MUSINGS

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Readings: Acts of the Apostles 6:1-7; Psalm 33; 1 Peter 2:4-9; John 14:1-12

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      “Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God…”

      What is that spiritual house where a holy priesthood offers sacrifices? It is the temple. We are being built into a house where worship takes place, where sacrifice is offered to God! We are being built into the very temple of God, with Jesus Christ as the cornerstone.

      Later, in the same reading, Peter says, “You are ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises’ of him who called you…”

      We are both the temple and the priesthood within the temple where we are to offer sacrifice and announce the praises of God!

      Jesus talks in the Gospel about the fact that “in my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.” That house is again referring to His temple in heaven. In Jerusalem, the Temple had many rooms where people could gather to worship in small groups. Jesus continues, “I am going to prepare a place for you…and take you to myself.” He will take us to Himself in the heavenly temple.

      In the book of Revelation it talks about the fact that the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb (Jesus) are the temple in the city of God. When we will some day enter the presence of God in heaven, we will be entering into the heavenly temple and become part of the ongoing worship there.

      In the Gospel, Thomas says, “we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus replies that He is the way, but He is also the destination! Our journey in this life is to prepare us to be the priesthood that offers worship in the heavenly temple, who is Jesus!

      As Christians, we live in Him now. Are we living our call to be priests and offer praise and sacrifice to our Lord? What is the sacrifice? It is our very lives! What else do we have to give that would be pleasing to God, that would be acceptable in the throne room/temple of heaven? Our prayers rise like incense. Let the offerings of ourselves as living sacrifices be acceptable to God.

      We walk in newness of life because of Easter. We have been “called out of darkness into his wonderful light.” Let us live the life He has called us to here on earth so that we will be prepared to one day stand before the throne and offer continual praise to the Father and the Lamb as His holy priesthood for eternity.

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Fourth Sunday of Easter

Readings: Acts of the Apostles 2:14a, 36-41; Psalm 23; 1 Peter 2:20b-25; John 10:1-10

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      “The Lord is my shepherd …”

      This Sunday is also called Good Shepherd Sunday and all of the readings center around that theme. Our Psalm response today is from Psalm 23, one of the most recognized and loved of the Scriptures in the Old Testament. A few things in that reading stood out to me that I had not really thought about before.

      “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” “He gives me repose.” “He refreshes my soul.”

      In the Gospel reading, Jesus talks about leading His sheep out of the sheepfold. Where does He lead us? To places of repose and refreshment. Do we recognize those in our daily lives? The times when we have a quiet place to rest in Him, to restore our souls? When we have a quiet moment when we can sit with the Scriptures on our porch swing, enjoying a warm evening breeze, or when we stop into an empty church and kneel before the tabernacle. These are the moments He gives us to refresh us, to restore us.

      “He guides me in right paths.” “Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil for you are at my side.”

      If we are attuned to the Spirit, He will guide us in right paths. In another place in Scripture, it says, “We had all gone astray like sheep.” We keep getting that metaphor comparing us to sheep. Sheep are stupid. They follow the crowd, no matter where it goes, even when the destination is not good.

      When I used to watch the news at night, sometimes I saw how easy it was to compare us to sheep. We too readily follow the crowd and end up in some pretty stupid places. Even there, God promises to be with us. “You are at my side.” Even in that dark valley where I have journeyed in my stupidity or where circumstances beyond my control have taken me, You are there with me.

      I read once that if a sheep kept wandering off, the shepherd would sometimes break its leg and then carry it. While this apparently is an “urban legend,” it still illustrates the point of how Christ sometimes works in our lives. Usually, it is our own sin that damages us and takes us to dark places. The lessons we learn in those dark valleys are hard, but Jesus is still there with us, even more intimately than we ever realized. He wants to take us through to the other side, but sometimes the only way we’re going to make it is if we desperately cling to Him.

      “You spread the table before me in the sight of my foes.” Even when God provides abundantly for us, the wolf is sometimes right at our door. Will we focus on the invader who waits outside, or do we focus on our provider Who joins us at table?

      “Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life.” With God at my side, I should not fear. His kindness leads me to repentance. His goodness overwhelms me with the knowledge that I am loved by Him. Jesus tells us, “I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

      Let us today walk with our shepherd into the abundance He has for us: mercy and grace and peace and joy, even in the midst of dark valleys, but also in those places of repose.

      Good Shepherd, lead us.

