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Archive for November, 2022

Words Fall Short of Expressing Who God Is

Posted in Who is God, tagged , , on November 20, 2022| 1 Comment »

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

At the start of this week’s post, I think I should confess something: I forgot that with this coming week including Thanksgiving, I wouldn’t be able to follow my usual schedule for drafting posts. I posted last week’s entry and went on to other writing projects, glad that I had published my most recent post earlier in the week than I had the one that came before it. Only just now did I realize that with Thanksgiving coming up, I’m not ahead. I’m behind. So who knows how many mistakes I will leave behind in this post. Who knows how many things I’ll get wrong? I commend this post to God as I begin it, and to anyone reading it, Happy Thanksgiving, if you’re celebrating this week, and thanks, in advance, for your understanding.

November 20th is the last Sunday before Advent this year. Advent will be the time of spiritual and practical preparation for the Christmas season. The Christmas season traditionally begins on Christmas Eve and continues for three weeks after that.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Back to November 20th. It’s the Solemnity of Christ the King. The name of this Sunday got me thinking about what kind of king Christ is. He certainly doesn’t fit some images that come to my mind of earthly kings. He came to earth in a place that was a far cry from a sprawling palace. He did the opposite of keep his distance from all that was and is subject to Him. Instead, he shared his image with us. And bearing the image of God has far more to do with qualities of the spirit, heart, and mind than with the body alone, though he did and does have a human body and knows all the needs and challenges that come with having one. His hands and feet helped him carry out his mission here on Earth and helped to show us how to do the same, so that we could be his hands and feet once his earthly mission was complete.

He’s close to us not just because He became human but because He comes to us appearing like bread and wine and invites us to take his body and blood into our own. Though in Him “all things hold together,” He surrenders Himself to us in this way and in so many other ways through material gifts and the gifts of creation (Col. 1:17). He is not about gaining wealth.

He’s not about dominating others either. His message is that power comes, not in dominance, but in service and in cooperation. He doesn’t force His will on us. He leaves it up to us whether to see with his eyes, and His heart, and to act as His hands and feet. He respects the freedom and dignity of each of us.

He talks about a “kingdom” or a “reign,” depending on which translation of the Bible a person uses, but I can’t think of a verse where he refers to himself directly as a king. I think that’s because He possesses power in ways that human beings struggle to understand and/or to accept. He didn’t come “to be served but to serve,” “to testify to the truth,” and to show us how to live (Mark 10:45; John 18:37). Humans don’t have perfect words to describe His way of living, yet He had only words to describe it, so he used something like “kingdom” (Mark 1:15).

To me, the use of the word “kingdom” or “reign” is about characterizing that God is near and everywhere — above, within, among. And the existence of everything that gives life is thanks to God, even if we can’t always wrap our minds around this reality. To paraphrase Richard Rohr, the “kingdom” or the “reign” of God is about the Person who is the Source of and the relationship between all that’s good. Each of us plays an indispensable role in making that Source and our relationship to Him visible and active.

The Bible. The New American Bible Revised Edition, Kindle edition, Fairbrother, 2011.

Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. “Sunday July, 2 2023: Readings at Mass.” The New American Bible, 2001. Universalis for Windows, Version 2.179, Universalis Publishing Ltd., 26 Feb. 2023, https://universalis.com/n-app-windows.htm


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The Balancing Act of Life

Posted in Reflections on Scripture, tagged on November 16, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Photo by Sean Benesh on Unsplash
  • Malachi 3:19–20a
  • Psalm 98:5–6, 7–8, 9
  • 2 Thessalonians 3:7–12
  • Luke 21:28

This week, I feel prompted to reflect on the readings listed above as a unit and to discuss them generally, for the most part. I sense that focusing on a verse or two in just one of these readings might be to miss their point, to do, in a way, exactly what they are advising us not to do. Nonetheless, I encourage you to go to these passages yourself and see what they say to you.

