At the Feet of Jesus

Divine Mercy

We Fall Down
Words and Music by Chris Tomlin

We fall down
We lay our crowns
At the feet of Jesus

The greatness of
Mercy and Love
At the feet of Jesus

And we cry
Holy, Holy, Holy
And we cry
Holy, Holy, Holy
And we cry
Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lamb

This weekend, we celebrated the Feast of Divine Mercy, which is a rather new feast in the Church, and yet, at the same time, a really old feast, too. It was added to the Liturgical Calendar by Pope John Paul II in 2000, and yet there are still many Catholics who don't know anything about it, so I thought I would begin with a brief history of the feast.

Way back in the time of the Church Fathers, the Sunday after Easter was known as Dominica in Albis, or Sunday in White (or Whitsunday). This was because at the Easter Vigil, the newly baptised Catholics were given a white garment which represented the new purity of their souls, which they would wear for the whole week of Easter. On Dominica in Albis, they took off their white robes and put them in a place of special remembrance for them. On this feast, St. Augustine would say to his parishioners at this moment, "Let not our interior purity be lessened as we set aside its exterior symbols." (#156, Dominica in Albis) St. Augustine calls these days "days of mercy and pardon" (# 156, Dominica in Albis) and the Sunday "the compendium of the days of mercy."

Moreover, my patron saint, St. Gregory of Nazianzus, one of the greatest Doctors of the Church, says that this Octave day of Easter is even a greater Feast than Easter though it takes nothing whatever away from the greatness of the Day of the Resurrection itself. Easter Sunday is the boundary between death and life (a creation). But its eighth day, the Octave, is the fulfillment of what Easter is all about - perfect life in eternity (a second creation, more admirable and more sublime than the first).

Over the centuries, however, the greatness of this feast was seemingly forgotten by the Church, until in the 1930's, Jesus Himself began appearing in visions to a Polish nun, St. Maria Faustyna of the Most Holy Eucharist (or just St. Faustina). He said to her,

I am giving them the last hope of salvation; that is, the Feast of My Mercy. If they will not adore My mercy, they will perish for all eternity... tell souls about this great mercy of Mine, because the awful day, the day of My justice, is near.

On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the found of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment.

On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened.

You will prepare the world for My final coming.

Before I come as a just Judge, I first open wide the door of my mercy. (Quotes taken from various locations in St. Faustina's Diary.)

When St. Faustina told the Bishop of Cracow that Jesus wanted this feast instituted, she was told that there already was such a feast, and she shouldn't trouble herself or him with these things. Rebuffed, she reported this to Jesus the next time He appeared, and He answered, "And who knows anything about this feast? No one! Even those who should be proclaiming My mercy and teaching people about it often do not know about it themselves. That is why I want the image to be solemnly blessed on the First Sunday after Easter, and I want it to be venerated publicly so that every soul may know about it."

However, the feast never came to be recognised by the Universal Church until April 30th, 2000--the date of St. Faustina's canonisation. And on this day, it was another Archbishop of Cracow who had the honours--though by now he was the Pope!

On May 13th, 1981, there was an assassination on Pope John Paul II's life. Critically wounded by a gunshot, he was taken to the hospital. While recovering there, the Pope had the Diary of St. Faustina re-read to him. Upon his recovery, he visited his would-be assailant in prison. After he left the prison, the media wanted to know what he and his assassin had talked about. But all the Pope said was that the details were between he and his assailant, but he did clearly state, "I have forgiven him as a brother and a friend."

This forgiveness of the Pope wasn't simply a pious platitude or the sanctimonious posturing of a "religious" man. It was genuine. As proof of this, Pope John Paul II kept up regular correspondence with the man and his family. He even urged prayer for his "brother". Toward the end of his battle with Parkinson's, John Paul II's former assailant actually wrote to wish him well in his illness, expressing hope that the Pope would live to carry on his work! This man, who formerly tried to kill the Pope, was deeply grieved on the day of his funeral, that he could not be allowed to go to Rome to mourn!

That is the power of mercy! And the example of the Pope's mercy on this man reminds us of Jesus' mercy for us. Jesus said that there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for his friends, but Romans tells us that Jesus laid down His life for His enemies, in order to make them friends! That unfathomable mercy is what the Pope declared we celebrate on Divine Mercy Sunday!

Now, of course, to discuss Mercy, we need to have a need for Mercy. In other words, Mercy is closely related to Forgiveness--and Forgiveness requires something to forgive. And all of us need forgiveness. We all need Mercy. Way back at the beginning, the original people, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God and lost the life of Grace that He created them to live in. But they didn't just lose that Grace for themselves; they lost it for all of us. This is the notion of Original Sin--that, in a sense, we have all been sold into slavery to sin. We inherit this slave-state just as the son of a slave is born into slavery. As slaves to sin, we're subject to its control in our lives--meaning, we can't simply blame Adam and Eve for ruining things for us, as though we don't have our own responsibility. As the Bible clearly tells us, we've all sinned. We all need to be set free.

