The prophet Zephaniah
urged his hearers: “Seek
the LORD, all you humble of the land, who have observed his law;
seek justice, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger.” Zedhanah 2:3
The prophet Micha makes it clear what is
the mind of God for us. “You have been told, O mortal, what is good, and what
the LORD requires of you: Only to do justice and to love
goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.” ( Micah 6:8)
Jesus
in the same spirit of the prophets, knowing the Father’s will for us urges his
disciples to hunger and thirst for righteousness.
In saying this, Jesus was not asking us
to do something he was not willing to do himself. In fact, he was consumed with
fulfilling the mission of the Father he was sent to accomplish. He expressed
this in different ways. "I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!" (Lk 12:49-50) What was this mission? To
restore just relationship between us and God, a relationship that was rent
through sin. Just as he plunged himself into the waters of the Jordan to
express his total yes to the Father, so he emptied himself in total obedience
to the will of the Father, even to the death on the cross.
Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are they who hunger
and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be satisfied.”
What do you hunger and thirst for? For a
good family, a comfortable life, to be accepted by others, to be well-liked, to
be a successful, to win the lottery?
What is Jesus asking you to hunger and
thirst for? Righteousness.
What is righteousness? Having been
justified by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior,
we seek to share in his righteousness by living in right relationship with God.
God
initiates our salvation by his grace, but he doesn't stop there. Our works of
obedience which follow the start of God's salvific action in us are also the
work of grace. Paul confirms this in 2 Cor 5:21: “For our sake he made
him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.(2
Cor 5:21)
Homily:
Twenty-sixth Sunday Year C
Reading
1: We read from the prophet Amos last Sunday. He was called by God to be his prophetic
voice to the northern kingdom of Israel, whose rulers and people had broken
their covenant with God. He was sent to identify their sinful life and to warn
them of the dire consequences, if they did not repent and be renewed in their
relationship with God.
Today,
we hear from Amos again. What is their sin? Complacency, apathy and insensitivity
to the dire needs of others. How has the world repeated that scenario over the
centuries! The French Revolution and the socialist revolution in Russia and to
a small extent our own American Revolution.
But
the question we are posed with is to what extent are we insensitive to the
plight of others here in our own land and around the world? Have we mentally
and emotionally isolated ourselves from these situations to the extent we seem
to ignore them? Who are the prophets of today, calling us to hear the Word of
God and to respond to the needs of the situation of others as God requires?
Gospel:
The irony in the Gospel is that the rich man had so isolated himself from the
reality of the poor man so that he didn’t have to deal with it. But in so doing
he isolated himself from the bosom of Abraham, the root of his heritage. This
is indicated by the chasm between the two.
Recognizing
his dire strait, the rich man tried to intercede for his brothers. But he is
told even a miraculous intervention will not make a difference, if one’s heart
is closed and hardened like his.
The
case in point. The spiritual leaders of Israel at the time were so hardened
against Jesus. In spite of the prophets who had spoken God’s word to them about
the coming Messiah, they still refused to accept Jesus or his message of
salvation. This in spite of familiarity with the Word of God and witnessing the
many signs and wonders he performed.
In
fact, Jesus concludes that even when they will be made aware of his own
resurrection, they still will refused to believe.
Do
we sometimes isolate ourselves from the truths of reality for fear that it may
call us to make a radical change in our lives? Do I prefer to see things through
my colored lens and comfort zone rather than through the eyes of God? Am I so overwhelmed
by the enormity of the task that I give up, accepting there is nothing I can
do?
The
Word of God is calling us to become the man or woman of God, doing what I can
and must to be faithful to God. When I do, then my witness may become a catalyst
and an example for others. My standard of measurement is to be God’s commands
not what is commonly acceptable by society or what would make me fit into the
crowd. Isolation and non-involvement are not the answers. Renewal and pressing
on is what God desires, even if it means rejection by others.
Reading
2: What is the attitude God desires and expects of us, if we claim to be his?
