The First Pilgrimage

Gospel: Luke 1: 39-56

Anyone traveling from Nazareth in Galilee to the hill country of Judah faces a journey of 90-120 miles.  The difference in length is the difference between the two routes available to you.  The shorter route goes through Samaria, a route many Jews would not take to avoid the uncleanness and rival group.  The longer route is more dangerous, going through a way rife with thieves and highwaymen.  That Mary went "in haste" likely means she chose the road through Samaria, a not insignificant point as it will be a road Jesus will often traverse in his ministry.  

Mary sets out on the first pilgrimage, a journey of faith to visit her cousin who is also expecting under miraculous circumstances.  It is a journey to rejoice and celebrate all the good things God has done for them in their lives, a time to encounter the presence of Christ in others, to be in communion with others in this holy place and holy moment.

We are all pilgrim people on a journey to the heavenly Jerusalem.  Every moment and every place is a holy place, for God is present in them.  Every encounter we have with another person is an encounter with Christ who is present in every human being.  These visitations in our lives can be moments of rejoicing and celebrating all the good things God has done in our lives too.  This is why we recite Mary's Magnificat at Evening Prayer each day, for we have experienced again and again the joys of the visitation every day of our lives. 

Wrong Channel

Gospel: Mark 10: 28-31

How often it is that Peter and Jesus are on completely different wavelengths!  In today's reading Peter says to Jesus: "We have given up everything to follow you!" The unstated question is: what's in it for us? Peter is expecting a reward.  He and the others are convinced Jesus is the Messiah, and once he restores the kingdom of Israel they will all get lands, power, and succession.  Succession, indeed...

Jesus, however, is on a completely different track.  Yes, Peter, you have given up family to follow me, but you will receive the reality that all people are called to the family of God.  What is your reward in this earth?  The same as your Master - persecution and death.  But don't worry: you will rise again to be with me in God's heavenly kingdom, of which this life is but a foretaste.  

How often are we like Peter.  We make Jesus into a political thing.  We lust for power and influence in the name of "restoring Christendom" or "building the kingdom on earth." We have given all for this, but not for the real work of the Lord Jesus who calls all to the family of God, who walks to Calvary opposed by the very forces we seek to create and coddle.  The kingdom of God is already in our midst, a foretaste of what is to come if we perceive it with the eyes of Jesus. 

The Model Disciples(s)

Gospel: John 20: 25-34

The Gospels have a classic bookend device that provides us with an important lens for seeing what it is to be a disciple.  At the beginning and end of the Gospels we are presented with women of great faith who show us how to follow the call of God in our lives.  In the beginning of the Gospel we have Elizabeth and Mary who accept God's call despite the trials it will bring and develop the first faith community.  At the end of the Gospels we have Mary and other women alone at the foot of the cross with Jesus, alone at his tomb, and alone - the first to experience and give witness to the resurrection of Jesus.

Throughout the Gospels we will meet other women of great faith who will also model this discipleship: Peter's mother-in-law, the Samaritan woman, the Canaanite woman, the woman caught in adultery, Martha and Mary, Mary Magdalene.  These women will stand in contrast to the men who will continue to doubt, strive for power, betray, and deny Jesus from Zechariah to Thomas and a host in between.  

This week we have two great feasts of women - today in Mary Mother of the Church, and later in the Visitation.  These feasts stand as reminders of those who were the first to believe, the first to create faith communities of believers, and the models for our own faith as we seek to follow the way of the Lord Jesus in our own lives. 

Extreme Home Makeover

Gospel: John 20: 19-23

The Spirit coming at Pentecost is described similarly to the way in which the Spirit of God hovered over the waters of creation in the book of Genesis.  The Spirit in both was a like a mighty wind, and in both cases accomplished similar goals.  In Genesis God brings order out of the chaos of material creation; at Pentecost the Spirit re-creates and brings order out of the chaos within our hearts and communities.  

Through sin the world becomes disordered; the confusing of languages at Babel signifies these divisions of sin.  The common language of the Spirit is that of love: we need not know the particular languages and words of a people to see love in the way in which people talk and interact with one another.  And love is expressed more in deeds than in words; words are not at all necessary to express love.  It is this love from the Spirit of God that brings order and transformed the world anew.

