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Communion Offers Life to All of Everyone

Posted in Ordinary Time, Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , on July 9, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Photo by Paul Jai on Unsplash

This Week’s Readings:

  1. Zechariah 9:9–10
  2. Psalm 145:1–2, 8–9, 10–11, 13–14
  3. Romans 8:9, 11–13
  4. Matthew 11:25–30

I read the first two readings and thought it would probably be good for me to read and reread them and internalize their expressions of faith and praise. Maybe if I read them enough, their words would feel more like they could be my own. However, where is my mind is right now, it can embrace them as true but my heart hesitates to do the same, even as I recognize the justice of praising God even when the praise feels inauthentic coming from me. The third reading seems to present the ideal response to faith in another way that I’m discouraged by not living up to.

The Good News for me this week is the Gospel’s affirmation of my feeling that I can’t live up to the ideals of the first two readings. I’m not meant live up to the ideals on my own strength. The ideals aren’t even about doing the right things on my own or even thinking the right things or understanding difficult situations or concepts on my own. Jesus speaks to his Father in Matthew Chapter 11, saying, “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you [italics mine] have revealed them to little ones” (25-26). Once I revisited this verse, it helped me see in a new light two verses from the third reading. They say:

If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you. Consequently, brothers and sisters, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

Romans 8:11-12

I don’t give life to myself. The Spirit “that raised Christ from the dead” and “dwells in me” will give life to [my] mortal body” (Rom. 8:11).

I tend to think of the mind as more closely related to the Spirit than to the “mortal body” or “flesh,” and to sinful actions, what Romans calls “the deeds of the body” (Rom. 8: 13). I don’t think I’m alone in having this dualistic perspective.

However, the reality is that what the mind does is as much the result of brain activity as anything else the body does, whether consciously or unconsciously. And the brain is part of the mortal body. It isn’t necessarily more spiritual than anything else the body does. To say this is not to say that the body is inherently opposed to the Spirit. Rather, the body, which includes the workings of the mind, is healed by the Spirit of the effects of sin. The Spirit restores to each person—each body, mind, spirit combination— to his or her unique way of reflecting God’s image each, provided that the person invites the Spirit in by joining him or herself to His Body.

Because of the doctrine of the Trinity and because of Scriptures that characterize followers of Christ as members of His body, I understand the Spirit’s body in three ways: as the body of Jesus, the body of an individual believer, and as the community of believers. I unite myself to him and become this body, inviting the Spirit to work in my life whenever I trust in these realities and when my life reflects this trust. It reflects this trust when I share the joys and the burdens of Jesus and others, and I find the humility and courage to accept the offers of Jesus and others to share my joys and burdens.

It’s this communion, not being able to handle or understand everything on my own that gives life. I make this statement not to minimize the acquisition of knowledge and expertise or the pursuit of moral and ethical behavior but to reiterate that no knowledge increases or decreases a person’s value from God’s perspective. An article by Guy Consolmagno and Christopher M. Graney inspires me to offer this reminder. It also provides thought-provoking analysis of the justifications humans throughout history have used for thinking and behaving otherwise.

Lord, don’t let me forget your unconditional love for me and for everyone else, indeed for all of Your creation. Don’t let me forget that Your wisdom and understanding is greater than human wisdom and understanding. Also don’t let me forget that though Your wisdom and understanding are greater than human understanding and wisdom, You have given me places and people I can go to for wisdom and support. Thank You for giving life to all of me and to all of Your creation. Amen.

Works cited

Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. “Sunday 9 July 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.

Consolmagno, Guy and Christopher M. Graney “Reject the cult of ‘intelligence.’ You’re worth more than that.” America: The Jesuit Review, 29 June 2023, https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2023/06/29/consolmagno-graney-cult-intelligence-245530.

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Sharing in God’s Vision Requires Perseverance and Humility but Reaps Eternal Rewards

Posted in Reflections on Scripture, Who Am I in God, Who is God, tagged , , , , , , on July 2, 2023| 1 Comment »

Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash
This picture was one of the results when I searched Unsplash.com for “God’s-Eye View.”