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Third Sunday of Easter

Readings: Acts of the Apostles 2:14, 22-33; Psalm 16; 1 Peter 1:17-21; Luke 24:13-35

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      “May your people exult forever, O God, in renewed youthfulness of spirit…”

      Thus begins the Collect, the opening prayer for today’s Liturgy. Our “youthfulness of spirit” is renewed by our celebration of the mysteries of Easter! We are made new again!

      I am continually amazed at the concept: that Christ renews us by this celebration of His passion, death, and resurrection. Day to day, I forget that I am renewed in Christ. I need to be reminded by the psalmist that I should “set the Lord ever before me; with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.”

      We live in some disturbing times right now. It is so easy to look at the world and begin to fear. Fear is not of God. Fear is the weapon of the enemy. With God on my side, “I shall not be disturbed.”

      The psalmist goes on to say, “Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices, my body, too, abides in confidence; because you will not abandon my soul…” In the conclusion of today’s reading from the psalm, the Psalmist declares, “You will show me the path of life, abounding joy in your presence…”

      I wonder if I had been one of those two disciples on the road to Emmaus, would I, too, have been overwhelmed at the thoughts of all that was happening in their world, and would I have begun to lose hope in what I thought was the answer? Jesus, when he appears to them, tells them, “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe…”

      Even as He spoke and continued to reveal God’s plan to them, I can imagine that what began to well up inside them was hope. “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”

      Can we turn to Him now and ask Him to accompany us on the way and open the Scriptures to us so that we would once again walk in the hope He gives? St Peter tells us, “if you invoke as Father him who judges impartially…conduct yourselves with reverence during this time of your sojourning, realizing that your were ransomed from your futile conduct… [with] the precious blood of Christ.” The apostle goes on to say that Christ was revealed to us “so that your faith and hope are in God.”

      Let us continue to call on God our Father to reveal the truth of His Son to us, so that as we walk on our Emmaus rode of life, our eyes would be opened to the truth of Who Christ is for us and how He desires to give us hope even in the darkest of times. He is our hope. We shall not be disturbed.

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Second Sunday of Easter (Sunday of Divine Mercy)

Readings: Acts of the Apostles 2:42-47; Psalm 118; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31

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      “Awe came upon everyone…”

      This was the life of the early church, shortly after Peter’s preaching to the crowds on Pentecost Sunday. They were filled with awe.

      Is this our Easter experience? Are we filled with awe at the mystery of what Jesus has done for us? Do we even understand what it is that Jesus has done?

      In John’s Gospel, he tells us, “these (things) are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.”

      Are we too much like Thomas and have to have everything spelled out in black and white for us to truly believe, or can the word of the testimony of the Apostles move us to belief?

      St. Peter tells us that, “our Lord Jesus Christ…in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

      “In His great mercy…” Today, we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, and we especially recognize that it is in God’s great mercy that He reaches out to us and offers us this new life.

      We live that new life now. We live it in faith, but it is a reality, not just a wish for the future. We must walk in that truth, although, as St. Peter goes on to tell us, “for a little while you may have to suffer through various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith…” may be tested and strengthened, and we believe that Christ will bring us through to the end.

      St. Peter continues, “Although you have not seen him you love him; even though you do not see him now yet believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, as you attain the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

      Rejoice with “indescribable and glorious joy,” for you have been redeemed! You have been bought with the price of the precious blood of Jesus, who died for you, and rose again that you may have life! Believe that Christ stands before you now and breathes on you and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

      Live in the resurrection as if you truly believe He has won the victory for you. Your sins are forgiven. The Spirit dwells in you. Your life is new. Go in peace.

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Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord

Readings: Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Psalm 118; Colossians 3:1-4 or 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8; John 20:1-9

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      He is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

      This is the Easter proclamation, the culmination of the entire liturgical year and the height of our faith. We are Easter people. Christ’s resurrection is our hope that we can live with God for eternity.

      In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter proclaims that he and his companions have been “commissioned to preach to the people and testify that he [Jesus] is the one appointed by God as judge,” and that “everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.”

      We were not witnesses to the resurrection, but we have the testimony of those who were witnesses of what happened. How Christ, now raised from the dead, offers us forgiveness for our sins. He has paid the blood price. We need not dwell any more under the weight of our sins. His death and resurrection have set us free! We can now walk as His children in the light.

      In the reading from Colossians, Paul tells us, “you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” And then, “if you were raised with Christ…when Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.”