And so, Jesus came, as He said, "not to be served, but to serve, and to give Himself as a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28). Romans 11:32 tells us, "God has imprisoned all human beings in their own disobedience only to show mercy to them all." In other words, God allowed Adam and Eve to choose to disobey Him, in order to subject us all to our own disobedience, for the sole purpose of demonstrating the true, unfathomable greatness of His Divine Mercy to those who would accept it! At the Cross, Jesus paid the debt for our sins, to ransom us out of slavery and give us new life in Him. We find this Mercy for Sins at the foot of the Cross:

Carrying His own cross He went out to the Place of the Skull or, as it is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified Him with two others, one on either side, Jesus being in the middle....
It was the Day of Preparation, and to avoid the bodies' remaining on the cross during the Sabbath--since that Sabbath was a day of special solemnity--the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken away. Consequently the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Him and then of the other. When they came to Jesus, they saw He was already dead, and so instead of breaking His legs one of the soldiers pierced His side with a lance; and immediately there came out blood and water. This is the evidence of one who saw it--true evidence, and he knows that what he says is true--and he gives it so that you may believe as well. Because all this happened to fulfil the words of scripture:

'Not one bone of His will be broken;'

and again, in another place scripture says:

'They will look to the one whom they have pierced.'

(John 19:17-18, 31-37)

John the Apostle watched as the Centurion pierced the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the flood of water and blood that flowed out twigged in his mind the words of the prophet Zechariah, who prophesied:

'But over the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem I shall pour out a spirit of grace and prayer, and tehy will look to Me. They will mourn for the One whom they have pierced as though for an only child, and weep for Him as people weep for a first-born child. When that day comes, the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad Rimmon in the Plain of Meggido...
'When that Day comes, a fountain will be opened for the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to wash sin and impurity away.' (Zechariah 12:10-11, 13:1)

Not only, Zechariah says, will they look upon the One they pierced (who is identified with God Himself, notably), but they will mourn for Him as they did at Meggido, when King Josiah (a major hero of the Jewish people) was killed in battle. And on top of all that, and from all that, the Fountain to cleans from Sin and Impurity will flow out! Divine Mercy--the blood and water from Jesus' Heart, flows out for the forgiveness of sin!

Jesus said precisely this to St. Faustina: "On the cross, the fountain of My mercy was opened wide by the lance for all souls – no one have I excluded!"

The divine Mercy that flows from Jesus' Heart--the Blood and Water--are emblematic of Baptism and the Eucharist, as He explained to St. Faustina, through which we receive the forgiveness of sins and special graces from God! This Divine Mercy is available to all of us, if we choose to appropriate it to ourselves!

What must we do, then?
We must come to the feet of Jesus, where the fountain of Mercy pours out. At the feet of Jesus our lives are transformed, just as was Thomas' in the Sunday Gospel. Jesus did not cast him away for his obstinate unbelief, but showed him His Merciful Heart, and forgave him!

That same forgiveness is available to us for the asking! And so we ask for mercy, in the Sacrament of Confession, which Jesus instituted upon His resurrection:

He said to them again, 'Peace be with you.

'As the Father has sent Me,
so am I sending you.'

After saying this He breathed on them and said:

Receive the Holy Spirit.
If you forgive anyone's sins,
they are forgiven;
if you retain anyone's sins,
they are retained.'

(John 20:21-23)

To St. Faustina, Jesus said:

Souls that make an appeal to My mercy delight Me. To such souls I grant even more than they ask. I cannot punish even the greatest sinner if he makes an appeal to My compassion...

Sometimes, though, Confession is an intimidating thing to go to. We sin, and we're ashamed. We don't want to tell anyone, especially not a priest!

When you approach the confessional, know this, that I Myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I Myself act in your soul. Here the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. When you go to confession, to this fountain of My mercy, the Blood and Water which came forth from My Heart always flows down upon your soul and ennobles it. Every time you go to confession, immerse yourself entirely in My mercy with great trust, so that I may pour the bounty of My grace upon your soul.

Make your confession before Me. The person of the priest is, for Me, only a screen. Never analyze what sort of a priest it is that I am making use of; open your soul in confession as you would to Me, and I will fill it with My light.

Or, we go, in humility, and receive forgiveness and graces to avoid sin in the future, but still, we manage to fall back into our old habits almost immediately! We can despair of God's generous forgiveness--but we must never do that!

No soul that has called upon My mercy has ever been disappointed.

As the prophet Jeremiah wrote:

Surely Yahweh's mercies are not over,
His deeds of faithful love not exhausted;
every morning they are renewed;
great is His faithfulness! (Lamentations 3:22-23)

As long as we are willing to come in repentance to Jesus, He will welcome us and lavish us with His mercy!

And so, our second response to this is one of Trust. When Jesus commissioned the Divine Mercy Image from St. Faustina, He said that it must be inscribed with the signature, "Jesus, I trust in You." He called this image, "a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy."

The graces of My mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is -- trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive.

I let my Sacred Heart be pierced with a lance, thus opening wide the source of mercy for you. Come then with trust to draw graces from this fountain. I never reject a contrite heart.

Sooner would heaven and earth turn into nothingness than would My mercy not embrace a trusting soul.

And so we trust in Jesus, as Scripture says:

Taste and see that Yahweh is good.
How blessed are those who take refuge in Him. (Psalm 34:8)

Have mercy on me, God, have mercy on me,
for in You I trust. (Psalm 57:1)

We have put our trust in the living God and He is the Saviour of the whole human race but particularly of all believers. (1 Timothy 4:10)

Finally, in order to participate in the Divine Mercy that Jesus has for us, He tells us that we ourselves must be merciful:

Blessed are the merciful:
they shall have mercy shown them. (Matthew 5:7)

On this point, Jesus is intensely serious when He speaks to St. Faustina:

I demand from you deeds of mercy which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbours always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse yourself from it ... Even the strongest faith is of no avail without works.

Scripture echoes this explicitly:

'When you stretch out your hands I turn My eyes away.
You may multiply your prayers, I shall not be listening.
Your hands are covered in blood,
wash, make yourselves clean.
Take your wrong-doing out of My sight.
Cease doing evil. Learn to do good,
search for justice, discipline the violent,
be just to the orphan, plead for the widow.

