What Must I Do?

Gospel: Luke 10: 25-37

The lawyer wants to know what he must do in order to inherit eternal life.  The answer is to be like the Samaritan in this story Jesus tells - to care for those on the margins, those who are sick and dying.  The Samaritan did not stop to consider the man's racial or ethnic identities.  He did not see if the man had lawful status or not.  He did not look for any other reason to exclude him from his circle of care and concern.  He simply provided healing to this man in need.

On the other hand, the alleged religious people - the keepers of Temple ritual - did not hesitate in finding some reason to not help this poor man.  No doubt they regarded their religious duties of Temple worship as being more important than caring for the man.  They felt that maintaining ritual purity and performing the Temple rituals as prescribed was the way to inherit eternal life.  They may have even regarded their own safety as more important than helping this man.

A building made of stone cannot be saved by the use of oil and wine.  They are not living things with an eternal destiny.  God made only one temple of worship dedicated to him - the human person.  To provide oil and wine in order to heal, liberate, and nourish others in need is the only path to eternal life, the only authentic worship in spirit and in truth.  And to do so without freely without regard to a person's identity is the way of Jesus.  

Increase Our Faith

Gospel: Luke 17: 5-10

The disciples come to Jesus and ask him to increase their faith.  Like many things people say to Jesus, it is ignored or used as an opportunity to say something else.  Here, Jesus does talk about an increase in faith, but not in the way the disciples wanted.  He first states that if you had even a modicum of faith you could do great things, but you do not.  He then states that the person of faith is like a servant who merely does their duty without seeking any reward or accolades.  

The disciples are wanting the reward without doing any of the work.  They want the baby Jesus magic to just give them a strong faith, much like an unfit person wanting a well-toned body without hitting the gym.  Faith is like any virtue.  It is acquired through habit, through trial and error, through a long process of working at it.  We cannot expect to have faith or any other virtue present within us without working at it day in and day out.

Jesus came into this world as an ordinary human being who over time lived an extraordinary human life.  That is the normal course of things for every human being who seeks to live a life of great faith.  There are no short cuts, no placebos.  We are merely servants of the Lord here to do our daily duties in faith, not seeking reward or exception.  If we ask for an increase in faith, we must then kneel down to wash the feet of others as the Lord Jesus himself had done.

Seeing the Good

Gospel: Luke 10: 17-24

Jesus had sent out his disciples to do the work that he has been doing: healing people of their illness, delivering them from their demons, nourishing people at table, extending peace and reconciliation to all they meet.  The disciples now return from that mission, and they are rejoicing that they have had success in this work.  They were able to see people healed, liberated, nourished, reconciled, and this brought great joy to them.

Jesus calls and send us out to do the same work.  It is our task to find those in need of healing and provide for them according to our talents.  We are to look for those possessed by demons and liberate them however we may be called to do so.  We are to seek the hungry and lonely, providing them food and presence.  We are to extend reconciliation and peace to all we encounter in the mission the Lord Jesus has sent us out to do.

And, each day, we are to rejoice in the good that has been accomplished.  We must celebrate with those who are healed, with those who are liberated, with those now fed and nourished.  We must give thanks to God for these great deeds and for being part of these joys with those who have received them.  This is the work of the disciple, and each day it brings great joys that lead us to give thanks to God and to have great joy always.

Woe to Us

Gospel: Luke 10: 13-16

It is an odd Christianity that claims to believe in mercy while insisting on the perpetuation of an unjust death penalty system.  It is a perverse religion that claims biblical belief while maligning and exploiting immigrants, refugees, and migrants.  It is an abomination before God to claim the name of Christian while deriding and depriving the poor and marginalized of access to health care, shelter, and food - all things the Lord Jesus provided to people without question or qualification.

The woes that Jesus speaks to his generation are woes that echo through the ages to every time and place.  Those woes were uttered to those who claimed the name of God's chosen people in a religious community that appealed to tradition as its defense of its practices.  Those same woes now echo in our time to a religion claiming to be God's people and who appeal to their traditions in order to continue these atrocities in our own time.  

If we observe the decline of religion - the shuttering of church buildings and the waning attendance at services - and we do not at all look at the utter incongruence of our actions compared to those of the Lord Jesus, then woe to us.  We who fail to repent of our sins, who seek blame upon the various scapegoats we create to deflect blame from ourselves - woe to us.  We who cast statuary to the ideologues of our day in defense of our culture of death - woe to us.  

The Guardians

Gospel: Matthew 18: 1-5, 10

Time and again Jesus sets before us the presence of children to serve as a model for the Christian life, and to warn us about having any harm come to these children in the form of any violence or scandal.  How are we doing on that score?  For all the talk we have about caring for children, the report card remains very poor in our actual results.  The violence and scandal that children experience in our world continues unabated in our day.

Some see in this Gospel passage some reference to abortion, and yet those who would make that claim have little concern for the exploitation of children for sex and labor profiteering.  They have little regard for the genocide of Gaza or sub-Saharan Africa where children are directly targets.  There is actual glee at deporting young children unaccompanied back to countries torn by violence, or keeping them in unsanitary cages indefinitely separated from their families.  

If we ourselves are not willing to be guardians and protectors of children, then today's feast has no meaning other than to shift our responsibility on to beings of another realm.  Today's reading and feast remind us that we are the first and primary guardians of children in our world, that Jesus has left us with this responsibility to them, and for all our talk about having an "adult faith", it is the faith of children, the faith in children, that is our model for Christian living. 

Making Excuses

Gospel: Luke 9: 57-62

So many people claim they want to follow Jesus.  Everything is great until some inconvenience arises, or something uncomfortable takes place that leads us to look for an excuse, something we think is more important than following the Lord.  On the face of things it might be hard to imagine such a thing, but upon closer inspection we find that it is quite common for us to devise a reason or two for backing out of the journey with the Lord.

Do I really have to love my enemies? Yes, yes you do.  Do I really have to personally engage with the sick, the poor, the possessed, the hungry in order to help them?  Yep.  But that person is illegal or unworthy of my help!  No, no they are not.  They are all God's people deserving of love and care.  But they're unclean, not of our company, and ought not be in our presence!  And so were you when I came among you and invited you to table.

We find so many different ways to avoid walking with the Lord.  Very often we pretend that we actually are walking with the Lord and justify these attitudes we have toward others.  We somehow manage to do the exact opposite of what Jesus calls us to do and what he himself did, and somehow we find a way to call that discipleship or Christianity.  Today is a day for us to reflect on whether we are actually following the Lord and imitating his example, or whether we are about something else entirely.