      When we look at those first witnesses, we see that they did not immediately believe. According to the Gospel of John, when “Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb…she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, ‘They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.’”

      Mary Magdalene did not yet understand the resurrection. And when Peter and John arrive at the tomb, they enter and see the burial cloths but no body. It then says, “For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”

      It is only over the course of the next 40 days that they will all come to understand what has happened this day. Some will learn sooner, as Mary, weeping in the garden that day, would encounter the Lord. That evening, as we will read in next week’s Gospel, Jesus will appear to the Apostles, and still they will not fully understand.

      How difficult it is for us to take all of this in. We only have the word of those witnesses to lead us to the truth, but we also have the Holy Spirit to guide us, to help us see the truth. Christ is risen! We no longer need to fear. Our life is new! We can walk away from the past and begin anew as the children of God. Rejoice, little ones. Rejoice! Today is the day of salvation. Alleluia!

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Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord

Readings: Matthew 21:1-11; Isaiah 50:4-7; Psalm 22; Philippians 2:6-11; Matthew 26:14-27:66

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      “And when He entered Jerusalem the whole city was shaken and asked, ‘Who is this?’”

      I had never before noticed this line in the Gospel that is proclaimed at the beginning of the Palm Sunday celebration. There were still so many people at that time that were not aware of Jesus or His ministry. Those who had heard Him speak had come out, proclaiming Him the Messiah by throwing down their cloaks, then waving branches as He passed by to enter the city.

      I always thought it was an odd contrast that on this occasion so many would cry out that Jesus was the Messiah and yet only days later, they would be in the crowd in front of Pilate demanding that Jesus be crucified. Maybe, more realistically, it was the many who did not know Him that cried for his death, while those who had followed Him were lost in the noise of the crowd that Friday in front of Pilate.

      I know we humans are fickle. One minute, we honor God; the next minute, we are in open rebellion against Him because His will does not fit our plans. Perhaps it’s worse to be a follower of Jesus and then, when the crowd around us completely rejects Him, we fear to stand up for Him and let our voices be heard, acclaiming His kingship in our lives.

      We are called daily to take up our crosses. It is only through the cross that we can find resurrection and new life. We can’t bypass the cross. Jesus “emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,” says the reading from St. Paul to the Philippians. Then it continues, He “humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.”

      Are we daily emptying ourselves of our own plans and desires and even our own ego, and joining with Christ in carrying His cross so that we can reach our resurrection? Will we stand for Christ when all those around us reject Him? Will we walk that road to Calvary with Him?

       Even Peter, in his bravado, said, “Though all may have their faith in you shaken, mine will never be.” I can imagine the look of love that Jesus must have given Peter at that moment, knowing how fickle even his heart could be, this one whom Jesus had called to lead His church. “Oh, Peter, if you only knew the truth of your heart,” I can imagine Jesus thinking, “you would not be so ready to speak.”

      In the Gospel, Jesus tells His disciples, “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” How true that is at times for us too. Let us pray today that God will strengthen our mortal bodies to be able to heed the call of the Spirit, knowing what St. Paul told us last Sunday in his letter to the Romans, that the Spirit will “give life to our mortal bodies” so that we do not have to shrink before our adversaries in the world, but we can stand tall and proclaim that our redemption is at hand.

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Fifth Sunday of Lent

Readings: Ezekiel 37:12-14; Psalm 130; Romans 8:8-11; John 11:1-45

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      “Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people! I will put my spirit in you that you may live…”

      When I read that Scripture from Ezekiel today, it occurred to me that the writer was not talking about physical death, but spiritual death. We who live in this world are often found dead in our sin, but God has promised to raise us up.

      In St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, he explains this more clearly: “But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness.” Then he continues: “…the One who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also.”

      God, our Father, Christ, His Son, and the Holy Spirit desire to give us life, even when we are dead in our sins! Now, what must we do to receive that life?

      Jesus tells us in the Gospel what we must do when he addresses Martha’s concern about the seemingly impossible: “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?” Belief here is more than just mental assent. It is accepting wholeheartedly the truth and living in that truth. It is not just our minds that must believe, but our bodies must show that belief in the actions that we perform. Will we leave behind sin and darkness and the death that it produces, and will we repent and turn to God and His righteousness? It is then we shall see the glory of God!

      Turn now to Jesus and ask Him to bring you to life. Repent of your sins and confess to Him that you will not return to them again. Walk into the new life that He has promised you. It is only a prayer away.

