Thoughts on grace

 

Luke 5:1–11

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus climbs into Peter’s boat without asking permission. He simply commandeers this vessel that is central to the fisherman’s life and commences to give orders. This represents something of enormous moment: the invasion of grace. Though God respects our relative independence, he is not the least bit content to leave us in a “natural” state. Instead, he wants to live in us, to become the Lord of our lives, moving into our minds, wills, bodies, imaginations, nerves, and bones. This commandeering of nature by grace does not involve the compromising of nature but rather its perfection and elevation. When Jesus moves into the house of the soul, the powers of the soul are heightened and properly directed; when Jesus commands the boat of the natural human life, that life is preserved, strengthened, and given a new orientation. This is signaled symbolically by the Lord’s directive to put out into the deep water. On our own, we can know and will within a very narrow range, seeking those goods and truths that appear within the horizon of our natural consciousness, but when grace invades us, we are enticed into far deeper waters. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on vision

 

Having Vision

The path of power is really about a theology of weakness. We want to look with God's eyes at our experience of brokenness, limitedness, woundedness, and frailty. We want to look at them in the way that Jesus taught us to hope that such a vision will offer us a safe way to travel on earth.

“For this is what the high and exalted One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.” - Isaiah 57:15

Thoughts on unworthiness

5^th Sunday of Ordinary Time (C)  

Luke 5: 1-11                                                                                        

 

Many years ago when I was studying in Boston, I heard the New England Jesuits relate an anecdote  

concerning old Cardinal Cushing, who was the Archbishop of Boston for 26 years, from 1944 to 1970.      

At a memorable ordination, just as Cardinal Cushing was about to place his hands on the head of a young Jesuit, the pious ordinand began rising from his knees to stop his ordination. He was shaking his head and softly saying, “No, I am not worthy.” 

 

The formidable Cardinal Cushing was not to be put off so easily. He placed his hands on the young man’s shoulders, pushed him back to his knees, and said into his ear, “You fool! No one is!” Promptly the cardinal put his hands onto the young Jesuit’s head and ordained him a priest.  

 

Of course, Cardinal Cushing was right. No one is worthy to be ordained. No one is worthy of God’s grace. No one is worthy of God’s blessings. No one is truly worthy to receive Our Lord’s Body and Blood, soul and divinity in Holy Communion. Echoing the words of the centurion in St. Matthew’s Gospel, we pray:   

“Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, . . .”               

 

In today’s First Reading, when Isaiah is called, he knows he is unworthy. (Is. 6) 

“I am a man of unclean lips.” 

In the Epistle, when Paul is called, he knows he is unworthy. (1 Cor. 15) 

“I am the least of the apostles . . . I do not even deserve the name.” 

In the Gospel, when Peter is called, he knows that he is unworthy. (Lk. 5) 

“Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.” 

 

We are all called: We have all received the universal Christian vocation to follow Christ.   

But here’s the essential point: Although we are unworthy, our unworthiness is not an excuse for ignoring Christ’s call.    

Just as Isaiah’s lips were cleansed; just as Paul began fearlessly preaching; just as Peter began catching  

Men; so we, even in our unworthiness, must have the courage to respond and accept the call of Christ.  

 

Before the Gospel the priest silently prays, knowing his unworthiness: “Almighty God, Who cleansed the lips of the Prophet Isaiah with burning coal, cleanse my heart and my lips that I might worthily proclaim your holy Gospel.” Although unworthy, we are all called and cleansed to proclaim the Gospel in the way we live our lives. 

 

So, remember Cardinal Cushing’s brusque words to that foolish young Jesuit, “No one is worthy!” 

But be encouraged that even in our unworthiness, we are called and cleansed – like Isaiah, Paul, and Peter –  

so that the witness of our lives might catch men for Christ. 

 

Fr. Don Saunders, S.J. 

Thoughts on dark spirits

 

Memorial of Saint Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs

Mark 6:7–13

Friends, in today’s Gospel, we find Jesus sending out the Twelve on mission and giving them authority over the unclean spirits. In the sixties and seventies, it was common, even in seminaries, to dismiss such talk as primitive superstition—or perhaps to modernize it and make it a literary device, using symbolic language evocative of the struggle with evil in the abstract. But that approach just does not do justice to the Bible. The biblical authors knew all about the world of fallen or morally compromised spirits. Imagine a truly wicked person who is also very smart, talented, and enterprising. Now raise that person to a far higher pitch of ontological perfection, and you will have some idea of what a devil is like. Jesus, through his death and Resurrection, has won victory over these dark forces. And he has entrusted to his Church the means to apply this victory. These are the sacraments (especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation), the Bible, personal prayer, the Rosary, etc. Jesus sent out the Twelve to battle dark spirits. He still empowers his Church to do the same. Don’t be reluctant to use the weapons—and the healing balms—that he has given. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on true love

 

Showing Us Your Love

You, Jesus, did everything to show us your love and your Father's love. You became a small, dependent child to show us yourself in your weakness; you became a refugee in Egypt to show us your solidarity with all who are driven from their homes; you grew up in obedience to your parents to show us how close you are as we search for a true identity; you worked for many years as a simple carpenter to show us how to resist the forces of evil around us; you surrounded yourself with disciples to show us how to share our vision with others and to work together in ministry; you preached the word of God to show us your truth and how to become, ourselves, witnesses to truth; you healed the sick and raised the dead to show us that your presence gave life to the whole person, body and soul; you were transfigured to show us your divine splendour; you went the long road of suffering and death to show us that you did not want to remain an outsider even in the most painful of all human experiences. You, the eternal Word of the Father, kept making choices that brought you closer and closer to us, to reveal to us the boundless love of your heart.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" - 1 John 3: 1

Thoughts on patience

 

How an Obstacle Becomes a Door

Without patience our expectation degenerates into wishful thinking. Patience comes from the word “patior” which means to suffer. The first thing that Jesus promises is suffering: “I tell you …. you will be weeping and wailing …. and you will be sorrowful.” But he calls these birth pains. And so, what seems a hindrance becomes a way; what seems like an obstacle becomes a door; what seems a misfit becomes a cornerstone. Jesus changes our history from a series of sad incidents and accidents into a constant opportunity for a change of heart. To wait patiently therefore means to allow our weeping and wailing to become the purifying preparation by which we are made ready to receive the joy which is promised us.

“…. we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.” - Romans 8: 22

Thoughts on fear

 

Mark 4:35–41

Friends, in this wonderful story of the calming of the storm at sea, we witness the spiritual dynamics of fear and trust. Making their way across the lake, the disciples stand symbolically for all of us journeying through life. When they confront the mighty waves, they are immediately filled with terror. Similarly, when the trials and anxieties of life confront us, the first reaction is fear.  Jesus is “asleep on a cushion.” He stands for the divine power that is “asleep” within all of us. He symbolizes that divine energy which remains unaffected by the fear-storms generated by the grasping ego. At a spiritual level, we see that this divine power successfully calms the waves: “He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Quiet! Be still!’” This beautiful narrative suggests that if we but awaken to the presence of Christ within us, then we can withstand even the most frightening storms. When, at the close of the story, Jesus asks the bewildered disciples, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” he is wondering why they have not yet experienced the change of heart necessary for living in the kingdom of God. Bishop Robert Barron