Repentance

"There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance." Lk 15:7

Most of us regret some of our actions and behaviors, especially when we realize how much hurt we caused in others' lives. Whether it was a single act or word, or a pattern of behavior that made us feel better or superior to others, does not matter. Because we undermined another's confidence or reputation, we must pray for the courage to repent. Recognizing our faults and sins and taking responsibility for the hurt we caused is the beginning of repentance and the first step towards authentic reconciliation.

At the same time, we can get lost in repentance, particularly when we are more concerned with feeling better about ourselves than we are for the people whose lives and reputations we damaged. Repentance, while important, can be a distraction from authentic growth in faith. While it is important to recognize our flaws, it is equally important to spend the healing we receive from God's gracious Spirit by doing good.

This is very clear in the Gospel. Jesus heals many on his journey towards Jerusalem and his own death, but the healed must respond to others who are in need. Imagine the leper who returns to Jesus to give thanks for his healing, but then leads a life of self centered absorption. The point of being healed from leprosy is to return to life in the community with the same attitude towards others that Jesus had towards them. Only when the healed leper in us treats others with the compassion of Jesus is our repentance complete.

Today, ask God to give you an attitude of repentance.

What are your biggest regrets about your life of faith?

Hating one's Parents

“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple."

The use of the word hate in this translation is always troubling. How can anyone, especially those raised in communal cultures that so value relationships over personal accomplishment, hate family members? And is it possible to hate one's own life? Clearly, Jesus is demanding that we let nothing get in the way of doing the right thing, all the time. If for instance, as it might have been for the earliest Christians, your parents refuse to speak with you, shun you or consider you unclean if you will not reject the person and message of Jesus, you must be willing to let go of your parents despite the terrible cost.

This teaching might be easier to understand if we use a different example. Suppose someone promises you a million dollars if you are willing to lie about a candidate for office in order to get their family member elected as mayor or congressperson. While at times we might be slow to answer, especially if we are in deep financial need, we would not lie despite the "rewards." Jesus demands the same from his disciples. Unless his followers are willing to acknowledge how much faith in Jesus matters, despite the consequences, they cannot be his disciples, and faith continues to make these kinds of demands on us in the 21st century.

Racist, sexist and other bullying language and behavior, used repeatedly, must be addressed by Christians in the public sphere. Dismissive and vulgar remarks about entire cultures and religions must also confronted. Otherwise, our silence will be taken for agreement and Jesus' inclusive attitude towards all who are willing to hear, accept and live the Good News will be implicitly denied.

Today, do the right thing despite the cost.

Has your faith ever been the occasion for confronting evil?

Spending our Inheritance

We, though many, are one Body in Christ

and individually parts of one another.

Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us,

let us exercise them:

if prophecy, in proportion to the faith;

if ministry, in ministering;

if one is a teacher, in teaching;

if one exhorts, in exhortation;

if one contributes, in generosity;

if one is over others, with diligence;

if one does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. Rom 12: 5-8

St Paul is never less than clear, inviting and, often, demanding. Since all of us are blessed by God with different gifts, we must spend them for the good of Christ's Body. When we forget this challenge we are prone to obsessive thinking and acting about ourselves. We become self centered and worried about how we are doing before God when the task of the Christian is to serve others as best we can and let God worry about the results.

On the other hand, when each of us accepts and celebrates the gift we have been given, everyone benefits. There is no competition or envy because everyone remembers their role and works for th good of the entire community. Leaders understand that they are servants. Cheerleaders remember to encourage others, and all of us learn to be for others, to be for the whole. 

Of course, this is the Gospel dream, and because we do not want to be naive, we also realize that we will fail to be ourselves in many situations, but failure should never be the end of our dreams. When each of us recognizes and admits our failures, the body heals and the Gospel continues to enliven the world.

Today, accept and celebrate whatever gift you have for the sake of the Body of Christ.

When have you been happiest and most fulfilled as a member of Christ's body?

St Charles Borremeo

"The gifts and the call of God are irrevocable." Rom 11:29

God loves us. That is God's gift to us. But God's love is not a promise that we will never suffer or feel lost and alone. When we say that God loves us we mean that his gift, as St Paul reminds us, is irrevocable. God will never take it back, never stop loving us, and in this promise we have hope, strength and the assurance that God is near even and especially when we suffer.

God's call is also irrevocable and this can be both empowering and terrifying. God calls all of us to discipleship, and discerning what that is can be the task of a lifetime. In my own case, like many other young men of my generation, I felt strongly I was being called to be a Capuchin priest. Motivated by so many of the Capuchin priests I knew as a boy to be active, engaged and committed to the needy, God used that natural attraction to lure me into vows and priesthood. Being a friar, though important, was a distant second to being  a priest.

Thirty years ago, however, in a frightening twist of grace, it became clear that God wanted to work in the Capuchins in ways we could never have foreseen. Without devaluing the call to be priest, the church challenged the Capuchins to reclaim the charisms of their founder, and all the friars to listen to God and not simply follow our own best instincts or needs. Remarkably, this shift is cited by a majority of our young friars as the reason they were drawn to the Capuchins. When we reclaimed the dream of St Francis to form a community of brothers whose love for one another as they traveled from place to place to preach the Gospel would be their most important way of announcing Good News, everything changed. God does write straight on crooked lines.

Today, ask God to renew the vocation to which you have been called.

Who or what has been most influential in helping you listen more deeply to the Gospel?