'Come, let Us talk this over,' says Yahweh.
'Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be white as snow;
though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.' (Isaiah 1:15-18)

Again, Jesus says to St. Faustina,

If a soul does not exercise mercy in some way, it will not obtain My mercy on the day of judgment.

Remember, that in Matthew 25:31-46, the sheep and the goats were separated, not by their faith in Jesus, but by the mercy that they showed to others! That is the true test of faith!

Spiritual Works of Mercy
1. Instruct the Ignorant
2. Convert Sinners
3. Advise the Perplexed
4. Comfort the Sorrowful
5. Show Patience to Sinners
6. Forgive Others
7. Pray for the Living and the Dead

Corporal Works of Mercy
1. Feed the Hungry
2. Give Drink to the Thirsty
3. Clothe the Naked
4. Shelter the Homeless
5. Visit the Sick
6. Visit Prisoners
7. Bury the Dead

Let us partake in the Event of God's Mercy! Let us Ask for Mercy in confession; let us Trust in Jesus for His unfailing forgiveness; and let us allow that Mercy, given to us, to flow out of us as it flows out of Jesus' Heart, in Acts of Mercy to others!

Amen.

St. Stephen - c. 33

We'll begin our look at the lives (and deaths) of martyrs with the story of St. Stephen, since he was the first Christian martyr. Stephen lived at the same time as Our Lord, and, in fact, died about the same year as Jesus Himself was crucified! He may (or may not) have even met Jesus Himself during His earthly ministry.

After Jesus had come, preaching about God, and how to love God and each other, He was crucified. But, since, not being just a normal human being, but, in fact, God Himself, He rose again on the Third day. After this, He commissioned His disciples to complete the work He had started, and to build His Church. He promised them the Holy Spirit, so that they would be able to accomplish His mission.

And so the Church began, on the day of Pentecost, as the Holy Spirit descended and filled the believers. And they, empowered by Him, went out and preached about Jesus, and His love and forgiveness. And many people believed in Him. But the Church knew it was not enough simply to proclaim God's love, but to actually live it out. And the early church in Jerusalem did this radically. Christians would even sell their own valued possessions, and use the money to buy food for the poor! Think about that: going home, and selling your television, your Xbox, your skateboard, your car, or even the computer on which you're reading this! And then, use that money to go and benefit the poor and needy around you!

This is what the earliest Christians were doing. But before long, a problem arose: The early Christians were Jewish, and as they did these loving acts, they made sure that the poor Jewish people of Jerusalem were looked after. But the problem was this: Not all those who lived in Jerusalem were Jewish. And there were many poor Greek people who also were in need. So they came to St. Peter, and asked him to make sure that they wouldn't be overlooked in the daily distribution of food. St. Peter said to them, "I have to run this whole Church, and study the Scriptures in order to teach about Jesus. I can't wait tables, too! But this is a serious problem, so here's what we'll do. We'll appoint seven men to be Deacons, and their job will be to make sure that everyone is looked after fairly and properly.

(Notably, the Catholic Church still ordains Deacons, and their primary vocation is still social justice in the community and in the world--and it began with these seven men, in Acts chapter 6!)

The very first person picked as a Deacon was St. Stephen, and he was chosen, according to the Bible, because he was "full of faith and of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 6:5). The Holy Spirit working in Stephen gave him the humility, the courage, and the love to reach out to the poor with kindness. Now, Stephen was a bright and handy fellow. He could have made a career doing anything. He could have made a terrific living for himself, and been considered very successful in the world's eyes. But instead, he gave it up, in order to serve the poor and lowly. And this choice led many people to wonder about him. What would make a person choose to live a life like that? And they would ask Stephen about it, and he would answer, "A couple of years ago, there was this guy, Jesus, who came, and taught us how to love. He was amazing, doing miracles and wowing everyone. But the authorities became jealous and angry at Him, because He made them aware of their need to change. And rather than change themselves, they chose instead to kill Him. They crucified Him, but He rose again, and told us to carry on preaching and acting out God's love. And because of Him, and His love for us, I'm here helping the poor."

And whenever Stephen had the opportunity, he would tell people about Jesus. But, as I said, Jesus had only been crucified earlier that year. And those people who didn't like Jesus were still alive, and they still didn't like Jesus. And they weren't too fond of those people who talked about Him. So they came to Stephen and they said, "We don't want you talkin' about Jesus anymore. Quit it." And Stephen said, "Uh, no. I love Jesus way too much to stop talkin' about Him." So they said again, "Shut up, or we'll make you shut up!" Stephen replied, "Jesus is just too awesome for me to stop talking about Him!"

But you can't just kill someone who devotes his whole life to serving the poor! Someone like that has way too much respect in society. So his enemies plotted amongst themselves, and they started making up lies about horrible things that Stephen supposedly had done. And they told the authorities, and came back to Stephen, and said, "Because of all the horrible things we say you did, we're going to kill you," and they picked up stones to throw at him.

Now, I don't know about you, but if someone made up a bunch of lies about what a horrible person I am, and began throwing rocks at my head because of it, my first response would be to pick up my own rocks and throw them right back: "Oh, it's on, now!"

But as the mob was stoning Stephen, he did not retaliate, but instead prayed, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And as he died, he saw a vision, of Jesus standing up in Heaven, welcoming him home (Acts 7:60, 56).

Now, while the world might consider a person who gives up everything in life to follow God, and then ends up killed for it, a colossal failure, we recognise St. Stephen as a great hero. The reason we do so, is because we recognise that Stephen's death is not the end of the story.