I think they’re telling us that, yes, everything but God is passing away. But they’re also warning us not to fixate on what passes or on the signs that it’s passing. We can get so focused on the future that we neglect what the present asks of us. If we never consider what the present asks of us, we don’t become who we are in God, and we don’t do what God has given us the ability to do. Such not becoming and not doing would be tragic because to become who we are in God and to do what each of us is uniquely suited to do is the reasons were alive. Such not doing and not becoming means not entering through the “narrow gate” that leads to union with God and with those who have entered that union before us (Matt. 7-14).

There are so many gates that can look like they lead us toward the one the one each of us is called to move toward, when, in fact, they stop our progress toward that ultimate gate. As a result, it can be tempting not to seek the ultimate gate at all, to think somehow that if we don’t engage with the present, for fear of choosing the wrong gate, the gate we seek will come to us. But it won’t — unless we seek it.

The process of seeking the ultimate gate will be a mixed experience. When we travel the thin wire that is using the gifts God has given us without forgetting that those gifts are not the ultimate gate but a means to it, the wire leading toward the ultimate gate will feel able told our weight, even if, to someone else, the wire looks flimsy. On the other hand, when all we can see is the thinness of the wire, or all we can focus on is our desire for a shortcut to the gate, the necessity of crossing the wire will feel more like an impossible trial. Furthermore, when we operate under the illusion that there are shortcuts to and through the gate, we’ll forget what we’ve learned about what the wire looks like and how to navigate it. As a result, we’ll fall off the wire. Acknowledging resistance and desire for shortcuts will help to keep us from falling off.

While each of us can benefit from knowing our weaknesses, we also need not to assume that someone else is surrendering to resistance or seeking shortcuts. We should not use 2 Thessalonians 3:10 to judge others. The verse instructs that anyone who is “unwilling to work should not eat” [italics mine]. Let’s not assume that someone isn’t working because he or she is unwilling. A person may face limits keeping him or her from working, limits only he or she and God can understand and that the rest of us cannot see. Let’s also be open to the work each of us is called to looking different than the work of the next person.

I’d like to wrap up this week’s post by moving from the third to fourth reading — that is, the Gospel reading. I find it significant that the reading mentions natural disasters, wars, and persecutions but the references aren’t presented in a way that points to a specific disaster, war, or persecution. I think this presentation reminds us that nothing is eternal but God and those who are united to God. Everything but God will be created, destroyed, and re-created. This process happens in our lives over and over and again then at the end of our earthly lives. It also happens to any systems we have, whether within our bodies, within systems we create, or within systems recognized by us as patterns in the universe. It happens to cells and to solar systems. It happens on the smallest and grandest scales. It’s not a one-time event. The challenge is trusting God to lead us through this recurring process until trust leads us through the “narrow gate,” and that which is eternal is all that remains (Matt. 7-14).

The Bible. The New American Bible Revised Edition, Kindle edition, Fairbrother, 2011.

Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. “Sunday July, 2 2023: Readings at Mass.” The New American Bible, 2001. Universalis for Windows, Version 2.179, Universalis Publishing Ltd., 26 Feb. 2023, https://universalis.com/n-app-windows.htm

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The Intimacy of Eternal Life

Posted in Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , on November 11, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven [brothers] had been married to her.” Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.

Luke 20: 33-36

I struggle with these verses because they seem to take a view of marriage as existing only for the continuation of humanity. This view of marriage is not very appealing to me. Let’s face it: I’m a romantic. I like the idea of the intimacy of a healthy marriage. I want such intimacy in my life after my time here on earth. So I take comfort in indications from other Scripture passages that if I strive to remain aware of the Divine Presence and strive to let it work in me in this life, I’ll find intimacy in the next one, even if anyone who can no longer die doesn’t need to reproduce. For an extensive discussion of where wedding imagery appears in the Scriptures, search for Bride of Christ on Wikipedia.

