Tag: Jesus

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04 Second Sunday of Advent

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Mass Readings

Second Sunday of Advent 
Reading 1 – Baruch 5:1-9
Psalm – Psalm 126: 1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
Reading 2 – Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11
Gospel – Luke 3:1-6

In today’s Gospel, Luke 3:1-6, we hear about John the Baptist. The reading tells us that he is the voice crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord…”

Why does God send John the Baptist ahead of Jesus?

Well, I think it ties well to what we discussed in last week’s episode, where sometimes Jesus is knocking on our door, but for whatever reason we don’t respond. So Jesus will try to come to us through other people. That helps me understand why John the Baptist was necessary then and why he so important to us today.

Who was John preaching to? Well, he wasn’t just talking to the establishment Jews who tolerated the Roman authorities and were tolerated by the Roman authorities. He was also speaking to the everyday person, people who were perhaps caught up in their own lives, going about their everyday routine. But he also preached to people who were caught up in their pious devotions. You know, sometimes it’s easy to get lost in pious devotion that we forget why we are praying. So John the Baptist was trying to get through to people by saying it’s God we’re supposed to be worshipping and it’s the Messiah we’re waiting for.

That’s a similar trap that I think many Christians fall into. I have experienced people so immersed in a particular devotion, but who clearly aren’t convicted as disciples of Jesus. Maybe you know the type. Perhaps that person is a real grouch or just plain mean or totally focused on themselves. In other words, there is no real transformation in their lives. Pious devotion isn’t about loading up your holy roller disco card. No, it’s about deepening your relationship with Jesus Christ. It’s about making a connection; having an encounter with Jesus, and that encounter should change the way we live our lives. If I’m not changing or growing in discipleship through pious devotions, then perhaps my acts of piety are a distraction. Maybe the voice calling out in the desert is trying to remind us that my piety should be oriented to Jesus – that it is Jesus who saves.

For others, perhaps it’s not piety that distracts us, but the busyness of our lives. What do I mean? Well, certainly, we can get caught up in our everyday lives and in the world around us. We wake up in the morning, and it’s all go, go, go, go! Then at the end of the day, we sit down and think, “Where did the day go?” Perhaps the voice crying out in the desert is trying to say slow down and appreciate the gifts God has given us. You can find Him in nature all around us; in the people we see every day; and in our friends and family. Maybe the voice calling out in the desert is trying to remind us that the rat race can’t save us. Only Jesus saves.

Perhaps others get too caught up in the world they build for themselves. Society tells us that we are kings of our own castles. Being a king means I should ask, “what’s in it for me?”

This is a great challenge especially for Christians living in the United States. For example, someone might say, as people have said to me, “Well, the tax law has changed, so I’m not getting the same tax benefit for my donation. I will not be able to give money to support your ministry helping orphans in Honduras through Friends of Los Niños.” Or they try to justify themselves and say, “I’m really upset about the scandal rocking the Church today so I’m not going to give to my parish and I’m not going to give to the diocesan capital campaign.” But our Christian faith tells us we are not supposed to be kings dripping with wealth, but stewards. We’re supposed to take care of our gifts and wealth for the building up of God’s kingdom, not to own wealth for our exclusive benefit.

Perhaps the voice crying out in the desert is saying don’t get so caught up in the world, don’t stubbornly try to control the world around you. My 401k, my bank account, my stock portfolio can’t save. Only Jesus saves.

Homework: Nourished by the Eucharist and by the Word of God proclaimed, ask yourself:

  1. How attached am I to my possessions? Am I too quick to make excuses why I can’t make a donation to charitable causes this year?
  2. Is my faith the best kept secret, a private devotion, or am I willing to share my faith with others?

I think by doing our homework this Advent season, we might be better able to hear the voice crying out in the wilderness and recognize the opportunity to have an encounter with Jesus Christ, an encounter that leads to transformation, transformation that leads to salvation.

Ok, does everyone understand the homework? So, are you going to do your homework? Well, good! For a copy of today’s reflection, head over to our website, https://www.deaconrudysnotes.org/. May each of us this Advent season come to know the grace and peace of our Lord, Jesus Christ. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. +Amen

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Jesus Heals the Blind Man

Jesus heals the blind man

Mass Readings

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
En Español

Reading 1 – Jeremiah 31:7-9
Psalm – Psalm 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
Reading 2 – Hebrews 5:1-6
Gospel – Mark 10:46-52

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Our readings from this past weekend have many interesting themes: blindness, calling and light. These readings are trying to cut through the sadness and human suffering of our day, from Central America to Pittsburg and beyond. It’s easy to nod our heads and say, “Right on, Deacon!” But the question is, what are you going to do about it?