The Great Rebuke

Gospel: Luke 9: 51-56

Whenever a Christian raises their voice to incite violence, the Lord is there to rebuke them.  Wherever the Christian seeks revenge and retribution, the Lord is there to rebuke them.  Whenever the Christian seeks to commit genocide and atrocity, the Lord is there to rebuke them.  Wherever the Christian seeks to define the world in terms of us versus them, the Lord is there to rebuke them.  Whenever the Christian goes to seek enemies to vanquish, the Lord is there to rebuke them.

For the Lord there are no enemies and people to conquer.  There are no retributions and vengeances to be exacted.  There are no justifiable atrocities, no acceptable casualties or collateral damage.  For Jesus there are only people to be loved, people in need of healing, people who need to be liberated from their demons, people in need of food and nourishment.  For Jesus there is no us versus them dualities; there is only us - one human family who are all God's children.

When Christianity became a complex of official chaplaincy to empire, this ideal of Jesus faded away.  Enemies were created, vengeances exacted, violence and atrocity justified.  The day we decide that we will no longer serve as chaplains to empire and revolution, the day we decide that our mission is to heal, liberate, and feed all God's people without exception, that is the day we will no longer hear the rebuke of the Lord, but instead hear the words: Well done, good and faithful servant.

Sending a Message

Gospel: John 1: 47-51

Jesus makes an unusual reference in this Gospel portion, stating that the disciples will see angels descending on the Son of Man.  Yet, in all the Gospels only two references exist where angels come to be with Jesus.  The first is in the desert after his struggle with the devil; the second is in the Garden where he prays for strength prior to his arrest.  Neither event was actually witnessed by anyone.  Neither one is recorded in John's Gospel where we have this reference.  

It is significant, however, that these references to angels coming to help Jesus take place as bookends - at the beginning and end of Jesus' ministry.  They both occur at times when Jesus is in a moment of great need.  In the desert he has been tormented by hunger and the assaults of the devil.  In the Garden he struggles for strength to endure what is to come.  Angels come to provide comfort by their presence in these times of need.

Perhaps the lesson of today's feast is that we might undertake this role of an angel in our world.  Countless people need a supportive presence in their lives in times of great need: people in hospitals, assisted living facilities, prisons, homeless shelters, refugee havens, schools where children face great challenges.  Perhaps today's feast is a day for us to discern how God is calling us to serve as angels, as supportive presence, in a world ravaged by cruelty, indifference, and neglect.

What's in a Name?

Gospel: Luke 16: 19-31

A little noticed feature of this story has to do with the fact that the poor beggar has a name, Lazarus, while the rich man does not.  Now, some might tell us that "traditionally" the rich man's name was Dives - a tradition that only dates to the 14th century, mind you, meaning that we were content with the rich man being nameless until then.  The name 'Dives' isn't really a name anyhow; it is a Latin word that simply means 'rich man.'

This little detail regarding the names in the story is in fact important, for Jesus is saying something of great significance.  In the word the rich man did in fact have a name.  He would have been quite prominent and noted in society.  Meanwhile, Lazarus would have no status or identity in the world.  But in the kingdom of God it is reversed.  The rich man has no status, no identity, while Lazarus has a name both in this world and in God's kingdom.  The poor are seen, known, and loved by God.

The name Lazarus means 'God has helped.' It denotes that in two instances God came to the help of men named Lazarus, one this poor man, and the other who was raised from the dead.  It signifies the fact that God's preferential love and care is for the poor, which means that care for the poor should be our primary concern as people of God.  That we are more concerned about the rich man having a name than care for Lazarus may indicate that our priorities are not those of Jesus.  Today is a day to set our priorities aright.

Amazed Twice Over

Gospel: Luke 9: 43-45

Everyone is amazed at the incredible things Jesus does.  He goes from town to town healing people of their illness, rejecting no one who comes to him.  He liberates people from the demons that hold them bound, again excluding no one.  He eats at table with all sorts of people - Pharisees and other sinners - very openly.  He feeds people, and the only criterion to receive food is that you are hungry.  All are truly welcome, all are fully served.

Even though people are marveling at all these deeds of Jesus, they will hand him over to be executed.  The people of religion will collude with the powers of the world to hand Jesus over and execute him.  This fact may be even more startling, and yet it is all too common.  It happens in our own day.  Jesus is handed over when the poor are neglected, when refugees and immigrants are maligned, when the table is only welcome for the Pharisees.  The people of religion collude with the powers of the world in all these things.

The failures of the hierarchy and those who wear their phylacteries and tassels prominently do not excuse us from following the Lord Jesus in our own lives.  It still remains for us to imitate him in our lives by healing, liberating, and feeding others each and every day wherever we go.  If we allow the scandals of religion and worldly powers to neglect the care of the poor and marginalized then we are no better than they.  The focus of the disciple must ever be on the work of the kingdom, the work of healing, liberating, nourishing.

Who Am I?

Gospel: Luke 9: 18-22

Jesus asks the disciples what the crowd thinks of him.  It is not that Jesus is really interested in their opinion.  He is more interested in our own.  The crowd thinks this, but what do you think?  The crowd has many opinions that will vary from day to day.  Even their own interest in Jesus will wane when something more new comes along to distract people from the person of Jesus.  He will then be discarded unceremoniously for the next new thing.  

How often do we get swept up in the interests of the crowd.  We react to every single "current event".  Our opinion is demanded of every utterance of the politician and celebrity, every action of the world.  And opinions will vary and shift like the sand.  We get consumed with this vortex and we lack a center, a place of reference.  We lose our own identities and selves to this unrelenting storm of unending vitriol of verbal violence.  

We must remember who Jesus is for us, the core and center of our lives, and in so doing we must remember who we are.  We remember what Jesus was committed to in his life, and we make that our commitment as well.  It is the path of compassion and mercy for the sick, the possessed, the hungry.  The storm of the crowd cares not for these things and even creates them.  We must remember what we are about, to Whom we are committed, the One we are to imitate and follow.  

Killing the Prophets

Gospel: Luke 9: 7-9

Herod is curious about Jesus.  Men of power in the world are often interested in Jesus.  But their curiosity is always about their own self-interest: how can they use the power of Jesus to their own advantage.  How can they monetize the message, or use Jesus' star power to advance their own power and prestige in the world?  It is this aspect that provides us with another way in which prophets are killed beyond the mere physical execution of their lives.