The world in general and the Christian church in particular are more divided and disordered than ever.  So often our own inner selves reflect and mirror this disorder and lack of harmony.  Today we seek the Spirit of God to come and restore order to ourselves and our communities, to reanimate them with love through deeds of loving-kindness, our lingua franca of human interaction.   

Mind Your Business

Gospel: John 21: 20-26

Peter should be feeling pretty good.  He has made up for his three denials and Jesus has given him an important job of feeding his flock.  But Peter just can't help himself.  He sees John and the old jealousies return.  Peter has to know what Jesus has in store for John: will he be more important than me?  And once again Jesus has to put Peter in his place: mind your business and your own relationship with God.  

How often do we meddle in other people's relationships with God?  We somehow think we know all things because we have a relationship with God that we can dictate to others what that should look like for them.  But the only thing given to us is our own relationship with God: to accept God's mercy offered to us and to extend that mercy to others; to love other people as Jesus has loved us within the circumstances and contexts given to us in our life.  And we are to leave other people to that same relationship and freedom.

The rebuke Jesus gives to Peter is a rebuke to us as well.  God has given us our task and mission and others have theirs.  I can no more understand another person's relationship with God than I can of their relationship with their spouse or some other person.  I can only know my own relationships and attend to them in love as God has called us to do.   

Do You Love Me?

Gospel: John 21: 15-19

In the very last appearance of the risen Jesus we find him asking Peter three times if he loves him.  Each time Peter responds in the affirmative, but with each question Peter grows more irritated.  But to affirm one's love three times is to manifest the highest and superlative love in the Jewish tradition, a love Peter will come to express in deeper and deeper ways in his life.

Each day the Lord Jesus asks us over and over again in many different ways if we love him.  Do you love me in your family members? Do you love me in your enemies?  Do you love me in the homeless person, the immigrant, the migrant and refugee, the man in prison, the woman who is a drug addict or victim of trafficking, the starving child half a world away?  

Whenever we encounter another human being we encounter Christ and we are confronted with this question - do you love me?  Do you love me in this person standing before you at this moment?  If we continue to say yes like Peter, our love will grow and expand a bit more each day and a dark, cold world will become a little brighter and warmer. 

That The World May Believe

Gospel: John 17: 20-26

The journals of Christian polemic are filled with essays on the cause of unbelief in the world today, and a great many candidates are brought forth to blame: secularism, communism, the devil, Freemasonry, the Illuminati - the list is endless.  What is omitted from that list is the one and only cause of unbelief, the one Jesus mentions in today's Gospel.  

Jesus prayed that his followers would be united in love so that they might reflect the unity of love that is the Trinity itself.  By our unity of love the world would come to believe in God, i.e. to live in love as well.  That the world has failed to do so is the result of the fact that Christians have failed to live in the unity of love for which the Lord Jesus prayed.  It is the only cause of unbelief in the world.  

An authentic Christian person - and an authentic Christian community - is conscious of their own sin and their own responsibility before God and others.  They take responsibility for sin and repent humbly before God.  It is a false Christian person and false Christian community that would seek to lay blame at the feet of anyone else.  As we look forward to the coming of the Spirit among us, we pray this prayer of Jesus in today's Gospel and resolve to live this unity of love with one another.   

The Unanswered Prayer

Gospel: John 17: 11-19

People often complain about God not hearing and answering their prayers.  They pray for all sorts of things, some unimportant and vain like winning the lottery or outcomes of sporting events; some more substantive like the healing of a loved one or growth in virtue.  We are often left at a loss and blame God when our prayer is not heard.

But consider today's prayer that Jesus offers - unity among his followers, and note that this plea has gone unmet and ignored.  Yet we have only ourselves, not God, for this lack of unity.  We have preferred apologetic and argumentation over loving-kindness and works of mercy.  We have preferred creedal statements and liturgical minutia over works of charity and care for others.  We have preferred our own power and way to that of service to others.  