To be truly a man or woman of God! Have we consciously embraced and lived out
of this identity? If we have not, the rest of what St. Paul doesn’t matter. But
if we are trying to become more fully alive in Christ, then what Paul says
becomes our marching orders.
“Seek
after integrity, piety, faith, love, steadfastness and a gentle spirit.” Since
we have made a profession of faith, our oath of allegiance to God, a statement
of commitment, then our life-style should be so reflective.
Sometimes we get
caught up with the daily struggles of life that we forget the end goal of our
existence as a son or daughter of God. The daily struggles will only ensure my
earthly existence. But I must also be concerned about my eternal existence,
which will be based on how I embraced the call of God in my life in the present
moment
Listen
to Pope Francis: “I would like to insist, primarily on the call
to holiness that the Lord addresses to each of us, the call that he also
addresses, personally, to you: ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’” Addressing any
possible anxiety we might have before such a vocation to sanctity, he counsels,
“Do not be afraid of holiness. It will take away none of your energy, vitality
or joy. On the contrary, you will become what the Father had in mind when he
created you, and you will be faithful to your deepest self.”
Examen
Am
I a hypocrite?
Am
I more concerned with how other people see me than with how God sees me?
Is
my heart divided or single-minded?
Is
Jesus at the center of my life as Lord of Lords or one among many desires?
Have
I allowed a particular sin or vice to distract me from God?
Am
I a person of integrity and sincerity?
Am
I honest about my own faults and failings?
Do
I do what is truly right or do I compromise because it’s easier?
Do
I look for instant gratification?
Do
I keep myself pure in mind, body, and soul?
Do I let popular
opinions, fads, and people control how I act, or do I know who I am and what I
do?
St. Augustine explains that “the eyes by which
God is seen are within the heart.” As if he is speaking to our age he
admonishes, “how foolish then are those who try to find God through the use of
their bodily eyes!” We must walk by faith not by sight. The purification of our
hearts is the true end of our love which will allow us to see God clearly. The
brightness of the true light will not be able to be seen by the unclean sight:
and that which is joy to minds that are clean, will be a punishment to those
that are tarnished. St. Augustine explains, “A simple heart is a heart
that is pure; and, just as the light which surrounds us cannot be seen except
through eyes that are clear, so neither is God seen unless that through which
He can be seen is pure.”
Another way of looking at this question of being pure of heart or single-minded
is through the lens of holiness. “Strive for . . . the holiness without which
no one will see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14
This Beatitude--Blessed are the pure of heart-- helps
us to look at what are the blind spots in our heart. How is man’s inner eye
purified? How do we remove the (spiritual) cataract that blurs our vision or even blinds
it altogether? To answer this we need to look again at the
Bible’s concept of purity of heart. Ps 24:3-4: “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who
shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who
does not lift up his soul to what is false, and does not swear deceitfully.” In
other words, there must be honesty, truthfulness and justice towards others. It
further says in v. 6 that a fundamental condition is to seek the face of God.
Psalm 15 elaborates further on this
condition, basically saying that the person who loves God with his whole heart,
etc and his neighbor will be able to see God.
Pope
Benedict said: “Seeing with the eyes of Christ, I can give to
others much more than their outward necessities; I can give them the look of
love which they crave. ... If I have no contact whatsoever with God in my life,
then I cannot see in the other anything more than the other, and I am incapable
of seeing in him the image of God. … The saints — consider the example of
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta — constantly renewed their capacity for love of
neighbor from their encounter with the Eucharistic Lord, and conversely this encounter
acquired its realism and depth in their service to others. Love of God and love
of neighbor are thus inseparable, they form a single commandment. But both live
from the love of God who has loved us first. No longer is it a question, then,
of a ‘commandment’ imposed from without … but rather of a freely bestowed
experience of love from within, a love which by its very nature must then be
shared with others. Love grows through love.”
We continue our reflection on the Beatitude: Blessed are the pure of heart.