In the case of Jesus, he is put to death in a thousand ways each day.  Every time another person is unjustly treated, imprisoned, killed, or manipulated, Jesus is put to death.  Every time the name of Jesus is used to justify empire, revolution, marginalization, and manipulation, Jesus is put to death.  Every time the name of Jesus is used for the monetization of one's cottage industry or media empire that only seeks power and wealth, Jesus is put to death.  

Jesus went about healing everyone he met of their infirmities.  He liberated them from the demons that held them bound.  He nourished and fed people at table.  Jesus invited others to see what he did, then he invited them to do the same, all within a life of simplicity and detachment from power and possessions.  That is the Jesus who continues to rise from the dead in the lives of those who imitate him.  That is the Jesus who rises from the thousand deaths he experiences each day.  That is the Jesus who lives, the Jesus who gives life.

The Task Before Us

Gospel: Luke 9: 1-6

Jesus sends out his disciples to do two things: to proclaim the Kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.  The disciples are to do so while living a life of simplicity - owning few possessions and moving about from place to place.  And wherever they go they are to proclaim peace to those in the places where they are residing.  All of these aspects of their mission are in imitation of what Jesus did in his public ministry while on earth.

First, we proclaim the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of an empire, nation, or political party.  The kingdom of God is a place where all are served, all are healed, liberated, and fed.  Just as Jesus cared for every single person he met, refusing no one and even caring for people when urged not to do so by crowds and his disciples - so the disciples are to bring that same healing without distinction to all the places where they find themselves.  

All of this may sound foreign to us.  We have grown accustomed to religion being about having great amounts of property and possessions, to its pastors serving as chaplains to empire or revolution.  But Jesus was about none of these things, and he calls his disciples to be about none of these things.  The task remains unchanged: we are to proclaim the kingdom of God not men, and we are to go about healing others while living simply and offering peace wherever we go. 

Hearing and Doing

Gospel: Luke 8: 19-21

As Christians we take it as axiomatic that Jesus is the Word of God come into the world, though this has not prevented us from following other words alien to him.  Nevertheless Jesus is the ideal for us to follow and imitate in our lives.  So, when Jesus exhorts the crowd in today's Gospel portion that it is those who hear the word of God and act upon it, we are to hear in those words the injunction to follow the Lord Jesus and act upon what he says.

Throughout the Gospels when people were curious about the work of Jesus, he would invite them to come and see, and what they saw was Jesus going about healing people of their infirmities, liberating them from the demons that plague them, and feeding people at table.  Once we have seen, Jesus then invites us to follow him, i.e. to take up these works of mercy ourselves in our daily lives, finding opportunities to heal, liberate, and feed others.

There are no shortages of places where this work of Jesus is desperately needed.  While one group of Christians sets about to build an empire while another engages in revolution, the work of mercy for those who are hungry, ill, thirsty, possessed, naked, homeless, imprisoned, and marginalized remains ever in need of care.  Jesus did not serve as chaplain to empire or revolution.  He set about providing mercy for all in need.  That is our call and task as well. 

Seeing and Hearing

Gospel: Luke 8: 16-18

"Take care, then, how you hear."

The physical act of hearing words spoken is but one level of hearing, but what is our inner disposition to those words?  A person can hear without interest or attention.  Another could hear out of a sense of duty but not open to what is being said.  And finally a person could be fully attentive and open to the words being spoken to her.  It matters a great deal then in how we hear, as Jesus heeds us to do in today's Gospel portion.

This plea of Jesus regarding hearing is closely tied to what he says about the lighting of lamps.  We do not light lamps only to put them in a place that does us no good.  We instead light a lamp and place it in a place of prominence so that we might see what we need to see.  The same is true regarding the powers of hearing.  If we are not going to use our sense of hearing intently, then we will not benefit from that sense or from what we are meant to hear from God in our lives.

So today we look to cultivate our senses of seeing and hearing that we might be attentive to the presence of God in our lives.  This task requires discernment in order to filter out what is distraction and harmful while retaining what is useful and good.  That which leads us to sentiments and deeds of love and mercy are what comes from God as they illuminate our own interior rooms and that of others.  All the rest is the bluster of the world leading us to self-interest and animosity.   

The Unjust Steward

Gospel: Luke 16: 1-13

This man finds himself in a difficult situation of his own making.  He has not been a good steward of the owners affairs, and he now finds himself on the brink of expulsion from his position.  He lacks the ability to undertake manual labor, and his pride does not enable him to ask for the assistance of others.  So, the steward does the one thing he knows how to do: he devises a scheme such that others will be indebted to him and they will provide for his needs when the time comes.

This unjust steward knows that others are in debt to his master.  So he calls each one into his office and cancels a portion of the debt they owe.  Mind you, the amounts these people owe are quite staggering, but even to ease the burden some is a great benefit to them.  This man forgives the debts of others - a good thing to be sure - but he does so for the wrong reasons.  He forgives the debt to secure his own advantage, not because debts ought to be forgiven and mercy shown to those unable to pay.  

Do we not see ourselves in this man? We have been bad stewards of God's business.  We are on the brink of expulsion, and so we bargain with God.  We forgive the debts of others, but why are we doing so? We seek our own advantage.  But the business of God is precisely in the forgiveness of debts, so that others might benefit and have their burden eased.  Let us, then, become a just steward, and forgive as we have been forgiven, as others deserve and need to be forgiven.   

Soil Preparation

Gospel: Luke 8: 4-15

There is a tendency to read the parable of the sower in fatalistic terms where the status of our souls is predetermined.  We see the soil samples are what they are and God's seed can only have the results it does as a result.  Our attitude is that there is either that there is nothing we can do about the condition of our soil, or that only God can radically alter the status of our soil through some cosmic magic.  We removed all agency and responsibility of our own.  

The only agency of God in the story is sending his seed, his word and grace to us.  If our soil is rocky or thorny and ill prepared to receive the presence of God in our lives, then that is on us.  We have the ability to alter the condition of our soil.  We can break up the rocky soil, we can root out the thorny bushes and create soil amenable to receiving the presence of God in our lives.  The failure of our soil is entirely our own.

