Scripture Readings: Feast of Corpus Christ

First Reading: Genesis 14: 18-20

In those days, Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine, and being a priest of God Most High, he blessed Abram with these words: "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, the creator of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who delivered your foes into your hand." Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Second Reading: First Corinthians 11: 23-26

Brothers and sisters: I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you,  that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over,  took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying,  "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

Gospel: Luke 9: 11-17

Jesus spoke to the crowds about the kingdom of God, and he healed those who needed to be cured. As the day was drawing to a close, the Twelve approached him and said, "Dismiss the crowd so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms and find lodging and provisions; for we are in a deserted place here." He said to them, "Give them some food yourselves." They replied, "Five loaves and two fish are all we have, unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people." Now the men there numbered about five thousand. Then he said to his disciples, "Have them sit down in groups of about fifty." They did so and made them all sit down. Then taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. They all ate and were satisfied. And when the leftover fragments were picked up, they filled twelve wicker baskets.

Reflections:

            Today is the feast of Corpus Christi, a time to reflect upon the fact that Our Lord remains with us bodily in the form of the Eucharist. Given that, the question emerges of why we have this passage from Luke as the Gospel.

            Well, in the first place, the multiplication of the loaves is a foreshadowing of the Eucharist (in John’s Gospel it leads directly into the Bread of Life Discourse). But more specifically, what it foreshadows is the way that Jesus will, in a sense, multiply Himself. Now, obviously there aren’t multiple Jesuses running around, despite what some people seem to think. But, through the Eucharist, Jesus makes Himself present to us in a new and expanded way.

            When He was in the Flesh, Our Lord could only be in one place at a time. He could only minister to so many people, just like a piece of bread can only feed a certain number of people. That was simply the nature of His bodily existence. But in the Eucharist Christ remains present to us, and in an even more intense and intimate manner, but He is unlimited. He can be bodily present wherever the faithful gather. In multiplying the loaves, Jesus is foreshadowing the way He will distribute Himself among His followers.

            In this it is also significant that Jesus doesn’t just create enough bread to satisfy, but more than enough, so that there is a huge amount left over. In the Eucharist, He isn’t just present to us as He was on that hilltop, but present in an even closer and more immediate way. To put it bluntly, His presence ‘overflows’ just like the loaves and the fish.  

Feast of the Holy Trinity

First Reading: Proverbs 8:22-31

Thus says the wisdom of God:

"The LORD possessed me, the beginning of his ways,

the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago;

from of old I was poured forth,

at the first, before the earth.

When there were no depths I was brought forth,

when there were no fountains or springs of water;

before the mountains were settled into place,

before the hills, I was brought forth;

while as yet the earth and fields were not made,

nor the first clods of the world.

"When the Lord established the heavens I was there,

when he marked out the vault over the face of the deep;

when he made firm the skies above,

when he fixed fast the foundations of the earth;

when he set for the sea its limit,

so that the waters should not transgress his command;

then was I beside him as his craftsman,

and I was his delight day by day,

playing before him all the while,

playing on the surface of his earth;

and I found delight in the human race."

Second Reading: Romans 5: 1-5

Brothers and sisters:

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faithto this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Gospel: John 16: 12-15

Jesus said to his disciples: "I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.

He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you."

Reflections:

            One of the proofs of Christianity, to my mind, is the fact that it has so much that no one understands. The Trinity is the most prominent and obvious example. One God in Three Persons, all of whom are eternal, equal, and unified. It isn’t One God expressing Himself in three ‘personas’ or three gods united in purpose, or One God who created two other equal Gods. As a matter of fact, pretty much any explanation for it that you can come up with will be more or less wrong. No one can understand it.

            Okay, so Christians believe something that’s impossible to understand and which seems self-contradictory. Why do I consider this as evidence for Christianity? Because this is exactly what we should expect from God: that He would be beyond our understanding. The source and end of all being, the uncreated Creator, the ultimate Reality makes contact with humanity. Do we really expect to be able to understand just what He is?

            Christianity doesn’t propose to explain everything about itself, which is precisely what gives it its strength. A philosophy which purports to account for everything and explain everything is obviously false. For one thing, it expects us to believe that one guy, one ordinary human being with ordinary brain power, figured out all the secrets of the universe. For another, the existence of mystery is part of Creation, so a philosophy that dispenses with mystery is, by its nature, incomplete.

            It’s interesting, then, to remember that Jesus didn’t explain everything while on Earth. He didn’t even come close to. He spoke directly on some things, dropped tantalizing hints on others, and completely ignored the rest. He left room for exploration, discussion, and philosophizing. You almost could say that what He left the Apostles was a statue hidden inside a mountain and told them to go nuts digging it out, knowing that they would never uncover the whole thing.

