1/5/12 - Follow Me

John 1:43-51

Jesus decided to go to Galilee, and he found Philip.
And Jesus said to him, "Follow me."
Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter.
Philip found Nathanael and told him,
"We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law,
and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth."
But Nathanael said to him,
"Can anything good come from Nazareth?"
Philip said to him, "Come and see."
Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him,
"Here is a true child of Israel.
There is no duplicity in him."
Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?"
Jesus answered and said to him,
"Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree."
Nathanael answered him,
"Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."
Jesus answered and said to him,
"Do you believe
because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree?
You will see greater things than this."
And he said to him, "Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will see the sky opened and the angels of God
ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

-------

Today we see the calling of Phillip and Nathanial. Just like with Peter and Andrew, the call is very simple. "Follow me." The call is so gentle, yet is so meaningful. We have no idea what will come from it. No clue at all. You just get that tugging at your heart that you need to go along.

I've had moments where that thought has frightened me. It's usually fear of the unknown, or (worse yet), fear of what I'll have to give up to follow Him. But it's turned out that every time I've turned myself over to Jesus -- without exception -- the return has been great. I just need to come to him, despite whatever burden I might be carrying, and he will give me rest.

1/4/12 - Come, and See

John 1: 35-42

John was standing with two of his disciples,
and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said,
"Behold, the Lamb of God."
The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus.
Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them,
"What are you looking for?"
They said to him, "Rabbi" (which translated means Teacher),
"where are you staying?"
He said to them, "Come, and you will see."
So they went and saw where he was staying,
and they stayed with him that day.
It was about four in the afternoon.
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter,
was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus.
He first found his own brother Simon and told him,
"We have found the Messiah," which is translated Christ.
Then he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said,
"You are Simon the son of John;
you will be called Cephas," which is translated Peter.

------

"Come and see" .... what an invitation Christ gives to John and Peter. There's no way that they could have even begun to fathom what they actually WOULD see, and how their lives would change. No clue at all of what they were getting into. But they came.

It's the same way with us. Christ is continually calling us to Him. Come, and see. We have no clue how great it can be.

Happy New Year!

4/8/11 - I Do Not Come On My Own

 

 

John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

 

Jesus moved about within Galilee;
he did not wish to travel in Judea,
because the Jews were trying to kill him.

But the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near.

But when his brothers had gone up to the feast,
he himself also went up, not openly but as it were in secret.

Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said,
"Is he not the one they are trying to kill?
And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him.
Could the authorities have realized that he is the Christ?
But we know where he is from.
When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from."
So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said,
"You know me and also know where I am from.
Yet I did not come on my own,
but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true.
I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me."
So they tried to arrest him,
but no one laid a hand upon him,
because his hour had not yet come.
-------

 

The feast of Tablernacles was one of the three times where Jews within a certain distance were required to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Jesus was bound to go there, but as we saw in the Tuesday's gospel, the conflict with the scribes, Pharisees, and high priests (John collectively refers to these leaders as "the Jews") is on the rise, and the plots to kill Christ are building.

Why? From their perspective, he has violated the sabbath, he has claimed the power to forgive sins, and he refers to himself as the Son of Man. In the eyes of most (not all) of the Jewish leaders at the time, this is nothing short of blasphemy, and the penalty for blasphemy under the Law is execution by stoning.

Because of this environment, Jesus chooses makes his pilgrimage to the temple secretly. Eventually teaches in the temple, and is recognized. Those who see him debate whether he is the Christ (ie, Messiah). In response to that debate, Jesus again tells the Jews that He has been sent by God Himself.

Which, of course, just makes them want to arrest Him more.

PS:  I want to know how Jesus made these escapes from the guys trying to arrest Him. Does he juke them like Barry Sanders, or disappear like the guys in "Field of Dreams," walking into the corn?

PPS - the mass reading skips from John 7:10 to John 7:25. Here are the missing verses. It has more smackdown for the Pharisees -- it helps you understand why they got so angry with Jesus.