Fifty years ago the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was instituted in January to bring together in prayer and mutual work various Christian churches and communities.  For a while it was working: ecumenical prayer services and collaborative works of charity and justice were common.  But now it is merely a mention on the calendar.  Very few events are held and the initiative has gone ignored like the prayer of Jesus itself.  If we will not make some effort to work for the realization of Jesus' prayer for unity, we cannot complain when our own prayers go unheeded and unanswered.   

Eternal Life

Gospel: John 17: 1-11

"This is eternal life: to know God, and him who was sent, Jesus Christ." 

What does it mean to know God? What does eternal life look like? Jesus gives us clues to the answer in various parables he provides.  The kingdom of God is often compared to a great banquet, and it is in the context of a shared meal that Jesus provides the reflection from today's Gospel reading.  The banquet is the primary image of eternal life with God.  

In the Christian tradition God is a relational being - one being consisting of three persons so united in love.  Human beings created in God's image and likeness are by nature interpersonal and relational beings.  We participate in the life of God by loving relationships with other people, by being together as a human family around the table of the Lord.  The Eucharist is our sacramental foretaste of eternal life with God, with one another.  

We all want to be included in this eternal banquet table.  If the Eucharist is a foretaste of this banquet, then our table might well reflect our desires.  Is our table an exclusive corner table for a select few, or is it a table where all are welcome? God's table in the ministry of Jesus welcomed both the prodigal son and his ungrateful older brother; it welcomed tax collectors, prostitutes, Pharisees, and doubting, denying, betraying disciples.   

Do You Really Believe?

Gospel: John 16: 29-33

Today Jesus asks his disciples - and us - the all important question: do we really believe?  He's heard our professions of faith and bravado that are not dissimilar to those of Peter and the others.  And he has seen them and us continually misunderstand his mission and identity.  It is easy to believe on Palm Sunday, but where will we be on Good Friday? What will our response be to the resurrection of Jesus?

Is our faith really in God, or is it really faith in a particular cultural setting or set of circumstances we need for ourselves?  Is our faith in God, or are we continually following personalities and ideologues of politics and religion? Is our faith really in God, or is it really all about ourselves - our status, position, the esteem of others, and the security of human structures of our own making?

If we really believe in God, we will be as welcoming and open to others as Jesus was in his ministry.  We would exclude no one and not create institutions of mutual admiration that are just shrines to ourselves.  We would walk with the vulnerable and not concern ourselves with the opinion of the rich and powerful.  We would recognize our status as sinners in need of God's mercy and in need of showing mercy to others.  Today we confront this hard question of Jesus - do we really believe? 

The Reason for Doubt

Gospel: Matthew 28: 16-20

Right up the to very last moments of Jesus' time on earth, the disciples are in doubt as to his identity and mission.  We also find the source of that doubt remains the fact that they continue to see him as a political ruler - when will the kingdom of Israel be restored? - and not as one leading us on pilgrimage in this desert of the world to the Promised Land of heaven.  Despite all they have seen and heard, they remain trapped in their own ideas of who Jesus is and ought to be in their minds.

So it is not surprising to find that their successors in every time and place to our own day remain trapped in these same ideas.  How many kings and kingdoms, despots and dictatorships, political parties and ideologues have been anointed by the hierarchs of the church, influenced by the wealth and political influence they offer.  This is the source of doubt people have about the Church and its identity and mission.  

People long to raise their hearts and minds to God, to ascend with the Lord into the heavens and commune with God.  When their church leaders remain shackled to the world's power and wealth, people will seek to find God and ascend with the Lord.  Today's feast is a call for us to free ourselves from ideology and to ascend with the Lord in heart and mind to heavenly things.   

The Cosmic Vending Machine

Gospel: John 16: 23-28

So we are told that whatever we ask in Jesus' name will be granted to us.  Really? Anything?  If I ask to win the lottery, will that happen? If I ask for the Buffalo Bills to win the Super Bowl, will that happen? If I ask for a job that fulfills me completely, will that happen? We have all asked for similar things and none of them has come to pass.  What, then, does this statement on prayer mean?

For one beginning a relationship with God it will mean treating God like a cosmic vending machine.  If we but insert the correct denomination of prayer we will get our trinket or snack.  We then discover that this interpretation fails, for it does not treat God like a person but rather as an object.  It makes us the master in the relationship and God as our servant.  