Someone has said: “Pure olive oil includes no additive or adulterant. Pure water
is water and nothing else. A pure heart is a heart which is fully alive and
unobstructed, with all its energies directed to a single end.”
Single-mindedness is
like the “little rudder” on the back of the huge ship. This tiny
little rudder steers and takes this huge vessel in the right
direction. Single-mindedness is likewise like the “bridle” that steers and
tames the unbroken horse. All pointing to the work and power of the Holy
Spirit that can take “full possession” of the human soul in
faithfulness, obedience, and victory in Jesus.
Jesus says, “He who does not gather with me, scatters” (Luke 11:23). Unfortunately, this image
of scattering or being hindered describes many of us whose lives are not
ordered on the one thing necessary, who are not single-hearted, whose hearts
are not focused on the one thing they should be. We are like the young rich man
in the Gospel who heard Jesus tell him: “There is one thing that is missing in
your life.” Because of so many distractions within him he couldn’t respond to
Jesus. Like him, our lives are often scattered, confused, disordered, and
filled with a jumble of conflicting drives that hinder them from the true goal
of life.
“The double
minded man is unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:8)
Further,
James says: “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands,
you sinners, and purify your hearts, you men of double mind” (James 4:8). When
we draw near to God, our hearts become further cleansed and purified from the
dross that hinders us. Unless we have
total allegiance to God, giving our heart to him exclusively, we will be like
the husband who has a mistress besides his wife. This was the sin of Israel for
which God chastised them. Through Hosea the prophet God tells Israel that you
are like a harlot to me, your husband. I will lure you into the desert where I
will purify and cleanse you. Then I will bring you back to me and wed you to
myself as if you were a virgin bride.
Do we want our heart to be pure and focused on the Lord? What is hindering it? What can and will we do about it?
Homily:
Twenty-fourth Sunday Year C
Reading
1: One of the mysteries of revelation is our God is a merciful God, not weak,
but compassionate and forgiving. He is also a just God. The scriptures reveal
to us that there is a time of mercy and time of justice. Though God’s mercy is
unlimited, the time of mercy is not.
Through
Moses intercession, the idolatrous and depraved people of God were spared from
the destruction they deserved. What they deserved was swift judgement and
destruction. Instead, they experienced the mercy of God, even though they were
chastised for their turning away from the worship of the true God.
Moses
interceded for the people many times during their forty years in the desert.
God, in his mercy, spared them of the consequence of sin. It was this mercy of
God that finally enabled them to become faithful to God.
Have
we sinned against God many times? Have we taken his mercy for granted? Have we
experienced his mercy in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and in the Sacrament
of Eucharist? His mercy is everlasting. It is because he loves so infinitely
that his mercy is infinite.
But
there is also judgment, which is the final consequence of unrepentant sin. If
we persist in our sinful rebellion, if we presume on his mercy, the justice of
God will be swift and lasting. Those who continued to be stiff-necked and
rebellious in the desert, refusing to trust in the Lord, died in the desert and
never saw the Promised Land.
Gospel:
The theme of God’s mercy is evident. In each of the three familiar parables
Jesus reflects on the Father’s mercy in seeking the lost. Each person is
important to God for each is uniquely created by him; each is individually
saved by him; each is loved by him.
God
acts in ways beyond our human expectation or response to express his concern,
no matter what the individual thinks of himself. It is God’s infinite love that compels him
never to give up on us, even if we give up on ourselves.
The
foolish father loved and accepted both of his sons, who they were and where
they were in relationship to him. His loving mercy was not held back because of
their individual rejection of him. Even after the younger son disrespected the
father by his actions, the foolish father anxiously waited for him to return.
When he finally did in such a pitiable state, the foolish father did not reject
nor chastised him, but in mercy and love restored him as a son to the dignity
he had thrown away. Mercy is to receive something good that we do not deserve.
Justice is to receive what we deserve.