We can cultivate a variety of good habits in order to realize the results we desire in our soil.  Ultimately, however, it is love alone that will enable us to break our stony hearts, love that will root out the thorns from our heart.  Love is encountered in prayer and meditation, love has come to us in the person and example of Jesus who calls us to follow him, to imitate him in deeds of loving kindness toward others in our world.   

The Model Disciples

Gospel: Luke 8: 1-3

Today's Gospel portion makes it abundantly clear that in addition to the twelve apostles Jesus also had women accompany him and help him in his ministry of healing, liberating, and nourishing other people.  No distinction is made between functions or roles - everyone is engaged in the same work in imitation of the Lord Jesus.  However, there is an important detail noted in the text that is worth highlighting and reflecting upon.

The passage states that these women now part of Jesus' ministry were those who had been healed and delivered from their demons.  Earlier we saw how Peter's mother-in-law was healed by Jesus, and she immediately arose to serve (diakonia) others.  These women follow that very example, the example of the model disciple, which is to respond to God's love in our lives by extending that love and mercy to others by healing, liberating, and feeding them at table.  

Each one of us has been healed by God, liberated from our demons, and fed by the Lord Jesus.  The proper response of the disciple is not to monetize that through shameless self-promotion.  It is to set aside the self altogether and to bring that love and mercy of God in the form of helping others to heal, to find deliverance from what holds them bound, in feeding the hungry in our world.  While the twelve argue about who is most important, let us imitate the women in the authentic path of discipleship.   

Dinner with a Sinner

Gospel: Luke 7: 36-50

This dinner party at the house of a Pharisee is filled with irony.  The Pharisee sees himself as one without sin hosting a meal with Jesus whom the Pharisee sees as an equal.  Along comes a woman to wash the feet of Jesus, a woman with an apparently notorious reputation.  The Pharisee is horrified by her washing Jesus' feet, though we might wonder what this woman is doing inside the house of the Pharisee in the first place if she is what he claims her to be.

Nevertheless, Jesus provides a short parable on two debtors to put everyone in their place.  In the parable both people are debtors, both sinners.  The one with the lesser burden sees themselves as sinless.  They have no gratitude for their sin being forgiven, their debt lifted.  Meanwhile, the one with the great burden realizes the debt has been removed and is grateful.  The Pharisee and the woman are both sinners.  One remained so, the other liberated from the burden.  

In response to her being forgiven, the woman washes the feet of Jesus, i.e. she goes to serve others in the most humble way - in the way that Jesus himself will model at the Last Supper to his disciples.  When we become conscious of being forgiven the debt we have incurred, when the burden is lifted from us, we too must respond as the woman and wash the feet of others, to serve the needs of others humbly and lovingly.   

Passing Fancies

Gospel: Luke 7: 31-35

Jesus makes a critique of his times that is well-suited to our times and to all others.  He observes the passing fancies of the culture, switching from mirth to dirge at the drop of a hat, providing an endless stream of shallow commentary on the figures and events of the day.  One day the crowd loves Jesus; the next it calls for his execution.  The hive mind has been programmed for instant reaction and zero reflection.  

Consider our culture with its 24-hour news cycle and instant reactions to every event and public figure.  How often are these commentaries rash and outright wrong?  We do not even take the time to create such a scorecard because as soon as the issue du jour is over we move on to the next one where everyone becomes an internet expert on that issue.  All of this done to defend the false gods we have crafted for ourselves in the culture...

We are anxious and troubled about many things, but only one is necessary.  We can choose to have our lives guided by the news cycle, but it will only lead to ruin.  Or we can choose to have our lives guided by the liturgical cycle, a place of reflection and meditation at the feet of the Lord Jesus.  If we follow the latter cycle, we will find ourselves over time living more like the Lord Jesus, performing deeds of loving kindness toward others, ignoring the ephemeral din of the culture of reaction, seeking God alone. 

Care for Widows

Gospel: Luke 7: 11-17

Jesus restores to life a man who is the son of a widow, and from then on people will hope that Jesus will raise to life their loved one, for if he did it for this woman, why can't he do so for me?  Such a sentiment is all too common in hospital rooms, nursing homes, hospice houses, and countless other places where death is a familiar experience.  The sentiment is certainly understandable and sincere, but one that almost always goes unfulfilled.

But the story is not really about Jesus raising the dead.  It is about the compassion he has for the widow who is now facing a dire future.  She lost her only son - her only means of support and status in a patriarchal society.  She faces a future of grinding poverty and abuse if help is not provided to her.  Jesus provides help to her by restoring life to her son, sparing her the terrible ordeals of being destitute and vulnerable.  

Today, then, our reflection is centered on how we are to help the widows, the vulnerable, and the destitute in our cruel world, a cruelty that is sadly often fueled by the very religion that claims Jesus as its Lord.  In what ways can we provide care through shelter, food, clothing, and welcome? In what ways can we create a society that offers support and care for the vulnerable and marginalized?  In a world where justice and charity are sorely lacking, how is God calling me to extend both in our times?

A New Creation

Gospel: John 19: 25-27

In one poignant scene, the Gospel of John reorients us to a new, restored order of creation. Consider:  the cross of Jesus stands as the tree of life in Eden.  Mary and John represent Adam and Eve and the entire human race.  The two streams flowing from the side of Jesus are the streams of living water that provided for the bounty of Eden.  Through the death of Jesus we are restored to our original innocence of Eden before the fall of our first parents.

What is more, there are attendant consequences of human action that result from this restoration.  Once again we are put in solidarity with one another.  We belong to one another and are enjoined to care for each other.  The fall had brought division and blame, murder, and endless strife.  Through the death and resurrection of Jesus - by following his example and bearing our cross - we are again restored to one another.  We are responsible for the care of each one.  

That the world is still torn by blame, strife, and violence does not detract from the efficacy of Jesus' death and resurrection.  His death was not a magic act that sprinkled fairy dust upon the world.  Rather, his death was an example for us to follow, as was his whole life, on how we should live and care for others.  That we have failed to follow that example is an indictment on us, not on Jesus.  Today is a day for us to recommit to imitating the Lord Jesus in our solidarity with and care for one another. 

God So Loved

Gospel: John 3: 13-17

We might be surprised to hear that God sent Jesus into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.  Regardless of denomination or theological persuasion, the dominant message often projected is that of condemnation.  This fact is not that surprising when religion has been reduced to the political and what guides most people is the news cycle rather than the liturgical cycle, in which case bad news is preached rather than Good News.