            The Trinity, along with other mysteries of the Church (such as the incarnation, the meaning of Christ’s Passion, the problem of Evil, and so forth), are things that we can never fully grasp, and that each generation of theologians finds something new to say about. Which, of course, is exactly what we would expect from an encounter with the Infinite.

Vive Christus Rex!

Scripture Readings: Pentecost

First Reading: Acts 2: 1-11

When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem. At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, “Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language? We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God.”

Second Reading: Romans 8: 8-17

Brothers and sisters: Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you. Consequently, brothers and sisters, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a Spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, “Abba, Father!”The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

Gospel: John 20: 19-23

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

Reflections:

And so, at long last, we come to Pentecost and the return of Ordinary Time.

Today I’d like to focus on St. Paul’s difficult, complex passage from Romans (excuse my redundancy: his passage from Romans).  

Right off the bat we get Paul’s favorite theme in Romans: the fact that you can’t just work your way into Salvation. This isn’t a quid-pro-quo situation, in which you do something and you earn an equal and proportional reward (not to say that merit and reward are not involved, but they aren’t the fundamentals of the thing). That is, there is nothing we can do on Earth to ‘earn’ our salvation purely as a matter of ‘this for that.’ Those who can’t see beyond the idea of exchange, who ‘are in the Flesh,’ cannot see God. Lewis had a good example of this sort of person in The Great Divorce in the form of a factor owner who, upon getting to Heaven, angrily demands his rights and rejects the idea of ‘bloody charity.’ The spirit who has come to greet him – a repentant murderer – warns him that his ‘rights’ aren’t what he thinks they are and that no one gets their rights in Heaven, but only charity. The foreman, who lives according to the flesh, declares that he would rather be damned and so returns to Hell.

But moving on, Paul then goes on to describe his readers as being “in the Spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you.” In the following sentences, he seems to use ‘the Spirit’ synonymously with both “the spirit of Christ” and simply “Christ.” The Spirit of God, then, is the same as Christ’s Spirit, which is also the Spirit that raised Christ, and the Spirit that dwells in the follower of Christ: the Holy Spirit.

So, the Holy Spirit, we may say, is both what raised Christ from the dead, and that which gives us life in Christ. Also remember that Mary conceived Jesus “by the Holy Spirit.” Therefore, the Spirit is both what brought Jesus into His human, earthly life and what raised Him into His glorified, resurrected life. This also, according to Paul, is the role he plays in our lives; the Spirit is what elevates us out of our ‘dead,’ fleshy lives and allows us to truly live the Gospel.

This, then, is the ‘counterpoint’ to the life of the flesh, as described above. Christians don’t seek to earn our way into Heaven, but to work as far as possible on the way to perfection by means of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit, then, is the means by which we become virtuous and acquire Heaven.

This is what balances the ‘reward vs. freely given’ conundrum; that we ‘put to death’ our sinful lives by means of the Spirit. It both allows us to ‘merit’ our rewards (since it involves our choices and actions) but also prevents it from being a simple matter of ‘rights,’ since it’s the Holy Spirit, and not our own fleshy selves that perfects us and brings us to Salvation.

Vive Christus Rex!

Scripture Readings: The Ascension of the Lord.

First Reading: Acts 1: 1-11


In the first book, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While meeting with them, he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for “the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak; for John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

When they had gathered together they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”

Second Reading: Ephesians 1: 17-23

Brothers and sisters: May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe, in accord with the exercise of his great might: which he worked in Christ, raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens, far above every principality, authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things beneath his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

Gospel: Luke 24: 46-53

Jesus said to his disciples: “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven. They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God.

Reflections:

“And he put all things beneath his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.”

Note the interesting clause used to describe the Church, ‘which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.’

The implications of this brief statement are staggering, if we take the trouble to draw them out. The Church is Christ’s body; that much we hear often enough. But Paul goes on to describe it as ‘the fullness of’ Jesus (understanding “the one who fills all things in every way” to refer to Jesus).

What does this mean? Consider it in light of Jesus’s last words to His disciples at the beginning of Acts, just before He is taken up to Heaven:

“And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth.”

The Church, then, as represented by the Apostles, is Christ’s voice on Earth; it is the continuation of His mission. We saw this even before His passion, when He sent out the twelve and then the seventy-two to spread His word throughout Judea (Luke 9: 1-6, 10: 1-20).

But this is more than just a PR effort or a messaging mission. The Church isn’t just the means of telling people about Jesus. In effect, she is Jesus. The Church is Christ’s body; she is the continuation of His incarnation. Not only is Jesus the head of the Church, but Jesus is truly present in every individual church and chapel through the Eucharist.

And there’s still a deeper way. Consider what happens when we receive the Eucharist. When we eat or drink anything, it is broken down in our body and the nutrients are then used to repair and build our cells. Therefore, when we eat His body and drink His blood, He remains in us, not just in a spiritual sense, but in a literal, corporeal sense. Literally, His body is used to build up part of our own body. Therefore, each of us who receives the Eucharist carries Christ’s body within us. We are literally part of His body.

