I did not know Him

Reflection for Sunday, January 16 --  The Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Judy Morss

The gospel reading for this Sunday is taken from John 1:29-34:

John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said,“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me. ’I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.” John testified further, saying, “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and remain upon him.  I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain,he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.  ’Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”

As I read and prayed over this gospel, I was struck by the words, "I did not know Him." John says this twice! How can John not have know Jesus? Jesus was his cousin; when Mary and Elizabeth met one another when they were both pregnant with these special little boys, John leaped in Elizabeth's womb. How could he not know Jesus? Then it struck me that John was saying that he did know exactly who Jesus was; the Lamb of God, the Messiah we all wait for. But John proclaimed who Jesus was, not because of familial relationships, but because of the inspiration John received from God the Father. John saw the dove, the Holy Spirit come down upon Jesus and he believed.

Do my thoughts and actions say that "I did not know Him?" Do I see and recognize Christ in others around me, in my daily life, in events that happen? Or do I forget that Christ is part of everyone and everything? I need to be aware of Christ's presence in everything I say and do; every moment of my life. As in our second reading of today, Paul tells us we are "called to be holy." We cannot be holy unless we truly KNOW Jesus.

With peace and love,
Judy

Justice vs Fairness Continued

 As we read  last Sunday, God's ways are far above ours, but we are called to open wide our hearts and minds to receive His wisdom, His transcendence. Proverbs 9:10 states that: "The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord, and knowledge of the Holy one understanding."  This Sunday's readings begins with Ezekiel:

Ezekiel 18: 25-28

Thus says the Lord:  "You say, the Lord's way is not fair!"  Hear now, House of Israel:  Is it my way that is unfair, or rather are not your ways unfair?  When someone virtuous turns away from virtue to commit inequity and dies, it is because of the inequity that he must die.  But if he turns from the wickedness that he has committed, he does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life; since he has turned away from all the sins he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

It is in this reading that we see that the House of Israel's perception of what is fair, is not God's!  I am instantly brought back to last weeks post in which justice, God's justice, is compared with our human fairness.  It is not that fairness in and of itself is always wrong, but when we are cut lose from transcendent justice (God's ways), fairness is only based on the most superficial concepts of justice, and it often can only address the material realities, which leaves us blind to the ultimate unseen realities, and adrift in moral relativism! Grave injustice will always be the result, because this kind of superficial justice is blind (and not in the impartial sense) and cannot address the sickness in human souls, it can only respond to the outward manifestations of the inequities that hold individual souls hostage.  We become enslaved to the sin, because we cannot see it, and each one of us becomes weaker. And so, abortion becomes a difficult, but, compassionate solution to inequities in our social response to crises pregnancies.

 It is much harder to struggle to provide justice for the innocent child and the mother, but that is real justice, and it is not always comfortable.  True justice requires a deeper understanding of the the transcendence of God and of the ultimate eternal nature of each and every human being. We need to understand that to turn from virtue means death, eternal death.  We must be obstacles to that a turn that means death!

In the Pope's German address he says " we must rediscover our capacity to perceive God, a capacity that exists within us." In order to do this, we must understand how much we need God's mercy!  Collectively and individually.  "Ezekiel points out that we need to turn from our inequity, and we will receive God's mercy. But alas, we need a bit of perspective and perception to do that!  For this we need to allow the Spirit to give us a truer vision of the Lord, and a truer vision of who we are before the Almighty.

  And from here the readings flow into Philippians for the encouragement and further guidance needed in the light of Christ!

Phill 2 1-11

Brothers and Sisters if there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind with the same love, united in heart thinking one thing.  Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory, rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves. each looking out not for his own interest, but also for those of others.  Have in you the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus, who, though was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped.  Rather, he emptied himself, taking on the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance he humbled himself becoming obedient even to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Because of this God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every other name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father forever!

I must admit that Paul always gives me cause to pause and self examine, "do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory" (even blogging!)  Always  "humbly regard others as more important that yourselves"  As a frail and fallible human being, and as a mother, I know that this takes practice, and guidance and a vision that is strong in perceiving beauty and truth. And since I cannot uproot Paul from Sacred Scriptures, I have to read it in light of Ezekiel, to always be aware that God's justice is much higher than mine, and the mercy we bestow must always be guided with the keen awareness of the immortality of each and every soul.  We must in every way be stumbling blocks to those who are turning or have turned from the path of virtue! And we must be humbly vigilant over our own souls as well.

  How we need to be emptied of our selfishness and our vainglory to begin to truly move forward in authentic justice and lasting mercy! How we need to recover our sight , to recognize the holiness and authority of Christ Jesus, who showed us the way to the Wisdom of God!   How we need to have our eyes opened to the glimpses of the almighty and transcendent Lord, to open our hearts and turn away from the superficial, grasping at justice, to turn away from our ideas of fairness that encourage complacency and discourage virtue. We need to open wide our hearts, minds and souls to God who is pouring his love and mercy out upon us. We need to have our spiritual vision restored, or we will be like the Pharisees in the gospel, complacent and comfortable in their understanding of the Scriptures and of God,  unable to understand authentic justice, even when He is standing right in front of us!  

