“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.” Luke 19:10
Today’s Gospel reading is filled with great emotion. There is much sadness. There is a prophecy concerning the destruction of Jerusalem. The temple is important in this passage. Jesus throws the money changers out of the temple. Jesus teaches in the temple. Also, in the temple the chief priests and other leaders of the people plot how to kill Jesus. How busy that temple was. The temple was the center of life.
As Jesus approached Jerusalem he cried. Peace was hidden from Jerusalem. The city was busy, consumed with its daily activities. Life was not stopping. People were living their lives, behaving as their culture allowed them. The Jewish people were busy with their daily routines. Some of the Jews knew that Jesus was in Jerusalem. Some went to hear him speak. Some went to have him save them. Some stayed away from him. Some of the Jewish leaders in the temple, quietly, secretly plotted Jesus’ death. The conspirators are anonymous in this Gospel as they watch Jesus teaching in the temple.
In this Gospel, Jesus wept, Jesus drove the money changers from the temple, Jesus taught in the temple. Jesus wanted the temple to be a house of prayer, a place of worship and ministry. He did not want it to be a den of thieves, a place of commerce. The temple was God’s house.
Although there is despair and melancholy in this passage there also is hope. Jesus is not passive in this Gospel. He is very active, very aware of his world. It was important for him to teach in the temple. It was important for him to rid the temple of the den of thieves. It was important for the temple to be a house of God, a house of prayer. He did not have to go the temple. He did not have to confront the money changers. He did not have to teach in the temple. Each one of these actions his simple decision. He was simply doing what he had to do. People were listening to Jesus. People were learning from Jesus. He was simply being obedient, doing his duty, showing his fidelity and love to God.
Within the temple some men were plotting his death as he preached about salvation, loving your neighbor. This knowledge did not deter him from his mission. He had a job to do. He came to save mankind. He reached out to all who would listen. He offered love, hope, eternal life to all he believed and obeyed God’s commandments and laws.
Showing posts with label peace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label peace. Show all posts
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Peace Be With You
In modern times there has been a lamentable acceleration in self-consciousness on the part of being Christian publicly, a fearful progress of acceptable doubt and hypocrisy, and a notable development of the estimation and valuation of the status quo which mutes the true meanings and lessons of Holy Scriptures. Christians continually face all types of criticisms which aim to narrow the scope of our belief in God and his importance to all people. That Christ lived is accepted as historical fact; that Christ is the son sparks all types of debates and conflicts.
As individuals, we, the faithful followers of Jesus Christ, must do more than attend church routinely, scheduled between a manicure and your car’s wheel realignment. Our lives must be filled with and display our passionate love for the Church universal; for Christ who lived among men and preached love and fairness; for God who only asks for our sincere love and respect and who offers love, mercy, and forgiveness; and for the Holy Spirit who is there guiding us toward goodness, holiness. Our devotion must be true. Our devotion must be filled with humility, charity, reverence, and mercy. Our devotion must be natural, reflecting all that we believe, encouraging us to increase our good works and to share our love with all who are in need of it.
The “lamentable acceleration in self-consciousness” concerns each Christian. The one truth that all Christians should accept is that God loved us so much that he sent his son to save us from sin. This act of love should never be forgotten. As Christian’s our lives should be dedicated to the application of love extended beyond ourselves, extended to our neighbors. Our secular world encourages us to limit this love and creates barriers to easily, gently expressing it. We are encouraged to remember ourselves and our comfort first, encouraged to utilize resources first for personal gain and enjoyment and then for public good, encouraged to be sceptical and suspicious of our neighbors and all that which is unseen by us. This self-conscious leads to selfishness, greed, envy, lust. This self-consciousness leads us away from the Church, away from God, away from salvation.
How easy it is for us to forget or discount the goodness and holiness that we encounter in our daily lives. How easy it is for us to forget “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” We must take time to consider these words individually both in context and out of context. We must find a way to breathe hope, a way to breathe life, and a way to breathe love into these words, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
We live in a time dependent upon expert testimony, eyewitness testimony, and all types raw data both explained and unexplained, computer generated models, scientific tests, scientific models. We are constantly searching for signs, reading signs, avoiding signs. As Christians we are asked to believe in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As humans we sometimes doubt this. Pop culture and the secular world prey on our insecurities, looking for ways to cast doubt and suspension on the religion. This is not new, it has been occurring for the last two thousand years. It will continue into the future. We must open our hearts, souls, and minds to God. Demanding signs from God is not the answer. Living all life of love, hope, and peace is the answer. Our goodness needs to start within us simply because we love God and want to please him. Our goodness needs to start within us simply because we know that the things that Christ said will make us better human beings filled with empathy and compassion. Our goodness needs to start within us simply because the Holy Trinity leads us toward salvation.
Being Christian presents each of us with the obligation to love our neighbor. Jesus did not say be fearful of your neighbor, be sceptical of your neighbor, be suspicious of your neighbor. Jesus said love your neighbor.
“Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
Being Christian presents each of us with the obligation to love our neighbor. Jesus did not say be fearful of your neighbor, be sceptical of your neighbor, be suspicious of your neighbor. Jesus said love your neighbor. Human beings are by nature inquisitive, filled with all types of questions, filled with doubt. In the right context doubt is good; but there are some events, some parts of our lives of Christians where we must blindly, lovingly proceed based upon faith, hope, and love; proceed with no visible signs or evidence beyond the goodness and holiness within our hearts and the lessons from the Holy Scripture. We must always remember that Christ said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
It is our obligation, our responsibility to find and develop our own way to apply this to our lives. We first must take the time to understand and acknowledge the request. Then, we must allow ourselves time to create our own application of the request as individuals and as members of the universal Church. Is God asking for a warm, loving, hopeful passion or a cool passivity? We must always remember that we live and exist within multiple communities in need of our empathy, compassion, and prayers. Please do not limit your kindness, your goodness, your hopefulness to simply one community. Never fear love, never fear the pain of love. Remember the pain and suffering and sacrifice of Christ.
Being Christian will always be risky, will always be radical. But remember to meet doubt with love, confront doubt with love.
As individuals, we, the faithful followers of Jesus Christ, must do more than attend church routinely, scheduled between a manicure and your car’s wheel realignment. Our lives must be filled with and display our passionate love for the Church universal; for Christ who lived among men and preached love and fairness; for God who only asks for our sincere love and respect and who offers love, mercy, and forgiveness; and for the Holy Spirit who is there guiding us toward goodness, holiness. Our devotion must be true. Our devotion must be filled with humility, charity, reverence, and mercy. Our devotion must be natural, reflecting all that we believe, encouraging us to increase our good works and to share our love with all who are in need of it.
The “lamentable acceleration in self-consciousness” concerns each Christian. The one truth that all Christians should accept is that God loved us so much that he sent his son to save us from sin. This act of love should never be forgotten. As Christian’s our lives should be dedicated to the application of love extended beyond ourselves, extended to our neighbors. Our secular world encourages us to limit this love and creates barriers to easily, gently expressing it. We are encouraged to remember ourselves and our comfort first, encouraged to utilize resources first for personal gain and enjoyment and then for public good, encouraged to be sceptical and suspicious of our neighbors and all that which is unseen by us. This self-conscious leads to selfishness, greed, envy, lust. This self-consciousness leads us away from the Church, away from God, away from salvation.
How easy it is for us to forget or discount the goodness and holiness that we encounter in our daily lives. How easy it is for us to forget “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” We must take time to consider these words individually both in context and out of context. We must find a way to breathe hope, a way to breathe life, and a way to breathe love into these words, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
We live in a time dependent upon expert testimony, eyewitness testimony, and all types raw data both explained and unexplained, computer generated models, scientific tests, scientific models. We are constantly searching for signs, reading signs, avoiding signs. As Christians we are asked to believe in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As humans we sometimes doubt this. Pop culture and the secular world prey on our insecurities, looking for ways to cast doubt and suspension on the religion. This is not new, it has been occurring for the last two thousand years. It will continue into the future. We must open our hearts, souls, and minds to God. Demanding signs from God is not the answer. Living all life of love, hope, and peace is the answer. Our goodness needs to start within us simply because we love God and want to please him. Our goodness needs to start within us simply because we know that the things that Christ said will make us better human beings filled with empathy and compassion. Our goodness needs to start within us simply because the Holy Trinity leads us toward salvation.
Being Christian presents each of us with the obligation to love our neighbor. Jesus did not say be fearful of your neighbor, be sceptical of your neighbor, be suspicious of your neighbor. Jesus said love your neighbor.
“Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
Being Christian presents each of us with the obligation to love our neighbor. Jesus did not say be fearful of your neighbor, be sceptical of your neighbor, be suspicious of your neighbor. Jesus said love your neighbor. Human beings are by nature inquisitive, filled with all types of questions, filled with doubt. In the right context doubt is good; but there are some events, some parts of our lives of Christians where we must blindly, lovingly proceed based upon faith, hope, and love; proceed with no visible signs or evidence beyond the goodness and holiness within our hearts and the lessons from the Holy Scripture. We must always remember that Christ said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
It is our obligation, our responsibility to find and develop our own way to apply this to our lives. We first must take the time to understand and acknowledge the request. Then, we must allow ourselves time to create our own application of the request as individuals and as members of the universal Church. Is God asking for a warm, loving, hopeful passion or a cool passivity? We must always remember that we live and exist within multiple communities in need of our empathy, compassion, and prayers. Please do not limit your kindness, your goodness, your hopefulness to simply one community. Never fear love, never fear the pain of love. Remember the pain and suffering and sacrifice of Christ.
Being Christian will always be risky, will always be radical. But remember to meet doubt with love, confront doubt with love.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Hushed
In the Cathedral just before Mass when there is that hushed silence, rushed quiet as people find seats, genuflect, and then pray that is a moment of great peace and great hope. And amid the pews beneath the murals and lights upon which hope and goodness within our hearts have traced the forms of prayers, I have felt, a gentleness and generosity, which recall Jesus Christ and the Beattitudes. Reverence is beautiful and inspiring to behold. How wonderful is this silent presence—I was not always aware of the beauty and serenity of being in the presence of God and observing the manner of mind and behavior that expresses itself in the faces and actions of the faithful—revisiting this place: the mind and soul are surely made to travel far abroad accompanied by humility, obedience, charity and love and inspire goodness and hope within the hearts and minds of all men, women, and children.
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