Drill It | Wear It | Write It | August 8, 2015 Gospel Reflection

August 8, 2015

Sentences like: “Drill them into your children”, “Bind them at your wrist”, “Let them be a pendant on your forehead”, “Write them on the doorposts of your houses”, like modern day hash tags, suggest that something paramount needs attention: heart, soul, and strength or the Great Shema. Shema means to hear or witness the name of God. This prayer is where it all begins. “It” being faith.  The Israelites believed that the heart and mind were one so in this prayer, let our thoughts and feelings be undivided and devoted to God alone. The soul is where our energy or lifeblood resides, so let us be willing to lay our lives down for the love of God. Strength refers not only to our physical selves but all of our earthly possessions as well. Give it all to God.

·      Drill it:  Let God’s love penetrate our hearts, move into our minds, permeate our souls, and infuse our bodies with undivided devotion and focus. Drills build habits and the habit of loving God first is an absolute must.

·      Wear it:  Let’s go all out and get tattoos of God’s name, shall we??!! Not necessary but, this one seems pretty Catholic to me. Don’t we wear reminders of Christ around our necks and wrists? Seems pretty basic but it’s good to repurpose our reminders so that they do help us to remember oneness of heart, soul, and strength.

·      Write it:  We have it drilled into our minds, hearts, body, and soul, we wear it around our necks and wrists, and on our foreheads, and we need one last tool to really really really lock it in. Write it over and over, read it over and over.

This foundation of faith sets the stage for today’s gospel.  After the apostles were unable to heal a young boy with epilepsy, they ask Jesus why. He said, “Because of your little faith.” Then he goes on with the classic image of having faith the size of a mustard seed.  A pinpricked ounce of heart, soul, and strength loving God and only God, can flourish into hillsides of yellow witness or shema, and hillsides of yellow witness move the mountain as the breath of God blows through and the dance of faith that we participate in writes, wears, and drills the words of love on our hearts and souls, and gives us the strength to heal and thrive.

Might I suggest committing the passage from Deuteronomy 6:4-9 to memory so that the beginning of faith becomes firmly planted as a seed that will become a wild and thriving witness to all.

Reading 1 DT 6:4-13

Moses said to the people:
“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone!
Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God,
with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your strength.
Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today.
Drill them into your children.
Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest.
Bind them at your wrist as a sign
and let them be as a pendant on your forehead.
Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

“When the LORD, your God, brings you into the land which he swore
to your fathers: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
that he would give you,
a land with fine, large cities that you did not build,
with houses full of goods of all sorts that you did not garner,
with cisterns that you did not dig,
with vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant;
and when, therefore, you eat your fill,
take care not to forget the LORD,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.
The LORD, your God, shall you fear;
him shall you serve, and by his name shall you swear.”

Gospel MT 17:14-20

A man came up to Jesus, knelt down before him, and said,
“Lord, have pity on my son, who is a lunatic and suffers severely;
often he falls into fire, and often into water.
I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.”
Jesus said in reply,
“O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you?
How long will I endure you?
Bring the boy here to me.”
Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him,
and from that hour the boy was cured.
Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said,
“Why could we not drive it out?”
He said to them, “Because of your little faith.
Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you will say to this mountain,
‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.
Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Watch | Imitate | Become | August 7, 2015 Gospel Reflection

August 7, 2015

Sometimes when people say the phrase, "Pick up your cross" I think what they are really saying is, "Stop our whining and just deal with it." This, of course, makes me a little self righteous and defensive, and honestly, when we merely throw quotes like this out at each other, they might indeed get lost in translation. In Today's gospel, however Jesus' teaching is clear, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." The children's game "Follow The Leader" comes to mind where the leader walks around doing various actions and the followers imitate the leader in a single file line behind them.  Yes, Jesus IS saying do what I do, say what I say, be like me, watch, imitate, become. 

• Watch: We need to observe Christ in the gospels and in the world. The only way to imitate Him is to know what He does and says and scripture is the best study guide we have for that.

• Imitate:  We have to do a significant amount of watching in order to start imitating. Imitating is not "faking it." Imitate literally means to follow an example (like the children's game). When we have watched Him enough, we will know how to act and speak like Him.

• Become:  Soon we will become that which we imitate. When you study, you learn to apply the knowledge, when you apply the knowledge you become an expert, and experts teach others how to become. 

Because we live in this world, we will always be tempted to be of this world. When we watch, imitate, and become the things that this world says are true we "forfeit" our lives. Jesus goes on with a list of things that we should pay attention to in our game of follow the leader. 

• For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
• But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
• What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?
• Or what can one give in exchange for his life?

Jesus desires that we not only live but that we live life fully. As I was writing this reflection, it occurred to me that while Jesus agony, passion, and death were horrifying and unjust and brutal, it only lasted less than 24 hours of his entire life. I'm not trying to diminish Jesus' passion and death in any way, however, I think that a lot of times when we think about taking up our crosses we have this idea that everyday will be a crucifixion and that is just too overwhelming. But, when we watch, imitate, and become we see that Christ's life was one filled with joy, community, friendships, parties, story telling, transfiguration, love, and lots of other goodness. Meditating on this helps me wrap my brain around the cross and while it is terrible suffering, it is for just a short while. 