In
mercy and love the foolish father goes out to meet his angry and jealous elder
son. The father acts very foolish in reaching out to both sons, not because of
any good they did, but simply because he loved both of them. How often have we experienced the mercy of
God when we did not deserve it but deserved his judgment instead?
Reading
2: Paul acknowledges that out of ignorance he was a sinful man. He was a
blasphemer and a persecutor against Jesus and his followers. But Jesus in his
mercy saved him. As he said: “I was mercifully treated, so that in me, as the
foremost, Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example to others.”
Not only did God show him mercy by forgiveness of his sins, but by appointing
him the Apostle to the Gentles.
What
is our story? How has God shown us his mercy, not once, but too numerous for us
to count? Paul was grateful and responded by living a life of commitment,
serving the Lord tirelessly. Can we follow his example?
Twenty-fourth Sunday Gospel Reflections C
Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
· Have you had people in your life who always found fault with what you did? This group was like a constant thorn in Jesus’ side. Notice how Jesus handles them.
So to them he addressed this parable. “What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance. Or what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house, searching carefully until she finds it? And when she does find it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost.’ In just the same way, I tell you, there will be rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
· Reflect on God’s mercy for you each time you sinned and each time God forgave.
· Humanly, would we leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the one that wanted to stray or would we let the one go and concentrate on the ninety-nine. Why would God show such concern for the one that wanted to stray?
· Reflect on your many confessions and on the fact that there was great rejoicing in heaven when you repented and returned to the Lord.
Then he said, “A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, ‘Father give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them.
· As you reflect on this parable look at it from the point of view of Jesus seeking to show us how much the Father loves us.
· Humanly this father is “foolish” to dote over a son who would rather see him dead rather than deny himself of his own pleasures.
After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any.
· Can we relate to our sinful actions over the years? At the moment, we were rolling high and then after all was said and done we had nothing to show for our sinful decisions except self-contempt, anger, a sense of unworthiness, failure, shame, guilt, a sense of hopelessness etc.
Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”’
· What was the grace of the moment for him? Can we recall similar graces in our own lives given to us by God that allowed us to begin to return to him?
So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ But his father ordered his servants,‘ Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ Then the celebration began.
· Can you get in touch with the “foolishness” of the father? God is not interested in what we did but that we “returned to our senses” and returned to his waiting arms and become the son/daughter that we are in his eyes in spite of what we did.
· In the parable this happened once. In real life how often have we experienced this unconditional love and mercy of the Father?
Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. The servant said to him, ‘Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him.
· Have we at times been angry with God because he seems to treat others better than he treats us?
He said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns, who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’ He said to him, ‘My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’”
· What is the focus of the elder son? Himself. What did he forget?
· Can we see ourselves at times like the first son and then like the second son and then like the father?
· What do we take from this parable and our reflection to apply to our life today?
Reflecting on purity of heart the
writer Mark Shea comments. He uses the illustration of a rose window in a
Church or Cathedral to teach about what it means to be single-hearted. He says:
“It does not deny that life has different facets, but rather
shows that every facet of life is ordered around and points to Christ, is
subsumed in Jesus and His heavenly kingdom along with the Father and the
Spirit as the ordering principle of every other thing. And thus career, family,
marriage, finances, spending priorities, use of time, where one lives, and any
other imaginable aspect of life is subsumed in Christ, points to Him, and leads
to the Lord and His kingdom on high.”
Another way of saying this is to ask the question: Is Jesus the
Lord of Lord of our lives. If we drew a circle and put into that circle all
the important things in our lives, would Jesus be in the very center or
somewhere else, like one among many. In many of our lives, he is there but
definitely not in fact at the very center, with everything else revolving around
him. We need to pray with the Psalmist prays: “Create a clean heart in me O God.” (Psalm 51:12)
If Jesus is not at the center of our lives, what do we need to do to change this?
In reference to purity of heart, Pope Benedict weighs in and says:
“The heart—the wholeness of man—must be pure, interiorly open and free, in
order for man to be able to see God. Theophilus of Antioch once put it like
this in a debate with some disputants: ‘If you say, “show me your God,” I
should like to answer you, “show me the man who is in you.”…For God is
perceived by men who are capable of seeing him, who have the eyes of their
spirit open….Man’s soul must be as pure
as a shining mirror.’”