Our readings open with Jeremiah who speaks of gathering in those scattered by the Exile: I will gather them from the ends of the world, with the blind and the lame in their midst, the mothers and those with child; they shall return as an immense throng. This theme of gathering in the scattered sheep reflects the two great hinges of the Old Testament, of Hebrew Scriptures: the Exodus and the first and second exiles which together are the Exile. This promise and this hope is not just a desire to bring them home physically, but also a desire to bring them home spiritually. It is God’s call to bring His people back out of darkness, out of blindness and into His Light.

And so it’s no surprise then that we find in the Gospel the story about a man named Bartimaeus who lived in the darkness of his blindness. He called out to Jesus and begged for help.

What was the response of those around Jesus? They rebuked him!

But Jesus stops and says, “Call him.”

How does God call us? In the Letter to the Hebrews, we read, “No one takes his honor upon himself but only when called by God…” How does God call us?

God who knows our sins, but calls us by our name!

This is in direct contrast to Satan, the great deceiver who knows our name, but calls us by our sins!

Wow!

Think about how the deceiver calls you. “You’re not good enough!” he whispers in our ears. “You’re too fat!” “You’re on drugs!” “You’re a drunk!” “You’re worthless!” I wonder what the people who rebuked Bartimaeus said to him as he called out to Jesus. Was it so different?

“Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.”

I think those people around Jesus who rebuked Bartimaeus suffered a spiritual blindness that was just as profound at blocking out the world as Bartimaeus’ physical blindness! It was just as profound as the scattered sheep of Israel Jeremiah preaches about. But Jesus called him anyway. How does Bartimaeus respond? He immediately jumped to his feet, threw away his cloak and ran to Jesus. Once healed, instead of leaving Jesus, he stayed with him and followed.  Doesn’t that sound like discipleship? There’s two parts here: first Jesus called Bartimaeus out of darkness back home, and then Bartimaeus followed him. That’s critical! God calls us, but God will never force Himself on us. He gives us the freedom to choose. Bartimaeus followed Jesus. How do we live our faith? Do we follow Jesus, or do we prefer to wallow in the darkness of the world? Faith is our response to God’s call.

Consider this, how do we call other people? What are the first thoughts of other people? “Oh, that’s the cheater; the drunk; the druggie; the crook; the immigrant-lover; the gun-lover; the bleeding-heart, the Jew, the terrorist.” Is that how we answer God’s call?

Now this is important: sin is not just personal.

Sin can also exist in our institutions, that is, in our government and in our businesses. We call that institutional sin. But institutional sin is not a phenomena independent of us as individuals. NO! We allow institutional sin. We encourage it. We expect it. I’m not talking politics here. This is bigger than either party and frankly both parties are a huge part of the problem. What do I mean?

It is the institutional sin of public policy and business that exploits third world countries because we demand cheap clothes, or poorly-made trinkets and junk we might use only once. It is a sin reflected from our hypocritical demand for a just wage, but that turns a blind eye to child laborers in southeast Asia. It is a sin reflected from our desire for cheap and perfect looking fruits and vegetables like Honduran bananas at 48 cents per pound, but turns a blind eye to the average Honduran worker who can’t feed his family because he only earns about $1 per day. It is a sin reflected from our shock and sadness over human tragedies like the Central American migrant caravan or the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue, but turns a blind eye to leaders who applaud violence or admire repressive governments. It is institutional sin to suggest only government has the right solutions, assuming people are too ignorant to do the “right thing”.

Perhaps these contradictions are good enough for them, but we are Christians! Difficult as it is, we have to judge public and business policies not with the blind eyes of the world shrouded in darkness, but with Christian eyes bathed in light.

Bartimaeus lived in darkness. He answered when Jesus called him. He was healed and then he walked with Jesus. Like Bartimaeus, we must allow the healing power of Jesus to wash over us so that we can be healed from the darkness of this world!

The Christian, you and me, we have been called by Jesus through our baptism. We are healed. We received the light of Christ and we follow Him. In the Psalms we read, “The Lord has done great things for them. The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad indeed.” How do we show it? There are no armchair quarterbacks or pew warmers in church!

As healed disciples, we must share Christ’s love with others and that starts with the people we encounter everyday – the guy who cut us in traffic or pushed us as we tried to board the train/tram/bus; the waiter who can never seem to get our order right; the cashier who messed up our change; and most especially to our families and our friends. By sharing Christ’s love, we allow Jesus to kindle the light we received as disciples so that we can bring His light into a dark world that desperately needs hope. We need to share our light.

Everywhere I go, I’m gonna let it shine. Everywhere I go, I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Homework! Contemplating on Jesus who we encountered this weekend at church in the healing power of reconciliation, in the Word we heard proclaimed, in the Eucharist we received, there are three things I ask:

  1. Be humble. Jesus wants to heal you and to heal me. Our response shouldn’t be, “I’m not worthy.” Our response should be, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
  2. Don’t let them stop you. The world will tell us to be quiet – to not reach out to Jesus. The world will say that Jesus can’t fix our problems whether its immigration or gun violence or whatever. Don’t be distracted by political rhetoric of the left or the right. Our response should be, “Son of David, have pity on me!”
  3. Let go of the past. We can be blinded by past hurts and politics. Just as Bartimaeus immediately jumped to his feet, threw away his cloak and ran to Jesus, look away from the darkness and toward Jesus the Light.

