"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?
Sunday, September 4, 2016
Saturday, September 3, 2016
Renounce All
"Anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” Lk 14:33
The severity of Jesus' demand that we renounce all our possessions can be overwhelming, especially when we read it out of context. The best scholars of the bible always remind us that when we ask God for the strength to let go, to renounce everything for God, God gives us back what we need to live well and serve others. While God's challenge is daunting, it is also necessary. Belief demands that we learn to trust God with our entire lives despite the cost.
Those who accept the call to marriage, for instance, know that there is an immense amount of listening, responding and letting go, but the reward of a marriage well lived is the gift of a relationship that, as Paul reminds us, evokes Christ's love for the church. If either spouse becomes rigid and unbending, the marriage falters and fails to be the sign of God's love that the world needs. Likewise, those called to a communal life as vowed religious know the emptiness of holding onto ministries or positions of power when God says let go.
When trying to listen to the God who demands everything from us, it is also important to remember that most of us have more than we could ever use or need, and it is our fear and pride that causes us to worry about whether we have enough or how others see us. Rather than let go to simplify our lives, we acquire more and more ideas, stuff and baggage. Jesus might sound harsh, but his message is clear. Don't be afraid to give God everything. The reward is a Gospel freedom beyond anything we could imagine.
Today, recommit yourself to a Gospel life no matter the cost.
Which of your possessions or ideas are most difficult to renounce?
The severity of Jesus' demand that we renounce all our possessions can be overwhelming, especially when we read it out of context. The best scholars of the bible always remind us that when we ask God for the strength to let go, to renounce everything for God, God gives us back what we need to live well and serve others. While God's challenge is daunting, it is also necessary. Belief demands that we learn to trust God with our entire lives despite the cost.
Those who accept the call to marriage, for instance, know that there is an immense amount of listening, responding and letting go, but the reward of a marriage well lived is the gift of a relationship that, as Paul reminds us, evokes Christ's love for the church. If either spouse becomes rigid and unbending, the marriage falters and fails to be the sign of God's love that the world needs. Likewise, those called to a communal life as vowed religious know the emptiness of holding onto ministries or positions of power when God says let go.
When trying to listen to the God who demands everything from us, it is also important to remember that most of us have more than we could ever use or need, and it is our fear and pride that causes us to worry about whether we have enough or how others see us. Rather than let go to simplify our lives, we acquire more and more ideas, stuff and baggage. Jesus might sound harsh, but his message is clear. Don't be afraid to give God everything. The reward is a Gospel freedom beyond anything we could imagine.
Today, recommit yourself to a Gospel life no matter the cost.
Which of your possessions or ideas are most difficult to renounce?
Friday, September 2, 2016
St Gregory the Great
" I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living." (Ps 27)
Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome and Gregory. These are the four great doctors of the Western Church. Called great because their insight about the Gospel as a living organism which could, when properly understood, interpreted and preached, influence people of every generation, the Greats of the Christian West have left a lasting imprint on the church.
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.
A success in Constantinople, he was called back to Rome, and elected abbot of the Benedictines. Walking through Rome one day he chanced upon a group of young Anglo Saxon boys who were being offered for sale. Moved by their plight and his conversation with them, he went to England with the hope of implanting the Gospel, but because of the upset of the Roman people, he was recalled to Rome and soon afterwards was elected Pope at the age of fifty.
Straightforward and scrupulously honest, 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.
What most keeps you from the living the Gospel with abandon?
Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome and Gregory. These are the four great doctors of the Western Church. Called great because their insight about the Gospel as a living organism which could, when properly understood, interpreted and preached, influence people of every generation, the Greats of the Christian West have left a lasting imprint on the church.
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.
A success in Constantinople, he was called back to Rome, and elected abbot of the Benedictines. Walking through Rome one day he chanced upon a group of young Anglo Saxon boys who were being offered for sale. Moved by their plight and his conversation with them, he went to England with the hope of implanting the Gospel, but because of the upset of the Roman people, he was recalled to Rome and soon afterwards was elected Pope at the age of fifty.
Straightforward and scrupulously honest, 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 priest hood, 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?
Thursday, September 1, 2016
Sometimes the Old is Just Old
“The old is good.” Lk 5:39
A few years ago about sixty of us gathered for our 50th high school reunion. Almost as soon as we arrived, we found ourselves talking about the “old days." Looking at old photographs, we remembered names we hadn't spoken in decades and reveled in what used to be. It was fun, warming and satisfying, but I know it is not the way to live each day. Sometimes when we older friars gather we forget that there are young men with us who have heard our stories a thousand times, and who, very frankly, are bored with us. Perhaps it is because we not just remembering the past, we seem to be stuck in it.
Jesus warns us about this in today’s gospel. For some of his Jewish clansmen and family there is a resistance to the “new” word that Jesus is announcing. Satisfied, or at least comfortable with what they know of God and God’s revelation to Israel, they do not want to hear anything that might suggest something was lacking in their own faith. But Jesus insists that one can’t pour old wine into new wineskins, otherwise the wineskins will burst and all the wine will be lost.
And the truth is this. Unless we are ready to embrace whatever helps the world to know God more fully, we will fail in the mission Jesus handed on to us. Christ is given to us, not simply for our own salvation, but for the salvation of the world.
Today, pray for a new insight about faith and embrace it.
Who or what has helped you grow in your faith oommitment to be Good News?
A few years ago about sixty of us gathered for our 50th high school reunion. Almost as soon as we arrived, we found ourselves talking about the “old days." Looking at old photographs, we remembered names we hadn't spoken in decades and reveled in what used to be. It was fun, warming and satisfying, but I know it is not the way to live each day. Sometimes when we older friars gather we forget that there are young men with us who have heard our stories a thousand times, and who, very frankly, are bored with us. Perhaps it is because we not just remembering the past, we seem to be stuck in it.
Jesus warns us about this in today’s gospel. For some of his Jewish clansmen and family there is a resistance to the “new” word that Jesus is announcing. Satisfied, or at least comfortable with what they know of God and God’s revelation to Israel, they do not want to hear anything that might suggest something was lacking in their own faith. But Jesus insists that one can’t pour old wine into new wineskins, otherwise the wineskins will burst and all the wine will be lost.
And the truth is this. Unless we are ready to embrace whatever helps the world to know God more fully, we will fail in the mission Jesus handed on to us. Christ is given to us, not simply for our own salvation, but for the salvation of the world.
Today, pray for a new insight about faith and embrace it.
Who or what has helped you grow in your faith oommitment to be Good News?
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