Jul 25 - St James the Apostle

+ Among the twelve Apostles, three were chosen as the familiar companions of Jesus, and of these James was one. He alone, with Peter and John (the Evangelist, his brother), was admitted to the house of Jarius when the dead maiden was raised to life. They alone were taken up to the high mountain apart and saw the face of Jesus shining as the sun, and His garments white as snow; and these three alone witnessed the fearful agony in Gethsemane.

What was it that won James a place among the favorite three? It was faith: burning, impetuous, and outspoken, but which needed purifying before the "Son of Thunder" could proclaim the gospel of peace. It was James who demanded fire from heaven to consume the inhospitable Samaritans, and who sought the place of honor by Christ in His Kingdom. Yet Our Lord, in rebuking his presumption, prophesied his faithfulness to death.

When St. James was brought before King Herod Agrippa, his fearless confession of Jesus crucified so moved the public prosecutor that he declared himself a Christian on the spot. And so, accused and accuser were hurried off together to execution, and on the road the latter begged pardon of the Saint. The apostle had long since forgiven him but hesitated for a moment whether publicly to accept as a brother one still unbaptized. God quickly recalled to him the Church's belief that the blood of martyrdom supplies for every sacrament, and he embraced him with the words, "Peace be with you!" Together then they knelt for the sword, and together received the crown.

Remembering that we carry the work of Christ and his Church in us as very human, earthly and fragile vessels of our broken selves – we rely with St. James, and all the Apostles and countless numbers of Christians since the very beginning that God will supply our lack and our want and work through us – and that in the end we will receive the exact reward that befits our humble, loyal and loving service to the King of heaven and earth!

In the gospel passage Jesus loves James and his brother John’s impetuousness and enthusiasm – because it was rightly channeled – but he tells them that this will go far when they will go all the way, speak out and act out their core-based belief and trust in their Lord, Messiah and Best Friend, Jesus. And it was James who was the first of the 12 to die a martyr’s death in imitation of Jesus.

We are called to likewise go all the way, by word and deed for Jesus today, now – for there is still much work to be done before the inauguration of the fullness of the kingdom, that actually could take place at any time.

I chose you from the world, to go and bear fruit that will last, says the Lord.

Jul 21 - 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

+ Our gospel today is about making the most out of a visit from Jesus, when he decides to come to call. The operative phrase here is “when he decides to come!” These are not the planned out times when we almost demand to see him, or summon him, or at least strongly request his presence, or even gently so! These are the moments when he himself takes the initiative to visit us, when he thinks we need it – imagine that – and has something important to tell us.

These encounters can be very brief, indeed, or more lengthy. Sometimes when we are just standing in line at the grocery store, or stopped at a red light, or gazing out the window at home, or any number of other things: all of a sudden we get the real impression that Jesus is there and he wants our attention for as long as it takes – but usually it will be only “one brief shining moment.” He will offer us a bit of insight, a bit of consolation, a bit of courage, a bit of knowledge, a bit of healing, a bit of forgiveness, a bit of cheer – so that we can go on our way a little more focused, hopeful and with something valuable to share with others.

Now if these times can indeed be lengthened into a few minutes, or even half-hours or hours – like Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus – we will have an even more complete and deeper experience of Jesus’ friendship and hear more clearly what he has to say to us, and we will have a longer time to share with him what we have to say.

In the first reading today the three strangers came to Abraham and he gave them hospitality because he felt God moving him to do so, he felt God encountering him and instructing him as to what to say to them, and what to do for them: provide them with a rather lavish meal, before they could pass by him. And he was rewarded with a very direct message from God which told him that within a year he would have a son by his wife Sarah, his promised son, Isaac. Our encounters with God can be productive as well, in ways both great and small.

It was to Paul, we see in the second reading, that the very mysteries of God were revealed in his prayer encounters and that they were meant to be given to all, Jews and Gentiles as a hope for overcoming suffering and oppression. 

May we be encouraged by the initiatives that God takes in trying to get in touch with us – when he wants to – and let us respond by giving him our immediate attention - listening and then acting with all charity as we look out for the needs of all our brothers and sisters in imitation of him!

Blessed are those who keep the word of God with a generous heart, and yield a harvest through perseverance. 

Jul 17 - 15th Week in OT - Wednessday

+ Our readings today marvelously speak of a new and seemingly illogical way of seeing things: which was introduced by God way back in the time of Moses, and whose baffling counterpart still mystifies, in the time of Jesus, and likewise for us today. The proper way to see things is with the “both/and” perspective and not the ingrained “either/or” viewpoint of the Western mind.