But this failure is not in vain.  It leads us to a relationship with God wherein we discern what it is we truly ought to ask for, what we really need to be a flourishing human being pursuing wisdom and joy.  Like so many things, Jesus does not give us specifics because they do not exist.  He provides us with a path of discernment and discovery to develop our own relationship with God.  No one can do that for us; we alone must work to make that a reality.   

A Cure for Doubt?

Gospel: John 16: 20-23

The life of faith is one that of necessity has with it a life of doubts and pain, for faith always carries with it uncertainty.  But if we think about the things we "know", we will find that they are things we don't have much investment of mind and heart.  We don't have a relationship to them and they do not impact our day to day lives.  We take matters of knowledge for granted.  That is not the case with things in the realm of faith.  

For the realm of faith is a realm of relationship with another person.  In any relationship there is always an element of uncertainty and doubt, for we can never truly know another person.  We don't even really know our own selves all that well if we are honest about it.  The only tonic for doubt in the realm of faith is love as it is there that we come to the realization that faith is about a Person and not a set of propositions - that what cures our doubts is love expressed in deeds and not logical argumentation.  

We encounter this love through the loving deeds of God in the person of Jesus.  Through them we come to know that God is love and that we are invited to love by way of response.  It is only then that we will set aside the petty squabbles of theology and join the mystics and contemplatives around the table of love.

Trees and Divine Things

Gospel: John 16: 16-20

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it still make a noise?  We have all pondered this question at one point or another in our lives.  One group of philosophers will contend that noise cannot take place unless there is one able to perceive the sound, while the other camp will argue that noise is not dependent on a perceiver as it will exist whether it is sensed or not.  

In today's Gospel Jesus talks about being present and then not being present to his disciples, and we can identify with this in our prayer lives.  There are times when we feel so close to God in prayer that we cannot possibly doubt God's presence ever.  But there are also stretches wherein we do not at all feel God present at all and we feel abandoned and utterly at sea.  

We experience both of these movements within us to remind us of the fact that God's presence does not depend on our perception or feeling at all.  God is present whether we have these feelings of intimacy or not.  Once we become conscious of this truth we then come to realize that neither God nor the world is dependent upon or revolves around us.  We come to an awareness and appreciation of our place in the cosmos, we are oriented aright, and we can move forward confident in God's presence ever among us and our place in the cosmos.   

Maximum Capacity

Gospel: John 16: 12-15

I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.

These words of Jesus are important fur us to bring to our prayer each and every day.  How often do we come to the Lord wanting to know all sorts of things: what is to happen to me? What will the outcome of this situation be? What insight am I to have in this trial or success?  Very often what we want to know is not something we can bear at the moment, and it is for us to wait in silent patience as we grow in the ability to accept the reality life presents to us.

Remember when we were children we wanted so much to be adults so that we can do adult things and stay up later than we were allowed.  We so desired to grow up fast, but when we arrived at adulthood we found ourselves not ready even then to bear what we so desired to take upon ourselves - never mind even having those trials as children!  These words of Jesus time and again ring in our hearts: you cannot bear it now.

But we also have the promise of the Spirit of Truth who will lead us to all knowledge.  If we are continually in communion with the Spirit, we will be guided to the truth in our lives - guided step by step, not all at once.  Living organisms do not grow all at once but over time through a process set in motion from within.  So it is with us human beings in our life in the Spirit.   

A Malady and a Remedy

Gospel: John 16: 5-11

Any honest person becomes aware of the fact that sin is a real thing in one's life.  We find ourselves conscious of the fact that we have harmed other people, harmed ourselves, harmed all of creation and its creator.  The Spirit that dwells within each one of us speaks to our conscious and reveals to us the sin in our lives, the sin that demands justice, the sin that deserves condemnation.

However, that same Spirit does not leave us in the depths of our depravity and condemned status.  The Spirit stirs within us an awareness that if sin is an existent reality that there must exist a being who can forgive sin and who can make us whole again.  This awareness then leads to remorse and repentance, a deep longing for forgiveness, mercy, and healing.  

