For Every One Who Exalts Himself Will Be Humbled

In our Gospel (Luke 14:1, 7-14) Jesus attends meal at the “home of one of the leading Pharisees.” We are told that Jesus was “observing him carefully.” Jesus tells this parable because he noticed “how they were choosing the places of honor at the table.”

In Jewish culture a high value was placed on notions of honor and shame. At the time of Jesus, it seems social dignity was not based one’s age, but one’s social standing. Those with the highest social standing would be seated nearest to the host. The parable assumes a certain freedom to choose a seat. Those of higher social standing would think it was their right to sit near the host. This choice reveals something about the heart of the one making this choice. Those who seated themselves closer to the host reveal a desire to exalt themselves and to be noticed by others. Such behavior is not consistent with the values of the kingdom. Instead, in imitation of our Lord we should desire to be a servant and to take the lowest place.

As Jesus will say later in the Gospel,

“For which is the greater, one who sits at table, or one who serves? Is it not the one who sits at table? But I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:27).

Jesus summarizes, “For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Lk 14:11).

Like many other passages of scripture, this parable promotes the virtue of humility or restraining ourselves from aiming at great things against the workings of right reason.

In a culture which glorifies self-esteem, and a world which lauds those who pursue the dream of fame, power and financial gain, is it reasonable to consider yourself lowly and worthless?  Or even further to live your life in a way which refrains from things which are exalted, from ambition, and from the desire for a high position in the world?

At the very least such a life is very counterintuitive. We might add to this the fear that a life of humility will not lead to happiness. Yet, how many of us have met people who have achieved fame and riches, who in modern parlance are “living the life,” yet we are quick to recognize they are also the unhappiest people we have ever met?

A virtue is a disposition to act a certain way. For Christians, the cardinal virtues of temperance, justice, prudence, and fortitude are enlivened by the supernatural virtues of faith, hope and charity. The virtue of humility is a kind of helping virtue related to hope.

The basic idea of humility would seem to be to view yourself as lowly and worthless. This can occur involuntarily when one is cast down or demoted by another, as a punishment. This occurs in Jesus’ parable when the presumptuous person is moved to a lower place. The virtue of humility can also be a voluntary act. We can reflect on our own failings, and assume the lowest place in response. St. Thomas gives the basic definition for the virtue of humility, as conveying the notion of a praiseworthy self-abasement to the lowest place.” (STh., II-II q.161 a.1 ad 2).

Humility moderates the actions of our passions or emotional desires in relation to the good. We can experience both things which are attractive to our appetite causing us to hope, and things which repel our passions because of the difficulty in obtaining them, which may cause despair. (STh., II-II q. 161).

There are actually two virtues at work in relation to our desire for the good: humility and magnanimity.

St. Thomas notes, “Humility restrains the appetite from aiming at great things against right reason: while magnanimity urges the mind to great things in accord with right reason.” Humility is a moderating and restraining moral virtue, while magnanimity is moral virtue which strengthens it and urges it on.

Yet how do we know if we are thinking rightly about these things? What constitutes the use of  “right reason”? Does the requirement of humility to view yourself as lowly and worthless, cause us to abandon our intuitions toward a healthy self-esteem.

The correct use of this virtue would not be to imitate a garden worm crawling in the dirt! St. Teresa in her, Interior Castle, describes us as miserable worms^[i] who are clearly unworthy of the greatness God has bestowed upon us. She has in mind, however, caterpillars who later transform into butterflies! Yes, we remain unworthy.  Even though we truly are unworthy, we are also children of God who receive his gifts. Both of these are true at the same time.

St. Thomas urges us to use reason to consider all of our strengths and weaknesses and to consider their true origin. We can observes what God has given us, and what we have contributed. (Summa Theol., II-II, q. 161, a. 8, corp.)

On God’s side of the equation are our creation as rational beings, our supernaturalization by grace, and our redemption, but unfortunately on our side is only our sin and deficiencies. The source of all our excellence and glory is God. The truth is, if we are stripped of God’s divine plumage, what is left? We have received everything as a gift, even life itself.

How should we respond to this?

First we need to acknowledge that this is true, and then we need to employ this truth as a practical principle in daily life. We must be willing to remain in the place God has allotted to us in his divine providence, and then to diligently make use of the talents God has bestowed upon us. Notice that the adverb humbly could be added to these actions. To humbly acknowledge, to humbly employ…

The essence of true humility is docility and the subjection of our will to divine Providence. It fundamentally involves a type of self-knowledge, concerning who we are, and the source of all our goodness. St. Josemaría Escrivá notes, “Self-knowledge leads us by the hand, as it were, to humility.” (The Way, 60). Humility restrains our soul from either exceeding or falling below the measure of natural and supernatural gifts which God has bestowed upon us.

Humility is the moderate and reasonable seeking of one's own excellence. It would be false humility to not acknowledge the gifts and talents God has given us. While we must truthfully acknowledge our natural and supernatural strengths, we also remain aware that we will always remain unworthy and that God is the source of all our goodness.

This leads to a full definition; “Humility is the moral virtue by which a person, considering his deficiency, holds himself to what is low according to his measure, out of subjection to God.”^[v]

It is fairly easy to see how the process of gaining humility leads to an awareness of personal sin (CCC 1848) brought about through the prior work of the Holy Spirit (John Paul II, DeV 31 § 2) and a new saving awareness of the gift of redemption that God has offered us. In fact this is a prerequisite for conversion. In the National Directory of Catechesis our bishops note that conversion is,

“the acceptance of a personal relationship with Christ, a sincere adherence to him, and a willingness to conform one's life to his. Conversion to Christ involves making a genuine commitment to him and a personal decision to follow him as his disciple” (NDC, p. 46).

Clearly conversion is most fundamentally about the subjection of our heart, our desires and our will to God. It is a new awareness and reverence for God in our life. It is a genuine commitment to God and a personal decision to follow Jesus as his disciple. It leads to friendship with God.

It is these notions of subjection to God and reverence for God which leads many saints to see the virtue of humility as the gateway, along with detachment from earthly things, to the interior life.

St. Teresa calls humility the ointment of our souls,

“But as we have not yet arrived at this point, let us (as I said) acquire humility, sisters, for this is the ointment of our souls; and if we possess this virtue, the physician, who is God, will come and heal us, though he may delay a little.”^[vi]

St. Teresa notes that we cannot advance in the interior life without humility.  “Humility is that virtue by which our Lord suffers Himself to be overcome, and to grant us whatever we desire of Him. The first mark by which you may discover whether you possess this virtue is, to think yourselves unworthy of these favors and delights from our Lord…”^[vii]

Humility does not come to us in a vacuum. The journey begins with a relationship with God. We cannot advance without spending time with him. There is a kind of prior assumption to all the literature on growth in the interior life. Whether they are the Desert Fathers, or the early Franciscans, or the monks at the Abbey of St. Victor, it was taken for granted that time was being spent in personal prayer and meditation on the Sacred Scripture. This was for the novice. It was the beginning.

If humility is the pearl of great price, the one thing we need more than all else in our walk with the Lord, then each one of us should examine our hearts. I don’t know about you but as I look within my own soul, I have a long journey ahead. 

Recently the Church canonized, St. Josemaría Escrivá. During his lifetime he wrote a very powerful Examination of Conscience for Humility which is worth praying through.   

