery and the peace of knowing we are loved. Don Schwager identifies the challenge we may have with the exuberance and impatience of youth who are the children in the faith which bring so much more to our communities than the behavior natural for their stage in life which annoys us. Depend on Jesus that our encounter with people He puts in our lives is opportunity to grow in intimacy with Him