Moses is the first to be introduced to this much more inclusive and really “logical” and more accurate way of seeing things: all of a sudden the LORD appeared to Moses as a flaming presence in a bush that, though apparently alight, was not burning, decaying or diminishing the bush at all. So we can rightly say that the bush was “burning and not burning” at the same time: the category of “burning/destruction” – with its consequent – “a bush, or anything else, is either in a destructive fire-based mode / or it is not – it can’t be both burning and not burning at the same time. The LORD dismisses this logic by burning the bush but not consuming it.

This is one of the mysteries that Jesus speaks about in the gospel passage: revealed to the lowly and the childlike, which again seems like a “logical impossibility!” How can the uneducated understand the mysteries – including the “burning bush?” It is precisely because they are children – the broad, wide and open link between themselves and God is still pretty much untampered with – as it exists in all of us – to about age 6 or 7, and then gradually decreases until age 14 when it is pretty much sadly forgotten – unless the child is taught that regular prayer and meditation and even contemplation can keep the link opening and running smoothly.

For  us who are not children, for us who may have forgotten the “both/and” freedom on the “burning bush” – we too are invited daily into the realms of meditative and even contemplative connection and communication with God – who can once again re-establish within us the forgotten “logic of God” – which is not the logic of men and women – but only the logic of children.

The love of God is wide, expansive and all encompassing: EVERYTHING, and EVERYONE BELONGS! we all simply belong to the God of the Burning Bush! Amen.  

Jul 16 - 15th Week in OT - Tuesday

+ Our gospel passage today shows an angry Jesus.  He is frustrated and upset with the stubbornness and hard-heartedness of the common folk who were so spiritually dazed and numb that they couldn’t see what was happening right in front of their eyes – and to their own kind, their own people.

Jesus takes stock on his recent past activities of preaching, teaching and miracle working, real true miracles of restoration of health, and spirit, and mind and yet the people did not take stock of themselves and turn away from and repent of their narrow-vision, their cheating hearts, their ill gotten gains, their unwillingness to truly help and love one another – and so he yells at the people and tells them that if the works that he did there in there midst was done to the sinful cities of ancient times – they surely would have recognized the mercy and love of God who was so generously reaching out to them, and they would have turned to him, converted to him and began to love him like never before.

But – these people, who are in the very presence of the awaited Messiah and Redeemer, do not recognize him in the slightest – and so Jesus registers his displeasure. And not just for his own tension release – but to truly awaken them to what is smack in front of them.

But they remain stoic, stonewalled, and pitiable.

God continues to work the same and even greater wonders in our midst – are we open to his generosity, his love and his compassion. Are we open to receive any and all the gifts that he has to give, today?

         Harden not your hearts today but listen to the voice of the Lord!

Jul 11 - St Benedict of Nursia

+ St. Benedict was born at Nursia, in central Italy in 480. He studied in Rome, but was soon disgusted with the rampant immorality that he saw there, and so he “headed for the hills:” he went up Mount Subiaco and lived in a cave there as a hermit for a year. Others found him, however, and asked to join him in his monastic observance: and so he set up 12 deaneries with 10 monks each. Soon though he left the region and went to Monte Cassino, near Naples, where he finished his Rule borrowing inspiration from Sts. Basil, John Cassian, and Augustine and other “monastic writers” of the times.

His Rule emphasized authority and obedience (modeled after the Incarnation and Crucifixion of Jesus), and stability and community life (the only way to progress in spiritual life is the given tension of life-together that is lasting, not just temporary and fleeting). The duties of the monk are to pray the Office and read complementary readings and texts; and manual labor. The flexibility of the Rule allowed it to be instrumental in shaping centers of scholarship, agriculture, medicine and hospitality.

 Benedict stayed at Monte Cassino for the rest of his life. Though never becoming a priest and not intending to even found a religious order, St. Benedict soon became known as the Father of Western Monasticism: sometimes your destiny has your name written all over it. St. Benedict is one of the most widely known saints in Church history, along with his sister St. Scholastica, who founded an order of nuns who followed his Rule. His patronage is of monks, of course, but also against the forces of evil and Pope Paul VI named him a patron saint of all of Europe. He died in 550 and was buried near his sister! In the year 2000 there were 8,000 Benedictine monks, and 7,000 Benedictine nuns and 10,000 active Benedictine Sisters.

The purpose and goal of the monastic life is to seek and find God, using the tools of poverty, humility and obedience – and then to do his holy will. The Benedictine way is a sure-fired way to do that – not only in a formal way by joining the Order proper, but there are thousands who belong in the Professed Oblate Program – and there are many other organizations and groupings that adhere to the chief tenets of the grand and glorious, tried, tested and true Rule of St. Benedict! [We are such an association – and we are thankful to Benedict, and for his Rule.]

Just as Jesus assures Peter (in the gospel passage) that he will receive a great deal for his sacrifice, the Lord assures us the same; and Peter received his reward because he did all for love of Jesus; may we do the same – armed by the mighty and ancient Holy Rule of the Saintly Patriarch of Nursia!