If you haven’t been to church in a while, or if you go to church every weekend, but simply go through the motions, I encourage you to listen to the invitation from the Gospel: Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.

I think that by doing our homework, we will not only grow in our faith, but bring the light of Jesus to heal our corner of the world.

Got it? Get it? Are you going to do it? Good! May each of us receive the healing grace and love of Jesus Christ. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. +Amen!

Image: Healing the Blind Man, by Morgan Weistling.

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Memorial of St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr

Drawing of Saint Lawrence on a gridiron being tended by two servants with prefect and crowd looking onToday we remember St. Lawrence. We don’t worship him. We only worship God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But we remember Lawrence and we honor his memory.

Why? Why does the Church lift up some people and call them saints and why should I care to learn anything about them?

Before you read any further, I need to share a concern of mine. I continue to find myself bogged down in intense conversations based on misunderstandings. I, like so many, often get bogged down by vocabulary. In some recent interactions, I’ve found myself in “conversations” where two of us were talking past each other because we didn’t understand or we didn’t try to understand the words we both were using. Wars have started that way. So, I encourage you to try not to get distracted by the words I use, but rather try to understand my point.

There’s a great article on saints that I’d encourage you to read if you have you’d like to go a little deeper:

https://www.osv.com/Article/TabId/493/ArtMID/13569/ArticleID/15445/What-Is-the-Communion-of-Saints.aspx.

Here’s my point. All disciples of Jesus, that is all baptized Christians, are called to be holy. Let’s face it, that’s often easier said than done. It’s too easy to say, “I can’t be a saint because of the sin in my life,” or “if they only knew, I’d be kicked out.” So some fall into a trap of despair and find solace at the end of a bottle or some other distraction like drugs.

But the Church lifts up people as examples to us to show us that it’s never too late and that even me, with all my sin, can serve the Kingdom of God.

Take Augustine, for example. He was a womanizer, had a child out of wedlock, loved to party, drank and smoked excessively, among other things. Yet he was able to overcome his sinfulness and allow God to work through him. His writings continue to inspire Catholics, Protestants and Evangelicals right up today. So we remember him. We honor him. But we never worship him.

How was Augustine able to overcome sin? Through an extraordinary act of faith, he surrendered his life to Jesus. We call that heroic virtue.

Look at his mom, St. Monica, who never lost faith that God had a plan for her son. So she prayed. I’m sure she lectured him, probably yelled a little and cried a lot or yelled alot and cried a little. Ultimately she knew that nothing she did would save Augustine. Only Jesus could save him. So she prayed him home.

Monica, who demonstrated heroic virtue, is an example of the extraordinary faith of a parent. The Church gives her to us as an example to parents everywhere that you should never lose hope for your children.

Today we remember Lawrence, a deacon of the early church. In the year 258, Pope Sixtus II and others were being led out to die. The Prefect demanded that Lawrence give him the wealth of the Church. Lawrence asked for a few days to gather it all up. During that time, he managed to disperse most of it to the poor. Days later the Prefect demanded that he produce the wealth. Lawrence lead in the poor, the disabled and the blind and presented them as the real treasure of the church.

The Prefect ordered Lawrence to be slowly cooked to death on a gridiron – basically a giant bbq. After some time, Lawrence yells out in a deliciously humorous and sarcastic way, “Turn me over! I am well done on this side!”

It took extraordinary faith, heroic virtue, for Lawrence to stand up to the Prefect (and to try to educate him in what true wealth was). He could have used the time the Prefect gave him to run away with the money, but instead he gave it away to the poor. He was able to face his death because his faith was in Jesus Christ, his Lord and Savior, not in the Prefect and certainly not in all this world has to offer.

These are just three examples, but every saint has a story. It’s those stories that shed light on the good as well as the bad and sometimes ugly side of the people we call saints. But it’s not about the saints, not really. Those life stories hold opportunities that might be helpful to us.

Is every saint’s story helpful to everyone one of us? No, I don’t think so. I think that’s why the Church offers so many examples from the early church right up to the present. Somewhere throughout history each of us is bound to find at least one example that might spark something in us. What is it the Church hopes is sparked? It’s not about the saint, not really.

Through these stories of the of the lives of the saints, the Church hopes we might experience an encounter – an encounter with Jesus Christ; an encounter that leads to transformation; a transformation that leads to discipleship and salvation through Christ Jesus.

Happy St. Lawrence day!

Peace!