The implication I take from the ‘fullness’ clause is that the Church is not a ‘holding pattern,’ so to speak. She isn’t just a means of remembering Jesus’ work, or even continuing it. The Church is the ‘fullness’ of Jesus’ work; she is what He came to create: to be. Jesus didn’t just come for the sake of the comparatively few people He was able to minister to while on Earth; He came for the whole world. But how could He minister to the whole world while He was in the flesh? By ascending to Heaven and sending out the Church, He becomes present to the entire world. The Church, then, is the fullness of Christ’s ministry.

That’s why Jesus had to ascend to the Father, and why He commanded Mary Magdalene ‘do not touch me’ (John 20: 17). The time Jesus spent on the Earth in the flesh was the foundation; the seed He planted. But now the time had come for it to sprout and the disciples had to ‘let Him go’ in order to receive Him in His fullness as the Church. Because the Church is how He would spread throughout the whole world; the Church is Christ on Earth.

Vive Christus Rex!

Scripture Readings: The Sixth Sunday of Easter

  First Reading: Acts 15: 1-2, 22-29

Some who had come down from Judea were instructing the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice, you cannot be saved.” Because there arose no little dissension and debate by Paul and Barnabas with them, it was decided that Paul, Barnabas, and some of the others should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question.

The apostles and elders, in agreement with the whole church, decided to choose representatives and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. The ones chosen were Judas, who was called Barsabbas, and Silas, leaders among the brothers. This is the letter delivered by them:

“The apostles and the elders, your brothers, to the brothers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia of Gentile origin: greetings. Since we have heard that some of our number who went out without any mandate from us have upset you with their teachings and disturbed your peace of mind, we have with one accord decided to choose representatives and to send them to you along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, who have dedicated their lives to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we are sending Judas and Silas who will also convey this same message by word of mouth: ‘It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities, namely, to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meats of strangled animals, and from unlawful marriage. If you keep free of these, you will be doing what is right. Farewell.’”

Second Reading: Revelations 21: 10-14, 22-23

The angel took me in spirit to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. It gleamed with the splendor of God. Its radiance was like that of a precious stone, like jasper, clear as crystal. It had a massive, high wall, with twelve gates where twelve angels were stationed and on which names were inscribed, the names of the twelve tribes of the Israelites .There were three gates facing east, three north, three south, and three west. The wall of the city had twelve courses of stones as its foundation, on which were inscribed the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. I saw no temple in the city for its temple is the Lord God almighty and the Lamb. The city had no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb.

Gospel: John 14: 23-29

Jesus said to his disciples: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me.

“I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe.”

Reflections:

“Whoever loves me will keep my word.” That’s one of those passages that we like to skip over, isn’t it? “Oh, I love Jesus and I know Jesus loves me! I don’t have to follow that silly old teaching, do I?” Yes, yes you do. Because if you really love Jesus, you will keep His word. That is, you will follow His commandments. If you don’t, that means you don’t actually love Jesus, you only love your image of Him: you love the imaginary Jesus you made up to comfort yourself.

There is only one Jesus and you find Him in the Bible and in the Tradition of the Church. If you want to know what Jesus has to say about a particular issue, you go to those two sources (both of them; trying to use just one or the other tends to get you into trouble). 

St. Jerome famously said “To be ignorant of Scripture is to be ignorant of Christ.” I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that most of us today are shamefully ignorant of Scripture; I know I am. This, I’m afraid, means that most of us are appealing to a Jesus who doesn’t exist. That’s a concept that should scare us, since Jesus is the only way to Salvation and following the false Inception-type-version probably won’t save us.

The fact is that anyone who claims to follow Jesus must read the Bible and listen to the Church if they’re going to be following the real Him. Of course, the real Him is much more intimidating and demanding than the Spellbinder-machine version, which is why so many people prefer the imaginary Jesus to the real one. It’s much easier to picture a Jesus who simply smiles and tells everyone to be nice to each other than one who says that plucking out your own eyeballs is preferable to sin and that divorce is impossible for the lawfully married. But only the latter Jesus: the real Jesus can save us. He is the only real Jesus.

That’s why, whenever you hear someone say something like “I don’t think Jesus cares about this” or “the Church needs to change her teachings on this subject” we need to tell them “show me from the Bible or from Tradition where it says that your view is correct and the Church is wrong.” Because if you can’t do that, you’re arguing from a false Jesus and your argument has no weight.

As the Apostles said a couple weeks ago, let us obey God rather than men.

Vive Christus Rex!

