No stop at the Samaritan town

The Gospel of the Evangelist Luke in the texts of the Roman Catholic Lectionary today recounts Jesus turning point in His journey to the cross to leave Galilee and “set His face” toward Jerusalem. The passage from the Hebrew Testament prepares and foreshadows the decision to answer the call with resolute action. Father Larry Gillick SJ notes that God keeps the Prophet Elijah very busy in Chapter 19 of the first Books of Kings. This business is not unlike the lives that many experience today. God wants Elijah to anoint Elisha as the successor to the great Prophet. The description of the encounter where Elijah throws his cloak, the prophetic garment, over Elisha is, according to Father Larry, a sign of taking possession. The chosen successor is a wealthy young man with twelve yoke of oxen who is now presented with a deep decision. Our decision for love is the vocation experience of our lives. When we need to respond to being taken possession by Love, our response is unpredictable. Elisha knows at least two things which we also experience. The call is for the pattern of his life to change and a decision is required. Friar JudeWinkler notes that Elisa commits to accepting the change by slaughtering the oxen and boiling the flesh. Things will never be the same again. We voice our acknowledgement of this change in our “Yes” or “I do” as we respond to the call of vocation. Paul addresses the Galatians about the nature of our call to live in freedom as disciples of Jesus. The aspect of freedom in the rituals of vocational calling is essential. We make a free choice. The concupiscence of the human person, identified by Thomas Aquinas, to pursue our passions and desires is presented by Paul as movement of the flesh contrary to the Spirit of God which directs us toward the Divine and others and away from satisfaction of our own self serving passions. Friar Jude suggests that the penitential life style is an essential practice when we set our face on our vocational journey. This life style practices denial of self so that it can become our habit. Through the penitential preparation, we are able to respond first for others and only after moving toward the other, might we be tempted to recall our passions as second choice. The response of James and John to the rejection of Jesus in the Samaritan town because of His direction to Jerusalem might be avoided through practice of empathy for the other and attempting to be in their shoes before we jump to the decision of our passion for power, privilege or prestige. Father Larry shares the advice he gives to those involved in discerning ministry in the Church that ministry is what we learn as we deal with the events of life and the interruptions of preparing for ministry. The apparent harshness of Jesus with the potential disciple who seeks to bury his father is seen in a slightly different light when Friar Jude explains the burial custom among theJews for a son to be 12 months in a process of respect for the deceased father which began after the burial which in Jewish practice occurs as soon as possible after death. This potential disciple is not seeking to follow Jesus now, but to think about it for 12 months. The life changing vocation decision is not what this person is considering. This is not a “set your face” for the life journey of Love moment. Our “I do” for the life journey has the strength of no turning back in the commitment of ourselves.

Indispensable how?

The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary are for the Eucharistic liturgy to commemorate the Apostles Peter and Paul. Episode V, THE INDISPENSABLE MEN: PETER, PAUL AND THE MISSIONARY ADVENTURE, of the magnificent video series Catholicism is previewed by Father Robert Barron in his commentary on this feast day. In the account of the life of Peter from the Acts of the Apostles, Luke describes the action of an angel of God to free Peter from imprisonment by Herod who was seeking to execute him. The psalmist praises God who finds ways to keep the righteous man from mortal harm. In the second letter to Timothy, Friar Jude Winkler indicates that Paul is aware of his coming martyrdom. His life has been poured out in marvellous service for Jesus. The journey of our life is the means whereby we are able to serve God and bring experience of His Love to others. When we review our path, we can see times when “but for the grace of God” a different outcome would have resulted from our actions. Like Peter, we can draw from our experience, events where the angel of God (perhaps our Guardian Angel?) has been an active force in the direction of our journey. Our response is thanksgiving. We can also identify with Peter at Caesarea Philippi as presented in the Gospel from Matthew when the insight of the nature of Jesus as Messiah, the Christ, comes not from the rational and considered reflection of this man but from an insight given by God to the environment of Love in which he finds himself in company with Jesus. Our response to the flash of insight from God is thanksgiving. We are capable as humans to put ourselves mentally in the place of Paul reflecting as He is on a life with a purpose. We pray that our acceptance of our mission guided by the angel of God and inspired by Divine insight will call out our “yes” to be glorified through suffering and humility as we run the race and fight the good fight.

Change to trust

The Covenant between God and Abraham is detailed in the text today from the Book of Genesis in the Roman Catholic Lectionary. God changes the names of both of both Abram and Sarai to mark the change in their lives and to indicate that they have become “father” and “woman”. Friar JudeWinkler notes that we are changed by our encounter with God. The name change isa sign of the deeper life change. The attitude of Abraham to laugh in the Presence of God is not a sign of disbelief but it does present the free disposition of Abraham in relation to God. The depth of the trust of Abraham in the promise of God is not based on any physical evidence. He trusts the Covenant that he will be the father of a multitude, yet in his life, he will know only Isaac and Ishmael as his children. We are offered this “fear of God” as the character of our relationship with the Divine. The psalmist declares the realization of the fullness of life in relationship with God through the fruit of being blessed by a good wife and children around your table. In the vocation of family builders, we are partaking in the Covenant initiated with Abraham.The Gospel of Matthew is written by a Jew to Jews in the last quarter of the first century. Friar Jude notes that after the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus teaches His fulfillment of the Law of Moses, Matthew shows the Divine authority of Jesus through ten actions which are in the realm of God. The passage today is the confirmation of the Divine power of healing in Jesus as He cures the leper. The fulfillment of the Law of Moses is in the extension of the Love and healing of God to the ritually unclean. The adherence of Jesus to the Law is demonstrated to the audience of Matthew by the instruction to the leper to show himself to the priest. The tension of change as a result of living a relationship with God is evident in the Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. Our path is shown by Jesus as one which honours and keeps the Tradition as it also fulfills our mission to be Jesus to all people. We participate through the trust of Abraham that our efforts, largely unseen, will assist to gather the family of God as numerous as the stars.

