To Be First Is To Be Last

Deacon Tom writes

“To Be First Is To Be Last”

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

On three separate occasion over this past month, St. Mark recounts Jesus in similar ways revealing his plan to his disciples that he was going to Jerusalem where he would “suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again”.

The first time Jesus tells his disciples this, you may recall from St. Marks account, Peter protests vehemently only to be rebuked by Jesus harshly, “Get behind me Satan”, Jesus tells Peter. Then in the following Sunday’s gospel, Jesus informs his disciples of his immanent death a second time, only to find his disciples arguing as to who was the greatest among them.

And finally, in the text leading up to today’s gospel, in Mark 10:32-34, Jesus again predicts his passion and death for a third time only to have James and John trying to secure the best seats in the house, those at the right and left hand of Jesus for themselves.

The disciples reaction to Jesus’ fate speaks volumes to us…They are in denial…They can’t “handle” this foundational “truth” of Jesus’ ministry to paraphrase a quote line from a Hollywood movie. After all, they had seen first hand Jesus as a “wonder worker”, healing the sick, cleansing leapers, raising the dead, revealing the deep, inner operations of the Kingdom of God.

And they, too, shared in this wonder working power for they had received  “power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases” as we heard in our weekday gospel a while back.

I imagine the disciples enjoyed the attention and fame that came their way just by being associated with Jesus. From this vantage point, life is pretty good, isn’t it? But things began to change once Peter has this epiphany and recognizes Jesus as, “You are the Christ”. From that point forward Jesus unfolds a different direction for the road ahead:

- for him - that he would suffer, be rejected by the elder  and put to death, but will rise on the third day…

- and for any would-be disciple who… “wished to follow him”, that they too must likewise, “.. deny himself…[and] take up his cross…”. They, the Apostles, must embrace this new revelation of Jesus that, “Those who wish to be the first shall be the last of all and the servant of all”.

There is a change in mindset once his disciples hear what Jesus expects of them. And, it takes them awhile to “get it”. And that just may be the case for us as well. For, if we truly hear what Jesus is saying in these passages…we too can’t help realize that our calling as Christians isn’t to a life of fame, privilege, power, or success but rather,

 …we are called to a lifetime of service and sacrifice;

 …we are invited into a ministry of mercy and forgiveness;

 …we are summoned into a life of spiritual growth and interior

       transformation…So that, with St. Paul, we too can say,

        “Yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me”. GAL 2:20

I believe Pope Francis is reaffirming this same message Christ gave his disciples two thousand years ago and that we have heard repeated on his recent visits to Cuba, Washington, D.C., New York, and Philadelphia. The teachings of Jesus that Pope Francis reaffirmed for us is that we are to be instruments of God’s love, mercy, and compassion, by seeking to put others and their needs before our own, and by seeking ways of peace and forgiveness.

And this is not a new message that Cardinal Bergoglio acquired once he became Pontiff. Back in 2007, as Cardinal of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio wrote the closing document for the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean in Aparecida, Brazil.

In that lengthy document which summarized the main themes of that conference, he wrote:

 “A Catholic faith reduced to mere baggage,

to a collection of rules and prohibitions,

to fragmented devotional practices,

to selective and partial adherence to the truths of the faith,

to occasional participation in some sacraments,

to the repetition of doctrinal principles,

to bland or nervous moralizing,

 that does not convert the life of the baptized

  would not withstand the trials of time.

Our greatest danger is the gray pragmatism of the daily life of the church in which everything apparently continues normally, but in reality the faith is being consumed and falling into meanness”.

Pope Francis is attempting to refocus our attention on one of the central truths of our faith: God has loved us and we are to love others without preference, without limit, without conditions.

We whose allegiance is to Christ today are to be witnesses of the love that God has shown to us in everything we say and by every action we do so that everyone around us can say, as they did in those early days of our church…

“See how they love one another……”

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Image: flyingfeetinfaith.com

Choose Wisely

Deacon Tom writes

“Choose Wisely"

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Have you ever had the chance to watch a little child try to decide which coin to take when given a choice between a nickel and a dime?  Quite often, the child will choose the nickel because it’s bigger. The poor lad hasn’t learned to distinguish value. The reading from the Book of Wisdom is intended to teach us about what constitutes real value in our lives so that we may know how to choose wisely and not be deceived by the illusions of our physical world. The sacred author writes this beautiful passage that is so rich in meaning. Here it is again –

I prayed, and prudence was given me;

I pleaded and the spirit of Wisdom came to me.

I preferred her to scepter and throne,

And deemed riches nothing in comparison with her,

nor did I liken any priceless gem to her;

Because all gold, in view of her, is a little sand,

and before her, silver is to be accounted mire.

Beyond health and comeliness I loved her,

And I chose to have her rather than the light,

because the splendor of her never yields to sleep.

Yet all good things together came to me in her company,

and countless riches at her hands.

The teacher of Wisdom informs us that we need other virtues to lead us to Wisdom.  Prudence and Perseverance, Patience and intense Prayer are necessities for those seeing Wisdom. That explains why Wisdom is so rare and so rare and elusive, while foolishness is seen all around us, like pollen during ragweed season. Foolishness appeals to the here and now, feeds upon our egos and disillusions, and makes no demands upon our character. Foolishness endures because it is so captivated by the glitter of the physical reality around us and is so easily enticed by the things of this world… the riches, temporary fame and fortune, success and the pleasures that fail to give lasting joy and happiness.  The Wisdom described above is a manifestation of God’s very identity and his essence. It is a part of God’s very being.  God shares His Wisdom, a very part of His nature with those who ask for it, with those who seek lasting riches found only in the things from above. When one possesses this form of Wisdom, they abide in God and God in them. 