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Fourth Sunday of Lent

Readings: 1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41

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      “The spirit of the Lord rushed upon David.”

      When I read the story of Samuel’s anointing of David, I find myself imagining what must have been going through Samuel’s mind. God had spoken to him and told him that he would find the next ruler of Israel among the sons of Jesse, but God did not initially reveal to him which one. When Samuel arrived at Jesse’s house, he must have been relieved to see Eliab, who, in his opinion, looked regal enough.

      But he heard the voice of God telling him this was not the one. As Jesse presented each of his sons to Samuel, I’m sure Samuel was becoming more uncomfortable as God showed him that each of these was not the one he was to anoint.

      When Jesse had finished with the seven sons he had who were present in the house, I’m sure Samuel was anxious. Is this it? In desperation, he asks, “Are these all the sons you have?”

      God shows He is faithful. As David makes his appearance, a young lad who has been out in the fields and probably has no idea what is going on at his house, Samuel immediately hears the voice of God, telling him, “This is the one.” I’m sure it is with a great deal of relief that he brings out the oil and anoints the young man. Then we are told the most amazing thing happens: “from that day on, the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David.”

      What a choice of verb! The spirit rushed! Didn’t just settle on him, but rushed on him, probably overwhelming him with the sense of His presence. How David must have reacted! I imagine David had a strong prayer life, spending his days in the field, praying and making music to the Lord, but this moment significantly changed him and deepened his faith—his relationship with the Lord.

      In the psalm, we hear words spoken by a man who has a deep faith, who understands how much God loves him. “Beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul.” Then, “even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil.” Finally, “only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life.”

      Here was a man who experienced what we hear in the later readings. “Now you are light in the Lord,” says St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians.

      In the Gospel, the theme of walking in the light continues. The man born blind is given his sight, and not only does he physically see, but he also begins to see with eyes of faith. He challenges the leaders of the synagogue: “This is what is so amazing, that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes.” They have chosen darkness over light. They do not desire to see the truth. If they do, they will have to re-evaluate everything in their own lives and that is not something they want to do.

      Jesus knows this man is ready to hear more truth, so He seeks him out and reveals Himself fully to him as the Messiah. For the Pharisees that overhear his conversation, He has a stern rebuke: “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.”

      How often do we find ourselves not wanting to see the truth because it is inconvenient or we think it will be too hard to change our lives; that we are comfortable where we are? If God opens our eyes to the truth, I pray that we can humbly accept it and thus receive all that God has to offer us.

      Like Samuel, we must trust God, even when we are in darkness, knowing that He will reveal the light to us in His time. Like David, we must prepare out hearts so that we can move into God’s plan for our lives when the Spirit should rush on us, and like the man born blind, we must fall at the feet of Jesus and worship Him for the gift of spiritual sight that He has given us.

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Third Sunday of Lent

Readings: Exodus 17:3-7; Psalm 95; Romans 5:1-2, 5-8; John 4:5-42

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      “Give me a drink.” So starts the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman.

      The woman is at first surprised that a stranger should speak to her, especially because she could see that He was a Jew and they did not associate with the Samaritans. As they converse, her early remarks are snide, almost making fun of him: “you do not even have a bucket…where then can you get this…water.”

      Jesus patiently begins to explain to her what He means; how she can experience the salvation He offers her. He even reveals to her things about her past that maybe nobody knows but her. Still, she has animosity toward him. “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say…”

      Finally, her heart is softened enough that, when she says she knows “that the Messiah is coming,” Jesus declares openly what we do not often hear Him say in the Scriptures: “I am He.”

      I wonder sometimes why Jesus had to reveal something about her past to help open her eyes to Who He really was. Was it just to prove that He, as the Messiah, knew things that most people did not know? Or was there something more going on here?

      I read something that Pope Benedict XVI wrote that implies that he believed the woman had been searching for something for a long time, something to fill what our pastor said in his sermon was “the God-shaped hole” in her life. Already having had six partners, she was “looking for love in all the wrong places,” as the old saying goes.

      How many of us search for something to fill that void in our own lives? We try to fill it with wealth, or possessions, or food, or sex, or prestige, or power, but nothing satisfies. Those things that we rely on to solve our problems, like any addiction, will only make us want to have more once we have gotten a taste for them, but they will not fill that hole.