An Examination of Conscience for Humility

St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Furrow, 609

Allow me to remind you that among other evident signs of a lack of humility are:
—Thinking that what you do or say is better than what others do or say;
—Always wanting to get your own way;
—Arguing when you are not right or — when you are — insisting stubbornly or with bad manners;
—Giving your opinion without being asked for it, when charity does not demand you to do so;
—Despising the point of view of others;
—Not being aware that all the gifts and qualities you have are on loan;
—Not acknowledging that you are unworthy of all honor or esteem, even the ground you are treading on or the things you own;
—Mentioning yourself as an example in conversation;
—Speaking badly about yourself, so that they may form a good opinion of you, or contradict you;
—Making excuses when rebuked;
—Hiding some humiliating faults from your director, so that he may not lose the good opinion he has of you;
—Hearing praise with satisfaction, or being glad that others have spoken well of you;
—Being hurt that others are held in greater esteem than you;
—Refusing to carry out menial tasks;
—Seeking or wanting to be singled out;
—Letting drop words of self-praise in conversation, or words that might show your honesty, your wit or skill, your professional prestige...;
—Being ashamed of not having certain possessions...

 

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^[i] Saint Teresa of Ávila and John Dalton, The Interior Castle (London: T. Jones, 1852), 3, 118, 120.

^[ii] Fr. Sebastian Carlson, OP, “The Virtue of Humility” The Thomist, April, 1944 Vol. VII, No.2, p. 137.

^[iii] Ibid., p. 140.

^[iv] Ibid., p. 150

^[v] Idid., p 152.

^[vi] Saint Teresa of Ávila and John Dalton, The Interior Castle (London: T. Jones, 1852), p. 35.

^[vii] Ibid., p. 36.

  

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A Sign of Contradiction

For many people, their mental picture of Jesus is one of a very mild person and someone who never challenges anyone or rejects anyone. It is certainly true that Jesus constantly reached out those who were outside the social click of respectability. He was a friend of sinners. This characterization would not give us the whole picture, however, the same Jesus we see in the Gospels often had harsh things to say to judgmental religious people of his day.

Jesus’ words in this Gospel begin, “I have come.” This expression brings a sense of mission to what follows. Elsewhere “the one who is coming” is a designation for the long-awaited Messiah (cf. Luke 7:19–20). Earlier in our Gospel, John the Baptist's disciples are sent to ask Jesus, “Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Luke 7:19). Jesus answers their question by pointing to his fulfillment of the coming of the Holy Spirit in Isaiah 61, which is manifest in Jesus’ works and ministry among the people.

Jesus’ next words are anything but mild. He proclaims, "I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!”

Fire is most often a sign of divine judgement in the Bible. It is destructive and sometimes purifies. Fire is a mixed metaphor, however, as sometimes it can be beneficial or even bring a comfort. In reference to messianic prophecies, John the Baptist promised that the one coming after him would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Luke 3:16).

Later in the Book of Acts, the Holy Spirit descends as a nondestructive fire at Pentecost (Acts 2:3) to bring blessing, and to advance the kingdom. This type of fire connected with the Holy Spirit is more like the presence of God in his glory, than in his judgement.

The difference between blessing and judgment may relate to how each heart is prepared to receive this fire. While the notion of fire may well continue to have the connotation of divine judgement, this judgment is taken up in the death of Jesus on the cross to produce mercy for those who respond to the good news.

Jesus continues “There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!” Since Jesus has already been baptized by John the Baptist, he is not referring to normal baptism with water.

Instead, it is a clear reference to Jesus’ death. In Mark 10:38–39 Jesus repeats a similar saying and makes it clear he has his death in mind. Jesus’ death is a prototype of later Christian martyrdom or a baptism of blood.

This is how Jesus’ “baptism” by death was understood in Christian traditions beginning with Irenaeus in the late second century. Some have objected that this interpretation is too broad and is reading later traditions back into Jesus’ words, since Jesus is referring here to his own death. But as we see in Mark’s parallel (Mark 10:38–39) the apostles are invited to share in the same fate.

Another consideration is the interpretation of Jesus’s death by the earliest Christian traditions. St. Paul reminds the Romans:

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (RSVCE2, Romans 6:3-6, cf. Colossians 2:11-12).

Baptism is compared to Jesus dying and rising again. Our own Baptism results in our being united to Christ in his death, to being in Christ, and one with his body (Galatians 3:27). In Baptism all share in Christ’s death. The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit is also tied to Baptism (1 Corinthians 6:11; 12:13) but requires our cooperation through repentance and faith (Acts 2:38).

Jesus' final point is that the Gospel message will be a sign of contradiction in our world. Jesus asks,

Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.

Perhaps very surprising to some modern conceptions of Jesus, our Gospel says that Jesus has come to bring disunity or literally a word meaning “division into partisan and contentious units.” How can Jesus say this? Does he not come to bring us peace? It is not that God does not desire to bring us peace, but rather that only some will experience or receive the peace of Christ. Many will choose to reject the message and will not receive peace.

Earlier in Luke’s Gospel Jesus sends out the 72 disciples and instructs them, “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace shall rest upon him; but if not, it shall return to you” (Luke 10:5–6). While the peace of Christ is available to all, many will reject it. It is our response to the Gospel that determines our peace.

The Jesus we see in the Gospels is not content to leave us to our own ideas, he challenges us. In his first words of public ministry he proclaims, “Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15), or “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17). In Luke’s Gospel Jesus demonstrates his teaching with authority and power. The call to follow him results in the earliest apostles leaving everything and following him (Luke 5:11). Jesus message literally turns their lives upside down.

In our modern world, many Christians seem to think the highest Gospel value is being nice and not giving offence. We might even call this preaching the Gospel of Nice. In the name of cherished values such as accepting others and not being judgmental, we have made our highest modern value to not give offence. We should not risk challenging anyone to live differently that they desire to live following their unhampered freedom to do their own thing. We don't want to say anything that might cause someone else to be offended. Giving offence or triggering someone is a kind of new cardinal sin.

In such a world it is difficult to disagree with anyone or to have a civil conversation about differences without being cancelled as an antediluvian barbarian. There seems to be a great lack in the ability to engage in emotional regulation, to show empathy, to seek to understand. Instead, we angrily burn the bridges and cancel the other person in a flurry of name-calling.

How can we imitate Jesus in such a world?

Yes, we are to be loving, and gentle with our neighbor (Matthew 5:16, 1 Peter 3:15-16), no, we should not treat others in judgmental contempt (Matthew 7:1), but a faithful proclamation of the Gospel is a sign of contradiction which often results in rejection and suffering. Many times, it even results in martyrdom.

In this very Gospel Jesus warns us that we must put our faith above our allegiance to family and friends and be willing to be despised and rejected, just as Jesus was. Of course, not by being a meanspirited self-righteous religious person!

Yet, lovingly proclaiming the truth of the Gospel will often require each one of us to "take up his cross" and follow him (Luke 10:23). While Christ has come to offer each one of us personal peace, he has not promised “peace of earth,” but division. Jesus is a sign of contradiction in this world.

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Ask the Master of the Harvest to Send out Laborers for his Harvest

In in the readings for the Fourteenth Sunday in ordinary time we see Jesus send out 72 of his disciples on a ministry trip. It seems clear that this was a type of practicum, or work experience training in their formation as Jesus’ disciples.

We might ask, what does this passage mean to me today?

If we ask someone about his or her profession, “Are you an accountant? or “Are you a sales representative for this drug company? They would easily reply, “Yes, I am.” They would have no trouble explaining what they do in the day-to-day life of their profession.

A problem arises, however, when we asks someone, “Are you a disciple of Jesus?” Although disciple is an extremely common word in the Bible, many Catholics do not have a clear idea of what it means to be a disciple. We are not used to someone asking us if we are a disciple. With hesitation we might say, “Yes, I am a disciple of Jesus.”

If an unchurched person, asked us to explain what a disciple is, perhaps we would say that being a disciple is not like a profession, but it is a volunteer activity, which involves joining a group with a minimum commitment of one hour per week, and occasional volunteer work.

