Daily Retreat 04/02/09

2009 Apr 2 Thu:Lenten Weekday/ Francis of Paola, h
Gn 17: 3-9/ Ps 104(105): 4-5. 6-7. 8-9/ Jn 8: 51-59

From today’s readings:  “God also said to Abraham: On your part, you and your descendants after you must keep My covenant throughout the ages....  The Lord remembers His covenant for ever....  Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.”

Our Father Abraham

Many Christians have only a vague familiarity  with Abraham and his importance in the history  of salvation. But, in the first book of the Bible,  Genesis, Abraham is clearly central - of the 50  chapters of Genesis, 12 focus almost entirely on  Abraham (cc. 12-24; Joseph is the only other  patriarch with similar attention in Genesis). True,  Noah's paternity reaches back even further, but he is thus ancestor to all peoples, whereas Abraham is the father specifically to the Israelite people.

Abraham's importance, of course, stems from the covenantal relationship God solemnized with him and his descendants. On the basis of this covenant,  Jews recognize Abraham as their great "father in  faith," and so, Christians too need to realize how  prominently he figures in the whole history of salvation.

In this context, Christ's comments about Abraham (which attest to personal familiarity!) can be felt with  the full weight of their eternal significance: Jesus  said to them, "Abraham your father rejoiced to see  My day; he saw it and was glad.... Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM." God's election of Abraham was the beginning of His chosen people, but  the entire plan was done in light of the future coming  of Christ!

Daily Retreat 04/01/09

2009 Apr 1 Wed:Lenten Weekday
Dn 3:14-20. 91-92. 95/ Dn 3:52. 53. 54. 55. 56/ Jn 8:31-42

From today’s readings:  “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent His angel to deliver the servants who trusted in Him; they disobeyed the royal command and yielded their bodies rather than serve or worship any god except their own God....  Blessed are You, O Lord, the God of our fathers, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever....  Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin....”

God gives us ourselves and Himself

The thrilling account of the deliverance of Daniel’s companions from the fiery furnace of King Nebuchadnezzar is one of the most vividly memorable texts of the Bible.  The youths declare their absolute fidelity to God, and they don’t even insist on His saving them as a condition for their faithfulness.  “If our God, whom we serve, can save us from the white-hot furnace and from your hands, O king, may He save us! But even if He will not, know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the golden statue that you set up.”

God is faithful, and always so, and thus, it is not for us to make our faith in Him dependent on what we think He should do for us!  But this happens, for example, when people are attracted to some earthly idol (money, power, prestige) and then, as a condition for remaining faithful to God, they expect to get from God the same crass rewards promised by idol worship!   

God never gives us what idols promise in their idle promises, because God gives us, not just ourselves, but also Himself!  Therein lies our reason for faithfulness forever to Him alone!

Daily Retreat 03/31/09

2009 Mar 31 Tue: Lenten Weekday
Nm 21: 4-9/ Ps 101(102): 2-3. 16-18. 19-21/ Jn 8: 21-30

From today’s readings:  “We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you....  O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to You....  When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught Me. ”

Disdaining God’s Way

When God’s chosen people were enslaved in Egypt, they called out to God, and He delivered them through His servant Moses.  But even after being delivered, they continued to need God’s saving help and call out to Him - when they were pursued by Pharaoh, and made the crossing at the Red Sea, when they had no food, and God gave them Manna, when they had no water, and God gave them water from the rock.

At Mount Hor, the Israelites disdained God’s sufficient grace and His chosen means of providing for them.  They couldn’t really say that God had abandoned them - there were too many counter-proofs!  But they could say God wasn’t giving them what they wanted, and so they complained against His Providence.

And so, in punishment, they were plagued by serpents, and only when they recognized their sinfulness, did God use a sign of their sinfulness (the bronze serpent) to heal them.  Centuries later, God raised up the sign of His Son’s Cross as the definitive remedy for all sin - when we recognize the times we have disdained God’s grace and His will because things aren’t the way we want them to be, our sinfulness can only be healed by the saving power of His Cross!

Daily Retreat 03/30/09

2009 Mar 30 Mon: Lenten Weekday
Dn 13: 1-9. 15-17. 19-30. 33-62 or 13: 41c-62/ Ps 22(23): 1-3a. 3b-4. 5. 6/ Jn 8: 1-11

From today’s readings:  “The whole assembly cried aloud, blessing God who saves those who hope in Him....  The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want....  Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her....”

Suppressed Consciences

The first reading from the Book of Daniel is, aside from the Gospel narratives of the Passion, the longest text in the lectionary!  The intriguing story of Susanna offers many points of reflection: Daniel’s brave initiative in standing alone against the evil of the day, Susanna’s unshakeable trust in God and her heroic refusal to commit a sin, even while under duress.  But, allow me to concentrate, for a moment, on the “bad guys,” those wicked elders who coveted Susanna’s beauty, then lied under oath in testifying against her, thus securing her sentence of execution when she refused to cooperate with their immorality.

“They suppressed their consciences; they would not allow their eyes to look to heaven, and did not keep in mind just judgments.”   Sacred Scripture states explicitly how such evil came about - it was a clear matter of suppressed, or dulled consciences.  When even a good person deliberately ignores or shuts up the voice of conscience, horrible and habitual sins are bound to follow.

One of the whole purposes for the season of Lent is to “tune up” our consciences.  First of all, we need to honestly examine our conscience, and repent of all the times we have ignored or suppressed that inner voice that’s meant to keep us on the right track.  But, that is not enough - we also need to develop our consciences by studying scripture and all the moral teaching of the Church, so that when we’re faced with temptation, whether it be subtle or overt, our conscience can clearly provide guidance for our will to make the right choice!