He goes
on to say one of the ways to discern the purity of our heart is in the area of
our relationships. He says: “Each one of us must learn to discern what can
“defile” his or her heart and to form his or her conscience rightly and sensibly,
so as to be capable of ‘discerning the will of God, what is good and acceptable
and perfect’” (Rom 12:2).
The most
important relationship that we have is with God. Reflecting on this
Jesus said:
“For where your treasure is,
there also will your heart be.” . Reflecting on this, Pope Francis says: “Our hearts can be
attached to true or false treasures, they can find genuine rest or they can
simply slumber, becoming lazy and lethargic. The greatest good we can have in
life is our relationship with God. Are you convinced of this? Do you realize
how much you are worth in the eyes of God? Do you know that you are loved and
welcomed by him unconditionally, as indeed you are? Once we lose our sense of
this, we human beings become an incomprehensible enigma, for it is the
knowledge that we are loved unconditionally by God which gives meaning to our
lives.”
In the Beatitude "Blessed are the pure of heart" what does the heart signify? Pope
Francis reflected on this. He said:
“Let us
now try to understand more fully how this blessedness comes about through
purity of heart. First of all, we need to appreciate the biblical meaning of
the word heart. In Hebrew thought, the heart is the center of the
emotions, thoughts and intentions of the human person. Since the Bible teaches
us that God does not look to appearances, but to the heart (cf. 1 Sam16:7),
we can also say that it is from the heart that we see God. This is because the
heart is really the human being in his or her totality as a unity of body and
soul, in his or her ability to love and to be loved.”
Is your heart focused on love so that you can more easily see God? What in your heart is out of order, namely sin, which then distorts our understanding and vision of God? Remember the words of Jesus, "Where your heart is, there is your treasure." Is our heart centered in Christ or other things?
Homily
Twenty-Third Sunday Year C
Reading
1: Who can know the mind of God? God is perfect; we are imperfect. God is
uncreated Spirit; we are created body and spirit. Our body is corruptible; God
is incorruptible. Because of sin we struggle to know and do the right things.
We are still trying to understand the material things around us. We make a
break through and there is another mystery of creation, confronting and
challenging us.
We
try to understand and fathom what is totally beyond us: the mind of God. We
come to a blank wall. Why? Because our minds are limited. God wants us to
perceive what is true and what is for our good, leading us to him. To do this God
gives us a wisdom, the gift of the Holy Spirit, to glimpse into the mystery of
God, the mystery of eternity, the mystery of God’s unconditional love. This
gift enables us, not on our own but through the grace of God, to see as God
perceives into a particular situation. But we still scratch only the
surface. God reveals his plan to us, but
only to the extent we can embrace it in faith, hope and love.
Gospel:
The first reading recognizes that we need God’s wisdom to know God’s plan for
us. Jesus speaks that word of wisdom in the Gospel. He speaks of the centrality
of God in our lives, a centrality lived in doing the will of God, even it if means
embracing a particular cross in our daily life. But Jesus goes further. He says
we shouldn’t begin this journey of relationship with God unless we really
intend to complete the process.
How
many people want a relationship with God, maybe for the wrong reason? They are
unwilling to pay the price, to live the life, to embrace his will. There is a
difference between falling short but continuing to try and between going through
the motions externally while internally choosing to be far away from a deeper
relationship. What is this deeper commitment? Full discipleship!
Discipleship
is a radical following of Jesus. Central to this relationship with Jesus are
three things: the Lordship of Jesus, obedience to the will of God even to the
death of the self, and doing all of this out of love.
What
does the Lordship of Jesus means? It means that nothing and no one is to be
more important to the disciple than Jesus. It is the only relationship that
will last in eternity. One of the questions we will be asked at the time of our
death is the question Jesus asked the disciples. “Who do you say I am?” Even
though Peter said the right words initially, it wasn’t until after the
resurrection that he could say with understanding and love that Jesus is both
Lord and Messiah.
