A Proper Frame Of Mind

Deacon Tom Writes,

“A Proper Frame of Mind”

Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

We live in a frenzied world. We have so much technology at our fingertips and we are more connected to the entire world then ever before. The world is literally just a click away, as images from the corner and around the world flood into our living rooms from the cell phones of people who witness history in the making. We are virtually eyewitnesses to history in the making because technology has placed us in the midst of such events as the crises in Syria or the foiled coup in Turkey. We are reminded that people want freedom. They are putting their lives on the line to overthrow the repressive regimes that have suppressed them for many years. A new day is dawning…. Hopefully, a better day awaits many people living without basic freedoms.

Today’s gospel reminds us that the ultimate power of freedom is the power to make ones own decision in life. We all make choices on how to use the precious gift of freedom that we possess. Jesus gives us some practical advice on how to make the right decisions in regard to the important matters in our lives. “No one can serve two masters,” he tells us. Why? For the simple reason that our inherent makeup will not allow us pursue two opposing desires over the long term. Our love, our passion, our desires cannot be divided. We need to choose one or the other; we need to decide if we are going to serve God or everything else that competes with God.

The gift of freedom that we have received from the hand of God helps give us a proper frame of mind, a moral compass so that we can choose wisely. This proper frame of mind helps us get our priorities in order so that we freely choose to put God first in our lives and by so doing we are then able to enjoy the things of this world as he intended us to use them… for our well-being and the well-being of others.

Many of the images being broadcast instantly around the world, images of poverty, these current revolutions, so many other dreadful human conditions, are visible signs that we have abused the gift of freedom that God has given us. These images can leave us with a sense that we have all but forgotten God. And, perhaps there is much truth to that. Our faith, on the other hand, and the passage from the Prophet Isaiah serve to remind us of the eternal truth that God has not forgotten us, and he never will.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

The High Call To Holiness

Deacon Tom Writes on….

“The High Call to Holiness”

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Jesus takes the contemporary wisdom of his time and turns it upside down. The ancient patterns of behavior of seeking revenge, the old “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” order of the day mentality needs to give way to a new mindset, a new way of resolving differences. So Jesus introduces his followers to some new and innovative ways to bring about justice saying, “Offer no resistance to one who is evil” and “turn the other cheek”.

Jesus’ radical new prescription to eradicate the plagues of hatred and discrimination is to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”. Of course, this is much easier said than done. There is a story told about the days following the North’s victory over the South in America’s Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln was being pressured to completely destroy the Confederacy, to decimate the enemies of the Union once and for all. Lincoln’s answer was classic. He responded to those calling for the annihilation of the South with these reconciling words saying effectively:  “Don’t I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends”? Lincoln understood very well that violence only begets more violence. The cycle never ends. How could it in the absence of a new mindset, a new vision that lifts the victim and the vanquished to a higher level of social and moral conscientiousness? This attitude perhaps helped fashion America’s treatment of our enemies in the twentieth century when, after the Second World War, the Marshall Plan sent massive humanitarian aid to Europe in order to lay the foundation for a world able to reconcile differences through mutual respect and an orderly process of dialogue rather than mutual destruction.

Embracing a new way of responding to problems that give rise to the endless cycle of violence that ravages peoples, cultures, and societies is a critical component of our faith. Through the Prophet Moses the Lord told his people to “Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy”. We are called to be holy as God is holy. Therefore violence and revenge are not options. There is no better advocate for this than Christ who became a victim for us all and who suffered torture and death at the hands of violent people in order to show us the way of peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation.

Let us take Christ’s words to heart and strive to put them into practice by “turning the other cheek” when others choose the way of violence and also by praying for those who do so.

I would like to recommend the book, Living Justice, by Thomas Massaro, S.J. as a great Lenten read on Catholic Social Teaching. Watching the News will never be the same!

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Make The Right Choice

Deacon Tom Writes,

“Make the Right Choice”

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Our readings today address the choices we have in life. Sirach seems to say that, in essence, every choice that we make comes down to this: we choose between life and death or, stated differently, between good and evil. Then the Sacred Writer cautions us further that, “whatever we choose shall be given to us”.   

It is not often that we think of the choices we make throughout the day as either good or evil or between life and death. We probably make hundreds of choices over the course of an ordinary day. Yet it shouldn’t be a surprise to us that every choice we make counts; every choice we make has us heading in one direction or another.  We often find ourselves in situations where we must compromise... our faith, our values, our entire belief system. Jesus, in saying that he has come to fulfill the law, not to abolish it, reminds us that we have a reference point on how to determine if we are making good or bad choices. His focal point is … the Law, specifically, the Law God handed down to Moses on Mount Sinai.

In today’s Gospel Jesus expands the meaning of the Law when he interprets it in a much broader sense. And so he equates anger with the act of killing another person. And then again, the act of calling someone a fool and thereby diminishing their dignity as a child of God, becomes punishable by eternal damnation….

I don’t think that Jesus is being over scrupulous. He is being very cautious. He knows that it is the little things that trip us up not only in life but also on our spiritual journey as well. He knows that every choice we make is either drawing us nearer to him or has us moving further away from him. He knows that little by little we can loose the kingdom of heaven by making bad choices.  

Jesus taught us that the best choice we can make is to choose to love, to love God first and foremost, and to love others, even our enemies as ourselves. And this happens every time we choose to put others first, and by doing so, we deepen our love of God, which is always the right choice! 

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

You Are The Salt Of The Earth

Deacon Tom Writes,

“You Are The Salt Of The Earth”

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

The Sacred Author of the Letter to the Hebrews wrote this insightful passage concerning the enduring truth about the Word of God when he penned these words, “Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart”.

Heb 4:12

As crowds pour into the streets around the world carrying signs and placards supporting one cause or another, advocating one course of action over a different path forward, labeling one ideology good and those who stand in opposition to that way of thinking bad, anyone who leaves the crowds and placards behind and enters any of our Catholic Churches around the world this weekend will heard these words from the Prophet Isaiah

Thus says the LORD:
Share your bread with the hungry,
shelter the oppressed and the homeless;
clothe the naked when you see them,
and do not turn your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;

Isaiah goes on to say:

If you remove from your midst
oppression, false accusation and malicious speech;
if you bestow your bread on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
and the gloom shall become for you like midday.

We don’t surrender our politics, our agendas, our experiences, or hopes for the future when we enter Church to worship God. These are essential dimensions of our lives that are to be conformed and shaped by the Word and Sacrament that we receive when we participate in “the sacred mysteries” which bring us together as “the people of God” whenever we gather in God’s name.

We are faced with many challenges today of major significance to put it mildly. In good conscience – a whole other conversation - we must not overlook the cautionary and prophetic advice of those who have not only experienced similar extraordinary times but who also persevered while remaining faithful to high moral standards.

Jesus calls his disciples “the salt of the earth”. All who heard Jesus say this understood how valuable salt was as a preservative, an antiseptic, a precious commodity to enhance the flavor of food, a “spice of life”. Salt was a medium of exchange from which the word “salary” is derived. If we are to be the “salt of the earth” as Jesus envisioned his disciples to be, we must bring to the current debates the Christian values we find in Sacred Scripture that sees us all as God’s children, and to do so not just with our words but with our actions as well by bringing light and zest to the world around us.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Image – You Are The Salt Of The Earth You Are The Light Of The World: www.cliipartkid.com