We are then brought before the One who offers us forgiveness and mercy with only one condition: that we then go forth to offer forgiveness and mercy to others in the way that it has been given to us.  And so sin, justice, and condemnation are transformed by the love of God into loving deeds, mercy, and liberation.  This is the process of divinization, our ongoing life in the Spirit.   

Witness, Come Forth

Gospel: John 15: 26 - 16: 4

What does being a witness look like?  Having a multi-media empire or cottage industry? Passing out bible tracks? Conducting crusades or inquisitions?  Prancing in public processions clad in guild vestments? Overseeing a political and ideological program?  Maybe yelling on street corners or going door to door asking if Jesus is your personal Lord and Savior?

We have all experienced these things and we know how they make us feel.  It is like being approached by a used car salesman.  You know he's not giving you the full truth about this car and you know he is not looking out for your best interests.  He is only in it for himself - his commission and his own self-interest.  Sad that so much of modern Christianity is the balloons, streamers, and plaid suits of used car lots...

So what does authentic witness look like? It looks like sharing a meal with all sorts of people; having a cup of cold water and conversation with a woman at a well; providing healing and comfort to a sick child and her family; protecting a vulnerable woman from a violent mob; providing bread and fish to hungry people; suffering an injustice rather than committing one; forgiving one's enemies and offering them grace.   

The Spirit of Truth

Gospel: John 14: 15-21

What is this Spirit of Truth that the world cannot accept? Many candidates have been brought forward for consideration.  No doubt a basic sense of truth opposed to lies is part of it, for the world maintains power largely through lies and violence.  Any institution that traffics in lies to maintain itself is part of the world and thus not open to the Spirit.  But a deeper sense of truth is at work here as well, the truth of the Gospel.

The Gospel - the Good News of Jesus - is the fundamental truth that God's mercy is offered and extended to all through repentance, and that we are to extend mercy to others in our lives through concrete actions of love and mercy.  The world cannot accept either of these points.  The world justifies all its actions apologizes for nothing, and seeks to coerce others into accepting its lies and violence.  In addition, the world offers no mercy to anyone, as it seeks to control others through merciless actions.  

Though we will find no forgiveness and mercy in the world, we will find it in God through the promise and life of Jesus.  Though the world be not merciful, we will still extend mercy to others as our pledge of fidelity to the Spirit of Truth who animates our life and sustains us in God's love. 

Our Lot in Life

Gospel: John 15: 18-21

It is a common occurrence in the U.S. to see large megachurches filled with upper class people proclaiming that they are disciples of the Lord Jesus.  In such a culture the only qualifier to be such is to profess faith in the Lord Jesus and to be baptized.  But is this all there is to the matter?  Do people understand the consequences of such a commitment?  

Today's reading has Jesus spell out those consequences:  if you follow down this path, the world will hate you just as it did to Jesus.  Recall all the times in the Gospel when hatred and opposition came to Jesus' way:  when he healed an outcast or a foreigner; when he talked with a Samaritan woman or some other outsider; when he ate with sinners.  Whenever Jesus expanded the kingdom of God to include all people he encountered the hatred of the world, the hatred of those in power who need a world rapt in self-interest in order to sow division and maintain their exclusive power.  That can't happen if God is accessible to all people.

In choosing to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus it is our task to make the kingdom of God accessible to all people, to exclude no one and to welcome everyone.  We too will experience the hatred of the world and those in power, for it is our lot in life to suffer such if we truly wish to be a disciple of Jesus.  Yet with it we too receive the peace and joy of Jesus who bore suffering with silence and serenity. 

Friends, Not Slaves

Gospel: John 15: 12-17

In every religion of antiquity the near universal image of a person's relationship with the divinity was expressed in the master-servant model.  God is the master, we the slaves who serve God.  In the various polytheistic religions this image was dominant as well, people pledging fealty and servitude to the divinity in order to receive protection and favors from the deity.  

In today's reading Jesus does away with this image and replaces it with the image of friendship: no longer do I call you servants, but friends.  In antiquity the servant could never fully or remotely share in the life of the master.  They lived in separate quarters, ate in separate dining rooms, and the servant wore distinctive items showing they were servants and not citizens.  While freedom could be purchased it was often rare.  The friend and child, by contrast, share fully in the life of the master: they share the same table, sleep under the same roof, and no distinction of garb exists to separate them in the public eye.