For
Jesus to be the Lord of our lives in fact as well as in faith, we center our
whole lives on him, on the will of the Father. We choose to do so simply to
return love for love.
Reading
2: Philemon is a convert of Paul. One of Philemon’s slaves ran away. He found
Paul in another community in prison. Paul converts him with the truth of the
Gospel. Paul becomes a spiritual father to Onesimus through the waters of
baptism. Paul sees him now as a son, a brother and a slave of Christ.
By
law, Onesimus was the property of Philemon. So Paul asks the former to go back
to Philemon to give him the opportunity to practice his new faith by receiving
him back as a brother in Christ. In other words, Onesimus belonged to Christ
more than he belong to Philemon.
Paul
believed the love of Christ was stronger than anything else and that this love
would bring forth a new and stronger relationship between Philemon and
Onesimus. Paul based this on the love Philemon professed for Paul and the debt
he owed Paul for setting him free to experience God’s love for him. Each was
able to do this because of the Lordship of Jesus.
"Blessed are the pure of heart, they will see God."
This beatitude focuses on the true
intention of the heart of the person. Why am I doing what I am doing? Am I
doing it out of love of God, to please God or am I doing it to be seen by
others or to ingratiate myself to others?
“All our actions are honest and
pleasing in the presence of God if they are done with a sincere heart, that is,
with love as their goal.... Thus, it is not so much the action that must be
considered but the intention with which it is done."
A little later on in Matthew’s Gospel,
Jesus applies this beatitude to fasting, almsgiving and praying. These
religious acts were done by some to be seen and praise by others, rather than
as a sign of one’s relationship with God. External piety without being
interiorly genuine. This is the sin of hypocrisy a sin that is most powerfully
denounced by God in the Bible.
Jesus applies the same criticism
against some of the scribes and Pharisees of his day who pride themselves on
their outward observance of the law but in Jesus’ observation were inwardly
void spiritually. They saw themselves more religious than the rest of the
population as was seen in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican praying
in the Temple.
Twenty-third Sunday Gospel Reflections C
Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them,
· Jesus gives some reflections on the role and life of a disciple.
“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
· The first cost of discipleship is a certain detachment from those closest to us. If it comes to making a decision which says we have to choose between Jesus and a member of our family, whom would we choose.? This is the total commitment of discipleship.
· Jesus is not asking for total separation or rejection of our family, but a realization that he alone is the Lord and no one else must be given that status in our life. He is first at all times.
· Have we had to face that point in our life, even in small matters, where following Jesus was more important than pleasing family?
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
· Following Jesus means readiness to accept persecution and suffering. Have we experienced this in our faith journey as a disciple of Jesus? What decisions did we make? What did we learn?
o Notice he says “his own cross.” We are not expected to carry anyone else’s cross. Ours is tailored for us at this moment of our life.
Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’ Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
· Sometimes we want to follow Jesus on our own terms but we do not assess the cost of disciple and our commitment to embrace it fully. Something may be worth it, but whether I am willing to pay the price may be another consideration.
· How important is following Jesus to you? Are there any limitations or restrictions or conditions you are placing on your response? If the call is from Jesus, do we accept his call unreservedly or conditionally?
In the same way, anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”
· What does this mean?
· Recall the time the rich young man came to Jesus and ask what it took to gain eternal life. Jesus said basically he should keep the commandments of love. The man said he was doing this but asked what more is needed. Jesus said that he should seek holiness and total dependency on him, go and free himself of all obligations and possessions and come and follow him totally. The man could not because he could let go his possessions.
· Discipleship is not necessarily physical poverty but definitely spiritual poverty where nothing else matters in one’s life but Jesus and being and serving him.
· How do we apply these sayings of Jesus in our own life today?