Today, let's play a fun game. Jesus is at the front of the line and he begins with the classic airplane wings and we all follow along flying through the air. Now try to picture what Jesus' next five moves will be and follow along just like the airplane. I'm sure each of us will come up with five different things and Jesus' example will multiply into all of our worlds one move at a time. Watch | Imitate| Become. 

Gospel MT 16:24-28

Jesus said to his disciples,
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life?
Or what can one give in exchange for his life?
For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory,
and then he will repay each according to his conduct.
Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here
who will not taste death
until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”

It Is Good That We Are Here | August 6, 2015 Gospel Reflection

Thursday, August 6, 2015

One of my favorite icebreaker questions is, “If you could witness one event in all of history, what event would you choose?” I’ve heard every kind of answer from the crumbling of the Berlin wall to the Resurrection. I myself go back and forth between the Annunciation and the Transfiguration. Both events involve mystery, light, an intimate encounter, and spoken words. Mystery | Light | Encounter | Word.

Today’s gospel is the account where Jesus brings his groupies to the mountain. Peter, James, John, and Jesus go on a hike and I am sure the three apostles were thrilled, honored, and maybe a little smug at being chosen for this special field trip. Jesus clearly wanted these three friends to see something apart from the rest of the group. Were they his “besties”? Probably, and we all know that every now and then, we just need a weekend or a getaway with our besties. It’s healthy for our souls and when we get away from life in the valley, we start to see things differently.

The mystery of it all must have captured their hearts. Why did he choose us? What were we going to do and see? How long is this camping trip? Who brought the food? A life with Christ can and does have a constant element of mystery to it because God is like a cloud that can’t be pinned down. There is excitement in mystery and yes, there is also anxiety. We know first hand from our own experience (i.e. Cursillo) that if we succumb our will and simply trust in the unknown, God’s surprises will completely rock our worlds, blow our minds, and transform our hearts. Mystery is God’s way of pulling our heartstrings closer and closer.

Once our hearts are enticed with a little bit of mysteriousness, God uses light to show us something wonderful. The mystery calls us to look closer and the light illuminates whatever it is that we are trying to find; in this case, a glimpse of heaven. Jesus gives us glimpses of heaven everyday like when your best friend looks into your eyes, or when a baby smiles, or when a child sings, or when a butterfly soars by. These hints of eternity call us to encounter Christ in all things.

The mystery brings us in, the light shows us His face, and the encounter changes our hearts.  Peter, James, and John were changed on that mountain because Jesus went out of his way to reveal himself to them. Have you ever played hide and seek with a child and found the most obvious place to hide just so they would experience the joy of finding you? That is exactly how God works. He’s the fat guy hiding behind the flagpole. He wants us to see him, he wants us to find him. In the finding, we encounter and in the encounter, we are changed because we are no longer alone and intimacy with Christ is precisely how we live forever.

Mystery leads to light, light leads to encounter, and encounter leads to word. The words in this story: “This is my beloved son. Listen to him.” And I’m pretty certain that those same words apply to every single encounter with Christ. When we enter into a mysterious and intimate relationship that is illuminated by grace, we will hear our Heavenly Father remind us that Christ is the way, the truth, the life, and all we have to do is listen to him.

The Transfiguration gives us a wonderful formula for spiritual growth and awakening. Mystery draws us in, light pours grace into our lives so that we can encounter love and in love we can hear the words of everlasting life. May we celebrate every single transfiguration, big or small, with the same excitement and fervor that Jesus’ besties did, proclaiming: “It is good that we are here!”

Gospel MK 9:2-10

Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John,
and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them, 
and his clothes became dazzling white, 
such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. 
Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, 
and they were conversing with Jesus.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, 
“Rabbi, it is good that we are here!
Let us make three tents: 
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.
Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; 
from the cloud came a voice, 
“This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”
Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone
but Jesus alone with them.

As they were coming down from the mountain,
he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone,
except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
So they kept the matter to themselves, 
questioning what rising from the dead meant.

Even The Dogs Eat The Scraps | August 5, 2015 Gospel Reflection

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

So, today's Gospel is one of those confusing ones that may make you think that Jesus was being a bit of a jerk. Here are my personal thoughts on the matter. 

Because this woman was a Canaanite, the fact that she addressed him as "Lord, Son of David" automatically let Jesus know that her faith was pretty darn big. Canaanite's and Jews were not the best of friends, yet, this woman knew that He was the Messiah. So, she had already professed her faith in a big way and Jesus knew the significance of this. He was trying to send a message to his Apostles because they, unlike her, did not know what was up (yet). They were actually annoyed by her persistence. 

I think Jesus' next few comments were all planned to bait the Apostles and to show them how limited their understanding was of Him and for whom He was sent. He knew that the woman's faith was strong enough to engage even though he was saying things that seemed a little rude. For example, "I was ONLY sent for the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Again, knowing that this woman's faith would take the bait, she showed persistence (which is a great lesson for us in our prayer life - be persistent), "Lord, help me." 