As Stephen was being Crucified, he prayed for God to forgive his very killers! That kind of love can only come from the Holy Spirit in one's life! But the amazing thing is, all of us who are Christian have that same Holy Spirit! And as we grow closer to Him, and make ourselves more available to Him, we too will be filled with that same love that Stephen showed. And that love will have serious effects, as we see from Stephen's story. Because as Stephen was being stoned, one of the people in the crowd, one who had a rather large part in instigating the stoning, was a man named Saul.

Now Saul was rather anti-Christian. So much so that, after Stephen died, he went around trying to arrest and even kill other Christians. One such mission of his took him to a town called Damascus--but on the way, Saul had an encounter with Jesus. As he travelled, Saul saw a bright light that knocked him right off his horse, and heard Jesus say to him, "Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" Saul didn't know what to say, and so replied, "Who are You, Lord?" Jesus replied that He was Jesus, and that Saul would go on to Damascus to seek out a Christian, but not to kill him, but rather, this person, Ananias, would pray for him and baptise him, and Saul would become a great witness to Jesus!

In this remarkable way, Jesus answered the prayer of Stephen to forgive his killers, which Stephen prayed as he died, and let me tell you, continued to pray after he arrived in heaven! And Saul was the first one to receive the grace of those prayers, when he was baptised in Damascus, and changed his name from Saul, to Paul.

It was this Apostle Paul who spread the faith throughout the Roman Empire, starting many, many churches, writing nearly half of the New Testament, and finally, dying as a martyr himself, beheaded by the Emperor Nero! This is the legacy that St. Stephen's martyrdom gave to the Church!

And each of us, through the Holy Spirit, are able to live such a heroic life of faith, and to impact our generation with the Gospel of Jesus Christ! We need only to be willing to yield our own lives to the Holy Spirit inside of us!

God bless!

Anti-Evil

I got a cool shirt recently, that parodies the infamous Anarchy 'A', with a Cross, and the slogan, Anti-Evil. So I wore it and did a talk on it. Here it is!


Romans 12:14-21

Bless your persecutors; never curse them, bless them. Rejoice with others when they rejoice, and be sad with those in sorrow. Give the same consideration to all others alike. Pay no regard to social standing, but meet humble people on their own terms. "Do not congratulate yourself on your own wisdom." Never pay back evil with evil, but bear in mind the ideals that all regard with respect. As much as possible, and to the utmost of your ability, be at peace with everyone. Never try to get revenge: leave that, my dear friends, to the Retribution. As Scripture says: "Vengeance is Mine--I will pay them back," the Lord promises. And more: "If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat; if thirsty, something to drink. By this, you will be heaping red-hot coals on his head." Do not be mastered by evil, but master evil with good."

People often bemoan the evils in this world, and decry the wicked state of our society. Many of them use the presence of the terrible things in this world to deny the very existence of God! But that very realisation that there is evil in this world, that the world is not as it should be, is itself an evidence that there is a God who is Good.

And that God has shown us the way to live, in order to combat the evil that exists. But the war on evil that God calls us to is radically different than the way we tend to see it fought. Instead of retaliation in a misguided quest for justice, which too often looks like vengeance, St. Paul tells us here that our response must be blessing and patience. He tells us that we must not seek to retaliate, but to leave that to God's justice. It's hard, and it takes faith, but then, that's what it's all about. More, Paul tells us that we must be empathetic to others' needs, to rejoice with them or to weep with them. We must treat everyone as equals, and not celebrate ourselves above others.

He goes on to urge us to live at peace with everyone--but realises that peace is a two-way effort. So he qualifies it: As much as it is up to us, and to the best of our ability. What's that mean? Maybe your enemy doesn't want to reconcile. You still need to be open to it, and offering forgiveness, or even apologising for your own part. And you always need to be ready to do that.

Finally, Paul quotes from the book of Proverbs (15:21-22), and tells us to feed our enemies--to show them kindness in practical ways! He says this will have a similar effect to them as if you had dumped red-hot coals on their heads! Wouldn't that be fun? Most of us would prefer to dump the coals rather than be kind, but it is kindness and love that evil is combatted most effectively!

We can't fight fire with fire, or evil with more evil. Just as water extinguishes fire, Good defeats evil. Every time.

Or, to repeat my favourite quote, below the blog's title:

"Nothing in the world is the way it ought to be. It's harsh, and cruel, but that's why there's us... It doesn't matter where we come from, or what we've done, or suffered, or even if we make a difference. We live as though the world were as it should be, to show it what it can be." --Angel

It's our job to fight evil, not just complain about it.

Do Good.

The Two Ways

Matthew 7:13-29

"Enter by the narrow gate, since the road that leads to destruction is wide and spacious, and many take it; but it is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
"Beware of false prophets who come to you disguised as sheep but underneath are ravenous wolves. You will be able to tell them by their fruits. Can people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, a sound tree produces good fruit but a rotten tree bad fruit. A sound tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a rotten tree bear good fruit. Any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown on the fire. I repeat, you will be able to tell them by their fruits.
"It is not anyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord," who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but the person who does the will of My Father in heaven. When the day comes many will say to Me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, work many miracles in Your name?' Then I shall tell them to their faces: I have never known you; 'away from Me, all evil doers!'
"Therefore, everyone who listens to these words of Mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and hurled themselves against that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on rock. But everyone who listens to these words of Mine and does not act on them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and struck that house, and it fell; and what a fall it had!"
Jesus had now finished what He wanted to say, and His teaching made a deep impression on the people because He taught them with authority, unlike their own scribes.