This is now our life with God, a life of friendship where God fully shares the fullness of divine life with us.  God invites us to his table and we reside within the house prepared for us.  The life of freedom with God is not a rare gift given at random but it is now an assumed state given by God to all to share in this life fully.  God invites us to create faith communities that reflect this new reality to model for the world what is the invisible reality of our relationship with God and one another.

Keeping It Real

Gospel: John 15: 9-11

When we hear the phrase: "Keep my commandments" from the mouth of Jesus, what is our first reaction?  Is it to search the Gospels for all the commands Jesus gives and create a legal codex for people to follow? The legalism that has reared us would most certainly follow that path, and to what avail?  Has it made the world more Christ-like? Has it made the Church more Christ-like?  Not so much.  

Jesus offers but one command: love one another as I have loved you.  In this one phrase we find that Jesus does not at all intend a deontologically legalistic system.  He instead offers us a virtue ethics system: follow Jesus' example of love.  In every situation, then, we are to discern how Jesus might respond in this moment, how he would respond to these people before me now.  It is a continual reading and re-reading and meditation on the Gospel.  

In this way our ethical life is not about abstract principles but instead it is enfleshed and real, rooted in the person and example of Jesus.  It is not something for us to argue about but something for us to ever ponder over, examine, and discern in our daily prayer life. It is a path that invites dialogue around a table instead of disputation in the public square.  Jesus engaged people in their homes and at their tables through relationships; his enemies sought to engage him in the public square through law and power.  May our way be the Way, the Way of Jesus.       

Stayin Alive

Gospel: John 15: 1-8

Gardening can be both rewarding and frustrating all at the same time.  This pastime requires a lot of time and patience and care.  When things grow and flourish we take great pride and joy in the accomplishment, but when plants die we are sad and disappointed.  Sometimes plants die because we as gardeners did something wrong; sometimes plants die because a pest or animal got at them; and sometimes things just die despite the fact that we did everything right and we cannot find a known cause.  

Gardening is a great metaphor for the spiritual life because we too find our lives of faith to be defined in similar ways.  We take great pride and joy in the times when we are flourishing, while we are disappointed and sad in those moments when we are not.  We look for causes for these failures and sometimes it is our own fault through sin and neglect; sometimes a pest has got at us and infected us; and sometimes we find ourselves doing everything right and still we are not flourishing.  

As long as we remain on the vine there is life and hope, even when we do not feel it.  And even when death occurs there is always resurrection and new life.  A dead plant becomes new nutrients and soil for something else to grow and flourish in its place.  Nothing is wasted in the vineyard of the Lord; everything has value, and life within us will rise again in the mystery of our relationship with God.   

The Gift of Peace

Gospel: John 14: 27-31

Peace is a gift; this is the first point to be made about Jesus' short lesson on peace.  Peace is not something we can earn or acquire for ourselves.  It is a gift given to us by God or by the world.  The more we strive for peace in our lives, the further away it seems to be from us.  But once we surrender the chase and allow ourselves to be consumed by God's love we find peace.  

The second important point is that it makes all the difference in terms of who is giving the peace.  The world gives peace in the way the Roman Empire did - through coercion, violence, and war.  People would be "rewarded" with the spoils of war - stolen goods and enslaved peoples.  Jesus was the victim of this peace - an innocent man executed to keep the peace, a very common occurrence in our world even today.  This is not peace, for it is born of evil that disturbs the peace of soul, heart, and mind.

But the peace of God is found in accepting God's mercy for us and in extending mercy to others in the world.  It is the peace Jesus lived in his life, a peace we find in him as he goes through his trial and death.  Here Jesus forgives all people, endures abuse in silence, and offers the sublime prayer of Psalm 23 to God who is love for him and for us.  This is the peace we long for and hope to receive in our life, for it is offered in love, in freedom, in sincerity and truth.   