What is most striking about Jesus is what he does not say.  The dominant issue of his time and place was Roman occupation and how to be rid of it.  Each group had their own ideas about it.  Jesus was utterly indifferent to it.  Instead, he went about from town to town healing people of their illnesses, liberating them from their demons, and feeding people at table in body and soul.  Imagine what religion would be like - what the world would be like - if we followed that example.

Today's feast reminds us that Jesus took the most loathsome symbol of punishment and shame, and he turned it into a symbol of love.  The cross had been the most shameful and fearsome fate and symbol of the Roman world, and Jesus embraced it - and commanded us to take it up as well, not as a symbol of hate that many have made it, but as a pledge of love.  That we would love the world and others with the same passion and selflessness as Jesus did.   

Picking Fruit

Gospel: Luke 6: 43-49

If a person spends their mental time occupied with thoughts of suspicion, hatred, and animus toward others, they are likely to produce words and speech that exemplify those thoughts, which in turn lead to actions of violence against others.  If, by contrast, a person uses that mental time to have empathy and compassion for others, their words and speech will in turn be akin to these thoughts, and thus produce actions of loving kindness toward others.  

Jesus did not sit around thinking badly of others.  He did not sit around judging others and writing invective against them.  Instead, Jesus spent entire nights in prayer with God on the mountaintop.  Then, he came down the mountain, going from town to town healing people of their infirmities, liberating them from their demons, and nourishing them at table.  The Son of Man came not to condemn others but to save them.  

Every human being has this same choice before them.  We can be consumed with the news cycle and sit around condemning other people, only creating more hatred, division, and violence.  Or we can be consumed with the liturgical cycle, reflecting on the life of Jesus and seeking ways to heal, liberate, and nourish other people as Jesus did.  One of these trees produces rotten fruit; the other tree produces good fruit.   

Beams and Motes

Gospel: Luke 6: 39-42

God has given each of us but one conscience to examine, and it is our own.  That we spend so much time examining that of others and so little on our own housekeeping says a great deal about how far we are from today's Gospel lesson.  Perhaps if we did spend the necessary time in the examination of our conscience we might become the disciples who is like unto the teacher.  That we are not so is an indictment upon us.

This problem plagues us as an institution as well as individually.  The Church may very well have some valid things to say in the public square about a great many issues, but they cannot be heard because we have not cleaned house within our own walls.  That sexual abuse, financial scandal, their attendant cover-ups, and the incessant desire to be among the wealthy and powerful abound within the Christian Church means the authentic voice of the Lord Jesus has become lost.

Today is a day for us to develop a plan of regular examination of our conscience and of regular attendance at the sacrament of penance. Other attendant practices may also be considered - journaling, spiritual direction, days of recollection, an annual retreat.  All of these practices help us to follow the counsel of the Lord in today's reading, helping us to remove the beams in our eye so that we might see with greater clarity the way to the kingdom of God.

Love, Even Them

Gospel:  Luke 6: 27-38

The commandment to love others is uncontroversial in the abstract.  It even warms our heart when we apply it to people we already like and when we regard it for ourselves.  The commandment grows far more difficult when Jesus states here that it must also apply to strangers and our enemies - to people we do not like.  It grows even more difficult when Jesus gets specific and states that we must give to everyone who asks of us, not just those we deem worthy with our arbitrary categories of exclusion.

It is not coincidental that we are given this Gospel on this particular day with this particular anniversary in mind, and in the midst of the particular violence and divisiveness we face in our world.  We are reminded of the many times we have not followed the commandment of Jesus in this regard.  We see the effects of those failures in the world around us, in the hate and invective that fills our culture, in the ever increasing body counts of those lost to senseless violence around the globe.

Today is a day for us to reflect on how we might put into practice this commandment and teaching of Jesus in our lives - in the interactions we have each day in our work and homes, in the way in which we comport ourselves on social media, in the way in which we think about others, in what we choose to pray for and how we choose to pray for it.  Today is a day for us to reflect upon and imitate how Jesus himself lived his own commandment and teaching. 

Blessings and Woes

Gospel: Luke 6: 20-26

In our ordinary understanding of blessings and woes, we regard people who are wealthy, happy, well-liked, and well-fed as a blessed lot indeed.  By contrast, we think that people who are poor, weeping, despised, and hungry as a group full of woe and dismay.  We need only to look at the people who are esteemed by society - celebrities and the wealthy who are successful in their trades, unaware that those who are wealthy are often so at the direct expense of many who are destitute.  

Jesus, however, turns the tables on our worldly expectations.  He states that it is those who are poor, hungry, sorrowful, and despised who are blessed while their opposite are those who should woe and fret.  He looks at the authentic prophets of Israel's tradition, and he sees that they are poor, hungry, mourning, and despised.  By contrast, he sees the rich and haughty in that same history as those who are unjust and despicable in moral conduct.   The kingdom of God reverses the fortunes of these groups in the world.

Whose company do we keep in our lives, in the lives of our faith communities? How often do we seek out the company of the rich and powerful whose support we so desire to maintain our buildings and trappings of empire chaplaincy.  How often do we avoid the company of the poor and sorrowful, the hungry and despised.  How far we are from the standards and values of Jesus in our attitudes and behaviors.

Coming Down the Mountain

Gospel: Luke 6: 12-19

Jesus goes up the mountaintop to pray through the night.  In the morning he comes down from the mountain and calls together twelve people to help him in his ministry.  Jesus then immediately sets about to do that ministry: he goes about healing others and delivering people from the demons that hold them bound.  Jesus models for his new community what is to be their work and mission in the world - to pray at the mountaintop, and to heal and liberate others.

Recall that at Mount Sinai Moses spent time on the mountaintop in prayer with God.  When Moses comes down the mountain, he brings with him the law written on stone tablets.  When he sees the people in the grip of a false god, Moses inflicts punishment and rage upon the people.  The people only return to God out of fear and revulsion of the punishment set upon them.  Their fidelity to God would be temporary, as time and again they would vacillate between fidelity and infidelity to God.

Each of us has these two options available to us.  We can respond to our time of prayer with God in the way Moses did - holding to law and condemning others.  Or we can respond to prayer as Jesus did - inviting others to work of the common good, going forward to heal others of their infirmities and liberating people from their demons.  As followers of Jesus who modeled the response for his first followers, it is for us to imitate his example of prayer and response to God's love. 