Scripture Readings: The Fifth Sunday of Easter

Fifth Sunday of Easter


First Reading: Acts 14: 21-27

After Paul and Barnabas had proclaimed the good news to that city and made a considerable number of disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch They strengthened the spirits of the disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying, “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” They appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord in whom they had put their faith. Then they traveled through Pisidia and reached Pamphylia. After proclaiming the word at Perga they went down to Attalia. From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had now accomplished. And when they arrived, they called the church together and reported what God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

Second Reading: Revelations: 21: 1-5

Then I, John, saw a new heaven and a new earth. The former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them as their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away.”

The One who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.”

Gospel: John 13: 31-33, 34-35

When Judas had left them, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and God will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Reflections:

In this passage, Jesus, just before His crucifixion, adds what we might call the Eleventh Commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you.”

This is interesting: is this a new commandment? Didn’t Jesus earlier describe the two greatest commandments as “Love God and Love your Neighbor”?

Well, yes and no. Yes, because loving our neighbor is more or less synonymous with “love one another.” The difference here, though, is one of kind and degree. In the earlier commandments, we are told “love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus is putting a stronger and more defined emphasis on this: love one another as I have loved you. In other words, “whatever I have done for you, you must do for each other.”

This is His new commandment. I’ll have to double check, but I believe this is the only time Jesus calls one of His commands a commandment. The term infuses the command with a special power; a commandment is a core law. The Ten Commandments served as the basis for all moral and legal concerns in the Jewish community (and the Christian and…well, pretty much every subsequent community until very recently), and the two “Great Commandments” served as the basis for the Ten. Jesus is thus adding a new element to the foundation of His disciples’ religious and communal life, one that encompasses all the others: “do for each other what I have done for you.”

Now, not only does He present this as a new commandment (incidentally fulfilling His role as the new Moses), but He describes this as the sign and definition of His disciples: “If you are my disciples,” He’s saying. “You will love one another as I have loved you. That is what it means to be my disciple.”

So, the thing we need to do in this Easter season is to ask ourselves: are we Christ’s disciples? Do we fit this definition of loving one another as He loves us? I don’t know about you, but in my case the answer is a very definite “no” (if you said “yes” than you’re either a true Saint or you’re in need of a serious reality check).

But there’s hope for us, for in this war, as St. Francis de Sales said, “we are assured of victory if we only will fight.” The thing to do here is to remind ourselves everyday what Jesus has done for us and to look for opportunities to imitate Him. The world desperately needs an example of Christ-like love, and it’s our job to give it to them.


Vive Christus Rex!

Scripture Readings: The Fourth Sunday of Easter

First Reading: Acts 13: 14, 43-52

Paul and Barnabas continued on from Perga and reached Antioch in Pisidia. On the Sabbath they entered the synagogue and took their seats. Many Jews and worshipers who were converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to remain faithful to the grace of God.

On the following Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and with violent abuse contradicted what Paul said. Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first, but since you reject it and condemn yourselves as unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, I have made you a light to the Gentiles, that you may be an instrument of salvation to the ends of the earth.”

The Gentiles were delighted when they heard this and glorified the word of the Lord. All who were destined for eternal life came to believe, and the word of the Lord continued to spread through the whole region. The Jews, however, incited the women of prominence who were worshipers and the leading men of the city, stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their territory. So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them, and went to Iconium. The disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.

Second Reading: Revelation 7: 9, 14-17

I, John, had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. Then one of the elders said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.“For this reason they stand before God’s throne and worship him day and night in his temple. The one who sits on the throne will shelter them. They will not hunger or thirst anymore, nor will the sun or any heat strike them. For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Gospel: John 10: 27-30

Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

Reflections:

                  This week is given over to messages of Hope: salvation for the Gentiles, a vision of the time where God will wipe away every tear, and Jesus’ care for His sheep.

                  I’d like to focus on the second reading (since everyone likes to ignore Revelation…which, sounds worse than I meant it, but is sadly even more true). John has a vision of the Saints: the ‘great multitude of every nation, race, people and tongue.’ Here is the twofold definition of a Saint: one who has “survived the time of great distress” and who has “washed [his] robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” That is, they have persevered and they have received Christ’s Mercy.

                  It is interesting that perseverance is listed first in this instance. That, obviously, doesn’t take anything away from the necessity of the latter element, but rather, I think, is a kind of warning. It says “before you come forth to receive Jesus, remember that you are committing yourself; there can be no turning back. First take thought for yourself and your own actions.”

                  Again, this isn’t to say that our own actions and choices are first in importance or the primary sources of our salvation. It’s to say that this is what is most under our own control. It’s what we need to keep in mind.

                  But then again, and more importantly, the Saints are those who have ‘washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’ Our perseverance is important, and it is what we need to focus our wills upon by its very nature, but before you can persevere you have to have something to persevere in. Hence, the primary importance to receiving God’s mercy and Grace, without which it’s impossible to either persevere or to be saved in the first place.

                  “Washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb” contains the three most important Sacraments within it. “Washing” calls to mind the act of bathing, that is, Baptism, which cleanses us from our sins and makes us White. The Blood of the Lamb, meanwhile, strikes me as an explicitly Eucharistic image; that we must have a partaking of the Sacred Blood of our Lord.