Daily Retreat 03/29/09

2009 Mar 29 SUN: FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT.
Jer 31: 31-34/ Ps 50(51): 3-4. 12-13. 14-15 (12a)/ Heb 5: 7-9/ Jn 12: 20-33

From today’s readings:  “I will place My law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be My people....  A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me....  Son though He was, He learned obedience from what He suffered; and when He was made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him....  Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit! ”

Scriptural Suffering

On this tense fifth Sunday of Lent, the last week before this penitential season’s climax of Holy Week, the scripture readings pine with sobering insights about suffering and death.  Not about pointless suffering and meaningless death, but just the opposite: redemptive suffering, and life-giving death!

In the second reading, the Epistle to the Hebrews reminds us about Jesus that, “Son though He was, He learned obedience from what He suffered; and when He was made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him.”  This reminder just spells out the implications of Christ’s own insight when He applied it to Himself:  Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit!

Plain and simple, there is no authentic Christianity that passes over the Passion of the Christ!  For when plain carbon suffers the crushing weight of unbearable tribulation,  it is transformed into a diamond.  Likewise, when human life is laden with the burden of suffering, then that raw material can be transformed into the crown jewel of the spiritual life.

But suffering is like nuclear energy. We all shy away from it because it is such an obvious threat: suffering can hurt us, poison us, even destroy us!  And yet, if we can know how to approach it the right way, if we can even embrace our suffering in the same way that Jesus willingly took up His Cross, then it becomes the most potent power of love, for suffering is what takes human love and fashions it into divine love!  It is the whetstone used to sharpen our zeal and our love for the Lord.

For when Christ came among us as a man, He who had the divine nature Himself took on suffering and took on death. Why did He do that? He did that to pay the price for our sins. He did that so that suffering and death would be, not just an unpleasant aspect of human nature, but a transforming reflection of divine love.   Jesus, true God and true man, suffered and died. And He suffered and died in a way that shows us how we can take all of the suffering in our lives and present it to God as an offering of love.

You and I all have some suffering in our lives - when the suffering, great or small, is united with the redemptive suffering of Christ, then we, like the martyrs, can even come to rejoice to have been found worthy to follow the footsteps of Christ on the Via Dolorosa, the sorrowful Way of the Cross, the Path of the Passion, the Street of Suffering, the Trail of Tribulation which Christ blazed as the Route of Redemption and the triumphant thoroughfare that leads to Easter!

Daily Retreat 03/28/09

2009 Mar 28 Sat: Lenten Weekday
Jer 11: 18-20/ Ps 7: 2-3. 9bc-10. 11-12/ Jn 7: 40-53

From today’s readings:  “I knew their plot because the LORD informed me; at that time you, O LORD, showed me their doings....  O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge....  Never before has anyone spoken like this Man.”

Innocence instead of gullibility

The innocence of Christ shrines particularly brightly throughout His passion.  Remember, Jesus was not blinded in the least by ignorance or naivete - His own detailed predictions of His passion (cf. Mk 8:31, 9:31, 10:33, etc.) and His penetrating insights into human hearts (cf. John 2:25) rule out those possibilities.

Yet He was like the “trusting lamb led to slaughter,” but not because He trusted vainly in man, rather, because He trusted valiantly in His Father’s plan.  In living out our own Christian faith, we are to imitate Christ in that element of innocence, but that’s not at all to say that we should deliberately be dull-witted, gullible or obtuse - quite the contrary, for none of those traits are seen in Christ, so being such couldn’t possibly be Christ-like!

Daily Retreat 03/27/09

2009 Mar 27 Fri: Lenten Weekday
Wis 2: 1a. 12-22/ Ps 33(34): 17-18. 19-20. 21 and 23/ Jn 7: 1-2. 10. 25-30

From today’s readings:  “Their wickedness blinded them, and they knew not the hidden counsels of God....  The LORD is close to the brokenhearted....  they tried to arrest Him, but no one laid a hand upon Him, because His hour had not yet come...”

Just One

Sometimes, scripture offers an insight into wickedness - not to encourage us in that path, of course, but rather, just to help us to see evil plainly, and then, with the help of God, uproot it from our lives.

The first reading, from the book of Wisdom, presents the thought process of those wicked men who determine to “beset the just One, because He is obnoxious to us.”   Clearly, their description of the “just One” prophetically fits Jesus perfectly, and all the evil schemes mentioned were carried out against our Lord literally, for they “put Him to the test with revilement and torture,” and “condemn[ed] Him to a shameful death.”  

As repulsive as such blatant wickedness is to us, we do well to thoroughly examine our consciences for any traces of such thoughts before quickly and self-righteously assuming that scripture is not at all referring to us here.  For it is a matter of our fallen human nature that, too often when you and I hear about or come in contact with a person living a more virtuous life than we ourselves have lived, instead of being inspired by such moral excellence, we are miffed by the contrast with our own failings, and so we seek to throw aspersions of hypocrisy or undercut the impressiveness of the “just one’s” virtue in some other way.

For example, I’ve noted times in the past when, after I’ve come across a person who is much more scrupulous about speed limits than I am, or more generous in personal willingness to give others the benefit of the doubt, that I’ll find myself either pitying such a person’s naivete, or calling to mind some apparent character flaw, thereby distracting me from acting on the pricks to my own conscience.   Then too, I’ve often marveled at how many people will become hotly self-defensive or coldly aloof when I even obliquely, and in an unthreatening impersonal manner, bring up topics such as confession or contraception.