The parable in Matthew 25:1-13 implies that Jesus is a bridegroom, and the bridegroom arrives to enter the wedding feast. Anyone who doesn’t lose faith that the bridegroom will come and has prepared for his arrival will join the bridegroom at the feast (Matt. 25:10). Who is the bridegroom marrying? Anyone who has cultivated a relationship with him and is ready to consummate that relationship because anything that used to get in its has been removed. Anyone who enters into that consummation has become the person God created him or her to become. (See Klein.)

Such a person wears no masks, costumes or anything else from his or her mortal life. He or she surrounds him or herself with no defenses and carries no inhibitions because he or she doesn’t need to. There’s nothing to hide or defend against because all has been revealed and all that is not from God has melted away. (See 1 Cor. 3: 15 and Heb. 12:27 and 29.) The guests of honor at the wedding feast no longer know lack of any kind. (See Rev. 21:14) Their deepest desires are fulfilled, so they have no reason to be selfish, no reason not to be fully open to all God is and all God offers, nor are they left with any reason to be less than fully open to each other our and what each other offers.

The reality of eternal life is not merely one of intellectual existence. (Again, see Klein.) I don’t think of it as an eternal staring contest between the bridegroom and all his beloveds either. Instead, I think of it as creativity experienced to its fullest. After earthly life, if we are fully open to creativity at its fullest, who is the bridegroom of Scripture, we find ourselves in union with him and others who are united with Him. It’s a state that doesn’t mean the loss of intimacy but rather the fullness of it—because eternal intimacy isn’t limited by time, space, or anything else. It is intimacy with dimensions beyond our imagination, and it’s unending.

Works consulted

“Bride of Christ.” Wikipedia, The Wikimedia Foundation Inc., 31 Oct. 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bride_of_Christ#:~:text=In%20the%20Gospel%20of%20John,my%20joy%20therefore%20is%20fulfilled.

Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. “Sunday July, 2 2023: Readings at Mass.” The New American Bible, 2001. Universalis for Windows, Version 2.179, Universalis Publishing Ltd., 26 Feb. 2023, https://universalis.com/n-app-windows.htm

Klein,Terrance. “What does it mean to become a saint?”. America: The Jesuit Review, America Press Inc. 1 November 2022, https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2022/11/01/homily-all-saints-244057.

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A Story That Challenges and Consoles

Posted in Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , on November 5, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash

But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things;
and you overlook people’s sins that they may repent.
For you love all things that are
and loathe nothing that you have made;
. . . . [y]our imperishable spirit is in all things!

Wisdom 11:23-26 and 12:1

I’m starting with these verses because it would be helpful to me if they were permanently engraved into my mind. If your Bible doesn’t include the book called Wisdom, look it up. It’s an offering of poetically presented but practical advice and encouragement, just like Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes are.

These verses are part of the Old Testament readings for October 30, and for good reason, it seems to me. Why? Because the New Testament reading for that day, Luke 19:1-10, tells the story of Zacchaeus and his neighbors. It’s a story that, for me, inspires a lot of questions. It says Zacchaeus was “seeking to see who Jesus was,” not that he wanted to listen to Jesus or talk to Jesus or even see what Jesus looked like. No, he wanted “to see who Jesus was” (Luke 19:3). [italics mine]. This says to me that he was curious about Jesus’ character and identity. Why does he think he can find what he seeks using nothing more than his eyes?

Well, Wisdom 12:1 tells me it’s not just his physical eyes that are at work. More is already going on here than meets the physical eye. That “imperishable spirit that is “in all things” is already at work in him. Maybe he knows it. I imagine he longs for the days when he was a valued and respected member of the community. I imagine he longs for the days when he didn’t see his reflection in a puddle and find looking back at him a man dressed in finery he had obtained by not sharing with his less fortunate neighbors, by extorting his them even, and in doing so, by betraying the call and community he had received as “a descendent of Abraham” (Luke 19:8-9).