      Our pastor also quoted St. Augustine in his sermon, from his famous Confessions: “Our heart is restless, until it rests in Thee.” Only God can fill that vacuum in our lives. We can try to satisfy our thirst with other things, but we will always fail until we face the fact that only Jesus can fill that void.

      Too often, we harden our hearts as is described in the psalm about the Israelites in the desert. In the first reading, we hear that they grumbled and complained about Moses so much so that he was afraid they would stone him! They were focused only on a temporal resolution to their need. In the temptation in the desert that we heard in the Gospel two weeks ago, Jesus reminds us that “one does live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

      We need the Word of God in our lives, and this week, Jesus wants to take us deeper. He wants us to experience the life-giving waters of the Spirit. He offers them freely to us as He did to that Samaritan woman so long ago.

      In the reading from Romans, it says, “the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

      If we can recognize that the thirsts we have in this life can only be quenched by God, we can turn to Him and ask Him to pour out His Holy Spirit on us now. St. Paul tells us in Romans that the Spirit is now available to us because Jesus died for us “while we were still sinners.”

      Do not fear to approach God and ask Him to pour out His Spirit on you. Know that, even though you are a sinner, Jesus “thirsts” to give you the life-giving waters of the Spirit. These same waters wash away your sins and make you new. Ask Him for these waters today.

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Second Sunday of Lent

Readings: Genesis 12:1-4a; Psalm 33; 2 Timothy 1:8b-10; Matthew 17:1-9

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      “And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light.”

      The familiar story of the transfiguration is our Gospel reading for this Second Sunday of Lent. When I listened to the words of the readings today, a few little things stood out to me, but the one thing that struck me the most came from the priest’s sermon. Christmas was not too long ago and we remember how Jesus came to live as a man like us, but His purpose wasn’t just to show us how to live well as humans. His transfiguration today gives us a hint to the deeper meaning of why He came. His desire is to transfigure us, to transform us to be like Him so that we would experience His divine life in our own lives today.

      In the day-to-day of life, I think we forget—I know I forget—that it’s not all about us. God has called us to a life of good works, but in doing those good works, we tend to forget that everything is not dependent on us. No, everything is dependent on God, and it is His desire that we would experience His glory even now in this life so that we would be able to walk through these things in our life in the light of His glory.

      In the reading from Timothy, it says, “He saved us and called us to a holy life…according to His own design.” So, we must “bear [our] share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.”

      As Abram was called to a new life in the reading from Genesis, so are we called to a new life in Christ. To leave behind all that we know and embark on a journey to a new land, a land that He has called us to.

      How do we see that in our daily lives? In the Collect, we pray, “nourish us inwardly by your word, that, with spiritual sight made pure, we may rejoice to behold your glory.” Again, in the closing prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours this morning, we pray, “Open our hearts to the voice of your Word and free us from the original darkness that shadows our vision. Restore our sight that we may look upon your Son who calls us to repentance and a change of heart.”

      Today is a day for us to be transfigured, to be transformed from who we were into who the Son desires us to be. To walk from darkness into His marvelous light, the light shining forth from His face that will make us new creations in Him.

      That will begin for us a journey that may take us to places we never thought we would go, but if we go in the light of Christ, in His strength, we will not falter or fail. It is a daily thing; we must allow Christ to transform us each day, to make us new each morning, so that we would continue to gaze on His glory and not be turned away from it by lesser things, and so, lose our way.

      Let Him transfigure you today so that you may become more like Him just as He became one like us. Fix your eyes upon Him, as it says in the psalm, so that He may deliver you and preserve your life. “Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.”

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First Sunday of Lent

Readings: Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7; Psalm 51; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11

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      “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.”

      I understand it is tradition to start the first week of Lent with the reading from the Gospels about Christ’s temptation in the desert. As a man, Jesus was tempted with the things that all men are tempted with: desire to satisfy the cravings of the flesh, desire for attention and notoriety, and finally, desire for power. Here, he sets the pattern for us to follow, to show us that first of all, these things will not lead to our happiness, and secondly, that the devil can be defeated and we can triumph in each of these areas of our life.

      I find it interesting that the devil uses Scripture to entice our Lord to deviate from God’s plan for His life. Beware of those who use what seems good to tempt you away from what God has called you to do.

      I also find it comforting to know that, in the end, after defeating Satan’s attempts to divert Him and His mission, Jesus was ministered to by angels. Trust that God will minister comfort to you as you resist the devil in your life.

      St. Paul gives us a hint about why Jesus had to endure the temptations of the enemy. He says, “just as through one transgression, condemnation came upon all, so through one righteous act, acquittal and life came to all.”