So, scripture warns us against being blinded by our own iniquities - rather, we need to be continually enlightened by the splendor of truth and virtue, whether the example comes from the pages of the Bible, or from the lives of saints and contemporary “just ones” God sends to inspire us.

Daily Retreat 03/26/09

2009 Mar 26 Thu: Lenten Weekday
Ex 32: 7-14/ Ps 105(106): 19-20. 21-22. 23/ Jn 5: 31-47

From today’s readings:  “They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them, making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it, sacrificing to it ....  They exchanged their glory for the image of a grass-eating bullock....  But you do not want to come to Me to have life.....”

Poor Exchange

Idolatry is obviously idiotic - it seems incomprehensible that anyone would commit such a stupid sin as those Israelites did who turned away from the Lord and, as summarized in the psalm, “They exchanged their glory for the image of a grass-eating bullock!”  What a poor exchange!

And yet, even though it might be hard to find many people worshiping molten calves today, we would be sadly mistaken to boast that in our “enlightened” age, there are no transgressions against the first commandment.  On the contrary, in fact, there are many sins of idolatry in our age, because whenever anyone treats a thing or another person as more important than God, then the Lord’s rightful place  has effectively been displaced by a modern variant of the “grass-eating bullock.”

So, for instance, if a person is willing to make formidable sacrifices in order to get ahead in his career, yet contents himself with the flimsiest excuses for missing Mass, or not praying daily, or dismissing charitable appeals, can it not be said that such a person treats his career as his god?  Or, if a person is fanatical in his patriotism, but lukewarm in his faith, then clearly, his priorities prove his allegiance is not first to God!

Look closely at how you spend your time, energy, and money - is your offering of these things directed to the one true God, or to some contemporary reincarnation of a molten calf?

Daily Retreat 03/25/09

2009 Mar 25 Wed: ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD S
Is 7: 10-14; 8: 10/ Ps 39(40): 7-8a. 8b-9. 10. 11/ Heb 10: 4-10/ Lk 1: 26-38

From today’s readings:  “The Lord Himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and shall name Him Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us!’...  Here I am, Lord; I come to do Your will...  Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me....  Behold the handmaid of the Lord - let it be done unto me according to your word!”

The Incarnation

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt amongst us....”  John 1:14 is one of the most jubilant verses in all of Sacred Scripture, the gospel, the “good news” of the Incarnation.  Although those first verses which form the prologue of John’s Gospel are proclaimed on Christmas day, they also are equally appropriate for meditation on today’s solemnity of the Annunciation, recalling Mary’s fiat and the moment when the Eternal Word of the Father became flesh and was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.

This feast day continues to grow in importance and in people’s awareness, mostly because the link between Christ’s conception and His birth nine months later is being stressed to emphasize the sacredness of human life even before birth.  Consequently, many parishes celebrate Holy Mass with a particular pro-life focus on this day.

Even by themselves, the Gospel texts of the Annunciation (Lk 1:26-38) and the Visitation (Lk 1:39-56) prove the indisputable biblical basis for recognizing the sanctity of unborn human life.  So, one of the best pro-life strategies is simply to cultivate greater appreciation for these feasts in the life of the Lord, which each one of us can do simply by sharing with others the gospel, the good news of what is celebrated today - the Incarnation of the Word of God!

Daily Retreat 03/24/09

2009 Mar 24 Tue: Lenten Weekday
Ez 47: 1-9. 12/ Ps 45(46): 2-3. 5-6. 8-9/ Jn 5: 1-16

From today’s readings:  “I saw water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east....  There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High....  Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes. In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.”

Holy Water

Ezekiel’s vision of water flooding from out of the Temple at first seems confusing - why in the world would so much water flow from the House of God?

For Christians, though, since water immediately makes one think of Baptism, specifying the sanctuary as the source of this life-giving water cinches the matter - Ezekiel’s vision is an allegorical depiction of the saving waters of Baptism!

In fact, the whole season of Lent originated in the preparation of catechumens for Easter Baptism.  The forty days Jesus had spent praying and fasting in the desert was the inspiration for the length of Lent, and because the catechumens were so exemplary in their commitment to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, it wasn’t long before the whole Church decided to commit also to this penitential time, and so the Easter liturgy includes not just the Baptism of the elect, but also the renewal of baptismal promises for all the children of God, who then joyfully sing together the opening verses of Ezekiel’s vision!

Daily Retreat 03/23/09

2009 Mar 23 Mon: Lenten Weekday/ Toribio de Mogrovejo, bp
Is 65: 17-21/ Ps 29(30): 2 and 4. 5-6. 11-12a and 13b/ Jn 4: 43-54.

From today’s readings:  “Thus says the LORD: Lo, I am about to create new heavens and a new earth....  I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me....  Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”

What’s New?

There is so much beauty in creation to give thanks to God for, and yet the pervasive pollution of sin has contaminated so much, one can wonder if there’s anyplace left unscarred by evil!

But it is the Lord’s ambitious plan to go beyond a mere cleanup operation, for as we read in the book of Isaiah: Thus says the LORD: “Lo, I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; The things of the past shall not be remembered or come to mind. Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create; For I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight; I will rejoice in Jerusalem and exult in My people!”