11 The Jews were looking for him at the feast and saying, "Where is he?"
12 And there was considerable murmuring about him in the crowds. Some said, "He is a good man," (while) others said, "No; on the contrary, he misleads the crowd."
13 Still, no one spoke openly about him because they were afraid of the Jews.
14 When the feast was already half over, Jesus went up into the temple area and began to teach.
15 The Jews were amazed and said, "How does he know scripture without having studied?"
16 Jesus answered them and said, "My teaching is not my own but is from the one who sent me.
17 Whoever chooses to do his will shall know whether my teaching is from God or whether I speak on my own.
18 Whoever speaks on his own seeks his own glory, but whoever seeks the glory of the one who sent him is truthful, and there is no wrong in him.
19 Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?"
20 The crowd answered, "You are possessed! Who is trying to kill you?"
21 Jesus answered and said to them, "I performed one work 9 and all of you are amazed
22 because of it. Moses gave you circumcision--not that it came from Moses but rather from the patriarchs--and you circumcise a man on the sabbath.
23 If a man can receive circumcision on a sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a whole person well on a sabbath?
24 Stop judging by appearances, but judge justly."

4/6/11 - Jesus The Judge

 

 

John 5:17-30

 

Jesus answered the Jews:
“My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.”
For this reason they tried all the more to kill him,
because he not only broke the sabbath
but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God.

Jesus answered and said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own,
but only what he sees the Father doing;
for what he does, the Son will do also.
For the Father loves the Son
and shows him everything that he himself does,
and he will show him greater works than these,
so that you may be amazed.
For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life,
so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes.
Nor does the Father judge anyone,
but he has given all judgment to the Son,
so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.
Whoever does not honor the Son
does not honor the Father who sent him.
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word
and believes in the one who sent me
has eternal life and will not come to condemnation,
but has passed from death to life.
Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here
when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,
and those who hear will live.
For just as the Father has life in himself,
so also he gave to the Son the possession of life in himself.
And he gave him power to exercise judgment,
because he is the Son of Man.
Do not be amazed at this,
because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs
will hear his voice and will come out,
those who have done good deeds
to the resurrection of life,
but those who have done wicked deeds
to the resurrection of condemnation.
“I cannot do anything on my own;
I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just,
because I do not seek my own will
but the will of the one who sent me.”
--------
There is an awful lot to swallow in this passage.  For today, I'd like to just focus on the authority that God gives Christ as Judge, and how that impacts us. 

Jesus came to earth the first time not to condemn, but to save.  He accomplished this work through his ministry on earth, culminating in his passion, death, and resurrection. However, he will come again in glory, and this time, he will in fact come to judge the living and the dead.  Christ describes this judgement in the passage above. 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) fleshes out this teaching: 

V. THE LAST JUDGMENT
 
1038 The resurrection of all the dead, "of both the just and the unjust,"⁶²³ will precede the Last Judgment. This will be "the hour when all who are in the tombs will hear [the Son of man's] voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment."⁶²⁴ Then Christ will come "in his glory, and all the angels with him. . . . Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. . . . And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."⁶²⁵
 
1039 In the presence of Christ, who is Truth itself, the truth of each man's relationship with God will be laid bare.⁶²⁶ The Last Judgment will reveal even to its furthest consequences the good each person has done or failed to do during his earthly life:

All that the wicked do is recorded, and they do not know. When "our God comes, he does not keep silence.". . . he will turn towards those at his left hand: . . . "I placed my poor little ones on earth for you. I as their head was seated in heaven at the right hand of my Father - but on earth my members were suffering, my members on earth were in need. If you gave anything to my members, what you gave would reach their Head. Would that you had known that my little ones were in need when I placed them on earth for you and appointed them your stewards to bring your good works into my treasury. But you have placed nothing in their hands; therefore you have found nothing in my presence."⁶²⁷

1040 The Last Judgment will come when Christ returns in glory. Only the Father knows the day and the hour; only he determines the moment of its coming. Then through his Son Jesus Christ he will pronounce the final word on all history. We shall know the ultimate meaning of the whole work of creation and of the entire economy of salvation and understand the marvelous ways by which his Providence led everything towards its final end. The Last Judgment will reveal that God's justice triumphs over all the injustices committed by his creatures and that God's love is stronger than death.⁶²⁸
 
1041 The message of the Last Judgment calls men to conversion while God is still giving them "the acceptable time, . . . the day of salvation."⁶²⁹ It inspires a holy fear of God and commits them to the justice of the Kingdom of God. It proclaims the "blessed hope" of the Lord's return, when he will come "to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at in all who have believed."⁶³⁰

CCC Footnotes:

623 Acts 24:15.
624 Jn 5:28-29.
625 Mt 25:31,32,46.
626 Cf. Jn 12:49.
627 St. Augustine, Sermo 18, 4:PL 38,130-131; cf. Ps 50:3.
628 Cf. Song 8:6.
629 2 Cor 6:2.
630 Titus 2:13; 2 Thess 1:10.
PS - you can find an online searchable catechism at:  http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p1s2c2a7.htm#679 .  I use it all the time.

