A Faith that Does Works

"What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?" James 2:14

Often we wonder whether our faith life, and especially our works of justice, have any impact in our church or society. We gather with other people of faith, determine to do something together for the good of all, study the issue and situation that is agitating us, and act, but nothing changes. Community organizing and action is hard work, but does not always have the effect we intend. We fail as often as we succeed.

Responding to the promptings of the Holy Spirit personally and communally is our only responsibility in  faith. When we are willing to plant the Gospel of justice and let God do the work, we gain a new freedom. God will reward us, Isaiah insists, as long as we do not waver from the path of justice and righteousness.

Today, work for good and let go of the results.

What is your most difficult hurdle to overcome when working for justice?

The Exaltation of the Cross

  “Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if any who have been bitten look at it, they will live.” Nm 21:8

The cross has almost always been important symbol for Christians. Although controversial at first, because it seemed to focus so much on the violence done to Jesus, the cross soon became the most prominent way for Christians to announce themselves. Not simply a reminder of Christ's gruesome death, the cross is also a invitation to celebrate Jesus' triumph over death, and our assurance that death is not the end of Christian journey.

Displaying the cross publicly or personally should never be a condemnation of others, especially Jews, but a reminder to ourselves and others, that God came among us as a human person who not only announced God's love for us in its fullness, but also handed himself over to death as a symbol of his total identification with us at every stage of our journey.

Today, make the sign of the cross as you wake and ask for the grace to accept whatever the day brings.

What does the Cross mean to you?

St John Chrysostom

  "The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the Body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one Body, for we all partake of the one loaf." 1Cor 10: 16-17

It is clear in the Gospel that there is little more important to Jesus then the unity of his disciples. Near the end of St John's Gospel he asks his father for a final gift, “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you....that the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." (Jn 17:20-21, 23)

Our unity with one another is the sign that that Jesus came from God and is God. We have only to seek unity with one another in Christ in order to preach the truth of the Gospel that Jesus has come for the salvation of all. Anything that inhibits this unity must be resisted, especially the use of power and wealth as weapons to control others.

Today, pray for unity with someone from whom you have been separated.

What do you think are the greatest challenges to the unity of the Body of Christ?

Everything for God

 "Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there. And as for those who do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them.” Lk 9: 4-5

Letting go of our work and its success or failure is never easy, but the gospel is clear. It is our obligation to preach the Good News in word and deed and leave the results to God. Gospel spirituality is demanding. Called to be pilgrims going from place to place and taking nothing for the journey, we strive to live and speak the Gospel in such a way that God's direction can be clearly seen and experienced by those to whom we are sent.  

Demanding a radical humility, a total putting aside of everything that is not of God, we need always to remember that the Gospel is God's good news, not ours. Our task, like John the Baptist's, is to clear the ground before the Lord and make his path straight. Everything else is superfluous. 

This is not to say that we cannot be good instruments in God's orchestra. Each of us is gifted and our talents are the means God uses to invite people to know and love the Lord. Our insights, compassion, and thirst of justice can be wonderful signs of God's love for the world, but unless they always point towards the Lord, they can get in the way of God's glory. 

Today, let God's light shine and get out of the way.

What blocks you from being Good News?

Knowledge and Service

  "Knowledge inflates with pride, but love builds up." 1 Cor 8 1b

St Bernard of Clairvaux one wrote that people seek knowledge for three reasons. Some seek knowledge for knowledge sake. They are curious. Other seek knowledge to impress other. They are vain. And some seek knowledge for service. Theirs is an act of love. 

St Paul warns us about seeking knowledge for any other reason but love because it can feel like power over others and leads to pride. Love on the other hand leads to service especially of those most in need. Because most of us struggle with pride, we look to Sts Paul and Bernard to help us root ourselves as people of the good news whose entire lives are dedicated to service and love. More important, when we allow God to direct us in this way, we grow in faith.

Today offer some a hand in service and let them direct you about how to help.

Who has helped you learn the value of service of others?

Change

 "The world in its present form is passing away." 1 Cor 7:31

Life is rushing past us so fast that it is often difficult to stay alert. For those of us living in large cities, the speed can be overwhelming. It is hardly possible to take a step without seeing someone in need, or someone who is manipulating or oppressing others. After a while, it is tempting to keep your head down and rush around with everyone else. While we know this is a mistake we cannot afford to make as gospel people, the reality of 21st century life can feel unmanageable.

The times demand that we learn to slow down and listen even more intently than ever before. Though it will do no good to return to the religious practices of an earlier time as if they were magic, we very much want to maintain the values of our ancestors. A reflective life lived in the midst of demanding times can be a powerful sign to the people of our day that Christ is still the foundation of our lives and the reason we care so deeply for others.

Today, slow down, pray and wait for God to show you the way.

How best can we witness to Christ in the 21st century?

Discernment

  "Jesus departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve." Lk 6:12

How should believers make decisions? That is the question posed by today's Gospel. Jesus, our model for all things Christian, says little directly about this, but offers us a clear example. By going to a mountain and spending the entire night in prayer before choosing the apostles, Jesus challenges us to do the same. It is not so much that we can or ought to spend entire nights in prayer, but that we take time away from our everyday lives in order to discern what it is God wants us to be and do.

Catherine McAuley, the founder of the Sisters of Mercy, encouraged her sisters to pray beforehand about any decision they needed to make and insisted that every word of the rule they practiced was the fruit of prayer. But it is Catherine's image of prayer as a plant that continues to challenge us today. "Prayer is a plant, the seed of which must be nourished or it will die." Put another way, Jesus and Catherine might say: Water and feed the plants of your faith life with prayer if you expect them to grow.

Today, spend ten minutes more than usual in prayer.

Has prayer with a help to you in making important decisions?

St Peter Claver

 "I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil." Lk 6:9

Jews have always valued the Sabbath, both as a way to remember God's gracious love of them and to observe God's laws. It is important to remember that very few societies in the ancient world had time away from work. People, especially the poor, worked everyday and rarely had time for themselves. When God rested on the seventh day, God reminded all of us to stop, celebrate and rest. The Jewish people took this example very seriously, and their strict observance of the Sabbath is testimony to this.

At the same time, Jesus, without dismissing the importance of Sabbath, challenges the rigidity of Jewish observance by asking the telling question: Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath? The obvious answer is yes. Not only must we do good, we must also seek to live the underlying values of the Sabbath. Rest is good and important, but seeing the struggles of the sick and suffering and responding to them is just as necessary.

The law of God should never be used as an excuse not to do good. We rest in order to remember God's love and respond to others as God did and does. There is no other way to observe the whole law and the prophets.

Today, rest completely and see how your refreshed spirit will urge you to do more good.

How do you obtain a balance in your life between work and rest?