A Simple Faith

Gospel: John 14: 21-26

The Jewish Law contains 613 laws for people to obey.  Which ones take priority? What happens when obligations conflict with one another? These are the thorny questions that arise when so many laws are present.  Here is the origin of various schools of interpretation on the one hand and absolutism on the other, neither of which provide successful resolutions to the dilemmas these questions present.  

In today's Gospel Jesus has only one command for us to follow: love one another as he loved us; show mercy to others as he showed mercy to us.  This way of life requires life-long and daily discernment of how to apply this in my daily life.  There is no recipe or rule book.  It is a continual relationship with God and others where we seek to know each day the various ways we are to love others and show mercy.  

How such a simple command grew into a complex theology and system of canon law is a feat of human engineering.  We humans prefer systems of law to a path of discernment because it is frankly easier on us.  Discernment requires an encounter with God that presents us with difficult truths about ourselves as well as real challenges to love in difficult situations.  A system of law is much easier because we tend to use it to judge others and find ways to avoid its requirements for ourselves.  We can hide from God in the thicket of laws, shield ourselves from our neighbor in need of love and mercy.  But the questions of judgment day remain: did we show mercy to our neighbor?  Did we love? 

The Way Forward

Gospel: John 14: 1-12

When religion is based upon law inevitably two negative results.  The first is a harsh legalism that is arbitrary and tyrannical; the other is an endless series of disputes about the meaning of the law that leads to no real solutions but rather disagreements and schisms and condemning of others for their interpretations that are not your own.  

Jesus, however, did not come to offer an interpretation of the Law.  He came to offer the Way, an example for us to follow, not an interpretation to adhere to.  In giving us the example of love and mercy we now have the Way to an authentic faith life, for we can now show love and mercy to others in the various circumstances and situations of our life just as Jesus did.  

The life of faith, then, does not consist in an endless and fruitless set of disputes about the meaning of the law, but rather a life of ongoing discernment and dialogue about how best to show love and mercy to others in our world.  As communities of faith the institutions we then create do not merely occupy space and issue decrees, but rather they are places of discernment where processes are developed to extend love and mercy to the world.  It is truly a house of many dwelling places.   

Show Us God

Gospel: John 14: 7-14

Despite following Jesus for the past three years, the disciples ask Jesus to show them the Father, i.e. to show them God.  We might find this shocking were it not for the fact that we ourselves continually ask for the same thing.  How many look for signs to confirm their belief, how many run about following rumors of apparitions here and there, how many study the various arguments for God's existence?  Even the skeptic and atheist ask - albeit ironically - to see God.

The reason for our own doubts and the skepticism of the world is the fact that we ourselves do not demonstrate God's existence by the way we live our lives.  God's fundamental act to human beings is love and mercy: we were brought into existence by God's love and we are spiritually animated by God's mercy.  Our lives are supposed to be a response to this love and mercy by being loving and merciful in the world.  If we were to actually live this way our doubts would disappear and the skepticism of the world would be allayed.

But as long as we look to create empires of religion and create false gods of politics and religious frauds, then people have a right to doubt and our own faith will be insecure because it is not rooted in God at all but in our own impermanence and illusions.  If we wish to demonstrate God's existence to others, if we wish to have a more secure faith, perform acts of love and mercy toward our neighbors, toward all.  God's presence will be evident therein.   

Many Dwelling Places

Gospel: John 14: 1-6

In the parable of the Prodigal Son we find two brothers, both sinners in different ways, both assured by their father that a dwelling place exists for them in his house always.  We might see in these two brothers representatives of two traditions - the older Jewish tradition and the younger Christian tradition.  Each has a place in the Father's house, and with many more dwelling places besides!

For in today's reading Jesus assures us that God's dwelling place has many rooms and that Jesus has prepared a place for us, not the place.  We are invited guests, not the owners of the house.  Many others besides will find a place in God's house.  Jesus who is the Way, Truth, and Life will find paths for others to God's house in ways known only to him.  It is for us to accept our invitation and to welcome others also invited.  It is not for us to sit on the porch and act as bouncers.  

Throughout the Gospels Jesus has showed us the way to the Father's house.  It is to accept the mercy of God offered to us and to extend mercy to others in the way it was extended to us.  That is the entire road test that leads to God's house.  It is a road open to all, for the toll has been paid.  We have only to take this way of mercy home.  