This glorious promise is echoed in the New Testament (e.g., 2 Pet 3:13, Rev 21:1), so we should never see the task of cooperating with God’s work as too daunting  - when the Lord completes His new creation, there shall be the complete end of evil, suffering, and sadness....

Daily Retreat 03/22/09

2009 Mar 22 SUN: FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT.
2 Chr 36: 14-16. 19-23/ Ps 136(137): 1-2. 3. 4-5. 6 (6ab)/ Eph 2: 4-10/ Jn 3: 14-21

From today’s readings:  “Early and often did the LORD, the God of their fathers, send His messengers to them, for He had compassion on His people and His dwelling place....   Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you....  God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love He had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ....  For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life. ”

Be Cleansed of Sin!

The error of painting God as a cruel, tyrannical, vindictive ruler of the universe certainly is not supported by scripture - it is, in fact, a ploy of the Devil to cast God in such a bad light, so that no one would even want to avail himself of the light of divine illumination.

God is good and loving - the whole of revelation insists on that.  But precisely because God is all-good and all-loving, He cannot tolerate sin and evil. Not even “just a little bit!”  His readiness to forgive is guaranteed in Scripture, but the divine pardon is not imposed without a person’s firm sense of contrition.

This is an essential distinction, and can be illustrated with an example: if a foolish and disobedient child chases after a skunk, and then is consequently sprayed by the skunk, his loving parents wouldn’t disown him just for that - they would, rather, help him to get cleaned up thoroughly.  However,  if the child refused to be washed of the stench, the parents would certainly explain that they would, under no circumstances, tolerate any such stink in their home, and therefore, they would rightly insist that the child submit to a cleansing bath.

Every sin is an act of foolishness and disobedience, like the child chasing the skunk.  And every sin envelops the sinner in the odor of evil, although, to be sure,  there are various degrees of that malodor.  Yet even a little sin pollutes the pure aroma of a soul sanctified by God’s love, so God insists that the sinner submit to a cleansing bath of His mercy.

And there’s no sin that cannot be cleansed by immersion in the mercy of God!  The penetrating stink of a skunk might take several washings to eliminate thoroughly, but through the purifying water of baptism and the cleansing power of the sacrament of confession, in an instant, God  entirely removes all smell of sin, even the rotten stench of mortal sin!

Naturally, a child sprayed by a skunk is thoroughly aware of his olfactory offense, and thus generally quite eager to be cleansed.  But even if they’re not hit by a skunk, all children (and adults!) get dirty and smelly after awhile, and end up needing a bath, but sometimes, immature kids resist that idea, protesting, “I don’t need to get cleaned up - I just had a bath last month!”

Yes, we laugh to think about some grimy, smelly kid engaging in such ridiculous objections for something he so clearly needs, and yet many kids and adults fall back on those same antics when God dares (during this season of Lent, for instance) to suggest that it’s high time to be thoroughly cleansed of sin: “I don’t need to go to confession - I just went last month (or last year).”  Try not taking a bath for a month or a year, and others will notice your body odor, even if you don’t.  Try going to confession regularly, and you will notice a stronger fragrance of sanctity in your soul, and most likely, others will to!

Daily Retreat 03/21/09

2009 Mar 21 Sat: Lenten Weekday

From today’s readings:  “For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings....  Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.”

Come, let us return to the Lord!

The prophet Hosea certainly lives and gives one of the most poignant calls to return to the Lord - his tender reminder of the Lord’s words serve as a Lenten litmus test , “For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings!”

Our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving of this holy season must thus be infused with both Love and Knowledge of God, and all of scripture is meant specifically to cultivate these.

Daily Retreat 03/20/09

2009 Mar 20 Fri: Lenten Weekday
Hos 14: 2-10/ Ps 80(81): 6c-8a. 8bc-9. 10-11ab. 14 and 17/ Mk 12: 28-34

From today’s readings:  “Thus says the LORD: Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God; you have collapsed through your guilt....  If only My people would hear Me, and Israel walk in My ways....  Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength....”

Return!

We've all had the experience of making a wrong turn in a congested downtown area, then driving  cluelessly about for awhile with no idea of how to get back on track, then breathing a sigh of  relief when we finally come across a sign pointing to the right road.

It's easy to see how that scenario is quite analogous to our spiritual life. It certainly is all too easy to get off track, and soon we find ourselves going around in circles or  wandering about aimlessly, having almost forgotten where we're supposed to be going.

But then, God graciously provides us with a sign that points to HIM, and we're reminded of where we're supposed to be going, and how to get there.  That's what the season of Lent is all about:  noticing the many signs that God provides for us that lead us to return to Him. Of course, no matter how clearly a sign may point to the right direction, one must freely choose to follow the sign in order to get back on track.....  

Daily Retreat 03/19/09

2009 Mar 19 Thu: JOSEPH, HUSBAND OF MARY S
2 Sm 7: 4-5a. 12-14a. 16/ Ps 88(89): 2-3. 4-5. 27. 29/ Rom 4: 13. 16-18. 22/ Mt 1: 16. 18-21. 24a or Lk 2: 41-51a

From today’s readings:  “Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before Me; your throne shall stand firm forever....  I have sworn to David My servant: Forever will I confirm your posterity and establish your throne for all generations....  as it is written, I have made you father of many nations....  His mother said to Him, ‘Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for You with great anxiety.’ ”

St. Joseph

It’s odd that, while so many people celebrate the feast of St. Patrick (March 17), far fewer people are even aware of today’s much more solemn and important feast in honor of St. Joseph!