The problem is, this is not at all what a disciple is in the Bible. The word disciple (Gr. mathētēs) comes from the verb ‘to learn.’[i]  I'll warn you though, that this gives entirely the wrong impression when we think of this today. Disciple is not a special religious or Jewish word. Greek philosophers also had disciples. A disciple was a follower of a master, or in the Jewish world a rabbi.

Unlike the way we conduct modern education, discipleship was much more of an apprenticeship. Disciples did received the master’s teaching and passed it down to later disciples. The teaching was most often oral. While this teaching was essential, the most important part of the process was to follow or imitate the master to see how this teaching was lived in the walk or life of the master.

For Jewish rabbis, the disciple was expected to demonstrate shimmush, “attending upon and coming under the influence of” the teacher.[ii] They were required to imitate the halakhah (or the walk of the rabbi). The walk of the rabbi demonstrated the application of the Law to life.

How did the early Christians understand discipleship? St. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold fast to the traditions, just as I handed them on to you” (1 Cor. 11:1-2). Earlier in this letter, St Paul writes writes,

Therefore, I urge you, be imitators of me. For this reason I am sending you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord; he will remind you of my ways in Christ [Jesus], just as I teach them everywhere in every church (1 Cor. 4:16-17).

Paul is able to say I want you to imitate Jesus by imitating me—so I am sending you Timothy. Because of the notion of discipleship, one is able to imitate Paul by imitating Timothy. As St. Paul’s disciple, Timothy is a perfect living embodiment of Paul.

Being a disciple is not an added extra for some Christians, all Christians are disciples.

Pope Francis has reminded us, all Christians are missionary disciples. “In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples (cf. Mt 28:19)” (Evangelii Gaudium 120). 

While we do not need to imitate the specific cultural details in our Gospel passage, Jesus words still apply to each one of us today. Jesus’ urgent appeal in our Gospel is directed to each one of us, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest” (Luke 10:2).

Today, some Catholics have tried to adjust Jesus' mandate to preach the Gospel, by quoting a saying falsely attributed to St. Francis, “Preach the Gospel at all times, use words if necessary.” St. Francis never said this, and when we look at the life of Francis, he definitely preach the Gospel also using words. 

Perhaps our intuition is correct, however, that many unchurched people do not read the Gospels, but instead read the life of Christians. If Christians are hypocritical and poor examples of what a disciple is, then the message of the Gospel is undermined. At the same time, clearly the Gospel is more than merely being nice.

Loving people and demonstrating the Gospel with our life is crucial, but it is not enough. If we are disciples, we must also proclaim the saving truth of the Gospel in its fullness. The Gospel message must be an invitation to surrender your life to Jesus and follow him.

Each one of us need to make a personal decision to follow Jesus. We have a duty to invite others to do this.

For those of us baptized as children, St. Pope John Paul II reminds us that each of us also needs to say ‘Yes’ to Jesus Christ. We must surrender to the Word of God and endeavor to know the profound meaning of this Word better and better (Catechesi tradendae 20). Infused by the Holy Spirit, we are lead to exercise faith and repentance, and to surrender to God’s will and to enjoy personal relationship with him.

Pope Paul VI reminds us that the evangelical message must have the “capacity of piercing the conscience of each individual, of implanting itself in his heart as though he were the only person being addressed, with all his most individual and personal qualities, and evoke an entirely personal adherence and commitment” (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 45).

With this in mind, Pope Francis makes the following impassioned plea,

I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day. No one should think that this invitation is not meant for him or her, since “no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord” (EG, 3).

What would happen in our families and parish if each one of us responded to Jesus' call personally and then shared this joyful hope both with our life and with our words?

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[i] Michael J. Wilkins, Following the Master: A Biblical Theology of Discipleship. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan/HarperCollins, 1992. Esp. p. 25-34.

[ii] Michael Griffiths, The Example of Jesus, p.  24.

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I will Follow You Wherever You Go

In a certain way, all of the readings for this Sunday are concerned with the vocation to discipleship.

In the broadest sense, we all have the vocation as human beings to be God’s children created in the image and likeness of God. He created us to be happy.

True happiness is the fulfillment of what it means to be genuinely human. We know this intuitively, though many times we do not reflect deeply on this truth. If you search our calendar, you will not find any special days celebrating cowards, liars, or those who betray the trust of others. We do not celebrate these behaviors because we all know instinctively that these behaviors lead to hurt and shame.

Unfortunately, our natural intuition for happiness no longer works as God intended. Sin has left us wounded and broken. Each one of us needs to restoration and healing in Christ, to return to the happiness that God intended.

Yet as St. Paul reminds us in our reading from Galatians, this ‘happiness” in not found in the pursuit of what he calls the “yoke of slavery” to our passions.

In our modern world, we often see people trying to pursue happiness in various pleasures, and entertainments, and in pursuit of the wealth and honor needed to obtain them. For many people happiness is “living the dream.” We also see the exaltation of freedom in our modern culture. “I should be free to do whatever I want.” “Happiness is doing my own thing.”

Again, St. Paul reminds the Galatians, “For you were called for freedom, brothers. But do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love” (Galatians 5:13).

While God created the things of this world to be good, at a minimum, our enjoyment of these goods requires wisdom in order to lead us to genuine happiness.

As Christians we a called to a deeper wisdom and restoration. By virtue of our Baptism, we are a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and we live by the Spirit as we heard in our reading from Galatians (Galatians 5:13-18). Building on our natural desire for happiness, God purifies our desires and leads us by the Spirit.

Our vocation to happiness is also a common vocation to holiness. Every Christian, regardless of their state in life, is called to a life of holiness. Lay Christians live this calling in the midst of the world, both in our daily family life and in our secular vocations. Each one of us is called to be a disciple. This is our primary vocation as Christians.

In our gospel, Jesus wants to remind us that he came to reveal the mercy and love of the Father to our broken world. This is the Good News. Jesus invites us to follow him and to experience God’s mercy.

In our Gospel, we learn that a certain village of Samaritans has rejected Jesus. Perhaps we should note that St. Luke describes other Samaritans positively and that Jesus deliberately enters Samaria to share God’s mercy with them.

In imitation of Elijah the prophet (2 Kings 1:10), the apostles James and John want to call down a fiery judgment upon this village, but Jesus rebukes them. The gospel message is not carried out violently or in vengeance but through mercy. God reveals his power through weakness, apparent defeat, suffering, and death. Echoing Jesus (Matthew 6: 14-15), the Letter of James reminds us, “For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy; yet mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13).

Yet, because we often perceive mercy a something soft, many people seem to think that God desires to offer us an easy path here on earth. A merciful God will not be too demanding. He will always understand and forgive us, so we don’t need to try to hard. Perhaps the idea that we may need to suffer or struggle on this path even offends out modern notion of freedom.

In imitation of Jesus our master, our motto as his disciples should be, “Speak Lord your servant is listening.” For many people however, the idea of obeying someone else sounds repressive.

Although Jesus’ message of mercy is the genuine path to happiness, those who hear the gospel message, often reject it. Perhaps they think, obedience is something for children. The idea of being docile offends our modern sense of freedom.

We need to realize that Jesus deliberately chose the path of suffering to accomplish his mission. Jesus tells all his disciples, they also need to take up their cross and follow him (Luke 9:23).

The path of Christian discipleship often involves suffering and rejection. It requires our complete commitment. We need to place Jesus at the center of our life, above all other commitments and desires.

Jesus encounter with three potential disciples highlights this. As Jesus is passing by, one man says,

“I will follow you wherever you go.”

Jesus answered him,

“Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”

I do not know if you have ever thought about this, but Jesus is like a homeless person. As a disciple of Jesus we may be called to give up even normally comforts, for the kingdom of God. This was certainly true if you were literally following him at the time of Jesus. For many disciples, this is still true today.