Matthew
5:8 "Blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God,"
Another
translation has “Blessed are the single-hearted.” Which means
“to be without admixture, to be simply one thing.”
Of all the Beatitudes this is the only
one that enables us to see God.
Are the words of the psalmist our
sincere prayer: “Let me seek your face” (Ps 27:8). “Your countenance, Lord,
will I seek” (1 Cor 1:24)?
Jesus was reflecting the psalmist
prayer. “Who will ascend the mountain of the Lord? Those whose hands are
innocent and whose hearts are pure" (Psalm 24:3)
As people of the Old Testament
interpreted this psalm they understood purity in a ritual and cultural way; it
consisted in keeping one's distance from things, animals, persons or places
that were understood to contaminate one and separate one from God's holiness.
Above all, these were things associated with birth, death, food and sexuality.
This was Peter’s struggle in understanding the vision of the various animals he
was told to eat. It wasn’t until he heard the voice telling him “What God has
purified, you shall not call common,” that he understood.
Do you really want to see God? Is that the desire of your heart? Then is your heart pure before him? Are you single-hearted?
Whatever our response to
mourning, the point of the beatitude is that a blessing remains on those who
mourn because the blessing is due to the love of Christ, not the goodness of
man. For God’s tenderness is vastly greater than we can understand or imagine.
The tears that Christ shed on the cross put out the fires of hell for us, if we
receive them. The suffering that we have to endure in Christ is not “vengeance”
but a sharing in his own suffering. And even when chastisement comes to us for
our real sins, it is ordered, always and forever, toward our final bliss and
blessing, not toward our destruction.
Blessed are those who mourn," we hear
Jesus tell us, "for they will be comforted" (Mt 5:4). They will be
comforted by the One who creates us and loves us and knows us. They will be
comforted by the One who gives life. They are comforted by the One who offers
us eternal life, the promise of a place where death has lost its sting, where
every tear has been wiped away, and where there is only life, love, beauty and
joy and truth.
Examen
Do we recognize
sin in our life?
Have
I been able to say: “I am sorry” and really mean it?
How
do we grieve over our sin, and how does the process of doing so draw us closer
to God?
Do
we grieve over the sin around us?
Does
it sadden us to see people blatantly disobey God?
What
injustice, sin, or evil in this world causes you to mourn?
Do I console and help those who mourn and
suffer?
Pope Benedict XVI gives
us his insight into the efficacy of mourning for the sins of the world.
“Tradition has yielded
another image of mourning that brings salvation: Mary standing under the Cross with her sister, the wife of
Clopas, with Mary Magdalene, and with John (Jn 19:25ff.). Once again, as in the vision of Ezekiel, we encounter here
the small band of people who remain true in a world full of cruelty and
cynicism or else with fearful conformity. They cannot avert the disaster, but
by “suffering with” the one condemned (by their com-passion in the etymological
sense) they place themselves on his side, and by their “loving with” they are
on the side of God, who is love. This “com-passion” reminds us of
the magnificent saying in Saint Bernard of Clairvaux’s commentary on the Song
of Songs (sermon 26, no. 5): “Impassibilis est Deus, sed non
incompassibilis”—God cannot suffer, but he can “suffer with.” At the foot of Jesus’ Cross we understand
better than anywhere else what it means to say “blessed are those who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.” Those who do not harden their hearts to the pain
and need of others, who do not give evil entry to their souls, but suffer under
its power and so acknowledge the truth of God—they are the ones who open the
windows of the world to let the light in. It is to those who mourn in this
sense that great consolation is promised. (Jesus of Nazareth (p.
87)
He goes on to say: “The
mourning of which the Lord speaks is nonconformity with evil; it is a way of resisting models of behavior that
the individual is pressured to
accept because “everyone does it.” The world cannot tolerate this kind of
resistance; it demands conformity. It considers this mourning to be
an accusation directed against the numbing of consciences. And so it is. That
is why those who mourn suffer persecution for the sake of righteousness Jesus
of Nazareth (pp. 87-88 )