This week’s readings:

  1. 2 Kings 4:8–11, 14–16a
  2. Psalm 89:2–3, 16–17, 18–19
  3. Romans 6:3–4, 8–11
  4. Matthew 10:37–42

I’d say this week’s readings are about how seeing the world through God’s eyes affects a person’s outlook and behavior. They’re also about how seeing this way reaps rewards, though often not one’s that come quickly or easily.

It seems a reward for virtue hasn’t come quickly or easily for the woman in the Old Testament reading. She’s promised a gift that she must worry she won’t receive —a son. The passage tells me “her husband is getting on in years,” and the couple doesn’t have a son yet, so there’s reason to doubt that would change as the husband ages (2 Kings 4:14). And not having a son could mean loss of financial security and social standing for the wife as she gets older, since, it seems, her husband is considerably older than she is. If he dies before she does, and she doesn’t have a son, she won’t have a home or support unless another male relative takes her in or she remarries.

The woman in the story isn’t going to be facing this situation though. Because of the hospitality she shows Elisha, he promises her that “by the same time next year, [she’ll] have a son” (2 Kings 4:16). The next verse reveals the woman’s life changes as Elisha has promised it will , but I think the fact that the reading ends before the prophecy comes true provides a lesson, which is that we can take Elisha at his word because word comes from God. The further message of the passage is that the woman receives her gift from God because she has supported God’s work in recognizing Elisha’s holiness and in offering him hospitality on account of it. In other words, good things happen to people who see the world through the eyes of God and respond to the needs that this way of seeing reveals to them.

This week’s psalm sends a similar message with the following words:

Blessed the people who know the joyful shout;
in the light of your countenance, old LORD, they walk.
At your name they rejoice all the day,
and through your justice they are exalted.

Psalm 89: 16-17

The thing is, if a person doesn’t see through God’s eyes, someone “exalted” through God’s justice may not look “raise[d] on high; elevate[d], as the New World College Dictionary defines “exalted.” After all, Jesus was exalted by God’s justice and yet he grew up in circumstances that were humble, to say the least, and he worked hard, traveling long distances on foot. Then he was subjected to an agonizing death. Furthermore, relatively few people were physical witnesses to the signifiers of his exaltation, the resurrection and the ascension. Not even Paul witnessed these events in the way that people who walked with Jesus while he was alive did. And yet Jesus allowed him to see with God’s eyes and to write:

Brothers and sisters: Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.

Romans 6: 3-4

I don’t know about you, but I usually don’t feel like I’m living in “newness of life” or that I’m going to, so I don’t feel like the people described in the psalm as “rejoicing all the day at [the] name” of God (Romans 6:4). I’ve heard some believers say that the times I least feel like doing this are the times I most need to do it anyway. Come to think of it, a lot of activities and mindsets feel like less of a struggle to me — writing I’m thinking of you here—when I make myself do them even when I don’t feel like it. I suppose this approach to life builds perseverance and resilience. Maybe being intentional about offering gratitude and praise would remind me that God has a broader view of life than I do. God sees which path is best. I can’t on my own, but sometimes, with God’s help, I can. Yet even in situations where the best path seems clear, I need to allow that God sees and knows things I don’t and can’t.

The reality that I’m limited in ways God is why I need God’s help to have healthy relationships. What’s best for relationships and the people in them isn’t always what’s preferred by the people involved. However, when I don’t love God first so that I can see my relationships through God’s eyes, and love the people as God loves them, I distort who the people are. I turned them Into idols. To do so is to give all of us less than we deserve, which is to be seen and treated like the unique reflection of God that each of us is.

Lord, help me to see the world around me as You see it so that I can recognize what reflects You in myself and others and nurture it. Plans whatever is in me and others that doesn’t reflect You, and help me to trust that surrendering to Your vision and Your cleansing will result in an exultation that surpasses anything this world can offer or imagine. Amen.