                  So far is fairly clear. But there’s one other Sacrament that I think is called to mind here; the fact that ‘washing’ and ‘being made white’ are separate clauses indicates that the one doesn’t necessarily ensure the other; that is, one may be washed, but may not remain white (as is the case for most of us). But both elements; the washing and the being made white, must be present for Salvation. Hence, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, in which we are ‘made white’ over again, even if we have no need to bathe again (John 13:10).   

                  Let us all pray that we are among that great multitude, washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb.

Vive Christus Rex!

Scripture Readings: Palm Sunday

Procession: LK 19: 28-40

Jesus proceeded on his journey up to Jerusalem. As he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples. He said, “Go into the village opposite you, and as you enter it you will find a colt tethered on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. And if anyone should ask you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you will answer, ‘The Master has need of it.’”So those who had been sent went off and found everything just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying this colt?”They answered, “The Master has need of it.”So they brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks over the colt, and helped Jesus to mount. As he rode along, the people were spreading their cloaks on the road; and now as he was approaching the slope of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to praise God aloud with joy for all the mighty deeds they had seen. They proclaimed: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.”Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”He said in reply, “I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out!”

First Reading: Isaiah 50: 4-7

The Lord GOD has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them. Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may hear; and I have not rebelled, have not turned back. I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting.

The Lord GOD is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.

Second Reading: Philippians 2: 6-11

Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Gospel: The Passion According to St. Luke (Luke 22: 14-23: 56)

When the hour came, Jesus took his place at table with the apostles. He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for, I tell you, I shall not eat it again until there is fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and said, “Take this and share it among yourselves; for I tell you that from this time on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.”And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.“And yet behold, the hand of the one who is to betray me is with me on the table; for the Son of Man indeed goes as it has been determined; but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed.”And they began to debate among themselves who among them would do such a deed. Then an argument broke out among them about which of them should be regarded as the greatest. He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them and those in authority over them are addressed as ‘Benefactors’; but among you it shall not be so. Rather, let the greatest among you be as the youngest, and the leader as the servant. For who is greater: the one seated at table or the one who serves? Is it not the one seated at table? I am among you as the one who serves. It is you who have stood by me in my trials; and I confer a kingdom on you, just as my Father has conferred one on me, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom; and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.“Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers.”He said to him, “Lord, I am prepared to go to prison and to die with you.”But he replied, “I tell you, Peter, before the cock crows this day, you will deny three times that you know me.”He said to them, “When I sent you forth without a money bag or a sack or sandals, were you in need of anything?”“No, nothing, “ they replied. He said to them, “But now one who has a money bag should take it, and likewise a sack, and one who does not have a sword should sell his cloak and buy one. For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me, namely, He was counted among the wicked; and indeed what is written about me is coming to fulfillment.”Then they said, “Lord, look, there are two swords here.”But he replied, “It is enough!”

Then going out, he went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. When he arrived at the place he said to them, “Pray that you may not undergo the test.”After withdrawing about a stone’s throw from them and kneeling, he prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done.”And to strengthen him an angel from heaven appeared to him. He was in such agony and he prayed so fervently that his sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground. When he rose from prayer and returned to his disciples, he found them sleeping from grief. He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not undergo the test.”While he was still speaking, a crowd approached and in front was one of the Twelve, a man named Judas. He went up to Jesus to kiss him. Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”His disciples realized what was about to happen, and they asked, “Lord, shall we strike with a sword?”And one of them struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said in reply, “Stop, no more of this!”Then he touched the servant’s ear and healed him. And Jesus said to the chief priests and temple guards and elders who had come for him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? Day after day I was with you in the temple area, and you did not seize me; but this is your hour, the time for the power of darkness.”

After arresting him they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest; Peter was following at a distance. They lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat around it, and Peter sat down with them. When a maid saw him seated in the light, she looked intently at him and said, “This man too was with him.”But he denied it saying, “Woman, I do not know him.”A short while later someone else saw him and said, “You too are one of them”; but Peter answered, “My friend, I am not.”About an hour later, still another insisted, “Assuredly, this man too was with him, for he also is a Galilean.”But Peter said, “My friend, I do not know what you are talking about.”Just as he was saying this, the cock crowed ,and the Lord turned and looked at Peter; and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.”He went out and began to weep bitterly.