Jesus compares the Spiritual Life to a journey, where we come to a fork in the road. To the left is a huge, 4-lane, paved freeway, well maintained and well lit. A very safe road. To the right, on the other hand, is a narrow, pot-hole-ridden, gravelly, bumpy, hard road. And on this journey, Jesus tells us that we must take that hard road. The world tries to tell us that all roads lead to God, but Jesus plainly tells us that these two diverging paths (and, ultimately, there are only two) go in opposite directions. The wide, safe, paved freeway leads to Destruction, while the narrow, difficult road leads to everlasting Life.

Why is it that the hard road is the right road? Why is it that God didn't make it hard to go to Hell, and easy to go to Heaven?

All living creature grow and change. To cease to grow is to die. This is true with our spiritual life as well. The hardships that come in following Christ and being obedient to His commands help us to grow. Without them, we would never be challenged or stretched, but we would become complacent, static, and we would die. Through the harships, the hard choices and hard actions, we rise to the challenge. Our faith, courage and strength are tested, and through God's Grace, we overcome and grow more and more like Christ--and that's what it is all about!

But this attitude is insanity to the world. Our world desires the easy route. It desires to live in peace and luxury, not to struggle. Like electrons, we desire to take the path of least resistance. And the world, therefore, tries to dissuade us from taking the hard road. It beckons us to follow the easy road to hell. It constantly tries to undermine the truth of Christ and His Church. Things like The Gospel of Judas or The Da Vinci Code tell us that the Church has lied to us about the Gospel. People tell us that we don't need to follow God--that it's futile and meaningless. They tell us we are our own gods. But these things are all lies, and dangerous lies, designed to lead us astray. And if we are not careful and discerning, if we are not staying close to the Truth, we can be led astray. The False Prophets, Jesus says, are like wolves dressed up in sheep's clothing. They sound clever, they sound reasonable, many times they even sound Christian. But their lies are exposed in their lives. If their message does not bring us to a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, or to a greater willingness to obey His Will, then it is false. If their message claims to bring us closer to Christ without the necessity of keeping His commands, it is false. If their message appears to lead to righteousness without Christ, it is false.

Jesus said, it is not everyone who says, "Lord, Lord," that comes into His Kingdom. We need also to do what God wants us to do. Note that many of these false prophets will even claim miraculous signs as their proof! We can't be fooled! God's will is not to do miracles (though they may often accompany those who do His will). God's will, rather, is "only this, to do what is right, to love loyalty and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8).

If we do not do the Will of God, we won't be accepted into His Kingdom. Jesus finishes with the parable of the wise and foolish builders--the wise one who builds upon the solid foundation, and his house stands against all adversity, and the foolish one who builds on sand, and his house crumbles right away. It is not enough to hear the word, Jesus says, but we must act on it.

I'll conclude with a poem that I wrote when I was 16, reflecting on a girl I knew who gave up the Christian life for peer pressure, getting into drugs and other sinful behaviour. She left the narrow road, for the wide freeway. If we walk away, know that God always calls us back, asking us to turn around and regain the Narrow Way.

Holes in His Soles
(C)1996 Gregory Watson

Sweet girl, on a journey,
Growin' up, you're in a hurry.
Seek new things to get you by,
Always new, you want to fly!

Sweet girl, the road you're takin',
It looks all right, but you're mistaken.
Might look brilliant, might look bold,
But "all that glitters isn't gold."

Sweet girl, you missed the exit,
Go back a way, see if you can find it.
Careful though, wolves hide the gate,
They dress like sheep, don't take the bait.

"'Because narrow is the gate...
And there are few who find it.'
Wolves in sheep's clothing
Are trying to hide it."

So girl, take my hand,
I'll lead you back, to find the Man
Who built the gate and now protects it.
He guides us home, and will keep the way lit.

Sweet girl, look at His footprints.
See the holes in the middle of those imprints?
Listen now, I will tell how and why.
You see, He got those marks for you and I.

This Man's Dad so much loved us
He sent His Son to make a way for us.
So He came and worked from early 'til late,
And when He'd finished, there stood a gate.

One post up, one post across
It stands, a landmark to those who are lost.
The wolves, the fearsome stalkers of night,
They hated the Man, and His gate of light.

They killed Him in their hate.
Nailed His hands and feet to the gate.
All night the wolves howled and taunted,
Fear not though, this is what He wanted.

He died, and all was dark.
Those wolves, they ceased to bark.
But the Builder, dead He didn't stay!
He lived again on the third day!

The wolves ran in a defeated state.
With His blood, He christened the gate.
"It is finished!" the Son exclaimed
From Calvary, what the gate is named.

So that, sweet girl, is why
His feet are marked: for you and I.
His footprints guide us over rock and sand,
Down the road to the Promised Land.

So when the wolves come to cajole,
Follow the tracks with the hole in the sole.
This Man will keep the wolves at bay.
Follow Him close; He'll not lead you astray.

And now, sweet girl, I say adieu.
I must go and help others just like you.
They seek new things to get them by,
Always new, wanting to fly!

"'Because narrow is the gate...
And there are few who find it.'
Wolves in sheep's clothing
Are trying to hide it."

Follow close the prints with the hole.
Keep with the Guide; He'll heal your soul.
Follow the tracks over rock and sand,
One day you'll come to the Promised Land.

This concludes our study of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.

God bless!