I wondered what had caused the behavior that cut him off from his people. I began my quest for possible answers by looking “extort” on m-w.com and found it defined as “to obtain from a person by force, intimidation, or undue or illegal power.” I wonder why he got started down unjust paths. Maybe he was just prone to greed and selfishness. Or maybe as he was growing up, his family barely had enough to survive. Maybe he had felt powerless and as he came of age, greed and selfishness were the shields he put up to protect himself from the fear of repeating the struggles in his past. Maybe Roman authorities were extorting him, requiring him to meet certain quotas to protect himself and to be able to continue protecting and providing for his family. Regardless of why he had become the person he had become, I get the feeling that giving “half of [his] possessions… to the poor and paying back “four times over” anyone he has extorted would cost him more than material goods (Luke 19:8).

If Zacchaeus keeps his promises, he’ll have to face people he has badly hurt — probably not just in ways that affected them in the short term. He may have to face that he has made others suffer in ways that still others once made him suffer. Facing such a reality would reopen old wounds as would giving away the possessions he may have used to help himself feel secure. And these costs don’t take into account that Roman authorities may not appreciate his generosity. Their lack of appreciation could bring another level of hardship — or worse—to him and his family.

Perhaps the Roman authorities would bear appraising if they didn’t allow Zacchaeus to keep his promises of reparation and so they wouldn’t punish him. But I have my doubts. I remember the decisions I’ve read that authorities made during Jesus’s final pilgrimage to Jerusalem. If I had cost like these and the material ones Zacchaeus has promised to pay on my horizon, I have a hard time believing I’d have the faith to follow through. As I write this, however, I pray for that kind of faith. Faith aside, maybe Zacchaeus’ own fear the crowds and what they could accomplish will encourage him to keep his promises. The Lord works in all kinds of ways.

Maybe when Zacchaeus keeps his promises, his neighbors will forgive his unjust behavior toward them. But I bet the forgiveness will take time, and the time between fulfillment of the promise and the forgiveness will be difficult. Who knows what the people have lost as a result of Zacchaeus’ actions that cannot be paid back. Poverty has many ways of taking lives.

I imagine that some of the people in Jericho that day may have hoped Jesus would provide them relief from their poverty — for example, by healing a sick or injured family member so that person could return to contributing to the well-being of the family. And I imagine that while Jesus was in their midst he did work miracles. Yet other Gospel stories suggest not everyone who clambered after Jesus received what they had hoped to. When I consider this likelihood and that Jesus spent part of his time in Jericho having dinner with a person who contributed to the suffering of people who sought Jesus’s help and guidance, the Lord’s invitation to himself is challenging as much as consoling. I empathize with the people who call Zacchaeus out as a sinner.

Then there’s the reason I do find the story consoling. The narrative doesn’t tell me whether Zacchaeus kept his promises. Jesus announces that he’s coming to dinner at the tax collectors house before the promises are fulfilled. Now that’s mercy. That’s “overlook[ing] people’s sins so they may repent [italics mine] (Wis. 11:23). Jesus seems to know that Zacchaeus is going to keep his promises (Luke 19:9). I imagine that Jesus wants to reassure the crowd and Zacchaeus of this. Moving forward in time, I also heard somewhere — where I don’t remember — my apologies if you are the source — that names are mentioned in the Gospels when a person was known in the Christian community at the time the gospel was written. That says something about how things might have turned out for Zacchaeus. But as I go back to experiencing Luke’s story of Zacchaeus as if it currently unfolding, the message I get is this: Jesus knows — and wants to remind us and the extorted crowd — that Zacchaeus, like all the rest of us, needs to know that, no matter what a person has done, God wants his or her company. Zacchaeus needs to know God’s unconditional love before he can give it back to God and share it with the people around him. All of us need the same.

Work cited

The Bible. The New American Bible, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., 2001. Universalis for Windows, Version 2.174, Universalis Publishing Ltd.,7 Oct. 2022, https://universalis.com/.

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