Doing His Word

The psalmist in the texts from the Roman CatholicLectionary today implores God to remember him when God shows favour to his people. The passage from the Book of Genesis describes the birth of the first son of Abraham, Ishmael. He was the son of Hagar, the Egyptian slave girl of Sarah, Abraham’s wife. Islamic tradition identifies Ishmael as the ancestor of ProphetMuhammad. Genesis presents the promise from God of a multitude of descendants to both Abraham and Hagar. The traditions of Christians, Jews, and Muslims give thanks to God as descendants of the line of Abraham. This favour to His people is the action of God which the psalmist prays will be his experience. The Gospel from Matthew today, which was written by a Jew for a Jewish audience, addresses the need for believers to strive to act according to the will of God. Jesus is teaching the people with an authority about God and His Will that the people identify as authentic. The Evangelist underlines the importance of acting on the Word and moving our lives in a direction which responds positively to our call to show the continued favour of God for His people through our example of living as Jesus disciple.

Good fruit over time

The Gospel from Matthew today in the Roman CatholicLectionary advises us to beware of false prophets and to judge the tree by its fruit. Friar Jude Winkler notes that there are many distortions of the Christian message being proclaimed today. He refers to some televangelists and preachers who proclaim particular countries as blest by God. Our discernment of good fruit includes comparing the words of the person to the example of Jesus in the Gospel. The difficulty of a view which considers one incident and does not look at the action of others over time is for us to falsely dismiss brothers and sisters who in God’s time are producing fruit for the kingdom. The act of judgement is difficult. Our own sinfulness may impact of our assessment of others. We need to be patient and allow time to help our discernment. The passage from Genesis presents the Elohist account of sealing of the Covenant between Abram and God through a vision of carcasses being passed through by God in the form of a smoking fire pot. The introduction to the promise to Abram refers to the events of Genesis Chapter 14, where Melchizedek gives thanks to God for the warrior service of Abram as he fights to return his nephew Lot who had been captured during a battle between the cities of the plain south of the Dead Sea. The hospitality and generosity of Abram are also mated with an ability to be a warrior in defense of family. The descendants promised to Abram by God are the fruit of his life. The promise will not be realized during the life of Abram yet he will demonstrate the deep trust in God which is the fertile ground for bearing the fruit of Life.

Lot in life

Someone not familiar with the phrases spoken in Western culture may wonder  if there is a connection between Lot, nephew of Abram, in the text from the Book of Genesis chosen for the Roman Catholic Lectionary today and our understanding of our “lot in life”. The MacMillan Dictionary describes some of the meanings of “lot”.  Friar Jude Winkler explains the decision of Abram and Lot to separate to deal with the very scarce pasturage and water resources of Palestine. The concept of “lot” as a small piece of land may touch the nature of the pasturage problem. Friar Jude notes the great generosity of Abram to allow the younger Lot to have first choice. Culturally, Lot should have deferred to the choice of his uncle. The decision of the nephew to “cast his lot” among the people of the plain south of the Dead Sea in Sodom will turn out to be an unfortunate decision. The promise made by God to Abram at Hebron in the hill country where he could see the land before him would not be fulfilled in the lifetime of Abram, yet the trust of the patriarch, who would be renamed Abraham, in God is an example to believers of faith beyond what our rational experiences normally allow. The nature of the believer in the promises of God is expressed by the psalmist as one who “stands by his oath even to his hurt”. The Gospel from Matthew presents some wisdom sayings which are means to encapsulate in clichés the direction offered for our lives by those who have experienced the journey before us. The disciple on the journey should not become frustrated with those who react aggressively against the message. The graphic description of pearls thrown before swine puts the responsibility for the reaction with the disciple. The “golden rule” which Jesus puts in the positive sense was offered as wisdom by Rabbi Hillel in Jerusalem at about the time of Jesus birth. The generosity of Abram, the righteousness of the believer in the psalm and the self sacrifice and detachment from material things of the traveller entering through the narrow gate will equip the disciple of today with a lot of wisdom to choose the fertile pastures for his life mission.

Baptismal mission

The Roman Catholic Lectionary presents texts today to celebrate the Nativity of St John the Baptist. This occasion offers the opportunity to recall the threefold mission of those baptized as Christians. We are anointed as priest, prophet and king. The text from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah is described by Friar Jude Winkler as belonging to the section of that Book which tells of the Suffering Servant of God to whom Jesus draws comparisons to Himself in the Gospel. This suffering servant is called from the womb to fulfill his mission to bring light of the experience of relationship with God to the people of Israel and the people of the world. This commission is in our Baptismal anointing as servant king and prophet. The sharp sword of our mouth and the polished arrow of our strength from God make up our nature as the psalmist celebrates our formation by God in the womb. Like the son of Zachariah, who is named John, in the passage from the Gospel of Luke we have a unique name given by God in the spirit of which we are called to live out our mission in life. The text from the Book of Acts is a declaration of the discernment of John the Baptist that he is not the Messiah for Israel. He is the one to announce the coming of Jesus. Friar Jude notes that the path followed by John in response to the direction of God may have taken him to the Essenescommunity of Qumran, They were a separatist Jewish sect of the Second Temple Period, a portion of whom had formed an ascetic monastic community in Qumran. Our discernment of our name and mission requires openness to the direction of the Holy Spirit, through piety and prayer of our Baptismal priesthood, to lead us through our preparation and performance of the mission written in our being by God.