And the Two Shall Become One

I feel like this is a challenging reflection for me to write; it would be much more pleasant and easier to focus on what Jesus had to say about letting the children come to Him. But I feel like I get more out of scripture when I question the parts that make me uncomfortable.  This Sunday's Gospel reading is difficult to reconcile with today's sense of justice.

Has divorce affected you in your life? Certainly, we're not here to judge each other; I firmly believe that no man can claim to be worthy to stand blameless before God. As a result of divorce, I grew up without a father. I met my dad when I was 28 years old. At a certain point, he felt that it was necessary to explain to me why he did the things that he did; as he started to go down that path I cut him short. I said that there was no need to speak about the past. I told him that I was happy that he reached out to me and that our relationship starts here. I meant that. (If my life were to be condensed into book form, that chapter might be called "The Prodigal Dad.") 

From the language used in Scripture, I believe that marriage is more than what we think it is. Scripture tells us that "the two become one." I find this reminiscent of how Jesus speaks of His relationship with the Father, and our relationship with Him. "On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you" John 14:20 Even though we are not of Divine origin, we enter into relationship with God Himself through covenant; so that a unitive relationship exists where none did before. Much like marriage. Scriptures speak of the "wedding feast of the lamb" and I believe it is more than just imagery: there is deep meaning in that. 

When I think about our frail and faulty human relationships, I think about how many times have I betrayed the Love of my God by doing something that separates me from Him. Even so, Scripture tells us that God is faithful to us even when we are not faithful to Him. 

Where am I going with this? I don't know. I do know that every time I feel challenged in my own marriage; any time I feel hurt or angry, (Hey - it happens) any time I feel that I have been wronged or denied something that I am entitled to,  - if I think about it, I usually discover that in a similar way,  I have wronged my God or denied Him something that He is entitled to in my relationship with Him. Yet He is always there for me. He always takes me back - He always says "you're forgiven; go and sin no more." And I am reminded to be faithful, forgiving, patient, loving and kind in the same way that my God is with me.......

                         + Theophilus

I Make It About Me

 

It all started for me in the 8^th grade.  I never considered myself to be a popular person, but for some reason some of my fellow students thought I should be the class president.  So I ran for the only political office I would ever run for in my entire life – Class President of the 8^th grade class at Saint Mary Gate of Heaven School in Ozone Park, Queens.  Never having thought of myself as being popular, this seemed like my one chance, at least in my adolescent twelve-year old mind, to be the popular one, to be the important one. 

The problem is I had to run against a very popular classmate.  I am going to give her the name Rosie for the sake of this reflection.  Rosie was by far the most popular student in the whole eighth grade class.  If this was going to be a popularity contest, Rosie would win hands down.  She was talkative.  She was pretty.  She was the life of the party.  Everybody liked Rosie.  Everybody would be sure to vote for her.   I figured the only possible way I could defeat her was to come up with an awesome speech.  Each candidate was expected to give a five-minute speech on why they should be elected as class president.  And so I came up with all these ideas about what I would do as class president.  I listed in the speech all the great ideas I had for fundraising so we could have, as the graduating class, some great field trips.  I thought about all these great ideas to make the school a better place for the students.  I don’t know, maybe I even had on my platform that I would convince the teachers to not give homework! I don’t know. All I knew was that I had an awesome speech, and if my fellow students got to hear my ideas against Rosie’s ideas, I would be sure to win.

Now the day for the speeches and the election came.  I had practiced my speech, and I was all set.  This was the best speech, I thought, since JFK’s Inaugural, when he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”  As I came to school that day, I didn’t see Rosie anywhere.  She was always in the schoolyard before school, talking up a storm.  She’d be leading a game of hopscotch with the other girls or even engaging the boys in a game of tag.  This morning was the morning of the big speeches and the election.  Where could she be?  As we got in the classroom, the teacher delivered the sad news that the night before Rosie’s grandmother had passed away and Rosie would not be in school that day.

So, it was decided that I would give my speech anyway and then the election would happen.  So, I gave my speech, with all my great ideas.  I figured, well I am sure to win.  They would hear only my great ideas and then I would win.  Once my speech was over, the students got to vote and I got demolished.  I am not even sure if the students who nominated me in the first place voted for me!

Of course, I cried foul.  I said it wasn’t fair that they didn’t get to hear Rosie’s speech against mine.  I wanted to prove her better I was than her.  I even remember thinking that people just voted for her because they felt bad about her grandmother passing away.

As I reflected back on that incident some forty-five years later, I realize that as much as it seemed like the most popular person won, my own motivation for winning was based on a desire to be popular as well.  It bothered me, not because I lost the election and I wouldn’t get to implement my ideas for the good of the students.  No, it really bothered me, because there went my chance to become popular.  I realized later I was running for class president, because I wanted to be the popular one.  I wanted to have the chance to tear down the popular one, Rosie.  I wanted to feel the adulation that I though she felt. My desire to make it all about me had me lose even my feelings of sympathy for her at the loss of her grandmother.  I wasn’t worried about the good of the other students.  I wasn’t concerned for Rosie and how she must have been feeling.  I made it all about me.

And so perhaps we do with what God calls us to.  We make it all about us.

 

The First Shall Be Last

25^th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 9/19/2021

Mark 9: 30 – 37

 

 

Jesus makes a very straightforward point:  “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”

And then, in order to highlight his point, he takes a small child and says that whoever receives one such as this receives Him – and  the One who sent Him.

 

Think about that for a moment.  A child.  Servant?  When I hear Jesus’ lesson I am thinking of someone who makes a definite choice to be there for others, to do for others, to help others.  Does that sound like something a child would do?  Not really.