      Jesus is not only setting the pattern for how He wants us to act in the face of temptation, but He is also telling us that because He has done this, He will give us the strength to do it as well.

      When we think of being tested, what usually comes to mind for me are the tests I used to take in school. I had to work hard to prepare for the test, then it was up to me to do the best I could in order to earn the good grade. That is NOT the kind of testing God does with us.

      Maybe we should liken it more to something like taking a heart stress test. Yes, there are ways to prepare for it, but you certainly can’t cram the night before in order to do well on that test. The purpose of the test is to show the current condition of the person and to see areas where there could be changes made to improve their health, and if immediate intervention is needed, the doctor is there to offer his services.

      So, I believe, it is with Jesus. He wants us to prepare for the tests that will come our way by being spiritually “fit.” But when the tests come, it’s not up to us to prove how well we studied or how smart we are that will make the difference. The tests will instead show our spiritual “health” and even whether we might need some immediate divine intervention. We can trust that the divine Physician is there to aid us.

      In the Psalm response, it says, “For I acknowledge my offense, and my sin is before me always.” It continues by telling me that I am not the one who has to “fix” this. I throw myself on the mercy of my loving Father and say, “a clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me.”

      Make no mistake about it: as a Christian, we will be tested by the devil. We do need to be prepared, through prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and knowledge of the Word, but it is only the power of God that will defeat the devil.

      So, when we are in the midst of temptation, call out to the Lord, knowing that He is ready to answer us in our time of need. As we resist the devil, he will flee from us. Then God will send His angels to minister to us.

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Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings: Sirach 15:15-20; Psalm 119; 1 Corinthians 2:6-10; Matthew 5:17-37

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      “If you choose, you can keep the commandments.” Thus opens the first reading today with this startling revelation. “If you choose…” You can have the power to say “yes” to God and be obedient to His commandments, but it is your choice. And later it says, “whatever he chooses shall be given to him.”

      “Before man are life and death, good and evil…” God is very clear about the choices before us, and Jesus is very clear in the Gospel about what constitutes sin. It’s not just disobeying the letter of the law. Jesus wants us to look deeper and think broader about what it means to follow Him. He wants us to have a mature wisdom, not a wisdom of this age, as St. Paul tells us in the letter to the Corinthians.

      We live in a culture that likes to make excuses for why we can’t follow the Lord wholeheartedly. We rationalize our sin and say we’re good enough if we don’t do the really bad things, like killing someone. Yet Jesus tells us that we are just as liable if we are angry with someone. He cuts us no slack when it comes to sin.

      So, how can we measure up to this One who tells us, “No one does He command to act unjustly, to none does He give the license to sin”? In our own strength, we cannot succeed. We will fail. But, if we call upon Him, He will give us His strength. “I have the strength for everything though Him who empowers me,” says St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians.

      In the Psalm response today, we pray: “open my eyes that I may consider the wonders of your law.” Later in the psalm, it continues, “Give me discernment, that I may observe your law and keep it with all my heart.”

      God is waiting to give us all we need to be able to do as He commands. He does not ask of us the impossible, but He makes it possible by giving us the grace to persevere, if only we will ask for it.

      Again, in the letter to the Corinthians, He tells us, “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love Him.”

      In your prayer today, ask God to give you the mature wisdom that St. Paul talks about. Ask Him to give you the strength to defeat temptation, and so to choose life and good. In his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul tells us that God desires to lavish His grace upon us. Let Him lavish His grace on you now.

      Make no more excuses. Stop rationalizing. Call out to God and ask to be transformed by His power, to be made new, to become His child, to live a life of grace. For “all things are possible for God.”

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Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings: Isaiah 58:7-10; Psalm 112; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; Matthew 5:13-16

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      “The just man is a light in darkness.”

      We come back this week to the theme of light—specifically Christ being our light in the darkness of our sin. In Isaiah 58, we are told that if we do as God commands, light will rise for us in the darkness; in fact, it will break forth like the dawn, and our wound shall quickly be healed. We are asked to reach out to others as a way of being healed of our own sinful ways. As we experience the light, we share it with others, so that they may also walk in the light, but we also reach out to others when we are in our own darkness and God will cause light to shine for us all.

      When a man acts justly, according to the psalm, light will shine forth for him, and I believe, through him. Again, he receives a promise too: no evil report shall he fear; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.