Work cited

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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Readings for When Faith and Suffering Wrestle

Posted in Ordinary Time, Reflections on Scripture, tagged , , , , , on June 25, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Photo by Chris Chow on Unsplash

This week’s readings:

  1. Jeremiah 20:10–13
  2. Psalm 69:8–10, 14, 17, 33–35
  3. Romans 5:12–15
  4. Matthew 10:26–33

Fortunately, I suppose, unlike Jeremiah, I don’t currently “hear the whisperings of many saying . . . “Let us denounce [her] (Jer. 20:10, The New American Bible, 2001 Edition). But at times, I’ve perceived myself as surrounded by such “whisperings.” (Jer. 20:10). Was I more hurt because I felt someone was rejecting me, or because I thought that person was rejecting God? I suspect that more often than not, the answer was the former. “[Z]eal for [God’s] house” doesn’t “consum[e] me” as I assume it did Jeremiah, though Jeremiah isn’t the name given for the narrator of this week’s psalm (Ps. 69:10).

Jeremiah’s emotional response, his anger, is understandable. But in contrast with what Jeremiah seems to request of God, I don’t want God to “take vengeance” on anyone, or to witness anyone taking vengeance on anyone else (Jer. 20:12). After all, the Webster’s New World College Dictionary defines vengeance as “the return of an injury for an injury, in punishment or retribution” I want to see wrongs made right. In the many situations where what’s lost cannot be recovered, I want to see efforts made to prevent the same harm from happening again. I don’t want to see “the return of an injury for an injury in punishment or retribution.”

And even if I had an experience that changed my mind and my heart about vengeance, it wouldn’t bring back what I’d lost. Also, I have a hard time believing that a God whose very nature is a self-emptying love that we humans struggle to imitate would want to take vengeance on people who hurt me. Why? Because God is the source of their lives as well as mine, God wants to remove anything that might distance them from himself. Now that removal might be painful and difficult for a person to go through, just like breaking oneself of a bad habit or putting distance between oneself and toxic people might be extremely hard to do. Still, I wouldn’t think of actions such as these as vengeance. I would consider them lifesaving in the long run. On the other hand, in the long run, the rejection of such life-saving actions would be its own punishment.

It helps me to put the Old Testament passage into perspective if I consider that the words are attributed to Jeremiah. They aren’t attributed to the voice of God. I believe that God speaks to us through the Scriptures, but so do the other people in them. Not everything in the Bible is God’s will because the people whose stories the Bible hands on to us are subject to rash judgment and limited understanding just like we are. I believe Jeremiah is not excluded from these human weaknesses, and that’s why he asks God to let him witness God taking vengeance on the people who persecute him. He’s likely in grave danger, and he wants to get out of it. I would want the same “rescu[e],” were I in his situation (Jer. 20:13). Perhaps the only way he can imagine God alleviating his suffering is for God to take vengeance on the people causing it.

Despite whatever ways Jeremiah’s spiritual vision may be limited, he’s ahead of me in the faith department because he can say, ” . . . Praise the Lord,/for he has rescued the life of the poor/ from the power of the wicked (Jer. 20: 13)!

This declaration is, more often than I would like, difficult to make my own. I hear too often of those with trusting natures being defrauded of their savings by strangers. The world over, the rich get richer while the poor face food insecurity or even famine, and some leaders sacrifice truth and countless lives on the altar of holding onto and increasing their power.

Does “the LORD [hear] the poor,” as the psalm says (Psalm 69:34)? Undoubtedly, but Jesus died not only so that his brothers and sisters could have eternal life through Him but also so that they could have a clearer understanding of their own dignity and live for more than themselves, becoming conduits of His justice and mercy (qualities that are intertwined with each other) generation after generation. It is receiving and sharing these gifts of Christ’s sacrifice that give eternal life to a soul even though a body can be killed. This receiving and sharing also allows Paul to declare, “For if by the transgression of the one, many died, how much more did the grace of God in the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ overflow for the many” (Rom. 5:15).

Lord, I often struggle to share Paul’s faith in the gifts you have given me and anyone open to them. And yet, “I do believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24, The New American Bible Revised Edition). Help me to remember that “[e]ven all the hairs on [my] head are counted (Matt 10:30, The New American Bible, 2001, Edition). Everyone’s are. Nothing happens without [our] Father’s knowledge. Even though so much that happens is unpleasant or unjust, the final victory is not doesn’t belong to these events. Guide me as to how to make this truth tangible for myself and for others. Help me and others to be conduits for more of what you are offering us. Amen.

Works cited

Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. “Sunday 25 June 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.

