All is Gift

  "What do you possess that you have not received?" 1Cor 4:7

The poet Mary Oliver once wrote: “Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.” (Thirst, 2006) St Paul admonishes us about this same truth when he reminds the Corinthians that everything we have, we have received from God.

It is easy enough to accept Paul's teaching when life is moving along smoothly, but more difficult when we face hardship or numbing life questions. Too often, when faced with painful feelings, we run. Though natural, we need to find ways to counter this tendency.

Another poet,  Francis Thompson, puts it eloquently in The Hound of Heaven :

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; 

I fled Him, down the arches of the years; 

I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways 

Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears 

I hid from Him.

How do we stop running? Can we learn to sit still, even in the midst of turmoil, to let God's plan for us unfold in God's time? Learning some form of meditation is always good, and can be especially helpful when everything in us wants to rush past or through or around life's struggles. Next time you are tempted to deny or suppress a difficult feeling, pray to remember that all is from God and all is gift.

Today, be grateful for whatever the day brings.

Has someone given you a box of darkness that became a gift/

Do Not Judge

 "It does not concern me in the least that I be judged by you or any human tribunal;...the one who judges me is the Lord." 1 Cor 4:2.3

Although Pope Francis was clear on his return flight from Brazil in July of 2013 that he would not judge homosexual persons, it is his ongoing pastoral example that calls believers everywhere not only not to judge others, but to look at their strengths and virtues which is exactly what he did when he decided to celebrate his birthday with the homeless.

When writing his apostolic exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel, the Holy Father further challenged us to revisit our priorities personally and communally,

I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security. I do not want a Church concerned with being at the center and then ends by being caught up in a web of obsessions and procedures.(1)

It should be clear that when the Holy Father encourages us to "hit the streets", he is also reminding us that people who are engaged in trying to help others and proclaim the Gospel have little time to judge others. They are too busy being Good News.

Today, if you are tempted to judge someone, praise them instead.

Do you know people like Pope Francis who refuse to judge others?

St Gregory the Great

   " I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living." (Ps 27)

St Gregory, like so many others saints, lived fully in the world in his early days, but after five years as prefect of Rome, lost confidence in the society to direct or discipline itself. Hoping the monastic life would give him some clarity about how to live the Gospel, he joined the Benedictines, but shortly thereafter the Pope sent him to Constantinople as his representative.

Straightforward and scrupulously honest, when he became Pope, Gregory disciplined wayward priests, used monies from the papal treasury to care for Jews and the sick, and reformed the liturgy, but it was his instructions to bishops on how to conduct their office, read for a thousand years, that sealed his place among the Greats of the Christian community.

It is with profound sorrow we have to admit that though the harvest is great, the labourers are few, because, though the people are ready to hear the Word of God, there are few to preach it. Lo, the world is full of priests, yet in the harvest of the Lord a labourer is very rare, for we undertake, it is true, the office of the priesthood, but its duties we do not fulfill. Yet weigh well, dearly beloved, weigh well the words of the text: "Pray ye the Lord of the harvest that He send labourers into His harvest." Pray then for us that we may have strength to labour for you as we ought, that our tongue may not be slack to exhort, and that, having undertaken the office of preaching, our silence may not prove our condemnation at the tribunal of the just Judge. (Homily of St Gregory)

Today,  dare to be great in Christ.

What most keeps you from the living the Gospel with abandon?

Boasting Harms Everyone

  "Your boasting is not appropriate. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough?" 1 Cor 5:6

It is easy for our to become slaves to the praise of others. Someone kindly offers an affirming word. Another says how much they like a homily we gave. A friend drops a note of gratitude for a kindness shown them. We walk around in the glow of appreciation, all of which is normal, natural and understandable, but when we fail to give God the credit for life, goodness and our own successes, we risk becoming full of ourselves.

Paul’s reminder that Christ sets us free from this kind of slavery is a good and important one. At the same time, while boasting is always inappropriate, we can be so defensive about our tendency to pride that we forget to be grateful for all God’s gifts. Each of us, Paul also reminds us, have a gift that does not belong to us but is given to us by God for the good of all. It is impossible, I think, to meditate too often on the image or metaphor of the Body of Christ.

Today ask God to show you again the gifts you have received for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Do you ever feel enslaved to your own reputation or the approval of others?