An Unlikely Story

Gospel: Matthew 1: 1-16, 18-23

In the movie Ratatouille, the great Chef Gousteau makes a statement few believed: anyone can cook.  So along comes a rat named Remi who is a gifted chef, making incredible dishes that awe even the greatest food critics of Paris.  The most influential of the critics, Anton Ego, struggles with this reality, but comes to realize what it means.  A great cook can come from anywhere, even the most humblest and unlikely of origins.

Now enter the genealogy of Jesus which does not even include directly his mother Mary whose feast we celebrate today.  His family tree does include the great figures of Israel's history - Abraham, David - but also many unlikely people, and then adding two women in the story in order to make the tree work, finally arriving at the humble carpenter Joseph who isn't even the biological father of Jesus.  It is an unlikely path to Jesus the Messiah.

The story of Jesus and Mary is the reality that anyone can cook.  Anyone can cooperate with the promptings of God in their life and accomplish great things like Mary and Jesus did.  It is often the case that great things come from ordinary ingredients put together in an extraordinary way.  Today is a day to reflect on how God might be calling me, how God might be putting ordinary ingredients together in my life to do great deeds of mercy and love in the world. 

Hatred of Self, Not Others

Gospel: Luke 14: 25-33

What does it mean to follow Jesus? We have invented all sorts of abstractions and vicarious practices to indicate what that means.  All of them curiously enough are centered on the self.  They involve the idea of saving oneself, earning merit for oneself, and the like.  And when today's Gospel reading comes forth, the idea of hating others comes quite easy to a certain segment of those who claim the name Christian, an idea so central to their identity.

But what we are hating, in reality, is not others but our selves, our egos and self-interest.  The possessions and the particular relationships noted here are representations of the self, things and people we love not for themselves but because they are tied to our egos and self.  When we do battle with our egos and self, we can then love others as Jesus loved them - as children of God, as fellow brothers and sisters created in God's image.  

To follow Jesus is to do what he did: to provide healing, liberation, and nourishment for others without discrimination, turning no one away.  To do this work involves a total rejection of the ego and the self.  It requires complete love of others.  To bend down and wash the feet of others is to put aside our own comfort and our own selves for the love and care of another.  This is what it means to follow Jesus entirely. 

An Odd Story

Gospel: Luke 6: 1-5

The setting for this Gospel story is unusual.  It is the Sabbath.  Jesus and his disciples are walking through a field of grain.  Where are they going? Why are they here?  At the same time a group of Pharisees also happen to be in the same place? What are they doing here? Ordinarily travel on the Sabbath was also something that was prohibited, and yet we find Jesus and his cohort along with those observant of the Law doing that very thing.

And the topic for discussion is not this legal lacuna but rather the disciples picking grain and eating it on the Sabbath.  Now, ordinarily it was customary to procure food for the Sabbath the day prior so that one did not have to shop or do such work on the Sabbath day.  Clearly no one made such provisions, and consequently they had to resort to this minor bit of work that becomes such a large issue for the Pharisees so curiously present in this scene.

All of this is to suggest that we really have more important things to consider and occupy our time than such nitpickings about minor Sabbath laws.  Jesus was indifferent to these minor things, and so should we.  His main concern was the work of mercy in the world, the works of healing, liberating, and nourishing others who are in need of these things.  And these should be our concerns as well - on the Sabbath and every other day. 

Acting with Intention

Gospel: Luke 4: 33-39

Eating and drinking, fasting and abstaining.  These disciplines continue to be the source of endless religious debate to this very day.  Some insist on fasting and abstaining, others are more lax about it, almost everyone is hypocritical about it.  Abstaining from meat while partaking of the endless shrimp and crab legs feast hardly seems like keeping Friday as a day of penance.  And the libertines are hardly feasting with religious intent...

Perhaps this is why Jesus was so indifferent to the whole topic.  What matters is not so much what one does but rather with what intention you perform the action.  To fast in order to appear holy before others, or to abstain from meat to maintain some "Catholic identity" is not a worthy action.  If, however, one fasts and gives that food or the money one would use for food in order to provide sustenance for a hungry person is in fact doing something noble.  

So today let our reflection be about these disciplines and the intention we may bring to them as individuals and as communities of faith.  Let us fast from all sorts of things and provide for the poor from the time and money we would have spent.  Let us feast at the proper times, but with a sense of gratitude, humility, and dependence on God for all things so that the feast may be noble and not savage.  May our practices be intentional, conscious, and directed toward mercy and care for others. 

Open to Suggestions

Gospel: Luke 5: 1-11

Imagine this scene.  You've been up all night working at your lifelong trade.  You have had no success at it.  You are exhausted, frustrated, and impatient.  As you pack up your tools of the trade, a man comes by and offers you a suggestion.  He isn't even a part of your trade at all - what could he possibly know?   Your reaction to this scenario is probably that of many other people: you will ignore this guy or reject his suggestion in a less than friendly manner.

But in today's Gospel scene we find Peter in this very situation, and yet he takes the suggestion of Jesus.  Despite his fatigue and frustration, despite the fact that Jesus is a carpenter and knows nothing about fishing - despite all these things Peter is open to the prompting of God in this moment.  As a result of that openness, no matter how crazy the suggestion seemed, it worked and Peter has realized a great haul of fish for his business.  

We often wonder where God is in moments of darkness and frustration.  We are often unable to see that presence because we are focused on our own egos and what we are experiencing.  Today is a day for us to practice this openness of Peter in the inevitable moments of frustration we will encounter in our day.  We are likely to find God's presence in unlikely places, just as a fisherman found them in the suggestion about fishing from a carpenter.  

Mission and Ministry

Gospel: Luke 4: 38-44

After Jesus announced the arrival of his mission on earth in his home town, he sets about to do the work.  He liberates people from the demons that imprison them.  He heals people of all their various infirmities.  He nourishes people at table with food, drink, and his very presence.  That's it.  That is the work of Jesus in every town where he goes.  He never deviates from that mission.  It is about liberating, healing, and nourishing people.

People curious about Jesus want to know what he is about, and he invites them to follow him, to come and see.  So they do, and they follow for a while, but then after a while they stop following.  They were fine with being healed, liberated, and nourished by Jesus.  But when it comes to actually doing that work for others, well, then not so much.  It's hard work.  How can it be monetized so it benefits our self-interest, our influence and power?  

