Thoughts on hardened hearts

 

Open Hearts

From: Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life

When I relate to my past with remorse, shame, or guilt, the danger is that I will harden my heart and be unable to discern the divine presence within and without. When my heart is hardened, it is closed, unavailable, and cold. A hardened heart is a heart in which remorse has turned into morbid introspection, shame into low self-esteem, and guilt into defensiveness. When I keep thinking about myself and my motivations, constantly comparing myself with others and trying to defend my behavior, I am becoming more and more self-centered, and the divine love diminishes in me…. Awakening to the presence of Christ can heal the wounds of my memory. Opening our hearts to the divine presence in the present moment, thus transforming our emotions and healing our memories, is a great challenge of the spiritual life. The memory of the image of God in the soul can turn my stone heart into a heart of flesh, making it flexible, receptive, open, and free.

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”   - Ezekiel 36: 26

Thoughts on the apostles

 

Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles

Luke 6:12–16

Friends, today’s Gospel recounts Jesus selecting and appointing the apostles. Bible scholar and theologian N. T. Wright has explained why Jesus commissioned twelve disciples as apostles. Wright tells us that when a first-century Jew spoke of the arrival of God’s kingdom, he was taken to mean something very specific. He was announcing that the temple was going to be restored, that the proper worship of Yahweh would obtain, that the enemies of Israel would be dealt with, and that, above all, the tribes of the Lord—and through them, the tribes of the world—would be gathered. Recall the great vision from the second chapter of Isaiah: “The mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest mountain. . . . All nations shall stream toward it.” This is why Jesus chose twelve disciples, evocative of the twelve tribes. They would be the prototype and the catalyst for the gathering of Israel and hence the gathering of everyone. They would be the fundamental community and sign of unity. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on prudence

 

Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

Luke 12:39–48

Friends, in today’s Gospel, the Lord urges his disciples and us to be prudent servants, following his ways in anticipation of his coming again. Theologians often call prudence the queen of the virtues because it is the capacity to reign sovereignly over one’s life, both ordering one’s inner powers and directing one’s affairs wisely in the outside world. Prudence is that sure touch, that moral instinct that renders one capable of making the right decision under pressure and in the face of complex circumstances. Prudence is a sort of accumulated theoretical and practical wisdom, a know-how that is for the most part instinctual, in the bones. When placed in the Christian context, therefore, prudence is a feel for how Jesus would react, how he would think, how he would move in a particular situation. It is tantamount to having one’s soul gathered around Christ as its center, so that all one’s actions are informed by Jesus and his way of being in the world. Christian prudence comes from apprenticing to Christ—that is to say, moving with him, watching at close quarters how he lives and moves and gestures. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on shame

 

Converting Shame to Compassion

From: Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life

Remembering Christ transforms remorse into contrition, for “a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Ps. 51:17 NSRV). Remembrance of Christ converts shame to compassion, which allows us to reach out to others who share our struggles. And the memory of Christ prevents guilt from overwhelming us and makes us receptive to forgiveness. The memory of Christ is thus a healing, spiritually therapeutic memory. By remembering my life and struggles in the light of Christ's presence, my past is redeemed and can become an occasion for thanksgiving and praise.

“My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”   - Psalm 51: 17

Thoughts on almsgiving

 

Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Luke 11:37–41

Friends, Jesus concludes today’s Gospel by prescribing giving alms as a key to holiness. I’ve quoted to you before some of the breathtaking remarks of saints and popes about almsgiving. Leo XIII says that once the demands of necessity and propriety have been met, the rest of your money belongs to the poor. John Chrysostom says, “The man who has two shirts in his closet, one belongs to him; the other belongs to the man who has no shirt.” The deepest root of all of this is in the prophets, who continually rail against those who are indifferent to the poor. The prophets teach us that compassion is key to biblical ethics, feeling the pain of others in our own hearts. We’re not dealing with an abstract Aristotelian moral philosophy but rather with something more visceral. This is precisely why the two great commandments are so tightly linked: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart . . . and love your neighbor as yourself.” In loving God you feel the feelings of God, and God is compassionate to the poor and oppressed. That’s all the argument that a biblical person needs. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on confession

 

Incarnational Living

Confession and forgiveness are precisely the disciplines by which spiritualization and carnality can be avoided and true incarnation lived. Through confession, the dark powers are taken out of their carnal isolation, brought into the light, and made visible to the community. Through forgiveness, they are disarmed and dispelled and a new integration between body and spirit is made possible.

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”   - James 5: 16

Thoughts on giving thanks

We hear and say the word “thanks” fairly often, though perhaps not often enough and usually without much thought. Thanksgiving Day is our most popular national holiday, yet many folks do not recognize or acknowledge the religious dimension of that day. Last Sunday’s master-servant parable reminded us that we are God’s servants and have no reason to expect God to thank us for doing what God asks of us. But while God may have no obligation to thank us, we have an obligation to thank God. Today’s Scripture readings can help us to understand better the rich biblical concept of thanksgiving.