Now, this next line is the real zinger and you can almost picture him saying it directly to the Apostles "It is not right to take the food of the CHILDREN and throw it to the dogs." Jesus probably said this sentence in such a way to emphasize the ridiculousness of it. In other words, Apostles, you are acting like spoiled children right now and you need to hear exactly how off the mark you are. And the Canaanite woman played along like a pro. "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters." Bam!!! And Jesus was like, ding, ding, ding, right answer!!! A perfect set up to a deep theological reality, that Jesus came to save all, ALL, not some. His grace and mercy are for everyone and when we proclaim that He is the Christ, when we are persistent in our faith, and when we remember that His mercy is bigger than our sin, then we will enjoy that peace and joy that comes from knowing that we are made for so much more. 

Again, these are just my personal thoughts on the matter. What are yours?

Gospel MT 15: 21-28

At that time Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out,
“Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!
My daughter is tormented by a demon.”
But he did not say a word in answer to her.
His disciples came and asked him,
“Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”
He said in reply,
“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.”
He said in reply,
“It is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs.”
She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps
that fall from the table of their masters.”
Then Jesus said to her in reply,
“O woman, great is your faith!
Let it be done for you as you wish.”
And her daughter was healed from that hour.

You Call Me Out Upon The Water | August 4, 2015 Gospel Reflection

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

The gospel from today calls us out on the water. I used to picture calm still water for some reason but today I read "the boat was being tossed by the waves and the wind was against it." I used to live on a sailboat and I have some experience with being at the mercy of the sea and the wind. When the ocean is cranky there is nothing mere humans can do to settle it and the best thing to do is hunker down until it's over. When the wind gets a bee in its bonnet the only thing to do is lean into it and plant yourself as firmly as possible. When both the sea and the wind are having a bad day, forget about and just go home. That's why  Peter's leap of faith is so impressive to me. Not only did he want to be with Jesus but he was willing to be tossed about by the tumultuous waves to do it. Yes, once he took his eyes of Jesus and started to doubt, he little walk started to become a swim, but his initial leap out of that boat is what I need the courage for today. I would like to think that my spiritual life is in such a place that once I am out upon the water I will keep my eyes on Christ, however, the stepping out of the comfy boat is the part that tweaks my heart with fear. I pray for the courage of Peter to leap and the stability of my faith to keep my eyes on the one who loves me more. I know that I can always cry out "Lord, save me!" but more than anything, I want to be where He is and that means getting tossed by waves and wind sometimes.

Gospel MT 14:22-36

Jesus made the disciples get into a boat
and precede him to the other side of the sea,
while he dismissed the crowds.
After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.
When it was evening he was there alone.
Meanwhile the boat, already a few miles offshore,
was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it.
During the fourth watch of the night,
he came toward them, walking on the sea.
When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified.
“It is a ghost,” they said, and they cried out in fear.
At once Jesus spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Peter said to him in reply,
“Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
He said, “Come.”
Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus.
But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened;
and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him,
and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
After they got into the boat, the wind died down.
Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying,
“Truly, you are the Son of God.”

After making the crossing, they came to land at Gennesaret.
When the men of that place recognized him,
they sent word to all the surrounding country.
People brought to him all those who were sick
and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak,
and as many as touched it were healed.

Seeing By The Sea

As I walked the beach today, a demonstration appeared before me. It was an ideal morning. The sun way at my back and the air was crisp like a Friday night in fall. The beach was almost empty making the sand a blank canvas sprinkled with life and painted by the sea. I was walking for exercise but God was showing me an exercise. I picked up several shells that immediately became a treasure hunt/prayer practice. As I picked up each shell I imagined a soul that needed to be picked up in prayer. I held it in my hand and brushed the sand and grime off and I did the same with each shell too. There were more shells and souls than usual and I felt blessed to be able to hold them.

On my way back, I realized that I was walking back over my own footprints so I looked ahead to see where I had been. There was a jogger’s set of prints not far from mine and theirs were virtually in a straight line, which impressed me. My footprints, however, were anything but straight and they resembled the ebb and flow of the waves on the sand. Zigzagging up and down but with gentle and lengthy curves. Every now and then, there was a straight path but mostly my prints meandered along the beach.

I could see when I stopped to look out for any dolphins on the horizon, or to check out the diving albatrosses. All those souls that I collected along the way had my prints leading up to them and stopping for a moment to carry them away to the next soul. My prayer life was laid out before me on the sand showing me that it must be free to move about or it might just get washed away.

The to and from, the journey, the treasure hunt, the stopping along the way, the gazing out, the picking up souls: this is my spiritual life and God painted it on the sand to show me that it must be a dance. I MUST dance my way to Him.

At one point I noticed that the ocean had erased my prints and it made my heart sink just a bit. My painting was flawed and not perfect. And then my heart sang at the knowledge that God clears the canvas for us every now and then so that we can start the dance over and this time it will be even better because we have been rehearsing.

So my walk by the sea this morning turned into a dance with my Beloved and we meandered through an art gallery of grace, collecting souls together and tossing them into an ocean of grace.  May I always be able to see like You by the sea. Amen

Pray with this one, it's amazing!