"The apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our Faith.'" Lk 17:5
Faith, though a great and free gift, is fragile. Frequently, especially when we are moving along in life confidently and without too much effort, we forget how central God and God's love for us is to our everyday life. When we remember to pray, we pray too quickly or by rote, and everything becomes more important than our spiritual lives. We rush to get things done, don't even see friends and family in need, and find ourselves focusing on others faults rather than their good qualities. Although there are dozens of reminders along the way, we fail to see them and without realizing it, our faith wavers.
While none of us wants to be tested, neither can we deny that the challenges we face strengthen us. When a parent falls ill, a friend struggles with mental illness or old friends divorce after many years of marriage, we pause and wonder. What is happening within and around us? What ought to be our faith response? When we have been walking at God's pace, attending to God's way in our lives, the responses come naturally and simply. Pray. Be with hurting friends and family as companions. Don't instruct. But when we have taken faith for granted, we find ourselves muddled, overly upset, angry and confused. What should we do? Pray. Slow down. Listen. Ask for an increase in faith.
Today, take five minutes to sit in God's presence without an agenda
What kinds of situations most test your faith?
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Saturday, November 9, 2013
We will live forever
"God is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."
The implications of this passage are broad and important. Knowing that we will live forever ought to be freeing, unless of course we are stuck in guilt or shame. In that case, living forever feels like hell, literally, but this is not Jesus' intent. Reminding his listeners and us that we will live forever is a reminder to let go of guilt and to put aside shame for the sake of others. Our task is to announce this good news despite the difficulties we encounter. Wherever we are stuck, whether in anger, confusion, anxiety or darkness, we must pray for the faith to see all these emotions as self absorbing and destructive of community and the church. Our self concern blocks our ability to be for others.
When the Sadducees, who denied the Resurrection, tried to trap Jesus in a silly argument about which of a woman's eight husbands will be her husband in the afterlife, Jesus refuses to take the bait. The Sadducees are stuck trying to be right and use logic to reinforce their argument, but Jesus insists that the after life is not about marrying or giving in marriage, but in accepting the gift of living with God forever. Failing to appreciate this free gift of God, the Sadducees walked away thinking they won the argument while the crowd who listened to Jesus drew even closer to him.
Not infrequently, we are like the Sadducees. Insisting that we are right in an argument in order to win, we jeopardize our relationship with both friends and foes, making it very difficult to find common ground in the next go round. Without a relationship, even simple conversations become problematic and awkward. and that is what happens to the Sadducees. Embarrassed and confused by Jesus they look for other opportunities to prove their point and lose any chance to hear the transforming word of God. Unless we listen to the Lord with an open spirit, the same can happen to us.
Today, ask God for the gift of listening with an open heart.
When has your pride interfered with your ability to hear the truth
The implications of this passage are broad and important. Knowing that we will live forever ought to be freeing, unless of course we are stuck in guilt or shame. In that case, living forever feels like hell, literally, but this is not Jesus' intent. Reminding his listeners and us that we will live forever is a reminder to let go of guilt and to put aside shame for the sake of others. Our task is to announce this good news despite the difficulties we encounter. Wherever we are stuck, whether in anger, confusion, anxiety or darkness, we must pray for the faith to see all these emotions as self absorbing and destructive of community and the church. Our self concern blocks our ability to be for others.
When the Sadducees, who denied the Resurrection, tried to trap Jesus in a silly argument about which of a woman's eight husbands will be her husband in the afterlife, Jesus refuses to take the bait. The Sadducees are stuck trying to be right and use logic to reinforce their argument, but Jesus insists that the after life is not about marrying or giving in marriage, but in accepting the gift of living with God forever. Failing to appreciate this free gift of God, the Sadducees walked away thinking they won the argument while the crowd who listened to Jesus drew even closer to him.
Not infrequently, we are like the Sadducees. Insisting that we are right in an argument in order to win, we jeopardize our relationship with both friends and foes, making it very difficult to find common ground in the next go round. Without a relationship, even simple conversations become problematic and awkward. and that is what happens to the Sadducees. Embarrassed and confused by Jesus they look for other opportunities to prove their point and lose any chance to hear the transforming word of God. Unless we listen to the Lord with an open spirit, the same can happen to us.
Today, ask God for the gift of listening with an open heart.
When has your pride interfered with your ability to hear the truth
Friday, November 8, 2013
Feast of the Lateran Basilica
"Wherever the river flows, every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live, and there shall be abundant fish, for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh."