The Master's Apprentice

Gospel: John 13: 16-20

There are still some professions where the skill is learned from a master at the craft and we learn the trade as an apprentice.  Teaching is much like this, as is athletics in many ways.  How many of us wanted to "be like Mike" in the 1990s? And no matter how hard we would try at basketball we would never be as good as Michael Jordan, but we would be better than we were.

That is the point of Jesus' lesson today.  As disciples of the Lord Jesus we aspire to be like him, but we know that no matter how hard we try we will never be as good as Jesus - but we are better than we were had we not tried to emulate him in our lives.  And if we never tried we would be far worse than what we are now or where we began.  

Imagine a world where everyone tries to be better than they are now - where we put aside self-interest and seek the blessings of the Beatitudes in lives of mercy, meekness, peace-making, seeking justice, being pure of heart and poor in spirit.  Compare the vision of Jesus in these images to the world around us that we have built from self-interest.  We may not achieve heaven on earth in living as Jesus did, but we would certainly be better than we were and are.   

To Believe is to Do

Gospel: John 14: 6-14

In today's reading Jesus tells his disciples that those who believe in him will do the works that he does.  Many take this to be a reference to performing miracles like healing people and the like, but the works of Jesus are fundamentally works of mercy and love.  The miraculous deeds are all works of mercy - to heal and feed people.  But just the ordinary deeds of Jesus - having a conversation with a Samaritan woman, interceding to save the life of a woman about to be stoned - are works of love and mercy.  

This point about belief is an important one, for it expresses the idea that belief is not an abstract operation of the intellect toward some proposition, nor is it the recitation of a creedal formula or oath of fidelity.  Belief is fundamentally expressed in our deeds and the way in which we live our lives.  The assent of faith in Jesus is found in deeds of love and mercy.

These deeds are ordinary ones - feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, providing clothing to the naked, sheltering the homeless, visiting the sick, providing hope to the imprisoned, welcoming the stranger and outcast.  But perhaps in a vicious world grown ever colder by merciless ideologies these deeds of love and mercy are in fact miraculous, little rays of light that keep our world from total collapse. To perform these deeds in our world today is a brave act of faith. 

What Kind of Works?

Gospel: John 10: 22-30

Jesus tells his opponents that his works are the evidence and testimony that he comes from God.  The works of Jesus are works of love and mercy extended to all people regardless of background or status - works of healing, works of feeding others, works of mercy and forgiveness.  At no point does Jesus ever use violence or coercion in his ministry.  

This point is essential, for in the Old Testament we find troubling things that are called the works of God - acts of horrid violence and coercion that lead one not closer to God but further away.  The ministry of Jesus is the definitive lesson that the works of God are not works of violence and force but works of love and mercy that are provided for all people of all time.  God does not conquer through violence but through love alone.  

To his disciples who wanted to cast fire on a Samaritan town Jesus offered rebuke; to those who employed the sword at his arrest he chastised, then healed the stricken man.  To those who wanted to stone an adulterous woman he sent them away disappointed, and to those who killed him he offered forgiveness.  Those who would defend crusades, inquisitions, and the death penalty take heed: God's works are not these. 

Work is a Gift

In most of the world today is celebrated as Labor Day, a day to celebrate and honor workers of all professions.  It is for this reason that the Church declared today as the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker so that a religious dimension might be added to this day throughout the world.  While Joseph is given to us for consideration of work, the Gospels are filled with parables and stories about work.

In every instance of Jesus referring to work he sees it as a work of stewardship, a partnership between humankind and God for the ongoing preservation of the earth and all living things.  Work is something entrusted to us.  Work is an extension of our fundamental vocation to show love and mercy to others.  And in the Benedictine tradition work is the spouse of prayer, an extension of our prayer, an incarnation of prayer.  

Many people do not see work in this way, often because working conditions have historically been oppressive for many people: dangerous, undignified, low-paying, degrading, and made only to serve the interests of the owner and his profits.  Today's feast and holiday remind us of the dignity of work and our obligation to make of it something noble and uplifting for all.