It’s absolutely essential to Christian faith to recall that Jesus was begotten by God the Father, and born of the Virgin Mary; consequently, the Gospels are clear that Joseph, the husband of Mary, was the foster father of Jesus, not His natural father (forgive me if it seems I’m belaboring such a basic point, but after running across too many Christians ignorant of this fact, I’ve concluded that it needs to be reviewed more frequently).

Although Joseph was called by God to be head of the Holy Family, Jesus is the center, and the Immaculate Virgin Mary’s role is infinitely more exalted than that of her husband, so Joseph is necessarily the most diminutive member of that family - in fact, scripture does not record a single word spoken by him!  But that doesn’t mean at all that he deserves to be overlooked - in fact, next to Mary, Joseph enjoys the highest degree of saintly dignity.  Note how St. Luke, who stresses the Virginal Birth most emphatically, nonetheless refers (without an apologetic qualifier!) to Joseph and Mary as the “parents” of Jesus, and Mary herself even refers to Joseph as “Your father” when speaking to the child Jesus in the Temple.

Because of his privileged role as putative father of Jesus, husband of Mary, head and guardian of the Holy Family, St. Joseph is thus to be honored by the whole Church, especially today on his solemn feast day.  Indeed, it is only this day and next week’s feast of the Annunciation which are ranked as solemnities in the Church’s liturgical calendar, preempting the austerity of Lent with the joyful overtones of these two fundamental feasts in the mystery of salvation!

Daily Retreat 03/18/09

2009 Mar 18 Wed: Lenten Weekday/ Cyril of Jerusalem, bp, dr
Dt 4:1. 5-9/ Ps 147: 12-13. 15-16. 19-20/ Mt 5: 17-19

From today’s readings:  “What great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today?...  He has proclaimed His word to Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel....  Whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.”

God’s Commandments

Many think of any commandment just as an impingement on absolute freedom.  However, the commandments given to us by God lead us to fulfillment of the high dignity to which we are called and for which we were created - living our lives as loving children of God!  It is in fact when we transgress God’s commandments that we make ourselves less than what we are meant to be - when we lie, cheat, or steal, for example, we have cheapened ourselves, and hurt others in the process.

Moses points out how attractive are the commandments when lived out faithfully, demonstrating wisdom and intelligence in those who keep them.   When we realize this insight, we realize how much we have to gain by keeping God’s commandments, thereby giving us even more reason to faithfully fulfill everything God asks of us.

Daily Retreat 03/17/09

2009 Mar 17 Tue: Lenten Weekday/ Patrick, bp, ms
Dn 3: 25. 34-43/ Ps 24(25): 4-5ab. 6 and 7bc. 8 and 9/ Mt 18: 21-35.

From today’s readings:  “But with contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received....  In Your kindness remember me, because of Your goodness, O LORD....  You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?”

Contrite heart and humble spirit

Do you pray to God, or do you voice your personal demands and expectations for Him?  Do you approach God as your God (recognizing yourself as His creature) or do you approach Him as your personal indentured Genie-in-a-bottle?

Biblical prayers (such as that of Azariah in the Book of Daniel) demonstrate the need to approach God with a contrite heart and humble spirit.  “Contrite heart” means that we’re aware of our sins, and have contrition and remorse for them, and that, on account of our sins, we’re in no position to make demands on God, except when we explicitly pray for the fulfillment of what He has promised.  “Humble spirit” means that we recognize God’s majesty and our own littleness and insignificance.

When we approach God with contrite heart and humble spirit, He’s sure to “deal with us in Your kindness and great mercy. Deliver us by Your wonders, and bring glory to Your name, O Lord!”

Daily Retreat 03/16/09

2009 Mar 16 Mon: Lenten Weekday
2 Kgs 5: 1-15b/ Ps 41(42): 2. 3; 42(43): 3. 4/ Lk 4: 24-30

From today’s readings:  “If the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary, would you not have done it?...   Athirst is my soul for the living God....  Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. ”

Extraordinary ways through ordinary means

As much as the Bible chronicles the extraordinary interventions of God in human history, an even more fundamental theme underlying all of scripture is that God is present and active through ordinary means as well. So often people sincerely pray, “God, speak to me, tell me what to do!” But, since they’re only looking to hear an extraordinary voice from Heaven, they tune out  the ordinary method of hearing God’s Word, when it is proclaimed in Church.

Naaman the leper learned this hard-to-swallow insight long ago at the time of Elisha the prophet.  Naaman was bitterly disappointed when Elisha proposed the ordinary action of washing in the Jordan river as the extraordinary means for God’s healing.  When he was ready to leave in disgust without trying the ordinary sounding solution, Naaman’s servants reasoned with him that there was nothing to lose, and since he wouldn’t have hesitated to go along with an extraordinary suggestion, why not follow Elisha’s ordinary directions?  “So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of the man of God. His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean!”

Similarly, our faith assures us that you and I can welcome God in our lives in so many ordinary ways, particularly through the sacraments and in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  Now, if the Bible particularly recommended a certain extraordinary means for drawing closer to God (e.g., a 50-mile barefooted pilgrimage), then surely you and I would undertake that suggestion, no matter how demanding it might seem! Yet because our God so loved us, He committed Himself to quite ordinary means of assuring us of His presence, but because the means are so ordinary, so many people don’t bother taking advantage of them!

This Lent, learn the leper’s lesson about letting God touch our lives in extraordinary ways, but through ordinary means.  So, go to confession, come to Church even more than once a week, read the Bible, commit yourself to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, and by Easter, celebrate your extraordinary closeness to God!

