Wishing, Praying, Being Present

Wishing, Praying, Being Present

Ever wish you lived in some other time and place?  Haven’t we all.  And yet consider this challenge from the ancient philosopher and theologian, St. Augustine:

“Whenever we suffer some affliction, we should regard it both as a punishment and as a correction.  Our holy Scriptures themselves do not promise us peace, security, and rest.  On the contrary, the Gospel makes no secret of the troubles and temptations that await us, but it also says that he who perseveres to the end will be saved.  What good has there ever been in this life since the time when the first man received the just sentence of death and the curse from which Christ our Lord has delivered us?

“So we must not grumble, my brothers, for as the Apostle says:  Some of them murmured and were destroyed by serpents.  Is there any affliction now endured by mankind that was not endured by our fathers before us?  What sufferings of ours even bear comparison with what we know of their sufferings?  And yet you hear people complaining about the present day and age because things were so much better in former times.  I wonder what would happen if they could be taken back to the days of their ancestors – would we not still hear them complaining?  You may think past ages were good, but it is only because you are not living in them.

“It amazes me that you who have now been freed from the curse, who have believed in the Son of God, who have been instructed in the Holy Scriptures – that you can think the days of Adam were good.  And your ancestors bore the curse of Adam, of that Adam to whom the words were addressed:  With sweat on your brow you shall eat your bread; you shall till the earth from which you were taken, and it will yield you thorns and thistles.  This is what he deserved and what he had to suffer; this is the punishment meted out to him by the just judgment of God.  How then can you think that past ages were better than your own?  From the time of that first Adam to the time of his descendants today, man’s lot has been labor and sweat, thorns and thistles.  Have we forgotten the flood and the calamitous times of famine and war whose history has been recorded precisely in order to keep us from complaining to God on account of our own times?  Just think what those past ages were like!  Is there one of us who does not shudder to hear or read of them?  Far from justifying complaints about our own time, they teach us how much we have to be thankful for.”  (Sermo Caillau-Saint Ives 2, 92:  PLS 2, 441-552)

Does this mean that we resign ourselves to the horrid conditions in our world today – the wars that ravage Ukraine, Iraq, Gaza, Syria, and elsewhere; the racial tensions of Ferguson, MO; the scourge of violence and poverty that lead children to seek haven at our borders?  On the contrary, we must pray to the God within us, seeking to know from God how we might respond to these crises as God’s hands and feet on earth.  The plight of poor children inspired St. Vincent de Paul to create concrete acts of charity to alleviate such poverty.  The scourge of war led St. Francis of Assisi to become an instrument of God’s peace on earth. 

What is God calling you and me to do in our times?  It is not to retreat to past times of illusory golden ages that never existed.  It is rather to ascend to the mountaintop with the Lord Jesus to discern how we might be Christ to others.  And, like Christ, we come down from the mountaintop to give ourselves entirely to the service and care of others – providing healing and reconciliation to whomever we meet and to whomever God calls us to serve.  It is only in this way can we arrive more fully at the kingdom of God.

In our discernment, we pray:  “Almighty God, ever-loving Father, your care extends beyond the boundaries of race and nation to the hearts of all who live.  May the walls which prejudice raises between us, crumble beneath the shadow of your outstretched arm.  We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.”

Interpreting the Signs

Cave of St. Peter, Antioch

Interpreting the Signs – 21^st Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

A few weeks ago we encountered Peter trying to walk on water.  In that story we saw his lack of faith lead to failure in the enterprise.  However, his original impetus of faith led him to success in walking on water.  As long as he focused on the person and identity of Jesus Peter could accomplish what seems impossible. 

This week we once again encounter Peter in the exact same situation.  In today’s Gospel Jesus asks his disciples the central question of Christian faith:  Who do you say that I am?  Peter, to his credit, answers correctly:  Jesus is the Christ (the anointed Messiah), the Son of the Living God.  Like any good teacher, Jesus rewards Peter’s correct answer.  Peter is given the keys to the kingdom of heaven, the authority of Jesus to bind and loose for the Christian community in Jesus’ name.  In the earlier story of Peter on the sea, his initial act of faith is rewarded.