Prayer

Woohoo! 60th post! Here we come to the beginning of Lent, and the end ouf our Trilogy of topics from Matthew 6. Stay tuned for the heart-stopping, action packed conclusion! ...Or something like that ;)

Sorry for the delay in getting this out. It was due to be finished last Thursday afternoon, but work stuff sidetracked me, and I haven't seen a computer until today! So, without any further ado...

Matthew 6:5-15

'And when you pray, do not imitate the hypocrites: they love to say their prayers standing up in the synagogues and at the street corners for people to see them. In truth I tell you, they have had their reward. But when you pray, go to your private room, shut yourself in, and so pray to your Father who is in that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.
'In your prayers, do not babble as the gentiles do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard. Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. So you should pray like this:

Our Father in heaven,
may Your name be held holy,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive those who are in debt to us.
And do not put us to the test,
but save us from the Evil One.

'Yes, if you forgive others their failings, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours; but if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive your failings either.

In the first two verses, Jesus makes exactly the same point about prayer as He does about almsgiving and fasting, namely that we need to do it out of sincere motives and a desire to serve God, not out of a desire to appear spiritual before men. Jesus again says that those who pray, just as those who give alms and fast, out of hypocritical and pretentious motives, receive their reward. What does He mean? That those who give and fast and pray in order to get praise from others will only ever get praise from others as a reward for their religiosity. But as we have seen with the previous posts, and now here, God will reward those who serve Him for His sake, sincerely. How? As I mentioned in almsgiving, the Bible talks about the reward being the removal of the penalty of sin. With fasting, the reward is a greater knowledge and intimacy with God. As we'll see in a minute, the divine reward for prayer is a bit of both.

Jesus spends a little bit more time on prayer than on almsgiving and fasting (which is why I saved it until last). After warning about doing it for false motives, Jesus then warns us against doing it with false methods. And instead of comparing the true way with that of the hypocrites, He contrasts true prayer with that of the gentiles--namely, the pagan peoples who worshipped false gods and relied on magic incantations and long, babbling prayers to appeal to those false gods. It's important to understand that distinction, because so many people misinterpret this passage. Many, many people (mainly Protestants) think that Jesus is condemning the repetition of written or memorised prayers, as in the Catholic Rosary, for example. In fact, many translations of the Bible use the phrase "vain repitition" where the New Jerusalem Bible quoted above says "babbling."

But there are a couple of things to keep in mind. Number 1, not all repitition is "vain" or worthless. Jesus is not condemning the repitition of phrases or recited prayers. He is condemning, again, the motive or belief behind the repitition--namely, the notion that if we say a prayer enough times, or say precisely the right words, then God will do something, or reply, or grant our request. This is not prayer, this is magic, and that's why Jesus condemns it--that kind of repitition makes God out to be something we can control or manipulate--and that, as we'll see in a minute, is a sinful attitude!

Second, repitition becomes bad when it is no longer sincere, but simply rattling off words. This can happen very easily when we commit prayers to memory. If we are not careful, that memorised prayer can become meaningless when we fail to engage our minds in the recitation. The Church has given us a wonderful gift in its collections of prayers from various saints throughout the ages, don't get me wrong! They are so useful in expressing thoughts and desires that we ourselve can't always find the words for. But when we read or recite such prayers, we must always mean them, and speak them with sincerity.

For any Protestant (or Catholic) readers who practice a more spontaneous form of prayer, and are thinking "I don't have to worry about that!" consider your own prayers. Take note, in a single prayer, how many times you repeat certain clichéed phrases. Growing up, I noticed that many people replaced the word "um" in their prayers, with "Lord." If that's not "vain repitition" then what is? And that's not to mention a worship service where the songs might be sung over and over. Now, I'm not attacking other traditions here, but I want to point out just what it is that Jesus is and is not referring to, and that is this: Prayer must never be reduced to a magic formula.

To counter this, Jesus gives us the Our Father as an antidote. This simple, direct prayer is packed with meaning, and must be prayed with an understanding of that meaning. More, the meaning of the Our Father must inform all of our other prayers. So let's break it down:

Our Father in heaven
These words are perhaps the most important part of this prayer--maybe even all of Scripture! God, the All-Powerful Creator of the Universe, is our Father?! If we really ponder the idea, it is ludicrous! How can we dare to approach God, as if He were our Daddy? There is absolutely no way that we could, on our own. But that's just it: we aren't on our own! Through Jesus' Death and Resurrection, He makes us able to become the sons and daughters of God!

St. John writes in his first epistle, "You must see what great love the Father has lavished on us by letting us be called God's children--which is what we are!" (1 John 3:1.) That word, "lavished", describes it beautifully. Think of it like painting: you can put just a little bit of paint on the brush, and gently apply it to the canvass, or you can dip a big brush into the bucket and just slather that canvass! That's the idea behind "lavish". God is just heaping His love on us, saying, "Here! Have some more! And more! And more!" That's what it means to be His Children! That's what it means when we pray, "Our Father"!

May Your name be held holy
But in case we start taking the Father for granted, and approaching Him like we would our fathers, "Hey Dad, can I have 5 bucks?" the next line returns us to the right perspecitve. Yes, God is our Father, and He lavishes His love on us, but He is still holy, and deserves our awe, respect, and worship! On the one hand, we can curl up in His lap and call Him "Daddy", and on the other, we revere and adore Him as the All-Holy King of the Universe! There is and must be a balance between these perspectives, for they are both equally true.

Your kingdom come / Your will be done / on earth as in heaven
Since God is King, He obviously has a Kingdom, and that Heavenly Kingdom needs to be realised here on earth, so we pray that He would be present here with us, working out His Will on earth. So what's His Kingdom? St. Paul describes it as "the saving justice, the peace, and the joy brought by the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17). This is what we pray for--and the awesome thing is that when we pray for it, God chooses then to include us in the realising of it! He expects us to work to bring saving justice, peace, and joy to the world through the Holy Spirit working within us!