Jesus then invites another man to “follow him.” The man very reasonably says in reply, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.” Jesus reply seems harsh, “Let the dead bury their dead But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Respect for our parents, and the charitable duty of caring for the deceased, are indeed high values, but there is a higher value to honor God above all things. The commitment to discipleship must have a higher priority even than family considerations. Jesus response may simply be hyperbole to make a point. The kingdom of God is the highest priority. Some interpreters, however, have questioned if perhaps there is more to the situation.

According to Jewish custom if a man had been in contact with a dead body he would be ritually defiled and unable to walk about and interact with Jesus (Numbers 19:11). Perhaps the man’s father was not yet dead. Could this be a clever excuse? “Jesus I would follow you right now, but I am too busy with life right now.”

In fact, Jesus response, “Let the dead bury their dead” may imply, not actual death but spiritual death. Those who have rejected the Gospel, often interfere with its reception by others.

Jesus’ final encounter is similar. A man volunteers, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home.” Jesus replies, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Few modern people have had actual experience with a plow, but you need to stay focused, especially if you are plowing with animals. You cannot take time to look back.

The prophet Elijah granted Elisha’s request to go back and kiss his father goodbye (1 Kings 19:20), so the man’s request sounds very reasonable, even biblical. The decision to follow Jesus, however, has an urgency, which demands action. If Christ is passing by, and if we have felt the call to follow him, we should not delay.

In Revelation, Jesus has a word for each one of us. He says,

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).

Each morning the daily office begins by reciting from Psalm 95 (cf. Hebrews 3:15),

Today, listen to the voice of Lord:

Do not grow stubborn, as your fathers did the wilderness…

In every Mass, Christ is literally passing by. Imagine what would happen today, if each one of us opened the door and allowed him into our hearts. What would happen in our families and in our parish if we truly followed him from our hearts and allowed him to be the center of our life?

Today I invite you to consider carefully what this means, and then to personally say to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

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The Most Holy Trinity: The central mystery of Christian faith and life

When I look back at my own childhood, perhaps it is inevitable that it looks normal to me. Yet at least compared to the average person in the Midwest, I had some unusual experiences. I literally grew up in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. I was backpacking for weeklong trips in the wilderness in grade school, and in middle school, treks through the mountain wilderness were part of my school curriculum.

One time after climbing to the very top of a mountain, we began to make lunch using tiny naphtha powered stoves. We put water on to boil, but to my amazement, the water boiled in only a few short minutes.

One of the adults told us that we would be unlikely to get the water all the way to normal boiling temperature. Water boils at 212 ºF at sea level, but the entire National Park was about 4500 feet above sea level, and we had just climbed a mountain. I am guessing we were likely more than 7000 feet above sea level. At this altitude, water boils at 198.5 ºF. An experienced mountain climber would know this, but to me this was extremely amazing.

I tell this story because one of the common beliefs in our culture is that everything should be simple and something we can easily figure out for ourselves. Knowledge should be intuitive, and something we easily get. It should not be complicated. I want to ask you though, is this true? 

Is life not sometimes complicated and full of surprises?

Of course, we recognize that some things are hard to understand. I doubt anyone would think spatial anomalies called black holes, were simple. Yet, for most of us, unless we are especially curious, if something is complicated we do not try too hard to figure it out. If I cannot understand something with a quick google search, I will put it in the "too hard pile," and ignore it. At one level, perhaps this behavior is understandable!

The problem is that many people also apply this thinking to their faith. They want to keep their faith very simple. They might say, “As long as I am basically a good person, and that I act in a loving manner toward other people, this is all that really matters” They might think that there is no need to understand a bunch of complicated doctrines about the faith. Someone might say, “I don’t need theology or doctrine, I just need Jesus.” We might sing the 1960’s Beatles hit song, “All you need is love,” and think we have it figured out.

What could go wrong with this thinking?

In a recent survey of Christians including Catholics, who apparently attend Mass weekly, revealed an astounding 57 % of Catholics agreed with the statement “Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God.”

Some things we believe are so essential that we cannot have faith without them. What would be the consequences of believing that Jesus is not God, or believing that he did not die to make satisfaction for our sins, or believing that he did not rise from the dead to bring us new life? If this were the case, St. Paul tells us, both our preaching and our faith would be “in vain” and “futile” and God would not have forgiven our sins. (1 Corinthians 15: 7-14).

A mere human being, no matter how good or admirable they might seem to be, cannot make the necessary satisfaction for our sins. Only God can do this. If Jesus is not God, then we are still in our sins, and we are still alienated from God.

I think the reason that some people do not understand this truth is because they think they will earn their own salvation by being good. The Bible (Ephesians 2:8-9) and 2000 years of Tradition (Trent, Justification, Can. 1; First Decree, V), teach us that this is a false and presumptuous hope (CCC 2092).

This is Trinity Sunday. We believe that God is one. “We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons, the ‘consubstantial Trinity’” (CCC 253). We also believe that there are three distinct divine persons in the Godhead. They are not simply different forms or modalities of one God but are really “distinct from one another in their relations of origin: ‘It is the Father who generates, the Son who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds’” (CCC 254). Yet these origins do not begin in time. The Son is “eternally begotten” and the Spirit “eternally proceeds.”

If we follow the intuition to keep it simple, we might understand the Trinity to be something too complicated to understand, and too detached from our daily life to be concerned with it. After all, 1+1 +1 does not normally equal 1. This is not intuitive.

For many people, a favorite way to describe the Trinity is to say that it is a mystery. By 'mystery' they mean it is too hard for the average person to understand. The Trinity might be true, but it beyond my comprehension. This is not, however, what we mean by a 'mystery' in our faith. We can distinguish ordinary mysteries (those things we do not understand) from the “mysteries of faith.” The Catechism notes,

“The Trinity is a mystery of faith in the strict sense, one of the “mysteries that are hidden in God, which can never be known unless they are revealed by God” [Dei Filius 4: DS 3015] (CCC 237).

Once God has revealed the truth of a particular mystery, this truth can be known by each of us, at least to the extent that God has revealed it. In Romans, St. Paul describes, "the revelation of the mystery kept secret for long ages but now manifested" (Romans 16:25–26). In Ephesians we learn that God “has made known to us the mystery of his will in accord with his favor” (Ephesians 1:9) or “the plan of the mystery hidden from ages past in God who created all things, so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church” (Ephesians 3:3–6).

Someone might still say, “Fair enough, the Trinity is a revealed truth which we must believe, but it is still hard to understand. Surely this belief is not too important in my daily life.” I fully understand that intuitively this seems to be the case. Yet why do we begin every prayer “In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit?” And why is it crucial to be baptized, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit?”

In fact, Catechism describes “The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity” as “the central mystery of Christian faith and life.”(CCC 234). Notice that the Catechism says, “faith and life.”

How can the Trinity be important to our daily life?

Ultimately, this relates to the love of God, which the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit eternally exchange between themselves. It was God’s eternal desire that his divine mercy and love would be revealed to us, so that we could enter a relationship with him. Nothing can be more practical than to experience the love of God in the midst of every aspect of our life.

One of the distinctions between the different persons of the godhead are the missions which each of the divine person undertakes. The Father sends the Son. The Son makes known the mercy and love of the Father. As Jesus tells us in our Gospel reading, the Father shares everything with the Son and then the Son declares it to us (John 16:15).

The Son also makes the mercy and love of the Father present to us through his earthly preaching and healing miracles. Finally, Christ’s sacrifice on the cross becomes for us the most complete revelation of the mercy and of love of the Father. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Returning to the Father at his Ascension, the Father and Son send the Holy Spirit to transform us from within by the Spirit of truth. It is the mission of the Holy Spirit to apply the fruit of Christ’s divine sacrifice, so that through faith and repentance our hearts may be made right with him. This happens first through the sacraments but also continues in our life of prayer.