Daily Retreat 03/15/09

2009 Mar 15 SUN: THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT
Ex 20: 1-17/ Ps 18(19): 8. 9. 10. 11/ 1 Cor 1: 22-25/ Jn 2: 13-25

From today’s readings:  “In those days, God delivered all these commandments....  The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul; the decree of the LORD is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple....  Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God....  Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem....”

The Divine Primer

Probably the first thing that all of us learned about God is the fact that He made us.  In the course of human history, there has certainly been a lot of discussion and argument about who God is, but at least there’s remarkable agreement across the board of monotheism that some divine being made us.

O.K., simple enough - God made us.  But where do we go from there?  Some people (a small minority, to be sure) will grant that God made us, but then they make the absurd claim that he didn’t really know what he was doing in the act of creation - they basically reduce God to a cosmic “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” who was playing with powers beyond his control.

The rational conclusion, though, is that God did know what He was doing in the act of creation, that since the effect cannot be greater than the cause, the entire universe of creation cannot be greater than the Creator.  So God must have some plan and purpose in creation.

But did God ever bother with the divine courtesy of revealing His plan to His creation, or did He keep it to Himself and leave it up to us to figure that all out?  Here again, there are two basic schools of thought.  The vast majority of believers of all ages have been theists, confessing faith in God, along with the additional assumption that He has intentionally revealed something about Himself and His plan for us.  Others, however, are classified as deists: they believe in God the creator, but they deny that any intelligible “Word of the Lord” has ever been revealed to man.  Deism, however, is ultimately a rational dead-end - what sense is there in believing in a creator who just sits back and passively observes the inane unwinding of creation?

Those who believe that God has created us and revealed Himself, generally believe that He has revealed Himself as Good - Good, with a capital “G” since He is the source of all goodness.  One historical group of people, the Jews, even claim that God, who is Good, has specifically revealed Himself in human history, choosing them, the Jews, as the elected recipients of that Divine Revelation, as is recorded in the Old Testament.  

About 2000 years ago,  Jesus of Nazareth, a member of the Jewish people, went even further, presenting Himself as the incarnated Son of God, the One entrusted to unveil the fullness of Divine Revelation, and aptly described as “the Power of God and the Wisdom of God.”

As Christians, we, of course, all believe that God made us, that God knew what He was doing in creating us, that He revealed the Truth and Goodness of Himself first  to the Jews in the Old Testament, and then, in the fullness of time, God revealed Himself in the person of His divine Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.  As creatures and children of God, our first duty is to Him, not to ourselves.

Curiously and tragically, among Christians who nominally, at least, subscribe to this belabored chain of belief, many, in practice, make a most gratuitous assumption that they know better than God, the Creator who is Good and has revealed Himself to us.  For many professing Christians don’t even know a rather crucial slice of divine revelation, namely, the 10 Commandments of God, and even more Christians, whether or not they can yet recite the Decalogue, will cheerfully grant themselves at least an occasional dispensation from God’s commandments.  In complete honesty, have not all of us rationalized at one point or another about being exempt in some sense from the full force of God’s laws?  But that implies that we know better than God!

Yet God’s laws are not human laws: His laws are perfect, and universal, whereas human laws are imperfect and limited in their scope.  Moreover, God is not like a traffic cop, who turns his back occasionally and thus invites stealthy infractions with impunity.  But neither is God a tyrant, who capriciously makes laws for his own selfish ends - no, God is Good, and so His laws are all good laws, always beneficial to those who keep them.

All this leads to the question: why don’t people in general (and ourselves in particular!) always keep God’s laws?  The reason is obvious for people who don’t believe in God, or don’t believe that God knows best, or don’t believe that God has revealed His law to us, but for those of us who do believe all those things, there’s simply no good reason.  A lot of excuses, but no good reasons!

The Gospel reminds us that Jesus doesn’t need anyone to explain to Him about human nature - He understands every person very well Himself.  He knows our weaknesses, our excuses, our rationalizations.  And He also knows what’s best for us!  So Lent is the insistent reminder to be consistent about our professed belief in God who knows best, so that we can have the courage to give up our weary excuses, and take up the Cross of Christ, which is the Divine Law of Life and Love.

Daily Retreat 03/14/09

2009 Mar 14 Sat: Lenten Weekday
Mi 7: 14-15. 18-20/ Ps 102(103): 1-2. 3-4. 9-10. 11-12/ Lk 15: 1-3. 11-32

From today’s readings:  “Who is there like You, the God who removes guilt and pardons sin for the remnant of His inheritance?...  He redeems your life from destruction, He crowns you with kindness and compassion....  Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found!”

The Good News of Lent

We’ve seen what a mistake it is to view Lent as a gloomy season, mired in sinful preoccupations.  Instead, these days are specifically intended to give us a renewed appreciation for, and acceptance of, the great mercy of God.  The book of the prophet Micah concludes in this vein of joyful wonder:

“Who is there like You, the God who removes guilt and pardons sin for the remnant of His inheritance; Who does not persist in anger forever, but delights rather in clemency, and will again have compassion on us, treading underfoot our guilt? You will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins; You will show faithfulness to Jacob, and grace to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from days of old!”

That’s the same Good News that Jesus preached and embodied - nothing gloomy about that!

Daily Retreat 03/13/09

2009 Mar 13 Fri: Lenten Weekday.
Gn 37: 3-4. 12-13a. 17b-28a/ Ps 104(105): 16-17. 18-19. 20-21/ Mt 21: 33-43. 45-46

From today’s readings:  “When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons, they hated him so much that they would not even greet him....  Remember the marvels the Lord has done....  What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?”