However, like the earlier story, this account does not end with success.  Peter will subsequently fail just as he did in his venture out in the water.  Jesus goes on to talk about his Messianic mission, which involves being handed over and killed – and it is here where Peter fails.  Peter cannot accept this and attempts to rebuke Jesus privately.  Jesus, however, sternly chastises Peter, stating that he is judging as men do, and not as God does.  How can Peter be at the same time invested with the authority of Jesus and still be rebuked as a ‘Satan” by the Lord Jesus?

Peter’s original answer was indeed correct.  Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.  This is the fundamental core of Christian belief.  However, Peter had also allowed his understanding of those titles to be corrupted by human interpretations of his time.  The Pharisees and Sadducees saw the Messiah as a political figure, one who would lead Israel to military victory over their Roman captors and restore the priesthood of the Temple and the kingship of Jerusalem. 

Earlier in the 16^th chapter of Matthew, from which today’s Gospel comes, Jesus gave his disciples two important teachings.  The first involved the seeking of signs.  Everyone asked Jesus to perform a sign, but He tells them that no sign will be given to them except the sign of Jonah.  Here Jesus is making a reference to His resurrection from the dead.  Just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale before being expelled, so will the Messiah be in the belly of the earth for three days before rising from the dead.  What is more, just as Jonah’s sign and preaching were accepted by a Gentile city (Nineveh), so Jesus’ sign and preaching will come to be accepted by the Gentiles. 

The second teaching of Jesus in this chapter has to do with being wary of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.  Jesus returns them to the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, a Eucharistic miracle.  This sign of Jesus represents His leaven that is truly satisfying for the hunger that plagues humankind.  By contrast, the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees cannot satisfy, for it is political and material only.  A political Messiah cannot bring full and complete salvation.  Only the leaven of Jesus that meets the integral needs of the whole human person – material, spiritual, intellectual, and moral – provide salvation for the whole world.

Peter eventually comes to a complete understanding of the person and identity of Jesus.  By being a witness to the death and resurrection of Jesus Peter sees and lives the mission to which Jesus calls us.  We too must avoid reducing Jesus’ person and identity to merely one dimension.  We must avoid the trap of political Messiahs, so that we, like Peter, can be authentic witnesses to full person and identity of Jesus the Lord. 

In every age, including our own, there is the temptation to reducing our faith merely to the political level and subsume our faith into an ideology or political party.  Jesus rejected this approach time and again.  The Pharisees and Sadducees were political factions of Jesus’ day, and He rejected them, insisting on the full picture of God’s kingdom.  We too must reject attempts to reduce God’s kingdom to a party platform.  God’s kingdom is a larger vision, and a singular place where our peace can be found.

As we seek to grow in our faith and vision like Peter, we come together to witness anew the Eucharistic miracle and to be nourished by its sacrificial food.  We ask God for the ability to see and live as Peter ultimately did.  “Let us pray with minds fixed on eternal truth.  Lord our God, all truth is from you, and you alone bring oneness of heart.  Give your people the joy of hearing your word in every sound and of longing for your presence more than for life itself.  May all the attractions of  a changing world serve only to bring us the peace of your kingdom which this world does not give.  Grant this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.”

New Format - Same Great Content!

For the past two years people have come to know this blog as "Notes from the Tower:  Musings on Church live from the chancellor of a diocese."  That title is no longer applicable, since I am no longer the chancellor of a diocese.

I am now the Director of the Office for Peace and Justice for the Archdiocese of Chicago.  This represents a return to full time social justice work, a ministry that is very dear to me and many others. 

So, this blog needs to reflect the new realities of my own life, and as such some of the content will be new, some of it will remain the same.  I will continue to post blog posts on scripture reflections for Sundays and other feasts.  However, the blog will also deal with Catholic social teaching and its application to present situations and experiences. 

Every aspect of Christian life needs to begin with the inner experience of God.  St. Paul tells us that we human beings are composed of spirit, soul, and body.  Richard Gula points out that this biblical notion of the human person enables us to grasp the proper orientation we should have to the world.  If the spirit is the place within us where God dwells, the soul then is the place where we discern the promptings of God and decide how to appropriate that prompting in our bodies.  Once that discernment has taken place, then we move to direct, external actions that manifest themselves to the world in our bodily actions.