The mission of the Spirit continues and completes this work of love, by releasing God’s desire within us. St. Paul tells us, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5). Applying the love of God from within our souls, the Holy Spirit enables us to behold “the glory of the Lord” and to be “changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). We literally become new creatures in Christ Jesus through the action of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 5:17).

God continuously grounds his every action in the eternal love of the Most Holy Trinity. Because of God’s eternal unity, St. Paul refers to the Spirit within us as the Spirit of Christ (CCC 743). He admonishes us, “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts” (Col 3:15) and “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Col 3:16). So that, “… whatever you do, in word or deed” we might “do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col 3:17).

Sent by the Father, we have recently journeyed with Christ through his passion and Resurrection. We have remembered his Ascension into heaven, and the sending of the Holy Spirit by the Father and the Son, at Pentecost. Let us therefore pray, “Lord transform our daily lives now, as you accompany us into the world in the name of the Father, the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

More thoughts:

Five things we need to know about the Most Holy Trinity

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Pentecost Sunday

This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. For Christians, this feast is immediately associated with the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, which is our First Reading.

The name Pentecost is taken over from a Jewish festival which celebrated the conclusion of seven weeks which began with the presentation of the first fruits of the barley harvest during the Passover celebration (Leviticus 23:15–16; Deuteronomy 16:9). In the book of Numbers (28:26) the Jewish festival of Pentecost is called the day of first fruits which concludes feast of Weeks (Exodus 34:22). On this day, a second first fruits offering was made. The “first fruits of the wheat harvest” (Ex 34:22) were presented along with burnt offerings (Numbers 28:26, Ex 34:22) followed immediately by “the bread of the first fruits” (Leviticus 23:20) which was made from the initial wheat harvest.

Offering himself as a sacrifice at the Passover, Jesus is both the Lamb of God (John 1:29) fulfilling once for all the Passover sacrifice, and the first fruits lifted up and offered to the Father (John 12:32). Is Christ also the “the bread of the first fruits”?

For the ancient Israelites, "first fruits" meant more than merely the first-to-be-born of the herds and flocks or the first ripe harvest. They believed that the whole was contained in the first part (Rom 11:16). By offering the first fruits, the whole of the crops or the herds we sanctified. Using this way of thinking the whole is contained and even concentrated in the first fruits. By joining himself to our humanity, Jesus is able to offer all of humanity in his divine sacrifice as the head of the body.

Our Gospel reading is a bit puzzling as Jesus clearly gives the Spirit to his apostles in John 20, yet the event described occurs immediately after Jesus’ Resurrection and not later at Pentecost. Do we have two Pentecost events? 

We do have two distinct offerings of the Spirit. This is clearly not the same event as Luke narrates in Acts 2, and we seem to be missing the idea of waiting and universal empowering. Using John’s Gospel as a reference St. Augustine offers a solution.

In his Sermon 265, St. Augustine, observes that in John 7, Jesus proclaims that the one who believes in him shall have, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him’ (John 7:38). This passage of John is actually the reading for the Vigil of Pentecost.

This is not an exact quote from the Old Testament, but alludes to Jesus as a type of Moses who gave water from the rock in Exodus and Numbers (Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:11) and as the new heavenly Temple pictured in Ezekiel 47:1. In the book of Revelation, John tells us the Jesus becomes the Temple in heaven. (Cf John 4:10, 14; 19:34, Revelation 21:22 and Isaiah 12:3).

St. John explains Jesus’ comment by noting,

“He [Jesus] said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive. There was, of course, no Spirit yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified” (John 7:38)

Reflecting on the idea that the Spirit had not yet been given, since Jesus had not been glorified, St. Augustine notes that there are two glorifications. The first glorification was according to Christ’s human nature, because Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. The second glorification takes place when Christ ascended into heaven before the eyes of His disciples. He actually mentions a third glorification as Jesus returns to judge heaven and earth.

St. Augustine notes, Christ was “glorified twice, by His Resurrection and by His Ascension; twice, too, did He give the Holy Spirit” (Sermon 265.7). In our Gospel today, Jesus “breathed on” his apostles, and they received the Holy Spirit and then after his Ascension he sent the promised Holy Spirit on the entire Church. The Catechism notes this double fulfilment, “On several occasions Christ promised this outpouring of the Spirit, a promise which he fulfilled first on Easter Sunday and then more strikingly at Pentecost. [Cf. Jn 20:22; Acts 2:1–4] (CCC 1287).

St. Augustine askes, “Why did the Lord give the Holy Spirit twice?” He answers honestly, “I do not know why He did this,” yet St. Augustine does offer his own theory. He is quick to say this is only his opinion. “Holy Spirit was given twice for the purpose of commending to us the two precepts of charity” (Sermon 265.8).

These precepts of charity are first to love God, and then to love your neighbor. This idea makes is interesting. The first outpouring of the Spirit would be for the conversion of the heart leading to the love of God, while the second is an empowering for witness and service (Acts 1:8).

This is probably not a clear-cut distinction, but one of emphasis. There is an element of service even in John 20, as we see the power to forgive sins imparted to the Apostles. Jesus imparts to them the authority and grace to confer the sacrament of Confession.

The preface for this Mass echoes this same two-fold sentiment.

For, bringing your Paschal Mystery to completion,

You bestowed the Holy Spirit today

on those you made your adopted children

by uniting them to your Only Begotten Son.

This same Spirit, as the Church came to birth,

opened all peoples to the knowledge of God . . .

The Holy Spirit imparts to believers both an interior intimacy with God as his adopted children, and an empowerment for service and mission.

In the Old Testament tradition, the desire voiced by Moses in the book of Numbers, that God would pour out his Spirit on all peoples (Numbers 11:29) came to be treated by the ancient Israelites as a prophecy of a future time when there would be a dramatic outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh. With the coming of the Messiah there was a widespread expectation that the ‘Spirit of prophecy’ would be poured out on all flesh (Joel 2:28-32; Jeremiah 31:34; Isaiah 32:15; 44:3; Ezekiel 39:29).

This lavish outpouring of the Spirit would be brought about through a prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15) or Messiah King (Isaiah 11:1-9; 61). Jesus uses Isaiah 61 as a kind of mission statement for his ministry in Luke (4:18-19, 7:19-22). St. Peter uses the promised outpouring of the Spirit in Joel 2:28-32 to interpret the events at Pentecost in Acts 2:16-21.

St. Luke describes the outpouring of the Spirit in Acts 2:1-13 by way of analogy. While the disciples are gather together in prayer in the upper room, the Spirit manifests himself with a sound like a mighty wind, and they see tongues like fire divided and came to rest on each of them. All of them were “filled with the Holy Spirit and begin to speak in different tongues.”

The sounds and commotion of this event caused a crowd of pious Jews to take notice, and the Spirit inspired proclamation by the apostles astounded the crowds because “each one heard them speaking in their own language” (2:6). Luke cites a very geographically diverse list of pilgrims in Jerusalem who are each able to hear the disciples each in his own language and dialect.

The implications of this filling of the Spirit have generated a great deal of debate among Christians. It seems clear that it involved an empowerment for mission, but the further implications of the event are seen in its interpretation by Peter in his Pentecost sermon which follows in Acts 2:14-41.

The appearance of the Holy Spirit generates both interest and scorn from the crowd of Jewish pilgrims and this facilitates Peter’s ability to preach to a large crowd. Peter connects this event to the expectation or ‘promise’ of the prophet Joel (2:28-32) that God would someday pour out his Spirit on all flesh.