The Solution to the Bitterness of Jealousy

It is a simple matter for me to see the goodness of God in bestowing so many blessings upon me.  I can also see God’s generosity in showering others with many blessings as well.  However, jealousy can easily arise if, even in my awareness of my own manifold blessings, I perceive others as having more blessings than I do, or as possessing particular blessings which I may lack.

Joseph’s brothers were jealous of the particular attention Jacob (Israel) their father paid to their younger brother.  When given the opportunity, they stripped Joseph of his special tunic (designated a “coat of many colors” in older translations, but now, many scholars favor a colorless translation, such as “full-sleeved robe" or “striped garment”).  The brothers then threw Joseph into a cistern, and, in their greedy “benevolence,” they recognized him as their own flesh and blood, so instead of killing him, they sold him into slavery.

Yet the psalm reminds us how God’s blessings for Joseph actually increased even in such adverse conditions.  And we know how Joseph eventually even forgave his brothers and shared all his blessings with his whole family.  This, then, is the key to overcoming jealousy: remembering that all God-given blessings are meant to be shared (as Christ shared all His blessings; St. Paul also emphasized this often, e.g., 1Cor 12:4-7).  So, individual blessings which you and I enjoy must also be used for the common good - when we do this, our blessings multiply instead of diminishing!  And, when you and I see others with blessings which we ourselves lack, we should remember that even blessings given to others are indirectly given to us as well, since all blessings are meant to be shared.

Daily Retreat 03/12/09

2009 Mar 12 Thu: Lenten Weekday
Jer 17: 5-10/ Ps 1: 1-2. 3. 4 and 6/ Lk 16: 19-31

From today’s readings:  “I, the LORD, alone probe the mind and test the heart, To reward everyone according to his ways, according to the merit of his deeds....  For the LORD watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked vanishes.....  If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.”

Who knows the human heart?

Despite some helpful and legitimate insights from philosophy, psychology, and allied fields, so much of human nature remains enigmatic to our modern world - as is pointed out in the book of Jeremiah, “More tortuous than all else is the human heart, beyond remedy; who can understand it?”

Quite simply, man by himself cannot fathom the mystery of man!  But the Creator of Man can and does, of course, understand and know everything about human nature, so the most profound insights about the human mind and human heart necessarily come only from Revelation given by the One Who alone can “probe the mind and test the heart.”

So whenever we find ourselves misguided or on the wrong path, it’s time to renounce the ways we’ve trusted in worldly wisdom instead of divine Wisdom.  Lent is our privileged time to do just this as we chew on the basic choice of life:  “Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the LORD....[But] blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD!”

Daily Retreat 03/11/09

2009 Mar 11 Wed: Lenten Weekday
Jer 18: 18-20/ Ps 30(31): 5-6. 14. 15-16/ Mt 20: 17-28

From today’s readings:  “Heed me, O LORD, and listen to what my adversaries say. Must good be repaid with evil that they should dig a pit to take my life?...  You will free me from the snare they set for me, for You are my refuge. Into Your hands I commend my spirit; You will redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God....   Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?”

The Price of Faithful Prophecy

Jeremiah was perhaps the most unpopular of all the prophets - his unrelenting call to repentance and warnings about the inevitably disastrous consequences of evil choices caused the people and princes to hate him and frame him as an insurgent killjoy.  Time and time again, Jeremiah finds himself a hunted man, and why?  Simply because he faithfully lived up to his God-given vocation to serve as a prophet!  Justifiably upset at the persecution he’s suffered as a result of his faithfulness,  he complains, “Must good be repaid with evil that they should dig a pit to take my life?”  

Faithfully carrying out God’s will in our lives is always a challenge, particularly when the good we do unto others is, at times, repaid with evil. At such moments, you and I need to follow Jeremiah’s example as he turned to God and poured his heart out in prayer!  The God-given mission of bringing the Good News to a weary, sinful world is not to be called off simply because the Message and messengers are not received with open arms.  In fact, God sends His most faithful agents to situations where He knows they will be confronted with ingratitude, indifference, rejection, and opposition, because it is the people with such attitudes that stand most in need of the transforming power of the Gospel!

Daily Retreat 03/10/09

2009 Mar 10 Tue: Lenten Weekday
Is 1: 10. 16-20/ Ps 49(50): 8-9. 16bc-17. 21.23/ Mt 23: 1-12

From today’s readings:  “Come now, let us set things right, says the LORD: Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; Though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool....  I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes....  Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

"If you are willing and obey...."

Since the Word of God unmasks the Devil's deceptions, thereby enabling us to see the brutal, contagious ugliness of sin, choosing good and refusing evil is a pretty straightforward choice, at least in theory.   In practice, however, you and I too often continue to choose the ugliness of sin, mostly because we "refuse and resist" God's saving revelation.

Remember, God's grace in leading us to conversion is never imposed upon us - we must be willing and accepting of it, and as a prerequisite, we must commit ourselves to obeying His commandments and instructions.  The Devil attempts to cast God as a mad dictator who imposes his will on us for his own glorification and our own consternation.  In reality, God's very rational directions for life are more like those of a traffic cop:  when we obey such orders, we protect ourselves and others from getting hurt and stay on the right road; when we disobey, we get ourselves and others in trouble and danger.