One of the wonderful images in the Book of Revelation is the flowing river about which Ezekiel also speaks. Watering and washing every bit of land through which it flows, the river helps every thing along its banks to grow strong. Fruit trees will produce large amounts of nourishment for all every month, and every kind of fish will grow strong and multiply in its waters.
The river, of course, is the water of life that flows to all from the restored temple and it will bring new life and hope to all who enter it, which is the point. We must enter the waters of baptism, drown and be raised up again in Christ if we hope to live the Gospel. This is not an easy journey or notion. To die to self so that Christ might live is the heart of the Gospel but is not something we do intuitively. We must learn to die from those who have gone before us in faith, especially the martyrs, and that is where the Lateran Basilica leads us.
St John Lateran is the basilica of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. First among all Rome's church's, it is dedicated to St John the Baptist who lost his head for the sake of Christ and the Gospel, and reminds us that the most fundamental work of the church is to witness to Christ crucified and raised up for the sake of all. John the Baptist never forgot that his mission was to make straight the way of the Lord. Willing to die for this privilege, John the Baptist continues to remind us of our role. When we make the way of the Lord straight people can find their way into the mystery of God's love.
Today, pray for the grace never to forget God's enduring love for all.
What do you most value about the church, the people of God?
One of the wonderful images in the Book of Revelation is the flowing river about which Ezekiel also speaks. Watering and washing every bit of land through which it flows, the river helps every thing along its banks to grow strong. Fruit trees will produce large amounts of nourishment for all every month, and every kind of fish will grow strong and multiply in its waters.
The river, of course, is the water of life that flows to all from the restored temple and it will bring new life and hope to all who enter it, which is the point. We must enter the waters of baptism, drown and be raised up again in Christ if we hope to live the Gospel. This is not an easy journey or notion. To die to self so that Christ might live is the heart of the Gospel but is not something we do intuitively. We must learn to die from those who have gone before us in faith, especially the martyrs, and that is where the Lateran Basilica leads us.
St John Lateran is the basilica of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. First among all Rome's church's, it is dedicated to St John the Baptist who lost his head for the sake of Christ and the Gospel, and reminds us that the most fundamental work of the church is to witness to Christ crucified and raised up for the sake of all. John the Baptist never forgot that his mission was to make straight the way of the Lord. Willing to die for this privilege, John the Baptist continues to remind us of our role. When we make the way of the Lord straight people can find their way into the mystery of God's love.
Today, pray for the grace never to forget God's enduring love for all.
What do you most value about the church, the people of God?
Thursday, November 7, 2013
All is from God and for God
"I will not dare to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me." Rom 15:18
Paul's advice to his listeners is intriguing and important because he often tells us what he has endured for the sake of the Gospel, and challenges us to do the same.
Very few saints knew the power of their witness as they offered it. The countless women and men who gave their lives for the sake of the Gospel were not freed from the fear of death because they were doing the right thing. Even Jesus asks his Father to take his suffering from him, but then tells God to do what God needs to do for the sake of the world, and God certainly did.
While most of us will not have to suffer like Paul, we all must bear our own burdens and fears, ask God for the strength to pass through them, and when God does in us what God needs for the good of all, we cannot fail to remember with Paul what God "has done through me."
Today, ask God for the strength to enter through the narrow gate.
What experiences have you had that convinced you that all was from God and for God?
Paul's advice to his listeners is intriguing and important because he often tells us what he has endured for the sake of the Gospel, and challenges us to do the same.
“Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked. For a night and a day I was adrift at sea. On frequent journeys, I was in danger from rivers, from bandits, from my own people, from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the wilderness, in danger at sea, in danger from false brethren; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked. And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches” (2 Cor 11:24-29).A first glance at passages like this can be confusing. Is Paul exalting himself and his sufferings? While we know this is not the case, it is a warning to remember how good God is and how often God has worked in and through us, even when we did not know it was happening.
Very few saints knew the power of their witness as they offered it. The countless women and men who gave their lives for the sake of the Gospel were not freed from the fear of death because they were doing the right thing. Even Jesus asks his Father to take his suffering from him, but then tells God to do what God needs to do for the sake of the world, and God certainly did.
While most of us will not have to suffer like Paul, we all must bear our own burdens and fears, ask God for the strength to pass through them, and when God does in us what God needs for the good of all, we cannot fail to remember with Paul what God "has done through me."
Today, ask God for the strength to enter through the narrow gate.
What experiences have you had that convinced you that all was from God and for God?
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