Give us today our daily bread
If God expects so much from us, then we can be assured that He will make it possible. This line in the prayer has a two-fold meaning. In the first place, we see that Jesus urges us to pray that God will meet our every need. But more, there is a reason that we pray the Our Father right before we receive the Eucharist at Mass: Since the earliest times, the Church has seen this line fulfilled in the Real Presence of Christ, who Himself is the Bread of Heaven, which is daily available in the Catholic Church! Through the Grace given by His presence, we truly can accomplish living a life that brings about His Kingdom!

And forgive us our debts, / as we forgive those who are in debt to us
Not only does Jesus meet our every need, and empower us by His Flesh and Blood, but He forgives our sins, as well! God desires to again, lavish grace and mercy upon us, but He again makes it conditional: we must also be willing to forgive. Just as Jesus said in the Beatitudes, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall have mercy shown them," He reiterates here when He says, "'Yes, if you forgive others their failings, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours; but if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive your failings either'" (Matthew 6:14-15). If God gives us so great a grace through such a high cost (Jesus' suffering and death), then we are expected to bestow that same grace upon everyone who has harmed us!

And do not put us to the test, / but save us from the Evil One
Finally, we learn that we can not only be forgiven of our failings, but that we can even be preserved from temptations! Staying close to God is staying far from Sin. Through Jesus, we are given the grace to flee temptation and resist the Devil (cf. James 4:7). St. Paul reassures us in 1 Corinthians 10:13, that "none of the trials which have come upon you is more than a human being can stand. You can trust that God will not let you be put to the test beyond your strength, but with any trial will also provide a way out by enabling you to put up with it"!

Praise God that He is so loving to us, that He meets all our needs and forgives our sins! That is what it means to have God as our Father! So let us draw close to Him in prayer in this season of Lent and all throughout our lives!

Let us Pray!

Fasting

Last post I mentioned that we'd be jumping around a little. This post I'm skipping Jesus' discussion on Prayer in Matthew 6, and going for His blurb on Fasting. Next post, I'll jump back to prayer.

Matthew 6:16-18

'When you are fasting, do not put on a gloomy look as the hypocrites do: they go about looking unsightly to let people know they are fasting. In truth I tell you, they have had their reward. But when you fast, put scent on your head and wash your face, so that no one will know you are fasting except your Father who sees all that is done in secret; and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.'

Jesus here is saying the same thing about fasting as He does about almsgiving: namely, don't show off about it. Fasting is a powerful spiritual discipline, but if we are doing it for the wrong reasons, the numerous benefits that we would otherwise achieve are nullified, and all that will come from it is that people will think you're super-spiritual (that is, if they don't see right through the act and think you're just a dork).

Fasting is an act of repentance--of making a sacrifice in order to draw closer to God. Now, for it to be a real sacrifice, you have to give up something good, something that is on the one hand, not wrong (you can't "fast" from sin--you should be giving that up, anyway!), and on the other hand, it has to be something that you like (fasting from Pepsi, for me, definitely wouldn't count. Neither would turnips, squash, or brussel sprouts! For you all, I'll say it here, definitively: Giving up homework does not count!). When we give something good up, we are recognising that as good as something is, there is something infinitely better--and we seek that good, Who is God. For example, the traditional fast is from food, and when we give up a meal, or several meals, we are saying that as good and as necessary as food is to our lives, God is infinitely better, and more necessary.

But giving something up (be it food, or television, or videogames) isn't the end of the story. When we give something up, we have to replace it with something. If we're giving up a good thing in order to gain a better One, then we actually have to be seeking that better One in our fast! When we feel the cravings for what we have given up, it is a reminder to seek out Jesus in prayer. When we are tempted to selfishly quit early, it is a reminder to selflessly help meet the needs of others. We have to actively seek God in our fast, otherwise there is no point. If our fast does not change our hearts to desire more of God, then honestly, we've just wasted our time.

Centuries before Christ, the prophet Isaiah made the same point, in the 58th passage of his book. When the Israelite people fasted without actually trying to love God or help others, they whined in frustration, "'Why have we fasted, if You do not see, why mortify ourselves if You never notice?'" (v. 3a). In reply, God, speaking through His prophet, says this:

Look, you seek your own pleasure on your fastdays
And you exploit all your workmen;
Look, the only purpose of your fasting is to quarrel and squabble
And strike viciously with your fist.
Fasting like yours today
Will never make your voice heard on high.
Is that the sort of fast that pleases Me,
A day when a person inflicts pain on himself?
Hanging your head like a reed,
Spreading out sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call fasting,
A day acceptable to Yahweh?
Is not this the sort of fast that pleases Me:
To break unjust fetters,
To undo the thongs of the yoke,
To let the oppressed go free,
And to break all yokes?
Is it not sharing your food with the hungry,
And sheltering the homeless poor;
If you see someone lacking clothes, to clothe him,
And not to turn away from your own kin?
Then your light will blaze out like the dawn
And your wound be quickly healed over.
Saving justice will go ahead of you
And Yahweh's glory come behind you. (Is. 58:3b-8)

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. It is the Church's primary season of penitence as we prepare to celebrate the Passion and Death, and Resurrection of Our Lord! Let us make this season a true fast, keeping in mind the Lord's words from Isaiah, and let us seek Him with all of our hearts.

