Thoughts on mercy

 

Memorial of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Religious

Luke 18:35–43

Friends, today in the Gospel passage, we see Jesus’s mercy toward the blind man as a hallmark of his ministry. Jesus comes as healer, savior, inaugurator of the kingdom. He is the embodiment of hope. Jesus wanted to connect human suffering to the very source of life and health. The energy of God pours through him to the needy. Now, I realize a question may be forming in your mind: “Well, why doesn’t he simply cure everyone then?” The answer is obviously wrapped up in the mystery of God’s will, but the important point is this: Jesus is healer in many senses, but ultimately in the sense that he heals us from sin and death, not only physical maladies. What appears historically in Jesus is an eschatological anticipation, a hint and foreshadowing of what is coming in God’s time and in God’s way.  Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on persistent prayer

 

Thirty-Second Week in Ordinary Time

Luke 18:1–8

Friends, in our Gospel today, Jesus tells his disciples “a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary”—the parable of the insistent and persistent widow. She keeps pressing her demand against the judge, and the judge—who is no saint—finally gives in to her persistence. When we rely on our own powers in the spiritual struggle against darkness, hatred, and division, we fail. But when we open ourselves to the infinite power of God and rely on the power of prayer, then the battle goes well. As the Lord says in the parable, “Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them?” We must channel a power that goes infinitely beyond ourselves if we are to be successful. God wants us to persist in asking for his power, his courage, and his strength. This biblical truth is repeated over and over in the Scriptures. Persistent prayer is the key to success in our spiritual combat.  Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on the "Final Days"

As we approach the end of our liturgical year our readings turn toward what we could refer to as the “the final days,” the completion of God’s creation. There is strong language describing the events that will take place, urgent statements about being prepared for the coming of these days. Down through the years some people have taken the language and the images literally—in a fundamentalist way. But the “end” has not come in those terms.

By and large, we do not live expecting the final reckoning to come anytime soon, and we try to make sense of the time in between the coming of Jesus and His final coming. We long for and eagerly await the redemption promised to us by God. (This redemption is primarily rescue from evil and the fulfillment of God’s desires for us and all of creation.)

Perhaps more than ever, as the human community we are aware of the global crisis in economic, social, and ecological terms. In view view of our own social and global situation, as well as our personal moral responsibility, Jesus summons us to conversion. But, in the end, his words to us in this week’s Gospel are words of promise and hope: the kingdom, the realm of God is within you, near you, and around you. “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

And so, as we await the fulfillment of God’s salvation for us, we might pray for the grace to redeem our time with eager service, and the grace to go forward in the light of God’s commands and God’s strength.

Len Kraus, S.J.

Thoughts on joy

 

Joy Remains

From: Following Jesus: Finding Our Way Home in an Age of Anxiety

What we have to start sensing is that in the spiritual life, joy is embracing sorrow and happiness, pain and pleasure. It is deeper, fuller. It is more. It is something that remains with us. It is something of God that is very profound. It is something we can experience even when we are in touch with very painful things in our lives. If there is anything the church wants to teach us it is that the joy of God can be with us always – in moments of sickness, in moments of health, in moments of success, in moments of failure, in moments of birth, in moments of death. The joy of God is never going to leave us.

“The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.”   - Psalm 19: 8

Thoughts on obedience

 

Memorial of Saint Martin of Tours, Bishop

Luke 17:7–10

Friends, today’s Gospel describes the obedience of a faithful servant. Our lives are not about us; they are about the King. We are built not for commanding others but for obedience. In the presence of the awesome lordliness of God—that mind and will whose grandeur we can barely fathom—we bow, we listen, we surrender. The Lord is the King, the one who commands, directs, and oversees, and who, accordingly, demands obedience. For a military tribe such as the ancient Hebrews, this term had, to be sure, an especially powerful resonance. The proper response to a king is obedience. The king commands, and the servant responds—simply, promptly, unhesitatingly. A courtier or a messenger might not understand the rationale for, or consequences of, what the king has told him to do, but he does it, trusting in the wisdom and power of the one who sends him. The word “obey” is derived from the Latin obedire, to listen attentively, to heed. In the presence of God the Lord, we his servants should listen, bending our ears and our wills to his word. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on money

 

Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time

Luke 16:9–15

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches us to approach wealth with wisdom. Let me quote a sermon of St. John Chrysostom on the right approach to money: “Those who love money are fierce in the pursuit of it, like wild animals pursuing their prey. They betray, cheat, or exploit their closest friend when there is gold and silver to be gained. They learn to make their consciences as numb as fingers on a cold day. Their eyes become blind to the suffering they cause, and their ears deaf to the cries of those whose lives are ruined by them.” Those are strong words, and they shook the people at the time who heard them. And they shake us today. But can you hear he’s speaking in the tones of Jesus? What’s the ground of all this for John Chrysostom? Why does he say it? It’s very clear. Because everything we have—our bodies, our life, our breath, our minds, our accomplishments, and, yes, our wealth—is a sheer gift given to us by a generous God, and, therefore, it ought never to be hoarded for our own purposes but always used for God’s purposes. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on God's presence

This Sunday we are celebrating the feast of the Dedication of the Church of St. John Lateran. It might seem surprising that on a Sunday we would be celebrating a Church building. In fact, we are not simply celebrating this Church building. Our scripture readings lead us to see that we are celebrating the sacred presence and deep desire of God for all of us: “Behold God’s dwelling with the human race. God will dwell with them, and they will be God’s people.”

Our Opening Prayer for this feast makes clear the meaning of our celebration: “O God, who from living and chosen stones prepare an eternal dwelling for your majesty, increase in your Church the spirit of grace you have bestowed.” A building, then, (St. John Lateran is the oldest Church in Rome and the cathedral church of Pope Leo XIV) can be the symbol of meaning for a people, an expression of all that is true and good and beautiful, the ultimate hope and desire of God’s people.

Our Gospel passage on this feast has Jesus coming to Jerusalem near Passover time and visiting the Temple. He did not like what he saw—the core of faith had been co-opted into commodity transactions (“…stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”) The Temple for him represented the presence and deep love of God for us. Each visit was a reminder of the hope and promise held out to all of humanity.

So, most importantly, what we celebrate this Sunday is that same reminder, found in a special way in the sacred places we revere, places where we find God’s presence, but also a reminder of the truth about ourselves: “You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you.” We can, indeed, give thanks for all the ways that God finds to keep us close and celebrating!



Len Kraus, S.J.