The men who held Jesus in custody were ridiculing and beating him. They blindfolded him and questioned him, saying, “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?”And they reviled him in saying many other things against him. When day came the council of elders of the people met, both chief priests and scribes, and they brought him before their Sanhedrin. They said, “If you are the Christ, tell us, “but he replied to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I question, you will not respond. But from this time on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?”He replied to them, “You say that I am.”Then they said, “What further need have we for testimony? We have heard it from his own mouth.”Then the whole assembly of them arose and brought him before Pilate. They brought charges against him, saying, “We found this man misleading our people; he opposes the payment of taxes to Caesar and maintains that he is the Christ, a king.”Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”He said to him in reply, “You say so.”Pilate then addressed the chief priests and the crowds, “I find this man not guilty.”But they were adamant and said, “He is inciting the people with his teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to here.”On hearing this Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean; and upon learning that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod who was in Jerusalem at that time.

Herod was very glad to see Jesus; he had been wanting to see him for a long time, for he had heard about him and had been hoping to see him perform some sign. He questioned him at length, but he gave him no answer. The chief priests and scribes, meanwhile, stood by accusing him harshly. Herod and his soldiers treated him contemptuously and mocked him, and after clothing him in resplendent garb, he sent him back to Pilate. Herod and Pilate became friends that very day, even though they had been enemies formerly. Pilate then summoned the chief priests, the rulers, and the people and said to them, “You brought this man to me and accused him of inciting the people to revolt. I have conducted my investigation in your presence and have not found this man guilty of the charges you have brought against him, nor did Herod, for he sent him back to us. So no capital crime has been committed by him. Therefore I shall have him flogged and then release him.”But all together they shouted out, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us.”— Now Barabbas had been imprisoned for a rebellion that had taken place in the city and for murder. —Again Pilate addressed them, still wishing to release Jesus, but they continued their shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”Pilate addressed them a third time, “What evil has this man done? I found him guilty of no capital crime. Therefore I shall have him flogged and then release him.”With loud shouts, however, they persisted in calling for his crucifixion, and their voices prevailed. The verdict of Pilate was that their demand should be granted. So he released the man who had been imprisoned for rebellion and murder, for whom they asked, and he handed Jesus over to them to deal with as they wished.

As they led him away they took hold of a certain Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country; and after laying the cross on him, they made him carry it behind Jesus. A large crowd of people followed Jesus, including many women who mourned and lamented him. Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children for indeed, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.’ At that time people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall upon us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’ for if these things are done when the wood is green what will happen when it is dry?”Now two others, both criminals, were led away with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him and the criminals there, one on his right, the other on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”They divided his garments by casting lots. The people stood by and watched; the rulers, meanwhile, sneered at him and said, “He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God.”Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer him wine they called out, “If you are King of the Jews, save yourself.”Above him there was an inscription that read, “This is the King of the Jews.”

Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us.”The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.”Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon because of an eclipse of the sun. Then the veil of the temple was torn down the middle. Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”; and when he had said this he breathed his last. The centurion who witnessed what had happened glorified God and said, “This man was innocent beyond doubt.”When all the people who had gathered for this spectacle saw what had happened, they returned home beating their breasts; but all his acquaintances stood at a distance, including the women who had followed him from Galilee and saw these events.

Now there was a virtuous and righteous man named Joseph who, though he was a member of the council, had not consented to their plan of action. He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea and was awaiting the kingdom of God. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. After he had taken the body down, he wrapped it in a linen cloth and laid him in a rock-hewn tomb in which no one had yet been buried. It was the day of preparation, and the sabbath was about to begin. The women who had come from Galilee with him followed behind, and when they had seen the tomb and the way in which his body was laid in it, they returned and prepared spices and perfumed oils. Then they rested on the sabbath according to the commandment.

Reflections:

                No reflections this week. Just read the Scriptures and meditate on our Lord’s Passion.

Scripture Readings: The Fifth Sunday of Lent

First Reading

Thus says the LORD, who opens a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters,
who leads out chariots and horsemen, a powerful army, till they lie prostrate together, never to rise, snuffed out and quenched like a wick. Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the desert I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers. Wild beasts honor me, jackals and ostriches, for I put water in the desert and rivers in the wasteland for my chosen people to drink, the people whom I formed for myself, that they might announce my praise.

Second Reading

Brothers and sisters: I consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God, depending on faith to know him and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

It is not that I have already taken hold of it or have already attained perfect maturity, but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it, since I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, I for my part do not consider myself to have taken possession. Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead. I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.

Gospel:

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, and all the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. They said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”

Reflections:

I’m sure someone more knowledgeable of ancient Middle Eastern cultures would be able to explain why Isaiah cites two such seemingly random creatures as jackals and ostriches, but I confess, I couldn’t help mentally adding other random creatures (koala bears, flamingoes…).

            Anyway, the story here is, of course, the woman caught in adultery. This, together with last week’s prodigal son, is one of the key examples of Jesus’ mercy in the Gospel.

            The interesting thing, though, is that Jesus Himself takes very little direct action here. He doesn’t denounce the elders for their mercilessness, or ask pointedly how exactly they managed to catch her in the very act of adultery, and what that might say about them.

            In fact, at first He doesn’t really do anything. His initial answer is to not answer at all (at least, not directly; we’re never told what exactly He’s writing in the dust).