St. Peter’s sermon causes a large number of pilgrims to be “cut to the heart.” The crowds asks Peter and the other apostles, “What are we to do?” Peter’s response is a summary of rites of conversion and initiation in Acts. “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38).

As the Catechism reminds us, the essential elements of Christian initiation include; “proclamation of the Word, acceptance of the Gospel entailing conversion, profession of faith, Baptism itself, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and [finally] admission to Eucharistic communion” (CCC 1229). 

 We can see four elements; faith, repentance, Baptism and the Reception of the Holy Spirit. These four essential elements then lead to the fullness of Eucharistic communion and an ongoing life in the Spirit. The sacramental elements of Baptism and Confirmation presuppose the need for faith and repentance, which the Catechism calls conversion, as our means of cooperation with the grace of these sacraments.

In Acts 2:28 Peter specifically links Baptism to the sacramental grace for the ‘forgiveness of sins,’ “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins . . .”

While the Holy Spirit is clearly active in all stages of conversion there is a definitive and complete reception of the person of Holy Spirit in Baptism. This reception is completed through the laying on of hands by the apostles. Allowing these graces to flourish in our soul is a process that requires our ongoing cooperation.

What does the Holy Spirit mean to each one of us today? 

We must struggle to open ourselves fully to God’s grace. Baptism gives us the gifts of the Holy Spirit which make our soul capable of submitting to God and entering into friendship with him (John 15:15). Fostering these inspirations of grace should be the object of our prayer and our intense desire. 

 Although God will grant these inspirations in greater or lesser degrees, they are not an optional extra for the Christian life but the secret to holiness and the decisive means for spiritual progress. Each one of us, based on the grace of our Baptism, is called universally to a life of holiness which leads to mission in the world.

Our life in the Spirit begins by God’s grace entering the depth of our hearts. We are created in “the image and likeness” of God. The human heart was created with a God-shaped hole in it. Like the first man, Adam, we are alone, like a lover seeking our beloved. When we find our beloved, we break forth in spontaneous praise and thanksgiving.

God has created human love to be a reflection of his own divine love. We can each ask ourselves, has my love for my beloved grown cold? Let us fan the flames of this love with praise and thanksgiving in the intimacy of our prayer and in the great thanksgiving, the Eucharist.

The second principle would be to genuinely ask for holiness. Pray to God and ask Him with a sincere desire to become holy. Invoke the intercession of the saints and of your guardian angel, that you might find the path to holiness.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you” (Matt 7:7). St. James writes, “You do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:2b). Let us ask God for this marvelous gift.

Finally, we must renounce our tendency to manage ourselves. We might call this docility to God’s will or docility to the Holy Spirit. As we pray the words, “Come Holy Spirit,” this Sunday let us be like our Blessed Mother as we learn to trust and open ourselves up to the wonderful plan God has for our life. 

 Along with Mary, we must cry, “Lord, let it be done to me, according to your word.”




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The Ascension of our Lord

The Ascension of our Lord, celebrates the entry of Jesus’ humanity into divine glory in heaven, which took place forty days after his Resurrection (Acts 1:3). Liturgically, this feast is exactly 40 days after Easter, on Ascension Thursday, but most US dioceses celebrate this feast on the following Sunday.

When we think of the Paschal mystery of Christ we tend to think first of his suffering, death and resurrection. We think of Christ’s sacred Body and Blood which Christ freely offered in sacrifice for our sins. 

Properly understood, however, the Paschal mystery includes Christ’s entire incarnate life from his conception and birth to his glorious return to the Father in his Ascension. Jesus enters into heaven to be seated at the right hand of the Father, to rule for all eternity as King of Heaven and Earth.

We might rightly see this as a fitting end to his life on Earth but there is a much more profound meaning to the Ascension. I don’t know about you but, at first I wondered why the Ascension is so important.

The Catechism reminds us Christ accomplished the work or redemption “by the Paschal mystery of his blessed Passion, Resurrection from the dead, and glorious Ascension” (CCC 1067). The final work of ascending into heaven is an essential part of the whole process of the Paschal mystery.

St. Thomas reminds us in his famous hymn Adoro Te Devote

O loving Pelican! O Jesu Lord! Unclean I am but cleanse me in Thy Blood; Of which a single drop, for sinners spilt, Can purge the entire world from all its guilt (St. Thomas Aquinas).

In his limitless power and mercy, God could have saved us all by asking Christ to shed a single drop of his blood.

Yet in order to more fully demonstrate his love and mercy in a way that we would understand, God chose to become fully human and to endure the frailty and limits of earthly life. He freely chose to suffer torture at the hands of the Roman soldiers, and finally to endure the most painful death, in order that we would see with our frail human eyes the importance of this sacrifice. In order that we might more fully understand his love.

Likewise, when Christ rose from the dead, he could have done so completely healed of his wounds. Yet even in his glorious risen body, Christ chose to appear to his disciples, still bearing these wounds.

The sacred wounds of Christ are a visible manifestation of his love for us. Christ even entered his exalted state in Heaven with these same wounds (Revelation 5:6). These wounds are not just tokens of his love, but trophies of his victorious love for each one of us. These ugly gaping wounds are transformed into something beautiful and a sign of his victorious love for us.

If we think about what was necessary to satisfy the debt of our sins, we might begin in human terms thinking about paying off an enormous human debt. We might imagine someone working their whole life to pay off millions, or perhaps in our modern world, some gifted soul managing to pay off hundreds of billions. The problem is, because we are talking about paying a debt owed to God himself, we are essentially talking about an infinite debt for each one of us. In reality we mean billions upon billions of infinite debts for the sins of all humanity.

What kind of sacrifice would be necessary to pay this debt?

Only God himself could make this kind of satisfaction on our behalf. Jesus, who is fully God, chose to become a man, to join himself to our humanity. He did not just pay off our debts as some distant benefactor. This is not a heavenly trust fund for our benefit.

Furthermore it is not merely something external. God did not say, “Well you are still pretty much a putz, but I have paid off your debts, so now you are a forgiven putz.” After Jesus made a satisfaction for our sins through his own once for all sacrifice on the cross, he saved us by joining himself to us, so that we are slowly transformed from within, and become like him.

We are not still the old person with a coat of whitewash paint. St. Paul reminds us, “So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Co 5:17).

As we are reminded in Romans, we are literally joined to Christ through Baptism.

“Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in the newness of life” (Rom 6:3–4, cf. Rom 6:8-11, and Galatians 3:27).

Baptism forgives our sins, and in cooperation with this grace, joins us to Christ through the Spirit for all eternity (Acts 2:38). Jesus has become the pattern of our salvation, the new Adam (Rom 5:15). We are a new creation and have been joined to a new Adam. It is in him, and with him and through him that we are saved, by being brought into Communion with him. This communion transforms us from within.

St Gregory of Nyssa points out that Jesus became the firstborn of the new spiritual creation. Taking up the image of firstborn and first fruits from the book of Exodus, this implies that by his bodily Ascension into heaven, Jesus becomes a kind of first fruits or firstborn offering to the Father.

In the book of Leviticus, the first fruits barley offering was the signal to begin the countdown to the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost, 50 days after the barley wave offering. "Beginning with the day after the sabbath, the day on which you bring the sheaf for elevation, you shall count seven full weeks; you shall count to the day after the seventh week, fifty days (Leviticus 23:15–16). At Pentecost second first fruits offering of wheat was made (Exodus 34:22) followed by “the bread of the first fruits” (Leviticus 23:20) which was made from the initial wheat harvest.

Jesus ascended on the 40th day (Acts 1:3), and sent the Spirit ten days later at Pentecost (Acts 2:2-4). The intervening nine days between these events were a period of prayerful waiting and watching (Acts 1:4). This is the origin of the practice of praying nine day novenas.

