Helplessness

"Jesus then said to the Twelve, 'Do you also want to leave?' Simon Peter answered him, 'Master, to whom shall we go?'" Jn 6:68

Many years ago while visiting a young missionary friar in Central America, I learned of a struggle many friars had with women to whom they were ministering in small mountain villages. Abused often by their heavy drinking husbands, the women would not leave their villages. Initially, the friars thought the women were staying because of the vows they took when they married. Only after many visits did they realize they were staying with their abusive husbands because they had no place to go. Penniless, they felt trapped. With three or four children, it seemed impossible to them to go anywhere. Instead, they endured the abuse for the sake of their children, and the friars stood by them as best they could.

For those who work in the developing world, situations like this arise regularly, and sometimes I wonder whether Peter was saying something similar to the women of Central America when he asked Jesus, "To whom shall we go?" Indeed, Peter was a fisherman with few options. He was probably illiterate and owned no property. To what could he return? While the gospel writers cast Peter's response as an act of faith, which it surely was, it might also reflect his powerlessness.

For many religious women in the United States, the situation is similar. Having given their entire lives to schools, hospitals, retreat centers, the poor, and so much more, they now have to wrestle with a challenge by the Congregation  for the Doctrine of Faith to the Leadership Conference of Women Religions (LCWR), the umbrella organization to which so many of their congregations belong. For those of us who were educated by sisters and supported by them in so many ways, whether there are matters to which the LCWR must attend is besides the point. Just like the women in Central America, they need us to stand beside them in faith until a just solution is reached. The LCWR has said as much in its prayerful, considered response on its website. (1)

Today ask yourself what you do when you feel powerlessness in the face of overwhelming problems?

How can we stand with the poor and the powerless in their everyday lives?

Sweet and Bitter

On occasion, my commentary is from a different part of the daily liturgy than the mass. Today's blog is a reflection on the Book of Revelation that we pray in the Office of Readings

"I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and swallowed it. In my mouth it was like sweet honey, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour." Rev 10:10 as found in today's Office of Readings

If you have been poor most of your life, as were the apostles of Jesus, the announcement in the Book of Revelation that neither wealth, nor health nor a large and successful family were signs of God's enduring love would taste like sweet honey. No longer would you have to strive to be like others, nor would you be always seeking to own something or someone. Rather, you would be anxious to eat this honey over and over again. Unfortunately, when you repeated this message, your stomach would turn sour. That is the clear message of the 10th chapter of Revelations to the early church. That which was at first sweet would become sour in the telling because you were challenging people to have different standards of success.

The same was true of St. Francis of Assisi. Francis tells the whole world that before God gave him the grace to kiss a leper, he was lost, but after kissing him (or her?) what before was bitter was turned into sweetness of body and soul. While this was true for Francis when he chose to live like and with lepers, his message was bitter for others, especially his own father, who wanted Francis to grow even richer than he himself was. When Francis rejected his father's wealth for a life of minority and poverty, he not only lost the love of his father, he threatened the feudal system into which he was born.

The gospel is always a threat and a bitter pill to swallow when it challenges us to reexamine how we live, and how we look at others. Unless we ask for the gift of seeing all creation with God's eyes, we miss the sweetness of the message. God loves all unconditionally, not just Jews and Christians, but all people. God even loves our enemies.

Today, ask God to let you taste the sweetness of his word, even in the telling.

Have you ever known anyone who changed their life and lifestyle completely in order to live the Gospel more completely?

Angels

The angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, "Get up and head south on the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert route." Acts 8:26

 Angels can be annoying. Throughout the scripture, they pop up and make demands. Go here, go there, they say, and we are supposed to listen. In today's text from Acts, Philip is told to go from the metropolis of Jerusalem to the desert of Gaza. More, the word south in Greek can also mean at noon. How strange! People in the ancient neareast almost never traveled at midday because the heat could be overwhelming, but Philip does not hesitate. That he meets someone along the road who is anxious to learn more about the bible is no accident. Because he listened to the angel and did as he was instructed, an opportunity to announce the Good News presents itself and he is more than ready to respond.

The scriptures today ask us whether we are ready to listen to the voice of God however it comes us. Even more important, are we prepared to help those who want to know more about faith and how to understand its mysteries. This is not to say that everyone needs to become a catechist, but that all of us should be prepared to share our experience of the Risen Lord. Openness to God's spirit assures us, as it did Philip, the we "should not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given to you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit." Mk 13:11

Today, don't be afraid of angels.

Have you ever experienced God acting through you in ways you never expected?

St Mark

"Clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another." 1 Peter 5:5

Commentaries on the scriptures are full of midrash, a homiletic method of biblical explanation that fills in the gaps that the text does not reveal directly. There are midrashim about Mary, for instance, at Cana which suggest what she was thinking when she told Jesus, "They have no wine."

Another Mirash about the miracle at Cana concerns Mark, whose feast we celebrate today. Legend has it that he was one of the servants who filled the six stone water jars with water. When Jesus changed the water to wine, Mark was especially startled and moved by Jesus' power and compassion, and it was at Cana that he decided to follow Jesus as a disciple.

Though we cannot "prove" any of these stories through the lens of history as we record it today, we can be sure that something moved the hearts of those who encountered Jesus to follow him and risk their lives to proclaim the good news he was preaching.  The same is true for us. Very few conversions that last are built on intellect alone. Only when our hearts are moved does the truth of the Gospel change us forever.

Today, think about the experiences of faith you have had and be grateful?

What stories of conversion most impacted your faith life?