 

And as I prayed on this I thought of the many times when my children were young, and now my grandchildren.  So often the stresses, the worries, the concerns, the anguish of the day simply melt away when you place your arms around that child – like Jesus did – and that baby grabs a hold of your finger; the toddler places a head on your shoulder; the little child looks up at you and smiles.  And all is right with the world.

 

How is that little one being a servant?   He or she is not doing anything to solve your problems; not sharing words of wisdom to help you through the situation; not taking charge and helping you.  Servant?  Hardly seems like it.

 

Yet, that child’s innocence and trusting and inherent goodness – truly gifts from God – do more than any words or deeds in bringing one to a sense of the divine and the true peace and true joy that only the divine can give. 

 

The greatest servant is the one who is seemingly so powerless. 

 

And the last shall be first.

 

“Call Me Ishmael”

 

 

We follow.

 In this weeks gospel Mark 8:27-38 Jesus  begins to give the disciples a more detailed description of who he is. In this reading we begin to understand what Jesus expects from his followers.  While Jesus was traveling with the disciples in he asks his them a question. “Who do people say that I am?” Jesus was asking his disciples what is reputation was. He wanted to hear what the world thought of him.  Some said he was a profit. Others said he was Elijah . He asked the question again to the disciples. Peter accurately call Jesus “Christ”.  Almost saying that you are our savior.  Well, Peter was right in calling him Christ, but Jesus began to teach what it really meant to be “Christ”.   He tells the disciples that he is going to suffer a great deal , be betrayed and eventually “lose” his life and rise again. I can imagine the disappointment when Peter and the disciples find out that their savior wasn’t  going to do  anything that they expected.   Peter actually rebuked Jesus am. In return Jesus rejects him in front of the other disciples and continues to teach.  He went into even  further detail  and began to explain what it means to  be follower of Christ. He  says that in order to follow him you  will also suffer.  He says, that in order to follow him you have to “lose” your life. The losing of your life for his sake is a requirement of being a follower.  As a follower of Christ we Jesus tell us to “ pick up our cross” I can’t imagine this going over well with the disciples. There is no way this conversation with Jesus was expected to go in this direction.  Yet, they remained faithful. Just as we are asked to in our Christian lives. 

Have  you been much like the disciples disappointed by the news you get from God? Expecting to hear what you want, only to hear what God wants.  What I have learned is that with a little faith those disappointments are short lived.  The will of God is never wrong. Life may twist and turn in a direction that you may not want but  what God wants is what will happen. 

 When Jesus spoke to the disciples of losing our lives for his sake. He wasn’t talking about  just a physical death. I believe he was talking about something much deeper. Maybe he  was talking about losing your reputation.  Losing what the world thinks of you.   Maybe he was talking about  losing  our reputation and accepting  his.  Maybe he was saying give up worrying about what the world thinks of you and do what is right. When we choose to follow Christ I believe we are called to let go of the world’s ways of doing things and begin living a new life. These days, more then ever  I am beginning to see that when the whole world is going left, as Christians we are going to be called to go right.  We will face ridicule , we will be judged for not going with the crowd, but that is the cross bearing that Jesus was speaking of.  Maybe that is the “suffering”that we endure.  Following Jesus isn’t about just about suffering and being some kind of martyr for everyone to see.  I don’t think we are called to simply follow Christ and  have small meaningless lives filled with misery.  Instead, I think following Christ actually gives your life meaning. It’s  more about  dropping your old ways and becoming new person with Christ at the center of your life.  Now , When we see the beauty in Gods plan for us  we begin to see that losing our lives for Christ sake really means gaining so much more. 

 So I ask you  again have you been disappointed, shocked and confused  by God before?  Yet we are called to follow. We follow, sometimes half heartedly and unsure of where we are going. Still, we do follow and with a little faith all disappointments are temporary.  They are temporary because deep down  as followers we know Christ’s love for us is eternal. 

Up Close and Personal

This week's Gospel is Mark 7:31-37.  In the reading, people bring a deaf and mute man to Jesus and Jesus heals the man by "putting his finger into the man's ears and, spitting, touching his tongue" and, looking to heaven, saying, "Be opened."

This is intimate contact.  Especially since there is no indication that Jesus had ever met the man before.  Imagine such close physical contact these days.  Or any days, frankly.

What's striking here is the degree of intimacy of the contact.  Perhaps this is parallel to the degree of the man's affliction, being deaf and mute, which is significant.  Jesus can heal however He wants, from a distance, up close, whatever He chooses.  But with this affliction, which was severe, he got very close.

Do we let Jesus get this close?  Or do we pick and choose when and how we will allow Jesus in, and to what extent?

It's not easy to allow Jesus to be that close.  To be that integrally involved in our lives.  But when we can, His presence seeps in and becomes part of us.

Think of the reason we generally don't let people put their fingers in our ears or touch our tongues.  Because then what is in that person, or on that person, can become part of us.  But with Jesus that's no problem; we want Jesus to become part of us.  As with the Eucharist.

So what keeps us from letting Jesus become part of us?  Sometimes, it's because we know that when He becomes part of us, He can displace something else within us.  Something that we think we need.  Money, "power", "comfort", whatever.

But when we think that, when we think that Jesus would displace something more valuable to us than Him, we are wrong.  The key is to make that choice, to allow Jesus in close, to know that there is nothing that He can displace that would be more valuable than He is.  In reality, when Jesus enters us, that which is displaced is necessarily less valuable than He is.

- The Older Brother