3/11/11 - Do You Listen to His Voice?

John 18:37

So Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."
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Over the years I have struggled with Lent.  From questioning the value of the whole thing, to worrying about what would be most productive, to trying to be profound, to dealing with "falling off the horse." 

This year, though, I am more on point.  I've entered into this Lent committing to use this time to put my flesh to death.  The Bible says that we need to do this if we are to enter into a truly abundant life.  For me, that has been a difficult concept to get my mind around.  I think the verse above helps explain it.

In our daily lives there are so many worries of the day.  Schedules.  Illness.  Pain.  Family issues.  Work difficulties.  Finances.  Planning for the future.  Figuring out how we're going to be six places at once to meet all of our worldy responsibilities.

The net result is that we fill our lives with so much noise that we lose the ability to hear Christ's voice.  If we lose sight of that, we don't really belong to the truth, do we?

So ... Lenten disciplines help us to re-set our priorities.  Hopefully as a result, hearing Christ's voice moves up the priority list a bit.  And maybe, just maybe, it moves all the way up to #1. 

Imagine what that life would look like.

3/8/11 - Into the Desert We Go

 

 

John 12:24-25

 

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. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.

-------

I'm using these verses as my guide as I walk into Lent 2011.

Jesus isn't just talking about his own death here.  All of us, if we are going to grow into what God desires of us, need to fall to the ground and die. 

A significant step in this process is truly understanding our place with respect to God, and the true level of our own sinfulness.  That leads to a realization that we are the product of our own desires.  When we are left to our own devices -- ie, acting on our own desires -- we go astray.   Way astray.

We need to learn to set our desires aside, and take on God's desires for us. That isn't something that is accomplished by believing, or stating, or even praying.  It can only be accomplished by doing. 

St. Paul referred to this as "putting the flesh to death."  Others have used the term "mortification of desire."  No matter what you call it, the process is to break our attachment to the physical world. 

That is how I'm approaching lent this year.  I'm giving up a couple of things that upon deep reflection, I can see are barriers that I've placed between myself and God.  Things that I've come to desire more on a minute by minute basis than I desire HIM.  

I don't want those desires.  But they don't go away just by wishing.  I have to willfully put them to death.

Into the desert I go!  I need a horse with no name.

2/21/11 - I Have Much More To Tell You

John 16:12-13a

"I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth."

-------

These few words tell us a basic truth:  God is so far above us and so beyond our comprehension that we literally can't handle the full scope of what He wants to teach us.  

Because we are fallen, and because we place so many hurdles between us and Him, we aren't able to learn what he wants to teach.  We haven't matured spiritually enough to understand it. 

I think of it as trying to teach calculus to a first grader.  We don't go from first grade math to calculus in one step. We have to learn very basic principles and build on them for years and years and years until we're ready.  We need to learn to count, then to add and subtract, then multiply and divide, then deal with fractions and shapes, and algebra, and so on.

Growing spiritually is similar in that we need to slowly build on basic truths before we are ready for more.   The problem is that many of us (like myself) spend years and years tied up in other things, and not pursuing spiritual truth, even though our souls are starving for it.  We may be physically, emotionally, and intellectually mature, but our souls can still be first graders. 

For spiritual growth, the basic building blocks are the Sacraments, Scripture, and Prayer.  Most important, though, is to recognize our basic desire for God, and committing to satisfying that desire. If we do that and work on the basic building blocks, he will send us the Spirit of truth to guide us.  

Eventually we understand that as we choose to move away from our will (ie, deny ourselves) and conform to His will, he transforms us.  Bit by bit, we advance along the path, and become able to understand more of what Christ wants to teach us.  