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

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Timing Makes a Difference in Where We Follow Jesus

Posted in Reflections on Scripture, Social Justice, Who Am I in God, Who is God, tagged , , , , , , , , , on June 18, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Photo by Thomas Bormans on Unsplash

This week’s readings:

  • Exodus 19:2–6a
  • Psalm 100:1–2, 3, 5
  • Romans 5:6–11
  • Mark 1:15

When I read the first reading, the Old Testament reading, I thought, It’s easy to zero in on the last sentence of the passage: “You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation (The New American Bible, 2001 Edition, Exod. 19:6). It seems we humans are naturally tempted to put ourselves in God’s “in crowd” and to assume that others who aren’t part of our group are not a part of that “in crowd.”

But Isaiah, sacred scripture to both Christian and Jewish people, says that “The Servant of the Lord” is “a light to the nations,” not to just one group or one nation” (The New American Bible, 2001 Edition, 42:6a). And the second-to-last sentence of this week’s Old Testament reading gives me a different way of thinking about who belongs to God than Exodus 19:6a does. “If you hearken to my voice,” it says, “and keep my covenant, you shall be my possession, dearer to me than all other people, though all the earth is mine (The New American Bible, 2001 Edition, Exod. 19:5). What matters to God is that we “hearken to [the Lord’s] voice,” that we resolve again and again to do what that voice asks of us, to share it, and so offer back to God what God has given to us.

When our response to God falls short of what’s best, God is there to renew the covenant by reminding us of what He has done and inviting us to reenter into the covenant with Him. He has never abandoned it; it is we who have done that, not allowing God to possess us. He doesn’t prevent us from wriggling out of His embrace when we find it uncomfortable, even though “all the earth is [His],” and “[h]is kindness endures forever,/ and his faithfulness to all generations” (The New American Bible, 2001 Edition, Psalm 100:5). God wants everyone to enter the Divine flock, so much so that “Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly” (The New American Bible, 2001 Edition, Romans 5:6).

Considering that He went so far as to die, in the words of Romans “for the ungodly,” His instruction to His disciples “not to go into pagan territory” seems incongruous (Matt.10:5). It seems even more confusing when we recall that Jesus praised that faith of a Roman centurion and “stated that, in heaven, many Gentiles will dine together with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (Matt. 8: 10; qtd. in Newman). (Check out the source I just linked to. It gives great background on Jewish-Gentile relations in biblical times and what the New Testament says about Jesus’ perspective on Jewish-Gentile interactions. Furthermore, after the resurrection, a disciple and apostle—Paul—discerned that he was called to do the opposite of Jesus’ instructions in Matthew 10.5. (See Galatians 2:7.)

The contrast between Jesus’ instruction in Matthew 10:5 and the inclusion of Gentiles in His teaching on other occasions, as well as Paul’s ministry to non-Jewish people, reminds me that who, what, when, why, and how are key questions to ask when seeking to do God’s will and to follow in Jesus’ footsteps. The mission of each follower of Christ and each person of goodwill has certain things in common. And yet, each person’s vocation is different in some ways than the calling anyone else receives. In addition, what we shouldn’t do in one moment may be something that we should do at a different time. These lessons bring to mind Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, the verses that, in the King James Version, start with, “to every thing, there is a season . . . “The translation I usually turn to begins these verses with “There is an appointed time for everything (Ecc. 3:1-8, The New American Bible Revised Edition).

So as I conclude my time sitting with this week’s readings for now, I’m reminded that God’s timing isn’t my timing, and my timing may not coincide with God’s.

Lord, help me to get out of my own way. Help me not to get in the way of Your work, the work of giving all of Yourself, the work of true love. Help me to remember that when I don’t get in Your way, when I instead imitate You in word and deed, I’ll be on the path of growth and of helping others grow, as this week’s readings remind me that God wants me to do by allowing Him to guide and to care for me. Amen.

Works cited

The Bible. King James Version, Bible Gateway, n.d. Accessed 13 June 2023, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes%203&version=KJV.

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

Newman, John. “Jesus and the Gentiles.” New Hope Community Development of Acadiana, 21 Sept. 2020, http://newhopelafayette.org/jesusandthegentiles/.

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