 

In the Bible, to give thanks means to state publicly that God is at work. It involves public witness. It could be in response to the creation of the world or, more personally, it could be in response to having been rescued from danger or illness. In this Sunday’s first reading, the healing of Naaman the Syrian from contagious skin disease is a good example of the biblical approach to thanksgiving. So is the Gospel story of the cleansing of the 10 individuals with leprosy. Those with leprosy believed in Jesus’ power to heal, and on their way the 10 found themselves to have been miraculously healed. All’s well that ends well, but not quite! Only one of those healed returns to Jesus to give public witness to God about his healing. 

 

In our lives, public witness doesn’t necessitate posting expressions of gratitude on websites, parish bulletins, or social media. It does mean living our gratitude in such a way that no one can doubt that God is the Giver of all Gifts. It means helping others to see that we and they should never forget the Giver who is behind the gifts.

Fr Frank Reale, SJ

Thoughts on social conventions

 

Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary

Luke 10:38–42

Friends, today’s Gospel is the story of Martha and Mary. I’d like to offer a fresh take on this famous little story. One of the principal marks of Jesus’s teaching and ministry is the overturning of social conventions. And one of the most striking and surprising of Jesus’s moves was a radical inclusion of women.    While this typically women’s work was going on, men would sit out in the main room of the residence and talk. If a prominent rabbi or Pharisee were present, the men would sit at his feet and listen to his words.   Now we can see why Mary’s attitude was so offensive to Martha and probably to everyone else in the room. Martha wasn’t simply mad that Mary was giving her more work to do; she was mad that Mary had the gall to assume the stance of a man, to take up her position in the men’s space.   In his response to Martha’s complaint, Jesus signals more than a preference for listening over acting; he invites a woman into full participation in the life of discipleship. “Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on the Good Samaritan

 

Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Luke 10:25–37

Friends, our Gospel today is one of the best known of Jesus’s parables, the story of the Good Samaritan. Every story, parable, illustration, and exhortation is, at the end of the day, a picture of the Lord.   In one of the great windows of Chartres Cathedral, there is an intertwining of two stories: the account of the fall of mankind and the parable of the Good Samaritan. This reflects a connection that was made by the Church Fathers. The Good Samaritan is a symbol of Jesus himself, in his role as Savior of the world.   Now our task is to be other Christs. “Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus says to him, “Go and do likewise.”   We spend our lives now looking for those people stranded by the road, victimized by sin. We don’t walk by, indifferent to them, but rather we do what Jesus did—even for those who are our natural enemies, even for those who frighten us. And we bring the Church’s power to bear, pouring in the oil and wine of compassion, communicating the power of Christ’s cross. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on life issues

During October, under the patronage of Mary, we are reminded in a particular way of the ongoing challenge of reverencing, respecting and defending life in all stages and faces. Life issues are many, among which are abortion, domestic violence, human trafficking, capital punishment, immigration, homelessness, and proper respect for and care of the elderly.  Another life issue, as Pope Francis often emphasized – and which Pope Leo recently reiterated – is care for the earth.

 

It seems to me that most “social justice” issues are also life issues, since they address the quality of human life both in the present and in the future.  

 

Early October often finds us approaching another set of civil elections. This year, however, is an “off year” in regard to federal elections. That said, the opportunity to exercise responsibility for our society’s well-being is ongoing as we continue to engage in what are generally characterized as political issues. Politics and elections are by definition competitive; sadly, they are also often contentious in a way that calls into question our common commitment to truth, justice, life and the common good.  The U.S. bishops repeatedly have reminded us that we should participate in the political process in a manner that is worthy of our human and Christian dignity.  And, they have emphasized that we should analyze issues for their social and moral dimensions, not just in regard to how they impact self-interest or ideology.

 

It is easy to fall into facile, black-and-white thinking.  It is not so easy to bring reflection to our political stances.   It is even more difficult to do so with that true spiritual freedom which enables us to recognize, and act upon, the moral and ethical importance of our choices. In October, let us pray, through the intercession of Mary, that all of us will be granted the wisdom and freedom we need to engage in political realities.



Fr Frank Reale, SJ

Thoughts on Guardian Angels

 

Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels

Matthew 18:1–5, 10

Friends, today we celebrate the Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels. Well, is it reasonable to believe in angels? Look at the wild variety in the visible universe—the millions of species of animals, the billions of galaxies, the myriad shells that wash up on the seashore, the incalculable number of cells in each human body. Is it likely that, between this staggeringly variegated physical dimension of creation and God, there simply yawns a great ontological abyss? Isn’t it likely to hold that God has manifested at least an equally great creativity in regard to the purely spiritual order?  But why would God send these spiritual messengers to help us? Why wouldn’t he just take care of us himself? Those questions, of course, are born of a frame of mind that sets God and his world in competition. On the Catholic reading, God delights in using secondary causes, so that his creatures can participate in his active providence of the universe. Aquinas says that each of us, due to our changeable and fallible nature, has been assigned a heavenly guide. Once we’re in heaven, we won’t require a guide anymore, and our angel will become our friend.  Bishop Robert Barron