For the ancient Israelites, "first fruits" meant more than merely the first to be born of the herds and flocks or the first ripe harvest. They believed that the whole was contained in the first part which was offered (Rom 11:16). When the first part was offered to God, then the whole of the crops or the herds were sanctified along with it. Using this way of thinking the whole is contained and even concentrated in the first fruits.

We often see this way of thinking in the New Testament. We are joined to Christ’s Body and he is the Head (1 Corinthians 12:13) . He is the Vine and we are the branches (John 15). The consecrated Bread which we eat in the Eucharist is a participation or communion with Christ (1 Cor 10:16-17).

By offering his own sacred humanity to the Father, Jesus makes a way to sanctify the whole of humanity. Jesus becomes the new or second Adam (Rom 5:15). By entering the heavenly Temple in his sacred humanity, Jesus consecrates and the new creation initiated in the incarnation. Christ offers and sanctifies his humanity and becomes for us the font and origin of ascended life.

St. Thomas Aquinas notes that, “Christ's Ascension is the direct cause of our ascension, as by beginning it in Him who is our Head, with whom the members must be united” (ST, III, 57, 6). Aquinas highlights three effects of the Ascension. First by his Ascension Christ prepared a way for us to enter heaven (John 14:2). Secondly, just as the high priest entered the sanctuary into God's presence to represent the people, Christ entered heaven to intercede for us. And finally, enthroned in heaven as God and Lord, Christ will send down gifts upon men (Eph. 4:10).

What does the Ascension mean for each of us personally?

In the Acts of the Apostles we are told that the Ascension is directly related to the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit. The disciples are promised that in a few days they would be “baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5). This baptism would be the source and power of their ministry. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8). Mark likewise affirms that “These signs will accompany those who believe” (Mark 16:17, cf. John 14:12) with a list of supernatural deeds of the Spirit to follow.

The Ascension allows Christ to release from heaven the promised Holy Spirit. As his disciples we are called to imitate his ministry of preaching the Gospel and healing the sick (John 14:12). Through the Spirit we are enabled to enter into a new intimate relationship with God, to become friends of God (John 15:15). The Spirit now within us cries out ‘Abba father’ in our hearts (Romans 8:15).

The Ascension is an invitation to a new level of intimacy with God. It is the font and origin of a new ascended life. Earlier in John’s Gospel Jesus declared, “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink” (John 7:37), John tells us that Jesus “said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive” (John 7:39).

Do you thirst for greater intimacy with God? Then come to Jesus and drink. Jesus wishes to offer each one of us a personal Pentecost. Lord Jesus, come by your Spirit and fill the hearts of your faithful.



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Love brings joy to obedience

I have spent a good deal of my life as a teacher, in public school, then as a college instructor, and catechist. I also trained and supervised instructors.

I recall once observing a young instructor in an adult education class who blurted out a controversial remark during his talk. His comment was unnecessary and very ill timed. When he did this, he literally lost his class for 10 minutes. Everyone in the room stopped listening to his talk, and began talking to each other at their tables about his remark. To put this in modern terms, he triggered the entire class with his comment.

Witnessing this, reminded me that we bring our own thoughts and ideas with us when we listen to someone talk. Therefore, I want to ask you to pause for a minute and think.

What thoughts come immediately to mind when you hear Jesus say these words?

“Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,

and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.
Whoever does not love me does not keep my words;

yet the word you hear is not mine
but that of the Father who sent me."

This may not be the case for you, but sometimes I wonder if these words reinforcing the idea that, God wants me to earn his approval by being good, or by obeying him. After all does not Jesus say, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him?”

While I do not believe that I save myself by being good, it is also true that God still requires a response. I must offer my faith, my repentance, and my surrender to Him. Ultimately, this is about relationship. What is my identity in Christ? Is God the type of person who wants me to earn his approval by being good, or by obeying him?

I imagine many of you have found yourself motivated like this. Could you be struggling to be a good person so that you will earn God’s approval? Perhaps you have never reflected on this, but… does your identity in Christ lead you to earn God’s approval by being good? If so, what is the fruit of seeing God in this way?

If I allow myself to begin thinking this way, the motivation for being good is a certain fear or insecurity that God might reject me if I am bad. If I have experienced previous rejection or shame, then in order to avoid those feelings, I work hard to be a good person so that I will not feel anxious.

If I am not careful, I could find myself struggling to be a good person so that God will look at me and approve of me. Perhaps you have never reflected on this. Has this ever happened to you? 

Have you ever tried to earn God’s approval by being good?

If you are the kind of person who feels successful at being good, then you might say to yourself, “I obeyed God, therefore I am accepted.” It is as if you are say, “God you should accept me, because I am basically a good person.” When things are going well, we feel confident in our relationship with God. Very often, however, when we are doing well we also become proud and we lack patience with those who are struggling and seem to fail at being good.

Very few of us, however, are completely successful at being good. If we think that God accepts us only if we obey him and are good, then how do we react when we fail? How do we respond to the feelings of shame when someone corrects us? If our whole identity is tied up in being a “good person” we often either become angry or discouraged and depressed when criticized, because it attacks our identity.

1. False identity in Christ.

Thinking that God wants us to earn his acceptance, flows from a false identity in Christ. God does not want us to understand our relationship with him as being, neutral or even negative. We do not need to earn his favor before having relationship with him. The truth is exactly the opposite. “I am accepted, therefore, I obey.” We are accepted! 

I obey God not to earn favor or things from God, but to get God himself, and to delight in my relationship with him as a child of God. After all God accepted me first without any merit on my part.

2. God loved us first

Even when we are in midst of failure, God loves us first. As St. Paul reminds us, “But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The plan of God’s love for us, reaches back to the beginning of time. Ephesians reminds us; “He chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him. In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will” (Ephesians 1:4–5). God is not grudgingly fulfilling his promise to love us and always on the verge of changing his mind depending on how we behave.

When God created the first man and woman in the image and likeness of God, he knew they would fall and had already planned to have Christ become the new Adam to take their place and to redeem the image of God. God’s plan of love for each one of us existed before creation itself.

He has always wanted to adopt us as his children. As Ephesians reminds us, God “destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1: 5).

3. In the presence of God, we experience delight or joy

This is a natural truth. In the presence of goodness, beauty and truth we spontaneously experience delight and awe. Beautiful music, beautiful art, even witnessing an amazing athletic performance spontaneously makes us praise what we see, and even causes us to want to share that feeling with others. Everything in our life that is truly good, beautiful, or true is a reflection of the goodness, beauty, or truth found in the creator.

We are not an afterthought, or some unwanted and unexpected child. We are destined, chosen, or elected like the people of God in the Old Testament. The Lord told his people in Deuteronomy, they were not chosen because they were especially good or obedient beforehand, but “because the LORD loved” them (Deuteronomy 7:7-8). They became God’s children out God’s abundant love and mercy.

4. In relation to obedience, the experience of God’s love, brings joy to obedience.

When I experience relationship with God, in a certain sense I feel his pleasure. I delight in my relationship with him as a child of God. I am confident not in my own wobbly performance but in the sure fact that God accepts me without any merit on my part.

St. Paul tells us that in order to create our own family resemblance as sons and daughters of God “the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Roman 5:5). The Holy Spirit is transforming and renewing us from within. 

Writing to the Corinthians, St. Paul reveals our new identity in Christ, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:17–18, cf. 2 Cor 5:17).

Yet this inheritance something we need to “take possession of” (Ephesians 1:14). It requires our cooperation. We need to have the “eyes of our hearts enlightened” by the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 1:18). We need to begin in humility, and detachment and to spend time with God in prayer.