The authentic faith and practice of Christian living consists in doing these things Jesus did, and in supporting one another in that work.  The pseudo religion creates all sorts of vicarious activities that can be monetized and used for influence and power.  Many are turned off by the pseudo religion and cast aside all religion as like unto it.  But the real faith is there and being practiced.  Today is a day for discerning how we might live out this work of Jesus in our own lives and communities, just as Peter's mother-in-law did.

The Powerless Pew

Gospel: Luke 4: 31-37

After being thrown out of one synagogue, Jesus goes down the road to another.  There, he encounters a man in the synagogue possessed by a demon.  The man is certainly known to the people and is a regular fixture in the community.  No one seems particularly interested in helping the man; they are either unable or unwilling to do so.  How often are our religious congregations similarly ineffectual and powerless to help meet the needs of those in our midst?

Jesus enters the scene and makes a direct encounter with the man.  The possessed man is unable to ask for help or advocate for himself.  No one in the congregation is advocating for him either.  But Jesus confronts the situation head on, liberating the man from his demons, leading to astonishment and wonder among the people.  Yet, the message Jesus provides here is remarkably simple: we have to directly encounter and face the demons in order to overcome them.

How often do we ignore or step around the demons we need to face? How often do we sit in our comfortable pew, not advocating for the man in need, just wanting our one hour of spiritual drooz? Jesus shows us the path of authentic religion is to heal others, liberate others from their demons, and to nourish others - all in direct encounter with the one in need, all in facing the need directly and meeting it with mercy and compassion.  

Glad Tidings to the Poor

Gospel: Luke 4: 16-30

The very first message Jesus proclaims in his public ministry is that God is for all people, that no one is excluded from God's love and mercy.  And right from the beginning this message finds violent opposition that persists to this very day.   The people of Jesus' home town do not want to be reminded of God's care for foreigners in salvation history.  They don't want to hear how the self-proclaimed chosen people are not so privileged after all.  The message that God is for all poses a threat to those who have used religion to hold power over others and to monetize the message of exclusion to their benefit.

The message that God is for all finds great acceptance from those traditionally excluded from religion: the poor and oppressed, the foreigner and outcast.  They have been the victims of institutional religion that has created false theological constructs to support the prevailing attitudes of bigotry that exist in societies.  They have created monetized obstacles to overcome in order to become accepted, if at all, by society and its religious elites.  The acceptance of God and others is certainly welcomed by those historically oppressed.

Those in religion have a choice to make in terms of what sort of religion, what sort of society they want to make.  They can continue the age old pattern of power and monetization of religion that only creates more secularity through a sham religion.  Or they can care for souls as Jesus did, providing access to God for all out of love for others and not to exercise power over others or profit from such service.  One is an institution of power and self-interest; the other is authentically human and a response of love.

The Invitation List

Gospel: Luke 14: 1, 7-14

We all dream of hosting dinner parties where we are able to invite the rich, the powerful, the celebrity.  Consider for a moment the fact that none of these people need the meal, for they are well-fed.  They do not need your company because everyone wants to be around them.  They may attend your dinner party, but only to see who else is there and what benefit those present may have on preserving their wealth, power, and status.  Such parties are transactional in nature; they are in no way communal or nourishing for the soul.

Now consider inviting the poor and marginalized to a meal.  Here is a group of people probably in need of the meal itself.  More importantly, they are also in need of human companionship and love.  No one invites them anywhere.  To have some time of genuine human interaction would mean the world to them.  The entire meal experience would in fact do great good for them in body, mind, and spirit.  It is a shame that they will not likely receive such an invitation and have such an experience...

Which dinner party do our churches resemble?  More often it is the former, as we are constantly in need of selling time shares in our pews to pay the vast sums needed to maintain our structures.  We want the rich and powerful so that our church can have influence and status in the world, for what is unclear.  For if we are not about the welcome of the poor and marginalized in our church buildings, it is not likely we are using whatever influence we have for their behalf with the rich and powerful whose company - and money - we so crave. 

Living in Love or Fear

Gospel: Matthew 25: 14-30

Today's Gospel portion reflects two very different visions and understandings of God.  The first two men see God, represented in the owner, as one who trusts them and empowers them to go about doing good with the talents provided to them.  So, each one to the best of their ability use these talents in order to earn even more for the owner.  Their vision of God as loving and trusting propelled them to take risks and expand the resources of the kingdom.

By contrast, the second understanding of God sees him as a vengeful, wrathful God who takes every opportunity to find fault.  So, we approach this God in fear, which inhibits our ability to use our talents effectively.  Instead of taking risks and working to expand the kingdom, we bury the talents in the ground, keeping it all for ourselves.  We give back what we have given without any growth or profit for anyone.  Fear stunts growth.

Which vision of God will be our own? We can continue to live in fear - fear of God, fear of others - and continue to stunt our growth, the growth of others, and of the kingdom.  Or we can live in love, using those talents to profit ourselves and others, thereby growing the kingdom of God.  The way in which we view and approach God is the same one we use in viewing and approaching other people.  That view affects the actions we perform and the world in which we live. 

Misplaced Trust

Gospel: Mark 6: 17-29

Throughout the scriptures we can find repeated exhortations not to trust princes and political leaders.  Today's feast reminds us in stark terms why that is the case.  Herod respected John the Baptist, but not enough to spare his life or release him from prison.  Herod's power, his pride, and standing with family and friends were all more important than John's life and the truth that he carried within him.  We will see this same dynamic repeated between Pilate and Jesus.

But some will object: that won't happen when "the right people" are put in office (here read: our people, or us).  Yet the entire Old Testament stands as a via negativa of what not to do.  Israel became a kingdom and was no better than other kingdoms.  The so-called glories of Christendom were filled with bloodshed, torture, and adultery.  And each time the episcopacy anoints a new strong man regime to allegedly safeguard the interests of the Church it ends in disaster not long after the oil has dried.  

The world is a desert and it is our lot to pass through it as pilgrims caring for one another along the way.  The desert is composed of sand where nothing of permanence can be built, for our permanence lies in our destination.  Mirages and sirens will seek to lure us away with promises of comfort and security and strength of political leaders.  But these are lies.  Our citizenship is heaven, and our only comfort and security is the Lord Jesus, his love and example.   

Song of the Servant

Gospel: Matthew 24: 42-51

What is the role of a servant?  In today's Gospel portion it is a simple set of tasks.  The first is that we feed others when they need to be fed.  The second is that we work together within our common home, treating each other with dignity and respect.  The servant in this story did neither of these things and so received a harsh judgment from the master upon his return to the house.  It seems a rather set of simple tasks to feed others and work cooperatively with others, right?