      St. Paul explains to us the light that a just man brings. It is not human wisdom or persuasive speech. It is the power of God and the wisdom of God, all centered on the mystery of Christ’s death on the cross. We must continue to imitate that dying of Christ in our own lives in order that the power of God—the light of God—might shine forth through us. And our dying is dying to sin.

      We see that same thing explained to us by Jesus in the Gospel: if we die to ourselves and live for Christ, we will become like salt and light. And that light must not be hidden, but be allowed to shine forth in every area of our lives. In those good deeds, which are the light, others will find Christ, and we ourselves will find healing.

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Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings: Zephaniah 2:3; 3:12-13; Psalm 146; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Matthew 5:1-12a

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      “The Lord keeps faith forever.”

      I am blest and highly favored by God. Those are the words of the sermon I heard this Sunday. No matter the circumstances, I need to recognize that God is with me and will not abandon me. The blessing is not in the circumstances themselves, but in the presence of God in the midst of those circumstances, whether they appear good, or whether they appear difficult.

      “Seek justice, seek humility, perhaps you may be sheltered on the day of the Lord’s anger.” I am reminded of another Scripture that tells me to “humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and He will raise you up.” Humbling myself is acknowledging my sinfulness and giving it over to God and asking Him to forgive me, even though I sometimes have trouble forgiving myself. That is also justice: owning my sinfulness and acknowledging it, knowing that I deserve punishment. But God will shelter me on the day of His anger, when He must judge the world and those who do not repent, or who do not even know that they need to repent. I can rest in His loving arms, knowing that my sin is washed away in His loving mercy.

      “The Lord keeps faith forever, secures justice for the oppressed…the Lord sets captives free.” Because God is faithful, he will “forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.”

      “The Lord gives sight to the blind; the Lord raises up those who were bowed down.” Sin leaves me in darkness; it weighs heavy on my spirit. But with God’s forgiveness, I am once more raised up and able to walk in the light that He is.

      “Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful…God chose the foolish of the world…God chose the weak of the world…so that no human being might boast before God.” How often when we have been “successful” at living the Christian life that we pat ourselves on the back and think what a great job we’ve done. But then God allows us to be plunged once more into darkness so that we know that it is not us who makes ourselves holy. It is only Him.

      “It is due to Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us the wisdom of God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.” All that we have is from God and is because of Jesus Christ and His atoning death on the cross. “Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord.”

      There is a beautiful meditation on the beatitudes in my Magnificat devotional for today. Bishop Jacques-Benigne Bossuet, who died in 1704, talks about the sole end of man is to be happy. He says eternal happiness is the end set forth in each of the beatitudes, and that each of them is a different means to attain it. It is in heaven where we will finally be truly happy.

      When we begin to understand things from a spiritual perspective, we can more readily understand how we are blessed and highly favored even when we are going through a difficult time. No matter our circumstances, God is preparing us for the kingdom to come. Because we have so many “rough edges” due to our desire to sin, often the circumstances He takes us through are difficult, but the fruit of those experiences should be the refining of our hearts and souls so that we would become more like His son Jesus.

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Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings: Isaiah 8:23 – 9:3; Psalm 27; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17; Matthew 4:12-23

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      “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwell in the land of gloom a light has shone.”

      The darkness we walk in is our sin. When we sin, we do not see clearly like we do when we are in a state of grace. Have you ever been in a darkened room and tried to find your way? You are much less certain and much more cautious so that you won’t bump into something or trip on some obstacle. Things take on a different meaning when they are shrouded in darkness, and our environment becomes a little more frightening as objects appear to be something other than what they actually are. Sin is like that. It darkens the heart and the mind; we do not see reality around us in the same way. Instead, we are uncertain and fearful about moving forward and the things around us frighten us. When sin is washed away by the light of Christ’s forgiveness, it becomes like someone has turned on a bright light in the room. Suddenly things are clearer; we understand our surroundings better; we are more sure of our way forward.

      “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear?”

      The one we have feared is the evil one. He has spent our whole life trying to trick us into sin, and we often fall for it. When the light of Christ comes into our hearts, we need not fear him anymore. Christ’s light banishes him from our presence. If we continue to walk in that light, we need not fear his attempts to lure us into sin anymore.

      How do we walk in that light? We stay in the presence of the Lord through things like Eucharistic adoration or frequent communion or meditating on Scripture or praying throughout the day. Our hearts must be open to Christ in any circumstance we are in, so that we would be able to hear His voice and follow His ways. Then we can continue to walk in confidence in His light.