Which, in itself, means He’s doing something rather remarkable. There is sometimes great power in doing nothing. By doing nothing here, Jesus accomplishes a number of things: He’s allowing the high emotions and excitement of the elders to burn out a little (since it’s impossible to keep a high emotional state for very long), which will make them more accessible to the answer He’s going to give them. He’s assuming control of the conversation and not letting the elders dictate the terms of their encounter, or force Him to play their little games.

            In short, by not answering right away, Jesus takes charge of the situation and sends the message that it will be settled on His terms, not those of the elders.

            Which brings us to His famous answer, which is something of a Socratic-non-answer. Rather than out-and-out telling them that they too are sinners and should not be presuming to exercise judgment over this woman, He invites them to discover this for themselves. To their credit, the elders immediately realize that they could not meet the criteria He sets and depart, leaving Him alone with the woman.

            The woman, who no doubt has been scared out of her mind this whole time, waits with Him. Presumably, she already realizes that here is one who genuinely does have the authority to condemn her, or perhaps she simply is too stunned to believe what just happened.

            Jesus’ brief dialogue with her brings back something which some might (and, let’s be honest, frequently do) prefer to forget: the reality of God’s justice as well as His mercy. Jesus first asks her whether anyone has been willing to condemn her. When she says no, Jesus sends her on her way with not only forgiveness, but also a warning: “from now on, do not sin anymore.”

            See, Jesus wasn’t saying that the woman had no sin when He saved her. He was saying that the elders did not have the right to condemn her, as they too were sinners, and that she should be given a chance to repent. Now He tells her directly that her way of life is unacceptable and, now that she has seen the mercy of God, He expects her to change.

             That’s the trouble with us most of the time; we expect to be able to do what we like and that God, since He is so merciful, will simply forgive us. But, as this story shows, that isn’t how it works. God forgives us, but He also expects us to acknowledge the wrongness of what we’ve done and to avoid sinning in the future. He saves us so that we can be united with Him, not so that we can continue to ignore or reject Him in peace. If we won’t have His mercy, and with it the willingness to abandon our sins and follow Him, then we will have His justice. Those are our only two options. He will always offer His mercy, but it’s up to us to accept it.

Vive Christus Rex!

Scripture Readings: The Fourth Sunday of Lent

First Reading: Joshua 5: 9, 10-12

The LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you.”

While the Israelites were encamped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they celebrated the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth of the month. On the day after the Passover, they ate of the produce of the land in the form of unleavened cakes and parched grain. On that same day after the Passover, on which they ate of the produce of the land, the manna ceased. No longer was there manna for the Israelites, who that year ate of the yield of the land of Canaan.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5: 17-21

Brothers and sisters: Whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Gospel: Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32

Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So to them Jesus addressed this parable:

“A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, ‘Father give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them. After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any.

Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”’ So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ Then the celebration began.

Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. The servant said to him, ‘Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him. He said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’ He said to him, ‘My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’”

Reflections:

               

                Extra late this week; sorry everyone.

                Generally considered the most moving and exemplary description of God’s mercy, there seems to be little to add to the story of the Prodigal Son. Therefore, I’d like to focus on the other readings, particularly the first.

                In particular, I find it interesting that at the same time God removes the “reproach of Egypt” from the Israelites, He also removes the mana with which He fed them. Specifically, it says He removed the mana because the Israelites “ate the fruit of the land.”

                This is a simple, yet boldly meaningful passage with a number of meanings.

                The first is that, contrary to what we might think, miraculous intervention is not necessarily a sign of Divine Favor. Rather, it might just as well be a kind of heavenly crutch which God allows us to use for a while until we’re ready to walk on our own. The mana was a sign of God’s great mercy and care for the Israelites, but it also was a sign of their stubbornness and lack of faith. If they had just gone into the Promised Land when they were supposed to instead of dithering and wandering about for forty years, they would have had no need of the mana during those years. Hence the linking of the removal of the mana with the removal of “the reproach of Egypt.”

                To link this with the story of the prodigal son, oftentimes our clearest and most direct experiences of God occur when we’re “coming to our senses” after sinning. This particular divine intervention serves as a catalyst for our repentance, but we can’t and shouldn’t rely on maintaining the same level of ‘awareness’ to keep ourselves from sinning in the future.

                Which brings me to the second aspect of the removal of mana; the fact that the Israelites now ate the fruit of the land, and so the mana was no longer needed.

                I would imagine that many of the Israelites would much have preferred that the mana continued, thank you very much. It would have meant they didn’t have to fear famine or crop failures. It would have meant they didn’t have to work and slave away trying to keep themselves fed. And, I think, that’s precisely why it was removed; because the Israelites were supposed to slave away to keep themselves fed.