So, the spiritual life is the foundation of everything we do as Christians.  Reflection on the word of God and discernment of God's voice within is the beginning of our work in social justice.  The blog, then, will strive to help us be faithful to the words of Paul:  "Do not conform yourselves to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your minds, so that you may know what is God's will - what is good, pleasing, and perfect."  And, hopefully, such discernment will lead to positive action in the word so that together we might fully arrive at the reign of God.

Walking in the Storm – 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

The Blizzard of 77.

The Blizzard of 77 was the worst snow storm to affect my hometown of Buffalo, NY.  More than four feet of snow fell in a matter of hours.  Temperatures were below zero for days; snow drifted covering houses and stranding people in their homes and cars.  Federal and state forces were marshaled to assist the area during the only instance in my lifetime when a state of emergency was called for the Buffalo area. 

I remember when the storm hit.  I was six years old and playing outside in our driveway with my friend.  We were no more than thirty feet from our side door into the house.  At one moment the sky was clear and we were playing freely.  Suddenly it became completely white and we could see nothing at all.  We managed to get to the side door only by listening to my mom’s voice yelling for us to come.  When we arrived at the side door my mom pulled us inside to safety, and we watched the snowfall for the rest of the day. 

At the time I was unaware of how much danger I was actually in; a six year old has little comprehension of such things.  However, I remember thinking that as long as I could hear my mom’s voice I would be fine and I could find my way to safety.  I knew my mom would not abandon us, and as long as she could yell we could make it to the house.  A child who has a sense of being loved really has no fear as long as they can rest content in that one fact.

Similarly, the prophet Elijah found himself in a dangerous situation in today’s first reading.  Pursued by Jezebel and a host of angry prophets of Baal, Elijah seeks refuge atop a mountain.  As he waits out the crisis, Elijah longs for the presence of God, and he encounters God in the gentle breeze, not in any of the powerful acts of nature.  Elijah found comfort in God’s presence; he knew God’s love in that moment, and it enabled him to come down from the mountain to continue his prophetic work.

Jesus often spent long hours at the mountaintop.  It was here that He found the presence of God, whether He was in danger or not.  In today’s Gospel Jesus goes atop the mountain after the multiplication of the loaves and fishes.  What danger did Jesus face?  Recall that the people wanted to carry Jesus off and make him king, an act that would be a great threat to the mission of Jesus as Messiah of the suffering servant of Israel. 

Jesus finds refuge in the love of God as Elijah did, and this enables Jesus to come down from the mountain and to walk on water in the midst of a storm.  God’s voice and loving presence enable Jesus to do what seemed impossible to the disciples, though it does lead Peter to want to try walking on water.  Peter discovers that as long as he too is aware of God’s presence and love in the person of Jesus that he too can follow the voice to a place of safety.  However, when Peter looks away from the presence and love of God in the person of Jesus, when he ceases to listen to the voice summoning him to safety, he inevitably sinks from despair and lack of faith. 

The storms of life are indeed dangerous and threatening to us.  They are also an inevitable part of every life; no one escapes the storms of life.  Today we have the lessons we need in order to weather these storms effectively.  Elijah shows us that we must retreat to the mountaintop – to the place of God’s presence and love – in order to escape from the great dangers that threaten us.  Jesus too leads us to the mountaintop as a regular place for us to encounter God’s presence and love, but only as a temporary place of refuge.  For we must inevitably return from the mountain to resume our work as disciples of the Lord Jesus.  And if we have truly encountered God’s love and presence on the mountaintop, we can walk on water in the midst of the storm.  We can accomplish great things for the kingdom of God.  We can be all that God calls us to be.

And if we find ourselves sinking into the water, if we find ourselves failing to listen to the voice of Jesus, if we fail to keep our eyes focused on God’s love and presence, we can always call out as Peter did.  And God will come.  So we gather together to pray for the help to always know God’s love and presence in our lives so that we can walk through any storm.  “Father, we come, reborn in the Spirit, to celebrate our sonship in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Touch our hearts, help them grow toward the life you have promised.  Touch our lives, make them signs of your love for all men.  Grant this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.”