And yet we find innumerable reasons to allow others to starve in our world.  We find a host of apologetics for mistreating the poor, immigrants, migrants, refugees, foreigners, and the marginalized of all kinds.  The world is littered with the casualties of our callousness, alongside the rubbish of our religiosity that would cover over our neglect of this simple set of tasks the Lord has entrusted to us.  Woe to us upon the master's return.

Every single human being is a child of God, made in God's image and likeness.  Every person is a fellow servant and pilgrim on this earth.  We are to walk alongside each person as our equal, to provide food for them on the journey, to live together in mutual cooperation in our common home.  The Christian is not greater than anyone else, and how often does the Christian demonstrate the exact opposite in how we treat other people!   

Religious Whitewashing

Gospel: Matthew 23: 27-32

The words of Jesus in today's Gospel portion rings true in our time as much as in his own.  We are all too familiar with the cover-ups of scandal - sexual, financial, and otherwise.  We are no longer impressed with the religious finery of garb and liturgy that is not at all about God or the very core of religion which is the care of widows and orphans, the poor and oppressed, the sick and imprisoned, the migrant and foreigner of all kind.  

We too pay lip service to the prophets and martyrs.  We have raised to the altars such great figures as Maximillian Kolbe, Edith Stein, Titus Brandsma, and Oscar Romero.  We celebrate their feasts, and yet our religious leaders encourage us to support regimes in our time that resemble the very ones that executed these great saints - all the while calling each other "pro-life" and "faithful Catholics" - pro whose lives, and faithful to what is unclear...

The hypocrisy of institutional religion has two outcomes, one negative and the other positive.  The negative outcome is that many are scandalized and walk away from God and the path of virtue altogether.  The positive is that others set aside the illusions of institutional religion and become mystics, fully devoted to God and following the example of Jesus in extending mercy through healing, liberation, and nourishing those in need.  Today is a day to commit to this latter path.

 

Weightier Matters

Gospel: Matthew 23: 23-26

It is easy to find the Pharisaical attitude in today's Gospel portion in religion today.  The endless squabbles about liturgy, apparitions, architecture, and the like whilst the scandals of religion are continually swept under the rug are so well known.  The lack of attention to the poor and marginalized - even the avid denigration of them by people of religion is also all too common.  But heaven forbid if the rules of biretta tipping are neglected...

But such things are all too present in the larger culture as well.  The endless squabbles over product and restaurant logos; our perseveration over what a celebrity or athlete says; and our endless drive for public spending on sports arenas - all of which while neglecting and even defending the genocides throughout the world, the human trafficking, the abuse of immigrants, migrants, refugees, and foreigners.  The human animal is master of deflection and avoidance that lead to neglect and abuse...

We might well decry the state of the world, but consider the ways in which we contribute to it in our perseveration on lesser matters and our neglect of weightier ones.  Let the billionaire owner who wants public money for a stadium for his millionaire athletes be deprived of his wish, and let us spend that money caring for the poor.  Let us stop talking about pancake syrup and chain restaurant logos and instead care for immigrants and migrants in need of our help today.  

Keeping People from God

Gospel: Matthew 23: 13-23

How often are we like the Pharisees in today's Gospel portion. Consider: the clerics of the Church state that a person has to share the same faith in the Eucharist as we do in order to receive.  One can find such faith in seeing the devotion with which people of many different denominations receive communion, faith greater than that of many Catholics and certainly than almost any seven year old who receives for the first time.

Then it is said that in order to receive communion they must be fully initiated into the faith before they can receive communion, something we do not require a cradle Catholic to do.  The burdens we create in order to prevent people from having access to God!  The things we will do in order to perpetuate the lack of full communion that exists among Christians throughout the world!  How very similar we are to the Pharisees!

So today is a day for us to reflect on how it is that we prevent people from having access to God and full communion with one another.  How might we go about being more open to others, more accommodating and welcoming?  Who today needs me to provide a bridge for them in their journey of faith?  What bridge do I need to build in my own journey of faith and communion with other people in the world? 

Pack Lightly

Gospel: Luke 13: 22-30

Someone asks Jesus, "Will only a few be saved?"  There are many who think they know the answer to this question.  Some are minimalists and only see those like themselves as being saved.  Others are maximalists and everyone getting into the club.  Yet, Jesus himself does not answer the question. Instead, he turns the question into an opportunity to discuss what is needed in order to enter the kingdom of God, and the answer to that is - not much.   

Jesus talks about entering through the narrow gate, a reference to the entryway into cities for pilgrims and wayfarers.  It was a small door.  Only those with few possessions could enter.  Those with a large retinue and caravans of objects could only enter by the wide gates into the city.  But the kingdom of God only has one entry - the narrow door.  It has no wide gates for large deliveries, large vehicles, or any baggage other than a small carry on.  

We can only enter the kingdom through a life of simplicity and detachment from worldly possessions and desires. The absence of these things frees a person to be present to others and to serve them in their needs.  This path of simplicity was that of Jesus himself who owned next to nothing.  It was the way he sent out his disciples on mission, carrying nothing but a walking staff.  Today is a day to simplify our lives, to live as pilgrims in this world so that we can fit through the narrow gate.  

The Vanity of Title

Gospel: Matthew 23: 1-12

Jesus rejected the honors and status offered him by the devil in the desert.  He continually did so throughout his public ministry as well, rejecting titles of distinction, places of honor, and special regalia.  Jesus then commands us to do likewise, though as in so many other areas we have decidedly ignored the exhortation.  We invent countless apologetic for the titles, special seats, and distinctive garb - all of it vanity in comparison with the poor, humble Jesus of the Gospels.

For in the end the titles, places of honor, and special clothing place one person above another in importance, or rather, it minimizes the importance of others.  All these things make blurry the clear fact that all people are made in God's image, all are children of God and worthy of respect and care.  It replaces the true temple of God - the human person - for ones made of wood and stone. These things often lead us not to question in any way figures who need to be questioned when they fail to respect and care for God's people.

All of us have a common origin.  All of us have a common identity as children of God.  All of us have a common fate and destiny in one day arriving at death.  All of us will be remembered for a time, then utterly forgotten on this earth.  And looking back we will come to see the vanity and in many cases great harm of these titles, places of honor, positions, status, and finery of garb.  If we see the world as a desert and our life as a pilgrimage, then we can more readily reject these things and cling to God alone.