      St. Paul tells us that he was sent “to preach the Gospel, and not with wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning.”

      The cross of Christ is our salvation. It is the source of our light. If we do not embrace the cross, we will not see the light. Look at a crucifix; meditate on the image there. It has been said that if you were the only person in the world, that Christ would still have made that sacrifice. He died for you. He died for me. Why? To free us from the deserved punishment for our sins. We do not deserve salvation. We are sinful by nature, and we deserve the wrath of God, but Jesus delivered us from that once for all by His atoning death on the cross. It is because of Him that we are made free.

      We should be of one mind: the mind of Christ. Our unity is in Christ, especially present in the Eucharist. It is as we consume the Body and Blood of Christ that we become the Body of Christ, and we become one.

      We do not deserve such a gift. I pray for the day when people will come forward for communion weeping for their sins that cause them to be so separated from Christ but knowing that as they acknowledge their sinfulness and ask for God’s mercy, that He freely gives it.

      “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and I shall be healed.” I believe that the word Jesus speaks to us is, “Come.” He says, “Come unto Me all you that are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.” We should weep for the fact that God allows us to receive Himself. He holds nothing back. We who are so unworthy are like the prodigal son returning on the road to his Father. We are uncertain of our reception; we hope He will take us back and at least let us feed from the scraps of His table. Instead, He runs to us and throws His arms around us in love. We do not deserve His love, yet He freely gives it. How can we not rejoice in so great a gift?

      “Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’.”

      This is the central message of the Gospel: repent. These are the first words we see Jesus speak as he begins His public ministry. What does it mean to repent? It means to turn away; to make a 180-degree turn; to change the direction of our lives. We can’t repent until we first acknowledge our sins. We must recognize our sinfulness if we are to know God’s forgiveness.

      Our modern culture is very strong on rationalizing our actions and not taking responsibility for what we have done. When we sin, we need to see our sin, know our sin, and then we can ask Jesus for forgiveness of our sin. It is only when we take that step that we can fully experience His forgiveness and mercy.

      He waits for us to ask. He desires with all His heart to give us that forgiveness and mercy. But we find ways to avoid it so that we don’t have to acknowledge what we have done wrong.

      See your sin; admit your sin; then run to Christ with arms stretched wide, looking for His embrace. You will never be the same once you do, and you will never receive Him in the Eucharist the same way again.

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Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings: Isaiah 49:3, 5-6; Psalm 40; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3; John 1:29-34

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      “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.”

      So proclaims John the Baptist as he sees Jesus coming toward him in today’s Gospel reading. We, as Catholics, are so familiar with this phrase because we hear it each Sunday at Mass, but I’m sure to the Jews who were listening at the time, this prophetic utterance would only cause them to wonder what John meant. As time went on, and as John clearly shows in his Gospel, they gradually began to understand that this reference would be to Jesus becoming the sacrificial Lamb of the new Passover through His death and resurrection, but at the time they initially heard it, it only made them wonder what he could mean.

      In the homily I heard at Mass, the priest talked about John’s evangelizing, to point out who Jesus was to those around him. He said that we are called to do the same. I admit that idea never occurred to me when reading this Scripture in the past. But when I look at the other Scriptures for today, it becomes clearer. Isaiah proclaims, “I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” That Scripture refers to Jesus, but it also refers to us by extension as followers of Christ. And in the Psalm Response, the psalmist proclaims, ‘I announced your justice in the vast assembly.”

      We are called to proclaim the Christ and His Good News. But what is the Good News as John the Baptist proclaimed it? It is that Christ is the Lamb of God, the one who takes away the sins of the world. Christ sacrificed Himself on Calvary that we might no longer walk in darkness, but that we would live in the light. His atoning death has the power to transform us from being sinners who are lost in darkness into the very children of God! That is the Good News.

      Once we have experienced that Good News in our own life and know that Christ, by His sacrifice, has cleansed us of our sins and desires to transform us into God’s sons and daughters, how can we not want to share that with the world?

      God proclaims in the book of Revelation that “I make all things new.” As we experience this newness of life, we can’t help but share it with others. Today, ponder the Lamb of God. Meditate on an image of the crucifix and see: This is what He did for you. He bore your sins that you might be made new and become His son or daughter. Rejoice in your newness of life. Then share that with others and point to the Lamb of God, who takes away your sins.

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