Daily Retreat 03/09/09

2009 Mar 9 Mon: Lenten Weekday/ Frances of Rome, mw, rf
Dn 9: 4b-10/ Ps 78(79): 8. 9. 11 and 13/ Lk 6: 36-38

From today’s readings:  “Lord, great and awesome God, You who keep Your merciful covenant toward those who love You and observe Your commandments! We have sinned, been wicked and done evil; we have rebelled and departed from Your commandments and Your laws....  Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins....  Be merciful, just as Your Father is merciful.  Stop judging, and you will not be judged.  Stop condemning, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven!”

Collective Guilt

So many of the prophets and saints have, in addition to a keen sense of contrition for personal sins, an equally zealous spirit of penance for sins of all the people.  Rather than coldly but justifiably disassociating themselves from the sins of others, such saints imitate Christ by committing themselves to penance on behalf of others, thereby joining themselves to the saving mission of Christ.

Chapter nine of the book of Daniel includes one of the most penitential prayers in the whole Bible - throughout the prayer, the holy prophet deliberately accepts more than his share of the collective guilt of his nation as he intercedes fervently for all the people.  Even though he came before Christ's revelation of the fullness of God's mercy, Daniel is still acutely aware of God's willingness, in spite of our unworthiness, to forgive us, concluding near the end of his prayer, "we do not present our supplications before Thee on the ground of our righteousness, but on the ground of Thy great mercy!" (Dan 9:18).

For each one of us, the penance of Lent must begin with personal contrition for our own sins as individuals, but, following Daniel's example and joining ourselves to the saving mission of Christ, you and I can and should also shoulder some of the weight of the heavy cross of our collective guilt.  A timely idea for doing this is to choose any one of the great societal evils of our day, and commit yourself to a daily Lenten act of penance, invoking God's mercy and calling on Christ's redemptive self-sacrifice in reparation for that particular evil, seeking the compassion and forgiveness that God is so ready to give all His children who call upon Him!

Daily Retreat 03/08/09

2009 Mar 8 SUN: SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT
Gn 22: 1-2. 9a. 10-13. 15-18/ Ps 115(116): 10. 15. 16-17. 18-19/ Rom 8: 31b-34/ Mk 9: 2-10

From today’s readings:  “Because you acted as you did in not withholding from Me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore....  I believed, even when I said: I am greatly afflicted!...   If God is for us, who can be against us?...  Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves....”

Of the twelve chapters of Genesis which recount the life of Abraham, today’s verses from chapter 22 are the most poignant and most memorable, when God put Abraham to the test, and called upon him to sacrifice his son Isaac, for whom he had waited so many years.

At first glance, the incident gives rise to a legitimate objection to God’s way of doing things: how can He, the God who is all good,  ask Abraham for human sacrifice?  According to other scripture passages, such a custom is abominable to God (e.g., Deut. 12:31, Psalm 105:37-40).  Even with the realization that God, who knows all things, already knew how Isaac’s sacrifice would be averted, it still seems God’s command has inexcusably inflicted Abraham with great mental anguish.

But the things about God are not just things of the moment, but things of eternity, so the brightest light is shed on biblical mysteries through meditation on not just the present moment related, but the past that leads up to it, and the future that springs from it.

In the case of Abraham, there are a dozen chapters focusing on him in the Book of Genesis, starting with chapter 12, and God’s promise to make of Abram a great nation.  But up until chapter 21, Abraham just waits and waits to become the father of a single legitimate son, let alone the father of a whole nation.  When Isaac is finally born (in chapter 21), Abraham must have assumed that the waiting and testing was finally over.

And yet, to be the stalwart father in faith, Abraham needed to prove to himself and to his descendants that God ALWAYS comes first, no matter what.  For the test and lesson for Abraham is just a variant foreshadowing of the teaching of Jesus (cf. Matt. 10:37ff), “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.”  And this testing of Abraham, far from condoning child sacrifice, conclusively illustrates that God does not want that - indeed, the gripping pathos of this chapter made that message clear enough to even the most primitive peoples.  And finally, God knew that Abraham’s example would help his future descendants one day understand the significance of His own Son’s sacrifice....

And that’s what the Transfiguration is all about, as well.  An unforgettable moment, seared forever in the disciples’ memories.  But not just a momentary experience, but rather a momentous expedient that was to be the key to all of the Old Testament history of salvation, and the glorious glimpse of the New Testament climax of salvation.

For Moses, the charismatic liberator and inspired lawgiver, and Elijah, the faithful prophet and fearless forerunner, taken together stand for the whole of the Old Testament Law and the Prophets.  But that whole first volume of divine revelation was just the beginning of what God planned to give His people, for the voice from Heaven, while not abolishing the Law and the Prophets, nevertheless supercedes the witness of Moses and Elijah by focusing on only One: “This is My beloved Son - Listen to Him!”

And so Christ’s disciples of that time, as well as Christ’s disciples of this time, and of every future age, are commanded anew:  “This is My beloved Son - Listen to Him!”  Listen to Him, yes, when He speaks words of comfort, but listen also when He speaks words of warning!  Behold Jesus as the beloved Son of God in the glory of the Transfiguration, but behold the Man no less in the gore of the Crucifixion!

And thus, let the lesson be seared forever in our own lives: if God is for us, who can be against us?  So indeed, it is good that we are here with Jesus in celebration of His Sunday victory and transfigured glory, but that cannot be solidly ours wholly, unless we are good to be with Jesus in holy solidarity, listening to Him again wherever the reality of the Cross points its shadow to the suffering of any and all the beloved children of God.