2/2/11 - No Slave Is Greater Than His Master

John 13:15-17

I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do. Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.
----

These two verses pack a lot of punch.  This occurs in the upper room, immediately after Jesus washes the disciples' feet.

Christ says that he has given a model for the disciples to follow.  How does one follow Christ's model?  I'm not called to the priesthood like they were, but what can I take away from this and apply to my life today?

Here's how I see it.  Christ humbled himself.  He suffered, to the point of death.  He didn't complain.  He may well have wished that he could "pass the cup,"  but he drank the cup and he didn't gripe about it.

I am a slave, and I am not greater than Him, so I should strive to follow that model.  I should strive to follow it with my boss, my co-workers, my clients, my wife, my children, and they guy who's car is stuck in the snow.  Christ has given us a divine call to serve.

It is easy to for me to think that I can't live that way.  It's impossible.  He's perfect, I'm not.  No matter what I do, I will always fall short.  I really used to believe that.  I now understand that those thoughts come from the Satan -- the Father of Lies.

Remember ... with Christ ALL things are possible.  We have Him at our disposal.  If we desire to conform to His will, and ask Him for help, he WILL help us.  That is His promise to us.  This is what he meant when He told us to seek His kingdom and His righteousness. 

The world is filled with people who have walked this way.  In the Catholic Church, we call them Saints.  We know how they lived their lives.  They have shown us what is possible when you conform to God's will.  They understood and followed, and were blessed.  We celebrate their lives and read their histories, because they stand as testimony that "mere men" can, have, and will continue to walk Christ's path. 

That path is open to each and every one of us!  The gate is narrow and the way is constricted, but it is open, and if we submit to Christ, He will guide us. 

2/1/11 - How Do You Treat Jesus?

John 12:1-3

Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him. Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.

---------

I read these verses over the weekend and was struck by the reverence with which Mary treated Christ. That makes sense, of course.  Not long before, Jesus had raised her bother from the dead.  Of course she would treat him with reverence.  She'd do anything for him.  She dried his feet WITH HER HAIR!

Imagine that someone saves your life -- it doesn't matter what the scenario is.  Just that you certainly would have died.  A person, purely out of LOVE for you (and not obligation, or luck) uses all the skill he can to save you, at great cost to himself.  Some great cost that you can see, like disfigurement, or losing a limb.

You see that person frequently for the rest of your life.  Maybe even daily.

Would you love that person in return?  How would you treat that person when you saw him?  Would you ignore him?  Would you say hello and go on your way?  Would you choose to spend time with that person?  Would you include him in your life? 

Jesus is that person.  How do you treat Him? 

1/25/11 - "Believing In" Christ

 

 

John 11:25-27

 

Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" 

 

She said to him, "Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world."

-----

 

This is an exchange between Jesus and Martha, just prior to Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.  In it, Jesus tells Martha that "whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live...." 

 

Over the last couple of years, I've spent a fair amount of time thinking about exactly what does it mean to "believe in" Christ.  That might seem like a simple statement, but I think that when you got down to it, a lot of people would differ on what that actually means. 

 

I think "believing in" Christ means more than believing that he was a person, or believing that he said wise things, or even believing that he was the Son of God.  The Bible is clear that even the demons believed that.

 

Think of a great leader -- anyone from Gandhi to Vince Lombardi.  How did people respond to that leader?

 

In my workplace, we spend a lot of time on developing leaders, and what an effective leader "looks like" to his team.  A leader is someone who can take a group from Point A to Point B.  When someone "believes in" a leader, the relationship is far deeper than just knowing the leader's name, or his appearance, or his resume.  He trusts the leader.  He is inspired by the leader. He relies on the leader to guide him.  He knows that what the leader says is true.  He knows that the leader knows what's right for him.  He's comfortable going to the leader for advice.  When the leader tells him to do something, he does it, because he's confident in the leader's direction.

 

Just the other day I realized that if I "believe in Christ", I should feel all of this.  All of this and more, because Christ is the greatest leader of all!  

1/19/11 - More on "Knowing Christ"

I want to follow up on yesterday's email, and give some more information on knowing Christ.  Go figure -- in the last couple of days on Catholics Online, a great article was published by Fr. James Farfaglia of Corpus Christi, TX.  Here's a piece of it:

What do we need to do in order to truly know Christ Jesus?  Above all, we must be open. Far too many people attempt to live Christianity based upon their own terms.  They do not come to the Lord with open minds and hearts.  Far too many remove pages from the Scriptures and reduce Christianity to their own comfort level. 