May the Lord grant each of us the heart mind and humility to seek Him in truth, to show us his paths and to remember not  the sins of our past!
Heidi

Torrents of Love: Reflections on Paul, Ezekiel and Matthew 18

The readings for this Sunday are themed around being attentive to the directions of God, and helping others to be attentive as well, even if it means that drastic measures must be taken. And Gazelle's post last week on Lectio Devina is a terrific guideline for how to really stop and listen to that ever present voice of the Spirit.

 This is always hard for me because I have this ADD tendency to flit around the Scriptures seeing nuggets of beauty and wisdom here and also there, but never settling down to get beyond my sentimentality, biases, or maybe even boredom. I am either pulled in different directions, and thus, quickly overwhelmed, or I stop too short and fail to hear the Word of God in its depth and fullness.  If I follow the guidelines of Lectio, I will allow the superficial to filter through, and the still small voice begins to emerge.  For me, I usually do not settle with one of the readings, the Spirit often emerges as an image of water flowing through the readings the Church has put forth for us.


 I love the peacefulness of water.  In my mind I first see romanticized images of still lakes, filled with the glorious reflection of the setting sun or softly chattering streams that draw you to dip your feet in and refresh yourself after a long hike.  Even the powerful, but beautiful waterfall invites me to linger and meditate on how inspiring the water is.  And so I often let the readings flow like this to refresh my soul and revive my Spirit.


In Romans 13: 8-10 Paul speaks of love:

Brothers and Sisters:  Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.  The commandments. "You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be are summed up in this saying. namely, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself."  Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence love is the fulfillment of the law.

 That flows so sweetly and gently, but, upon further reflection I realize that water can  also flow like this:

                                            Gavins Point Dam, Yankton SD

Ez 33:7-9

"Thus says the Lord:  You son of man I have appointed watchman for the house of Israel; when you hear me say anything, you shall warn them for me.  If I tell the wicked, "O wicked one, you shall surely die," and you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way, the wicked shall die for his guilt, but I will hold you responsible for his death.  But if you warn the wicked, trying to turn him from his way, and he refuses to turn, he shall die for his guilt, but you shall save yourself."

Ezekiel now comes crashing down upon me as a torrent, stripping away the sentimental idea that love just accepts and tolerates.  The love of God does not will me to be a captive of sin, and each one of us is charged with bringing this true freedom to our brothers and sisters.  And this freedom does not release me from the commandments, as we read in Paul it brings upon those who grow in it the strength and courage to live those commandments with integrity.  We begin to love with the love of Christ, dying to ourselves, availing  ourselves to that scouring torrent of love for the sake of others!! Thus the ability to bestow the fruits of our freedom on others by encouraging and strengthening those around us is made greater by loving others as we love ourselves, or else we ourselves will become weaker and  more complacent, or full of pride and judgmental.

I now begin to see that Paul's message of love is not the sentimental, shallow message that I can so often settle ;for ( and quickly get bored with).  It is not "everyone must get along at all costs";   it is the message that growing in holiness is growing in strength and courage and passion for others.  The river of love can be a gentle stream, but it can also be a surging wall of water, scouring, cleansing and putting to death the evil in our midst (even in the midst of our own souls). But, how do we separate our own failings, self righteousness and hypocrisy out of fraternal correction?  Matthew points us to start out in the gentlest way possible, and from there to proceed with the facts being established in a credible and just way, so that no public accusation is made hastily or arbitrarily, not so easy for any of us, especially if we have not really strengthened ourselves in love!  The final judgement is made by the church, where it is binding, and may include the casting out of the unrepentant.

Matt 18: 15-20

Jesus said to His disciples:  "If your brother sins against you go tell him his fault, between you and him alone.  If he listens, you have won over your brother.  If he does not listen, take on or two others along with you, so that every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  If he refuses to listen to them tell the church.  If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.  Amen, I say to you whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and, whatever you loosed on earth shall be loosed in heaven.  Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth for anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.  For where there are two or three gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them,"

And it should grieve our souls that individuals would choose to be separated from the community, rather than be reconciled, and it should demand reflection of our own interior dispositions.  Some people endure separation from the community for reasons that eventually prove to be unjust or they are in a situation that they do not yet have the strength to correct.  What do these situations demand of us?  They demand prayer and humility, endurance and prayer.  The profane is washed away in the churning river of Christ's love and passion and the humble and the repentant will rise again.  They demonstrate that the path to holiness for each individual is treacherous, that our faith is not niceties or warm fuzzies, but our faith demands an attentive soul, and a courageous willingness to allow God's love to wash the profane away, to soften the hardened heart and, above all, the tenacious belief that in Christ, though we die to ourselves we will eventually rise in Him.

Psalm 95
If today you hear his voice harden not your heart; come let bow down in worship; let us kneel before the Lord who made us; for he is our God and we are the flock that he Shepherds.

Peace and Grace to all,
Heidi