Better Choices - Better Results

Deacon Tom Writes,

“Better Choices - Better Results”

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

This past Tuesday was the seventeenth anniversary of the World Trade Center tragedy. How the world has changed, and, sadly, not for the better! Why is that? There is a saying that goes like this, “If you always do what you always have done, you will always get what you’ve already got”. So, if we keep eating the cheesecake, we won’t be happy when we step on the scale! Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it.

 Therefore, when it comes to understanding and solving the problems in our world, our communities, our families, we need a different mindset than fighting fire with fire, or punching back harder when someone strikes us. We need a higher level of thinking to find real solutions. Einstein, genius that he was, said it this way, “Problems cannot be solved with the same mind set that created them”. The problems of our world, our communities, and our families are our problems. We have no one to blame but ourselves for the bitter results of our poor choices. Real solutions to any problem that ails us demand that we pursue alternate and elevated way of thinking as Einstein so eloquently noted.

For us who center our faith in Christ, today’s gospel gives us insight into finding a solution to any problem we face, large or small. Jesus tells Peter, “You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do”. Our thinking remains base, seeking only what is best for ourselves. Fueled by desires that are too often primitive and self-centered, we fight with one another to obtain more for ourselves at the expense of others. That’s true for individuals, communities, and nations as well. Have you been to a budget meeting lately? There isn’t enough to go around, or so the elected officials lead you to believe.

The essence of Jesus teaching is Love. Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself. Simple, yet this is the challenge of a lifetime. Love as Jesus loved: selflessly, unconditionally, without ulterior motive or even a desire to be loved in return. Love that forgives all injuries, infidelities, idolatries.  It is called agape, where Jesus empties Himself because of His complete and total love of God and love for us. This is the way God, Abba, thinks, acts, and IS. 

Change the way we think, act, and approach our problem from our way to God’s ways and we will find not only the solution to our problems but those of our families, our communities, and our world.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

The Secret To Success

Deacon Tom Writes

“The Secret To Success”

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Jesus has a remarkable encounter with a deaf man as He traveled the countryside of the Decapolis. Petitioned by the man’s friends, Jesus cures him. “Be Opened!” Jesus says two simple words to the deaf man and he is able to hear. His life changed in an instant. There is newness to the world he has been living in but not fully participating in. He is complete, made whole, reunited to his community from which he was isolated somewhat, and ready, perhaps, to begin life anew.

There are many events recorded in scripture that demonstrate Jesus had power over the natural world. He changed water into wine, walked on water, calmed the sea. But Jesus’ greatest power lies in His power to heal as we read in today’s gospel when He uses that power to set this man free from the loneliness and isolation that his deafness caused.

The words we hear in the gospel today are powerful, “Be opened”. They challenge us to look into our lives and find those attitudes and behaviors that stand in contrast to the openness to which God calls us. Are we “Open” to forgive someone who has hurt us? Are we “Open” to letting go of resentments? Are we willing to change our behavior and stop gossiping, or thinking that we are better than others? 

Be Opened! Not just our ears, but our minds and attitudes also. We are living in a fast-paced, media fueled, 280 character twitter tweets, relationship challenged world and we can’t help but wonder if, when we speak, is anybody listening?” Is anyone open to what we are saying when we speak about God’s love for each person; that we are made in God’s image and likeness; that we infused with great dignity, and our destiny is to share forever in the divine presence?

When we are “Opened” to the Word of God, our lives change, just as the man in the gospel’s life was changed. We don’t know the details on what changed. We only know that everyone was told to keep silent about what happened. Yet, because of their astonishment, they just couldn’t keep this amazing occurrence to themselves. They had to spread the word. And those words did not fall upon deaf ears! Praise God!

God never disappoints. There is nothing in our lives that God can’t use to bring about the good if we turn to Him and trust in Him. That’s the deeper meaning of faith. That’s the “Openness” that God longs for so that He can fill us with every good thing in our time of need. Openness is our invitation to God to come into our lives and holds the secret to success in attaining a peaceful and joy filled spiritual life.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Image credit: dave-burke.squarespace.com/storage/ephphatha.jpg

Following the Rules: Easier Said Than Done

Deacon Tom Writes,

“Following the Rules: Easier Said Than Done”

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Question. How many laws are necessary to help us lead dignified, well ordered, and morally responsible lives? 

Answer. Not many!

In today’s first reading we recall a time when the Israelites were instructed to follow the laws and statutes that God has given to them. According to Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, one of the greatest medieval Jewish scholars, there were 613 mitzvot (commandments). Of these commandments 248 were positive – thou shall commandments and 365 were negative – thou shall not. These commandments stated the obvious in some cases such as: 1) to know that D-d exists; 10) to imitate His good and upright ways; 27) not to stand idly by when a human life is in danger. There were also some interesting commandments such as:  159) not to slaughter and animal and its young on the same day, or 364) not to work with beasts of different species, yoked together. There were commandments for every facet of daily life and they were intended to help the people live together in peace and harmony.  But that ideal was never realized.

Then Jesus enters the scene. It is easy to understand His compassion for His fellow Israelites who by that time were suffering from the burden of so many unnecessary “statues and decrees”.  In the hours He spent in prayer He must have asked, “How many commandments do we need to live wholesome, peaceful, and humble lives”? Jesus takes all these “statues and decrees” and reduces them to a single one with two equal parts… “Love God with all your heart, mind, and strength; and, love your neighbor as yourself”. So when Jesus is challenged by some Pharisees about washing His hands before eating, He calls them what they are, “hypocrites”. Jesus knows that this notion of ritualistic purity is a diversion from doing the real work that God calls us to do. In fact, a lot of the work God calls us to do is pretty dirty, if not totally ritualistically unclean. Working with the homeless or in AIDS clinics or with the people who frequent our soup kitchens, the lepers of our day, may get your hands dirty but such activity is sure to open your eyes to a level of poverty and personal degradation many poor men, women, and children experience each and every day. There is a large contingency of our brothers and sisters today for whom eating off of dirty plates is the least of their problems. Newsflash… Jesus is not worried about us eating from dirty dishes! The filth Jesus wants to alert and cleans us from is that which comes from within – our hardheartedness, our deafness to the needs and concerns of others, our self-centeredness, our out of control desires, our lusting for what’s not ours. So again, how many commandments do we need to save us from ourselves? Ten? Seventeen? Do we decide which number is right for us – just like the Serta sleep bed, or are we going to listen to what the teacher has to say…and take up our cross and follow Him by loving God and placing ourselves in the service of one another?

God didn’t bring us into creation to get caught up in the minutia. Nor did Jesus die on the cross to defend prevailing legalistic way of Jewish life. We do need rules to guide us and govern our lives. And so Jesus gave us some simple ones to live by. If we want to live happy and fulfilling lives, we must see in ourselves and in each other the dignity that God has given to us. We must come to recognize that God dwells in each and every one of us. And, we must realize that we come to know, love, and serve Him by knowing, loving, and serving one another. We don’t need a lot of rules to live a  good life. Rather we must, in the words of St. Paul, “Be doers of the word and not hearers only” following Jesus’ example by Loving God and each other.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Photo Credit : Newseum, Washington, D.C.