When we are completely open, the Holy Spirit floods our souls with his loving and peaceful presence.  He cannot enter locked doors and windows that he cannotopen.  God respects our freedom.   

Only the open can believe and see.  Knowledge automatically brings us to love.  We only love that which we know.  Our love for the Lord must be authentic and real.  Hypocrisy repulsed the Lord.  "In the written scroll it is prescribed for me, to do your will, O I my God, is my delight, and your law is within my heart" (Psalm 40: 8). 

Love brings about transformation.  The goal of discipleship is to die to self so that the Lord may live within us.  Whether that disciple is Paul, Sosthenes, John the Baptist, or everyone who has called upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, (1Corinthians 1: 2) every true disciple is sanctified and made holy by the Lord who is the light to the nations (Isaiah 49: 6).

Link:  http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=39927&page=1

Note his statement that "far too many people attempt to live Christianity based on their own terms."  I have a huge example of this from my own life.  Consider this passage:

John 15:14-17

This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing.

I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.

This I command you: love one another.

Being a Christian isn't about saying "I believe", or having strong feelings, or having expert command of the Bible, or doing lots of good things.  Those are terms that people develop. 

Christ's terms are RIGHT THERE.  "You are my friends if you do what I command you."  That means love one another as Christ loves us.  Christ says this, Paul says this, Peter says this, John says this, the Church says this. The Psalms say this, Proverbs says this, Isaiah says this. The Saints say this.

That's onerous until we understand that with God, all things are possible.  We can get a certain distance on our own, but to complete the job, we need Christ.  If we realize that and go to him, the transformation comes.  That's the journey of faith.

1/18/11 - I Know Mine AND MINE KNOW ME

John 10:14-15

 

I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me,

just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;

and I will lay down my life for the sheep.

-----

 

What do we know about the relationship between the God the Father and Christ?  We know that they are the same nature, but separate persons.   We know that Christ knew he was put on this earth to do the will of the Father.  We know that he relied on the Father through thick and thin.  We know that from the Father, Christ was given the strength to deal with every trial that came His way.  We know that everything Christ had belonged to the Father, and everything He did belonged to the Father.  We know that Christ and the Father are one.  The list goes on and on, and I'm nowhere near capable of describing it.

 

In the passage above, Christ is telling us that those who are truly His have a similar relationship with Him.  He knows us as the Father knows Him, and we know Him as He knows the Father.

 

At the moment I see two sides to that point.  First -- if I'm short of that in my life, the best single thing I can do is to grow my relationship with Christ.  It is far more important to KNOW Him than know ABOUT Him.  So that means that I have some work to do.  Namely -- understanding what He says, asking Him what He wants me to do, listening for the answer ... and doing it.  As it says in 1 John:

 

"Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments."

 

But secondly -- consider the implications.  Consider the nature of the prize that we as Catholics are seeking.  Complete union with Christ -- nothing short of Divinity! It's audacious.  But we have that audacity because Christ has given us the right to have that relationship, and in Him all things are possible.

 

Given the nature of the reward -- isn't it worth the effort to get to know Christ? 

1/3/11 - His Words Are Spirit and Life

John 6:63

63 It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
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If I want to live a "life in the spirit," I really need to understand that the flesh is of no avail. Time that I spend chasing matters of the flesh means NOTHING in the economy of God. I need to be fully aware of that in my mind, and I need to consider that as I make choices on how to spend my time. I live "in the world", so there is no avoiding worldly matters, but what I can control is how much importance I put on them, and how much more important it is to follow Christ than to do any of those individual things.

If I want to live a "life in the spirit", I need to keep His words in my mind. That means I need to dive more deeply into the four Gospels. His words -- spirit and life -- are right there for us. I need to spend time in the gospels on a daily basis, and meditate and pray over what I read there. I need to immerse myself in spirit and life, and have His teachings at the top of my brain, so that I actually pay attention to them and obey them on a day-to-day and minute-to-minute basis.

If I want to have a higher relationship with Christ, I need to actually pursue the relationship. Obvious, right? If I want to get to know a person, I need to spend time with that person. Well, Christ IS a person. If I want to know Him better, I need to choose to spend my time in a way that pursues Him.