                God, as we see time and again, much prefers to delegate tasks. This isn’t because He is lazy or because He can’t do things for Himself (obviously), but because He wants His creatures to participate in Creation. He gives temporary miraculous aid in order to get them to a point where they don’t need it anymore: to where they can eat the fruit of their own labor, rather than relying on their daily allotment of mana. By taking responsibility for their own lives, the people play an active role in their own creation.

                This is not, of course, to say that God just sits back and lets the people stand or fall on their own merits. He’s still with them, helping them and sustaining them by His grace and power. But He provides a different kind of help now. He helps the people to help themselves, a little like how a father will hold his child up in order to help her learn to walk on her own, and then even when she does he follows her, watching to catch her when she falls. It’s the difference between supporting and carrying. God wants to support us, but is always willing to carry us when necessary. He does this because it’s what’s best for us, and because He loves us.

Vive Christus Rex!

Scripture Reflections: The Third Sunday of Lent

First Reading: Exodus 3:1-8, 13-15

Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There an angel of the LORD appeared to Moses in fire flaming out of a bush. As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed. So Moses decided, “I must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned.”

When the LORD saw him coming over to look at it more closely, God called out to him from the bush, Moses! Moses!” He answered, “Here I am.” God said, “Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your fathers, “ he continued, “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. But the LORD said, “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering. Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Moses said to God, “But when I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?” God replied, “I am who am.” Then he added, “This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you.”

God spoke further to Moses, “Thus shall you say to the Israelites: The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.

“This is my name forever; thus am I to be remembered through all generations.”

Second Reading: First Corinthians 10: 1-6, 10-12

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all of them were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. All ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Christ. Yet God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the desert.

These things happened as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil things, as they did. Do not grumble as some of them did, and suffered death by the destroyer. These things happened to them as an example, and they have been written down as a warning to us, upon whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall.

Gospel: Luke 13: 1-9

Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. Jesus said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”

And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’”

Reflections:

This week we have a rather interesting transition. We go from God revealing His name to Moses at the burning bush in the first reading to dire warnings about the wages of sin in the other two. The transition occurs in the second reading, in which Paul notes that the Israelites in the desert had seen the saving works of God, had passed through the Red Sea and been fed by mana, and yet they still sinned and turned away from Him.

            What this collection of passages can be taken to mean, therefore, is that we need to be mindful of just who we are dealing with when we serve God. It isn’t enough simply to assent intellectually to the idea of God, or even to honestly believe in Him; one must also actually live the faith one professes. All the miracles they had witnessed – all the “fertilizing” that God had done – did not make them any more faithful or virtuous.

            That’s an interesting point: a lot of times you’ll hear people wonder why, if God’s real, He doesn’t ‘prove it’ by regular miracles. They underestimate human incredulity. When miracles do happen, even big, public miracles witnessed by hundreds of people, they simply receive skeptical, pseudo-scientific explanations, or, possibly, weird, occult-style interpretations. That is, just because a miracle occurs doesn’t mean it’s going to be taken as a sign from God, whatever other evidence there is.

            But, more importantly, that’s not the point. As we see from the Israelites, miracles may (possibly) make us believe in God, but they don’t make us live our faith. No one was ever saved merely by witnessing a miracle; the Pharisees witnessed many of Jesus’s miracles, but that just made them hate Him all the more. Meanwhile many saints throughout the ages never witnessed a miracle in their lives, so far as we know, yet their faith was immovable. The point isn’t to force someone to intellectually accept the idea of God; the point is to have him live the life of Christ.           

            That’s the lesson Paul draws out of the Israelites; that whatever God has done for us in the past does not give us free-reign to sin or turn away from Him in the future. Just because the gardener planted the fig tree and allowed it to survive this long with nothing to show for it doesn’t mean that it can continue in this way indefinitely.

            The consequences; the ‘time-limit,’ so to speak, is described as death and, I suppose, that’s pretty much exactly what it is. “You know not the day or the hour” when God will demand an accounting from you. At that moment, time will be up and you’ll only have what you’ve already done.

            Typically, this sounds harsh, and no doubt many will protest “but if I had more time I could’ve done this, that, or the other thing.” But the thing is, remember who you’re dealing with. God does just arbitrarily decide you’ve had enough time. He isn’t glaring at his watch wondering when or if you’re going to get around to living your supposed faith. Remember, God knows your inmost heart; He knows all that you’ve done, why you did it, and what you would have done under different circumstances. In short, He’s a completely fair judge. When He cuts off your time, it’s because that is the most appropriate time for you to be cut off. If you are ‘fruitless,’ so to speak, then He knows that you’re never going to produce anything, much like the fig tree.  

            Jesus and Paul’s warning is that we can’t wait around demanding that God prove Himself to our satisfaction before we follow Him. If that’s our attitude, then we will never believe, no matter what He does for us. Instead, we need to realize that we are the ones who need Him, not the other way around, and humbly repent and turn to Him.

Vive Christus Rex!