Our Youth Ministry has been invited to participate in a wonderful outreach, in order to practice almsgiving on a dynamically large scale, by participating in the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace's program, "ThinkFast." The Chaplain at St. Ignatius of Loyola has invited us to join them as they do it from 3 pm March 3 to 3 pm March 4. If you don't know what ThinkFast is, it's raising money for D&P, so that they can send it to help countries that are afflicted with starvation, lack of clean water, or other injustices, so that permanent social change can be implemented. At the same time, we'll be fasting for 24 hours in solidarity with those who are starving for much, much longer periods. More, ThinkFast involves fun, learning, and worship throughout the night, and will end with a multicultural potluck on Saturday, which will last until 4. If you want to participate, please let me know! You'll need to raise at least $40.

That same Saturday, we'll be watching The Passion of the Christ here at the Church. Each Friday night of Lent, at 7, we'll be discussing it, as well as praying the Stations of the Cross. Feel free to join us!

God bless
Gregory

Almsgiving

For the beginning of chapter 6, I thought I'd jump around a bit. The beginning of Matthew 6 is the Ash Wednesday Gospel reading, so it's fitting that we approach the three topics of chapter 6: Almsgiving, Fasting, and Prayer, as we prepare to celebrate the season of Lent, in which the Church stresses greater spiritual devotion and good works, a time of getting right with God. Hopefully, then, really understanding these topics will help Lent to have a more dynamic impact on us. This post we'll talk about Almsgiving. We'll skip over to Fasting in the next one, and conclude with Prayer just as Lent begins.

Matthew 6:1-4, 19-20

'Be careful not to parade your uprightness in public to attract attention; otherwise you will lose all reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give alms, do not have it trumpeted before you; this is what the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win human admiration. In truth I tell you, they have had their reward. But when you give alms, your left hand must not know what your right is doing; your almsgiving must be in secret, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you...

'Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and woodworm destroy them and thieves can break in and steal. But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor woodworm destroys them and thieves cannot break in and steal. For wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be too.'

When Jesus taught us about being Salt and Light, He was telling us to boldly live out our faith and be an example to the world. Now, however, He seems to be reversing that idea, and telling us to do our good works in secret. It seems somewhat contradictory, so what is Jesus really saying?

Jesus is not contradicting Himself, and He does want us to be obvious in our faith-life. But here, Jesus is not talking about that. Rather, He is talking about hypocricy. Like His discussion of the Deeper Law at the end of Chapter 5, Jesus is teaching us about our motives. In fact, the beginning of Chapter 6 is really the continuation to the discussion of chapter 5. When Jesus began talking about living out the Law, His examples were all of a negative variety: Don't murder; Don't commit adultery, etc. However, in chapter 6, Jesus now turns His attention to the positive requirements of the Law, or the Do's. But His point remains the same. The religious people of His time all knew the importance of giving alms, fasting, and prayer. It was so important, in fact, that the "really religious" would actually show off their good works, in order that people would laud them and they'd come off looking pretty darn terrific. Condemning this activity, Jesus claims that human acclamation is all the reward that these people will ever get for their "good works," and that all the spiritual benefit that should come from giving to the poor is nullified.

When Jesus tells us that we should give to the poor "in secret", He is not suggesting that we go out in the dead of night, cloak-and-dagger, in order to give. Rather, He is saying to us that when we give, when we meet the needs of others, we should just do it because they need help, we can help, and God wants us to help. That's all there is to it. It's not about who sees or who doesn't see. It's about how much or how little we care that people see. It's about being obvious, not pretentious. And He promises that God will reward those who honour Him this way. How? Verses 19-21 have the key. It is in almsgiving that we understand that our treasure is not here, but we lay up treasure in Heaven. Jesus here is alluding to Tobit 4:4-11:

'My child, be faithful to the Lord all your days. Never entertain the will to sin or to transgress His laws. Do good works all the days of your life, never follow ways that are not upright; for if you act in truthfulness, you will be successful in all your actions, as everyone is who practises what is upright.
'Set aside part of your goods for almsgiving. Never turn your face from the poor and God will never turn His from you. Measure your alms by what you have; if you have much, give more; if you have little, do not be afraid to give less in alms. So doing, you will lay up for yourself a great treasure for the day of necessity. For almsgiving delivers from death and saves people from passing down to darkness. Almsgiving is a most effective offering for all those who do it in the presence of the Most High.'

A great example of one who lived out the unity of being obvious and humble about her faith is Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta--a woman who gave up everything in order to minister to those most in need in India. Someone who gives up everything like that is bound to attract attention, and she did. But she didn't seek it. In fact, more often than not, she avoided it. She didn't serve the poor in order to win the Nobel Peace Prize (though they gave it to her), but because these people needed someone to love them--and in their faces, she saw the Face of Christ. When people tried to give glory to her, she deflected it to Jesus Christ.

That's precisely what Jesus is talking about in Matthew chapter 6.

Our Youth Ministry has been invited to participate in a wonderful outreach, in order to practice almsgiving on a dynamically large scale, by participating in the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace's program, "ThinkFast." The Chaplain at St. Ignatius of Loyola has invited us to join them as they do it from 3 pm March 3 to 3 pm March 4. If you don't know what ThinkFast is, it's raising money for D&P, so that they can send it to help countries that are afflicted with starvation, lack of clean water, or other injustices, so that permanent social change can be implemented. At the same time, we'll be fasting for 24 hours in solidarity with those who are starving for much, much longer periods. More, ThinkFast involves fun, learning, and worship throughout the night, and will end with a multicultural potluck on Saturday.

If you want to participate, please let me know!

God bless!