I need to develop an awareness for His presence. I need to look for Him in my life daily. I need to develop a habit of "consulting" Him throughout the day. I need to let Him be an intimate part of my life. I need to think about what has happened over the course of a day, and where He was present. I need Him to help me understand when I listen to Him, and when I don't. And then I need to ask for His help to correct the problems He shows me.

I'm not much into New Year's resolutions, but this is pretty much my spiritual plan for 2011.

12/30 - The Father Has Drawn You

John 6:44-45

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: 'They shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.

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The very fact that any of us come to Christ means that the Father has drawn us. We have all been called -- PERSONALLY -- by God the Father, creator of heaven and earth, and all that is seen and unseen. The most important being in the world has called us. He's asked us to come to Him.  He's told us how we should live. He has things He wants us to do.

If Albert Pujols called and said that he wanted to meet you, would you go?  How about the President of the United States? Warren Buffet? Bill Gates? Pope Benedict XVI? The bishop of your diocese? The president of your company? Your favorite celebrity?

Folks, if you've come to Jesus in any way in your life, you've had a better thing happen. You have been called by God.  You have been involved in a supernatural transaction. You've been the recipient of a miracle. Rejoice in it!

12/27/10 - What are My Loaves and Fishes?

John 6:5-13

5 When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, "Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?" 

 

6 He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. 

 

7 Philip answered him, "Two hundred days' wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little (bit)." 

 

8 One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, 

 

9 "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?" 

 

10 Jesus said, "Have the people recline." Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. 

 

11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. 

 

12 When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, "Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted." 

 

13 So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat.

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A boy brings forward five loaves and two fishes.  He offers it to Christ.  Christ takes this humble gift, performs a miracle with it, and feeds more than five thousand people.

Which gets me thinking -- what is it that I offer to Christ for His use?   I clearly have more than five loaves and two fish to give.  What miracles can Christ perform with what I have to offer him? 

Now that I think about it, exactly what HAVE I offered to Christ, for His use?  Sure ... I give away a few things, but always just a small fraction of what I have available -- time, talent, treasure -- but in the end I always hold back MUCH MUCH MUCH more for myself and my family.  

What if I actually offered Him EVERYTHING I have?  What would He do with it?  I can't even imagine, but I'd expect in the end it would be incredible. 

I've "tried" to start down this road before, and many times I have offered myself to Him completely.  But I never make good on the offer.  I hold back.  My faith isn't strong enough to truly give things of high value away to Christ.  

At my current spiritual state, the only thing I can do is to pray for God to change me, so that one day I might be able to be so committed to Him, or at least that eventually I'll TRULY desire to be committed to Him.

That's a humbling thought, but it's the truth.

12/13/10 - Back to Basics

John 4:31-34

31 Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat." 

32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." 

33 So the disciples said to one another, "Could someone have brought him something to eat?" 

34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work.

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Over the past few weeks I've let my prayer life suffer.  I'm still praying here and there, and sending these emails out, but I'm just not doing the "baseline" daily devotions that I've laid out for myself. Those things typically take a total of an hour spread out over the course of a day.  I also haven't been to adoration for a few weeks, and I've only gone to a couple of daily masses over that time.

Work is pretty busy at the moment, but that's a convenient excuse.  The true reason is that I just haven't put God first. It's my level of commitment.  I'm stuck at the first commandment.

Christ, when tired and weary, responds that he has "food to eat of which you do not know", and that his food "is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work." 

We all can have this food. I know from my own experience how things go as I rely more on this food.  But instead, I walk away from it.  Time to let God recharge me, rather than assume I can recharge myself.  And that means I need to recommit to the daily routine, with a stronger dose of the Eucharist, adoration, and reconciliation. 

Back to basics.

11/22/10 - Christ the King

The Solemnity of Christ the King has become an important feast in the church year for me. It took me years and years to understand the implications of Christ as King.

