"My yoke is easy and my burden is light." Mt 11:30
Although we might want to deny or ignore it, all of us are yoked to one another in ways beyond our ability to articulate or understand, and these relationships are the source of our life. Whether our family of origin always supported in ways that we wanted is not the point. We are part of them and they of us. Simply put, our parents will always be our parents.
The same is true of God and us. God is our creator and, for Christians, God is also our redeemer. We can deny or doubt these simple truths, but they will remain true whether or not we receive them. God is the source of our life. God is our hope, and God loves us beyond measure. Being yoked to God, while stripping us of a type of false independence, is our salvation.
Yokes that fit well never bind. Only when we insist of our way without regard for God's desire and dream for us will we feel its limits. When a yoked animal responds to its master's commands, he or she will never know they are restricted as long as they move in the direction their master indicates. Likewise, our life of faith, when we submit ourselves to God's path, will be rich, free and helpful to others.
Today, stand still for God and wait for God's direction.
When has being yoked to God and God's people proved helpful to you?
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Childlike
“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to the childlike." Mt 11:25
Knowing exactly what Jesus means by childlike is not easy. In the ancient world, because children had little economic value until they could work, it was counter intuitive to imitate them. Nevertheless, Jesus holds them up for us as a model of faith life. Unless we are as vulnerable as children were in Jesus' day, we will think too highly of ourselves and the haughtiness that can accompany education, power and wealth get in the way of our witness to the Gospel.
Jesus does not want us to follow him for its social value. Otherwise, he would have told us to wear multiple tunics, carry money and wear fine sandals so that those who met us would be impressed with what following Jesus did for us. Rather, he tells us to take nothing for the journey so that all will see in us people whose only task is to announce the Good News. Like John the Baptist, we go before the Lord to prepare the way.
When we think about people who have humbled themselves for us, we are always moved. More than once, I have been met at airports as if I were a Hollywood personality, and although it is embarrassing, I know it is not about me, but about what those welcoming me hope I can do for their communities of faith. For those who are public figures announcing the Good News, this Gospel is especially important. It is not a big head that gets us into heaven, but a big heart.
Today, listen to others like a child listening to a bedtime story.
Whose childlike faith helped shape yours?
Knowing exactly what Jesus means by childlike is not easy. In the ancient world, because children had little economic value until they could work, it was counter intuitive to imitate them. Nevertheless, Jesus holds them up for us as a model of faith life. Unless we are as vulnerable as children were in Jesus' day, we will think too highly of ourselves and the haughtiness that can accompany education, power and wealth get in the way of our witness to the Gospel.
Jesus does not want us to follow him for its social value. Otherwise, he would have told us to wear multiple tunics, carry money and wear fine sandals so that those who met us would be impressed with what following Jesus did for us. Rather, he tells us to take nothing for the journey so that all will see in us people whose only task is to announce the Good News. Like John the Baptist, we go before the Lord to prepare the way.
When we think about people who have humbled themselves for us, we are always moved. More than once, I have been met at airports as if I were a Hollywood personality, and although it is embarrassing, I know it is not about me, but about what those welcoming me hope I can do for their communities of faith. For those who are public figures announcing the Good News, this Gospel is especially important. It is not a big head that gets us into heaven, but a big heart.
Today, listen to others like a child listening to a bedtime story.
Whose childlike faith helped shape yours?
Monday, July 14, 2014
St Bonaventure
"Jesus began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deeds had been done, since they had not repented." Mt 11:20
Why does it see to take a diagnosis of a serious illness to get our attention and encourage us to live a healthier lifestyle? Why must we lose friends because we are too buy to pay attention to them? Why do we rush around trying to get four things done when no one demands this of us? Questions like these haunt us. Sometimes the answers are easy and lead to change. At other times, we seem unable to understand our own behavior.
Jesus went about Palestine announcing that the reign of God was near, and although many heard him, relatively few let his message into their hearts in a transforming way. Others resisted or rejected the Good News because they were afraid to change their lives. Soon enough we hear Jesus, especially in Matthew's Gospel, warning the people to repent, to change their lives, and to listen with open spirits to his powerful word, but too many of them, like us, had more to do than listen to an itinerant rabbi.
Jesus' warnings and our own experience ought to shake us up and move us beyond our fears. The Lord knows we are afraid, that we resist and distance ourselves from him and all that he proclaims, but he keeps asking us to let go, to listen and return to him. When we accept Jesus' invitation in confience and love our fears seem to dissolve and our doubts are replaced by trust in our all loving God.
Today, pray for honesty in your personal and faith life.
What helps you to overcome your fears about faith and spirituality?
Why does it see to take a diagnosis of a serious illness to get our attention and encourage us to live a healthier lifestyle? Why must we lose friends because we are too buy to pay attention to them? Why do we rush around trying to get four things done when no one demands this of us? Questions like these haunt us. Sometimes the answers are easy and lead to change. At other times, we seem unable to understand our own behavior.
Jesus went about Palestine announcing that the reign of God was near, and although many heard him, relatively few let his message into their hearts in a transforming way. Others resisted or rejected the Good News because they were afraid to change their lives. Soon enough we hear Jesus, especially in Matthew's Gospel, warning the people to repent, to change their lives, and to listen with open spirits to his powerful word, but too many of them, like us, had more to do than listen to an itinerant rabbi.
Jesus' warnings and our own experience ought to shake us up and move us beyond our fears. The Lord knows we are afraid, that we resist and distance ourselves from him and all that he proclaims, but he keeps asking us to let go, to listen and return to him. When we accept Jesus' invitation in confience and love our fears seem to dissolve and our doubts are replaced by trust in our all loving God.
Today, pray for honesty in your personal and faith life.
What helps you to overcome your fears about faith and spirituality?
Sunday, July 13, 2014
St Kateri Tekakwitha
"Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow." Is 1:17
Isaiah regularly offers the people of Israel a path of return to God and God's ways. As long as they do justice and make restitution to those people and nations from whom they have stolen and against whom they have warred, God will remember them and welcome them home.
This simple lesson should not be lost on us. When we honestly assess our behavior, we realize how often we have lusted after what others have, and whether it is their property, their influence or their reputation does not matter. When we have allowed ourselves the freedom not to work for others on behalf of God, but to struggle against them for our own gain, we must confront and address this sin.
At the same time, this is never easy. When someone unjustly tries to take from us our good name, we have the right to resist, but never violently. Only when we insist with a peaceful heart that others allow us the same dignity we offer them, will we be doing God's work. Those who willingly admit their own wrongs and respond in justice to those they have ill treated are always more successful in the pursuit of God's desire for the world.
Today, pray for your enemies.
Who do you most admire for their honesty and willingness to step in the shoes of another?
Isaiah regularly offers the people of Israel a path of return to God and God's ways. As long as they do justice and make restitution to those people and nations from whom they have stolen and against whom they have warred, God will remember them and welcome them home.
This simple lesson should not be lost on us. When we honestly assess our behavior, we realize how often we have lusted after what others have, and whether it is their property, their influence or their reputation does not matter. When we have allowed ourselves the freedom not to work for others on behalf of God, but to struggle against them for our own gain, we must confront and address this sin.
At the same time, this is never easy. When someone unjustly tries to take from us our good name, we have the right to resist, but never violently. Only when we insist with a peaceful heart that others allow us the same dignity we offer them, will we be doing God's work. Those who willingly admit their own wrongs and respond in justice to those they have ill treated are always more successful in the pursuit of God's desire for the world.
Today, pray for your enemies.
Who do you most admire for their honesty and willingness to step in the shoes of another?
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