If we seek the things from above, we will never be disappointed. God’s Wisdom will guide us on our earthly journey and enlighten us along the way so we, unlike the little child who is deceived by the belief that bigger is better and makes the wrong choice, won’t settle for second best. May we have the Wisdom of God at work in us so that we always and easily choose wisely.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Image: eastdailyoffice.wordpress.com

All God's Creatures, Great and Small

Deacon Tom writes

All God’s Creatures, Great and Small

Twenty-seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B

Looking up at the sky on a clear October evening can be an exhilarating experience. The stars shining brightly give us a good reason to stop and consider the immensity of the universe. What is more amazing is that we believe that God put all that we see in place just for us, for us human beings, the highlight of his creation.

When we read the account of Adam naming the animals today, we recall how God has given us the responsibility to take care of, to be good stewards of all he has entrusted to us.  As Pope Francis reminds us in his encyclical on the environment, Laudation Si, “…our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us”. Our First Reading is so appropriate for today’s Feast of St. Francis of Assisi.  Francis’ love of all God’s creatures is legendary. He lived a simple life that enabled him to see God’s goodness at work throughout the natural order. In his poem “Canticle of the Sun”, he calls the sun and the moon his “Sister” and his “Brother”.   

Today is also “Respect Life” Sunday. Our Church sets this day aside to remind us of the dignity and worth of every human life. The value of human life flows from our creator in whose image and likeness we are made. Every person is unique. Every life is special and sacred. Many of the evils we see today are specifically directed against the dignity of the human person…abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, “ethnic cleansing”, prostitution, pornography, war, poverty, and “white slavery”.  When will we ever learn? Will we grow out of our “hardness of heart”?

Dr. Bernard Nathanson was a doctor who was responsible for over 75,000 abortions. He experienced a radical transformation (Grace???) in the 1980’s when he saw the astonishing images of the fetus produced by the then new ultrasound technology. In rethinking his position, he was drawn to the Catholic Church because of its strong belief in the dignity of life, from the moment of conception to the very last, natural breath.

Today we recognize that we are all God’s creatures, great and small alike. We are called to celebrate this life as best we can by being good stewards of all creation… ourselves included!!!... by loving one another as a way of showing our thankfulness to our God who loves us without limit or condition; God who loves us into life.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Image: friarmusings.wordpress.com

Use Leftovers

wikimedia.org

Deacon Tom writes ©

"Use Leftovers"

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

In today’s first reading the Prophet Elisha is given twenty loaves of barley bread. Instead of keeping it for himself, he tells his benefactor to “Give it to the people to eat”. Afraid there wouldn’t be enough for everyone, the man reluctantly did as he was told. Surprisingly, we discover as the story ends, “there was some left over”.

Jesus finds himself in a similar situation surrounded by a hungry crowd with few resources… five barley loaves and a couple of fish. Surprisingly, he too had ample food to feed everyone and needed twelve wicker baskets for the “leftovers”.  There is a common theme in both readings… Can you guess it?

In the economy of the kingdom Jesus reveals to his followers there is always a sufficiency, there is always enough to go around and fill everyone’s needs. Bread…the basic food staple for most of human history was essential for daily life. Without it, people suffered and died. Elisha and Jesus were extraordinary in their ability to supply bread to satisfy people’s hunger…and still have leftovers.

Chapter 6 of the Gospel of St. John is the story of the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes. In many ways this event sets the stage for Jesus making the connection between the bread as a staple for physical life and his body that will be offered up on the Cross in order to nourish our spiritual life. The Eucharistic Banquet feeds the deepest hunger we experience in life… our hunger to be intimately connected with God and to be satisfied completely with the graces that flow from that intimacy.

Our readings tell us something very important from the bread, the nourishment we derive from our deeply rooted and personal experience of God in the Eucharist… there is always an overabundance of God’s supply not only to nourish us, but to also nourish others.  

Now in our day and age, when we have more than enough for our needs, when we are done with supper and there is more food on the stove, we break out the Tupperware and pack the leftovers into the frig for when we are hungry tomorrow. That’s not how God works. That’s not how divine supply works. Remember the story of the Israelites wandering in the desert and, when the people complained that they were hungry, God provided them with bread to eat?  The bread was called Manna and the people were instructed to gather only what they needed for that day. No more, no less! Of course, some people didn’t listen, perhaps not trusting that God would deliver and provided for them on the next day. Here is what happened when that happened… “But they did not listen to Moses, and some kept a part of it over until morning, and it became wormy and stank”

Every time we receive the Eucharist, God provides us with the nourishment we need to carry out his plan, which as Jesus taught his disciples, is to go out into the world and feed others. And, the way we do this is by the way we act, by the way we love and forgive one another, by the way we envision this world and the way we provide solutions to the many problems we face.  There are no leftovers in God’s plan. Everything, everyone has a purpose and a role to play in advancing God’s Kingdom of love, mercy, and forgiveness.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom 

Image from common.wikimedia.org