Many people say that Jesus is "my Lord and Savior." Pretty much everyone is committed to the savior part, but how many are committed to Him being the Lord? That's not just a name. That's a title of authority. Lord -- King -- Ruler. Once I got that through my thick skull, I had to face the idea of OBEDIENCE. The King has given commands. If I do not strive to obey them, then .... He's not really my King. Jesus tells us exactly that in John 8:31-32:

31 Jesus then said to those Jews who believed in him, "If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples,

 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

We love the "truth will set you free" part, but how many realize that it is conditional? We must remain in Him. THEN we will be his disciples, and THEN we will know the truth, and THEN the truth will set us free. If we don't remain in Him, we AREN'T his disciples. He is not our King. So ... how does one "remain" in Christ? We get that answer in John 15:9-12

9 As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.

10 If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love.


 12 This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.

If I want to be the King's disciple, I must obey the King, and follow this command. Love one another as Christ loved us. That's a tall order, to be sure. That's why Christ says that the gate to the Kingdom is narrow, and the way is constricted. In fact, it's impossible for me to do on my own. So I must submit to the King's authority, and allow Him to transform me.11 "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

Daily - 7/8/2010

John 13:34-35

34 I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.

35 This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
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Last night I was reading the autobiography of St. Therese and she talked about the value she got from meditating on this passage. So I decided to give that a try.

Have you ever thought about what it means to love one another as Christ has loved? Here are some examples from the Scriptures of how he loved, just off the top of my head:

- He responded to the needs of those who came to Him
- He gave food to the hungry
- He taught people about the Kingdom of God
- He prayed for them
- He told us we are to love our enemies
- He forgave those who offended him (ie, sinned against HIM)
- He served others
- He told us that if someone asks for our coat, we are to give him our cloak too
- He prayed for those who tortured Him
- He laid down His life for us

According to the passage above - this list and more is what Jesus COMMANDS us to do. He doesn't ask or suggest, he commands. Commands!

In addition, he says that it is by following this command that people will know we are His disciples.

Impossible? Yes, if we try to do this without Him. But with Him, all things are possible.

If I truly seek the Lord and His righteousness, this is what I should try to do, and I should trust that He will give me the grace to help me and strengthen me as I learn.

Daily - 5/20/2010

John 17:20-26

20 "I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,

21 so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.

22 And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one,

23 I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.

24 Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

25 Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me.

26 I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them."
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I don't have time to compose what I really want to about this passage. It's deeper than meets the eye. Here are a few things:thoughts:v20-21 - Christ ties all those who believe through the Twelve into his prayer. This is Jesus praying for us, 2000 years ago.v23 - "I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one." I didn't get this until recently, but I think Christ is talking about spiritual union between man and God. If we remain in Christ by obeying his commandments -- loving God and loving one another -- we can be brought to perfection as one.

These aren't just flowery words. If you read about the lives of the saints, and read their writings, you can see this idea described from the "earth" end of the transaction. Our journey on this earth is meant to be one toward union with God. We have many people who have walked this path before us and have given descriptions of what we need to do, how it happens, and what it's like. It is worth the time to pay attention to them.

It is easy to get caught in the idea of "nobody's perfect". That's certainly true. But we are called to more than that, and I don't think we should use it as an excuse to keep from moving toward perfection. As we can see in today's passage, it is Christ's desire that we advance toward becoming one with him. He asks the Father for that very thing. He is inside us to help us. But we need to accept the help and embark on the journey.

Daily - 5/19/2010

John 17:11b-19

11 Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are.

12 When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled.

13 But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely.

14 I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.

15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one.

16 They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.

17 Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.

18 As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.

19 And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.
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Christ continues the prayer for his first priests that started in yesterday's reading. I want to point out a few things about what Christ calls "the world" - which is the physical place that we humans live in while we're alive.

- It can be a dangerous place for those committed to Christ, because the world is against them. In verse 13, Christ says he protected the Twelve and guarded them, and none were lost save Judas.

- The Apostles don't belong in the world any more than Christ does. They are transformed creatures in Christ. In Paul's letters, he describes this as the difference between living "in the flesh" and "in the spirit." The "world" = the flesh.

- The world HATES the spirit. We see this today in how openly hostile the secular population is to Christianity.

- Just as God sent Christ, Christ is sending his priests out into the world. But they will need God's protection from the evil one.

If you read this closely and believe it, you see the picture of two worlds - flesh and spirit. As believers in Christ, we are transitioning to the spirit, but we still "stuck" in the world of the flesh. It is a dangerous place, dominated by Satan, from whom we NEED protection.