Notice that when Jesus says,

“Whoever loves me will keep my word,

and my Father will love him,

He continues,

and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.

Jesus explains that this promised indwelling will be the Holy Spirit who will “to teach us” and “remind us” of Jesus’ way of life and will give us peace.

Our obedience is the fruit of our cooperation with an inner transformation of our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Our obedience is our inheritance as sons and daughters of God. It is a revelation of our family resemblance. Flowing from interior awareness of God’s love and acceptance, our obedience is an act of grateful joy. It is the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Love brings joy to obedience.

Does all of this sound a bit complicated? Would it not it just be easier to tell people to obey the rules? The problem is, without understanding our identity in Christ, rules without relationship lead to anxiety, anger, pride, an ultimately to rebellion. St. Paul reminds the Galatians, “For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). But love brings joy to obedience.

We must begin by saying, “I know that I am God’s child and that he loves me. Even if I sometimes fail to be “good,” it is not my performance that is identity, but my relationship with God.”

Yet, St. Paul cautions the Galatians, “Walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). How do we know if we are guided by the Spirit or walking by the Spirit? By the fruit of our life (Galatians 5:22-23). As Jesus says, “Whoever loves me will keep my word.” The power to do this however comes through relationship with the indwelling of Spirit. As Jesus said, “we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” Once again, love brings joy to obedience.

As we anticipate the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in two weeks, let us open our hearts anew praying, “Come Holy Spirit! Renew the hearts of your faithful, and enkindle in us the fire of your love.” Fill us with your love, so that we might experience the joy of life in you as your child. Let me rest in your love.




Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C (Lectionary: 57)
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“Love, and do what you want?

Like some of you perhaps, I grew up in the 1960 and 70’s. “Love” was a very popular idea. In 1968, the Beatles released their hit song “All you need is love.” The culture of the 1960’s understood “Love” as something very personal, private, and sentimental. Many people seemed to think that as long as you attempted to cultivate a kind of warm sentiment in your heart towards others, called love, you could pretty much do whatever you wanted.  In the words of this Beatles song “There's nothin' you can do that can't be done/ Nothin' you can sing that can't be sung.”

I wonder if the Beatles read St. Augustine, who once famously said “Love, and do what you want?”[1] This is one of St. Augustine’s most famous, and often abused and misquoted lines.

No one who has actually read Augustine’s homily, where this quote appears, would think he meant that one could "do as you please" as long as you have the right sentiment. The line is a rhetorical flourish on Augustine’s part, intended to shock his listeners. For Augustine, love is not merely a sentiment but a rightly ordered virtue. If you like, there is a kind of grammar to love. In the mind of St Augustine, love needs to be rightly ordered to be a genuine kind of love.

We might want to note that as humans our capacity to love is quite diverse. We can love our dog, or football, or perhaps even wine or cars. When it comes to loving people however, we generally talk of family and friendship. In a more special sense, we have deeper relationships in which there is a lover and a beloved. Love is not something fuzzy and disengaged from our life. We cannot love what we do not know.[2] Knowledge of the other thing or person leads to a kind of desire to be closer and to grasp the thing we see, or in the case of persons, to allow them to enter our thoughts and feelings and so in a sense become part of us. We hold them in our heart and we join ourselves to them in love.

As I mentioned, rightly ordering our love for St. Augustine is a way of acknowledging the movement of our heart with its desires. The things that we do, or our behavior is always a response to what is going on in the heart – of what we love. If our heart I rightly ordered, then it seeks to love God and neighbor. This movement begins in our heart but is supernaturalized by God through the grace of the Holy Spirit. Sacramental grace and interior conversion lead us to new life.

For St. Augustine, this grace is the source of Christian love.  God loved us first. While we were still sinners, Jesus Christ came and sacrificed himself for our sins (Roman 5:8, 1 John 4:9). By this sacrifice, we received his love. Love is born in our hearts as we receive his gift.

As St. John notes in his letter, “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:7–8). St. Augustine comments, “Love is from God and Love is God. … But when you hear from God, either the Son or the Holy Spirit is understood.” [3] As St. Paul tells us, “hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5). The newness that Jesus refers to in our Gospel is the supernatural grace of the Holy Spirit working through his disciples as they imitate our Lord. “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another” (John 13:34).

This love only occurs in relationships. It involves a lover and the beloved. The foundation of love is relationship. As St Thomas notes, “But the effect of love, when the beloved object is possessed, is pleasure: when it is not possessed, it is desire” (STh., I-II q.25 a.2 resp.).  

For Christian love, that relationship is first with God. It is the mission of the Son to make this relationship possible. Jesus makes it possible for us to know God and enter a relationship with him.  More than this even to enjoy friendship with him (John 15:15).  

Yet it is the specific continuing mission of the Holy Spirit to share God’s love with us in the realm of desire (Romans 5:5). Love is not merely an intellectual knowledge of the faith followed by obedience, but certain inclinations and desires, even passions of the heart towards God. The Son reveals the saving knowledge of God, while the Spirit imparts God’s desire, as we all return to the mercy and love of Father. In the end, the love of God is a personal experience of each of the three persons of the Holy Trinity. “If you see charity, you see the Trinity”, wrote Saint Augustine. (De Trinitate, VIII, 8, 12).

We must grasp the newness of this relational idea of love. Love does not act out of fear and obey God in order to gain his acceptance. Rules without relationship, do not lead to love.  Instead, the beloved experiences love and acceptance and with joy obeys out of love.

We obey God in order to deepen our relationship with him.  Humility demands that I recognize my shortcomings and failures, but at the same time, I must depend on God’s grace to overcome these faults, trust in his love for me. He has made me a child of God (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:16).

My heart is not something I need to reject or suppress in order to be holy, but a living canvas upon which the Holy Spirit slowly paints a new and deeper understanding of the world as God sees it.  By redeeming and rightly ordering our hearts, we are able to embrace all of the creation, which God has made good from the beginning. By rightly ordering the things of creation, we avoid the sin of idolatry, and offer them back to God in praise to the Creator.

As St. Augustine notes,

“Think of ordinary human love; think of it as the hand of the soul. If it’s holding one thing, it can’t hold another. To be able to hold something it’s given, it must let go of what it is already holding.” [4]

In friendship and love with God, how can we allow our human loves to be truly the hand of the soul?  This can only occur in interior surrender to God in our prayer. “Lord, your will be done not mine.” Yet if our friendship with God has grown, we will know that he loves us, and trust that he desires only good things for his children (Matthew 7:11). As Jesus reminded the crowds a few chapters earlier in John, “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

Lord, you created life in all its beauty and abundance. May we praise you Lord, as we stand in awe of your Greatness. We trust in your love for each one of us. Let my heart rest in your love and may this love overflow to the world around me!

 

 Notes

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[1](dilige, et quod vis fac) Saint Augustine, Homilies on the First Epistle of John (Tractatus in Epistolam Joannis Ad Parthos), ed. Daniel E. Doyle, Thomas Martin, and Boniface Ramsey, trans. Boniface Ramsey, vol. 14, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2008), 110.

[2] “For if it does not know itself, it does not love itself.” Augustine of Hippo, The Trinity, ed. Hermigild Dressler, trans. Stephen McKenna, vol. 45, The Fathers of the Church (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1963), 274.

[3] Saint Augustine, Homilies on the First Epistle of John (Tractatus in Epistolam Joannis Ad Parthos), ed. Daniel E. Doyle, Thomas Martin, and Boniface Ramsey, trans. Boniface Ramsey, vol. 14, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2008), 108.

[4] Saint Augustine, Sermons 94A–147A on the New Testament, ed. John E. Rotelle, trans. Edmund Hill, vol. 4, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century (Brooklyn, NY: New City Press, 1992), 258.

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