The older I get, the harder I find it to stay asleep through the whole night. Squawking birds, rumbling trucks, flushing toilets, the dog pacing downstairs- something’s always waking me up. So I find it hard to imagine Jesus sleeping on a rocking boat in the midst of a violent storm. Perhaps he was really tired. Or maybe we’re to understand Jesus’ peacefulness in the midst of chaos as a contrast to the panic of his disciples. They had freaked out. But they wouldn’t have done so, according to Jesus, if only they’d had faith.
Are there things in our life that we’re anxious about, but shouldn’t be? Things that lead us to say to the Lord: “How come you aren’t paying attention? Don’t you see how important this is? Aren’t you concerned about my well-being and happiness? Are you asleep?”
At times we’re all tempted to think that God doesn’t care. But God does care. It’s just that he doesn’t always see things we way we do. That’s why we need faith. With faith, we can purify our perspectives, priorities, and expectations. With faith, we remember that while God always gives us what we need, he doesn’t always give us what we want. With faith, we can be grateful for what we have instead of frustrated over what we don’t. With faith, we can be happy in the present instead of thinking that we’ll only be happy in a future that may never come. With faith, we understand that everything happens for a reason. With faith, we’re assured that God is always with us, surrounding us with love, giving us the grace to do what he wants us to do. With faith, we’ll know the peace that only Jesus can give.
Life can indeed be hard. But as he was with his disciples, Jesus is in the same boat with us. He invites us to faith, so he can replace our “violent storms,” with “great calm.”
“How not to be a follower of Jesus” would be an appropriate title, I think, for the gospel we just heard. If you’ll recall, we were introduced to two characters. The first promised that he would follow Jesus wherever he would go. Yet Jesus replies to this boast with a warning. Unlike the foxes and birds, Jesus said, he had nowhere to lay his head. In other words, our Lord was telling this person that following him might be a bit more challenging than he imagined, and that he might wish to think twice before signing on the bottom line. In a sense, Jesus was asking: “Are you sure you want to follow me? Do you really know what you’re getting into?”
The second character we meet agrees to follow Jesus, but only after he has buried his father. Now we have to understand that this person’s father was not dead. His father was living, and he wanted to stay nearby. In effect, this person was saying: “I’d like to follow you, Jesus, but only when it’s more convenient. It’s just not the right time; I have other things I want to do first.” Jesus’ response that the dead should bury their own dead was his way of saying that following him is more important than anything else we might do.
The witness of these two individuals serves to remind us that if we truly want to be disciples of Christ, we need to be prepared to make significant changes in our life, and make them right away. In other words, authentic discipleship is not an afterthought or just a part time activity, but should instead be our top priority that absolutely defines who we are and what we do. We’re called to serve, not according to our own plan and out own timetable, but God’s. In the words of St. Alphonsus Liguori, “We must love God, then, in the way that pleases him, and not just in a way that suits ourselves.”
One of the consistent observations that God makes of our human family, and we, the individual members of it is that we are stiff-necked (cf Ex 32:9; 33:3; Deut 9:3; 10:16; 2 Chron 30:8; 2 Kings 17:14; Jer 7:26, and many, many other texts). That is to say we tend to be stubborn, prideful, and difficult to correct. And when reproved we easily become resentful and tend to harden our hearts.
One of the more humorous and true things God ever said to us (in love) is:I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass (Is 48:4). This is another way of saying: I know that you are stubborn. Like iron, you are hardheaded. Like bronze, nothing gets through your thick skull. 🙂 Yes, we are difficult to be sure! God calls us sheep, but in some way we are more like cats, and our Shepherd Jesus, has the unenviable task of herding cats!
For many of us, this tendency to be stiff-necked is gradually softened by the power of grace, the medicine of the sacraments, instruction by God’s Word, and the humility that can come from these.
But for some, the stubbornness never abates. In fact it grows even stronger as a descent into pride, and an increasing hard-heartedness sets up. The deeper this descent, the more obnoxious the truth seems to them, and the less likely their conversion, as a they are not just resistant to the truth, but hostile to it. They harden their hearts and stiffen their necks and at some point, it would seem they reach the point of no return.
This is a very great mystery, which St. Paul termed the mystery of iniquity (2 Thess 2:7). The Greek word here translated “iniquity” is ἀνομία (anomia) which literally means, “without law,” and by extension, speaks of an attitude of living in lawlessness; and of having utter disregard for God’s law. While it is clear that our rebelliousness has its roots in Original Sin, there remains a mysterious aspect of why we are so easily rebellious and stiff-necked. The mystery deepens as we ponder why some are this way more than others, why some harden their hearts, while others find the path of humility more open to them.
But let us be clear, being stiff-necked, stubborn, impenitent, and ultimately hard-hearted is deadly. It is a path straight to destruction, to Hell, if it is not repented for those who have hardened their hearts to God cannot submit to him in order to be saved.
Let’s consider a short text from Proverbs to illustrate the grave and mysterious problem of “anomia,” of being lawless, of being stubbornly impenitent and persisting in disregard and even contempt of God’s Law:
He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing. (Prov 29:1)
Consider this text in three stages (with acknowledgment to Rev. Adrian Rogers who preached a sermon on this I’ve never forgotten. The alliterated structure here is his, the content is mine):
1. Spiritual Direction– Note how the text describes us as being often reproved. God sends us endless messages always urging us to repentance, to, to turn toward Him, to call on Him, to learn obedience, and to rejoice in the salvation he offers. He whispers, he urges, and he calls. No one who ever went to Hell, went there without being “often reproved.” The Hebrew word is תּוֹכֵחָה (towkechah) means chastisement, correction, refutation, proof, argument, reasoning, rebuke, or reproof. Well, you get the idea, God is pleading with us to come to him, to accept his Kingdom and the Kingdom values that underlie it. He does this in many ways. He sends to us his:
Spirit – The Holy Spirit of God pleads with our spirit. The voice of God is echoing in our conscience. Scripture says, And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left (Isaiah 30:21). Another text says, This is what the LORD says–your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go (Isaiah 48:17). So the Holy Spirit of God directs us.
Servants – God sends his servants, the prophets, he sends his priests, deacons, bishops, indeed, he sends many holy men and women to each of us, to testify to the truth and summon us to holiness and truth. Even in a sinful world, there are many around us who live lives of exceptional holiness and by their testimony summon to God and offer us direction and reproof, where necessary. Scripture says, The Lord gave the Word, and great was the company of the preachers and those who announced it (Ps 68:11)
Situations – In many an varied ways God directs us through the situations of our life. Since we are stubborn, it often takes great difficulties and challenges to get to us. But where necessary God will allow these to draw us to humility and dependance. Scripture says, Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word (Ps 119:67)
Scripture – God directs us through his Word and through the Teachings of the Church. Scripture says, All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16). And again, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth (1 Tim 3:15)
Yes, it is clear that God gives us spiritual direction in many ways. We must be clear, God is pleading with sinners. There is no one on this planet according to this scripture (Prov 29:1) who is not often reproved.
2. Stubborn Disobedience – The text goes on to say that, despite this, some “stiffen their necks.” as we have noted this is caught up in the mystery of iniquity. Why some stiffen their necks all the more and others heed, is mysterious. The usual reasons and manifestations of these are:
Procrastination – some become hardened merely through endless delay. Scripture says, Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth (Prov 27:1). And yet many say, siempre manana (always, tomorrow). Yet the more we delay our conversion the less likely it becomes. The further down a road we travel, the more invested in it we become, and the way back seems too large an undertaking. We become invested in the familiar. As we adjust to the darkness, the light begins to seem harsh. God is light and those accustomed to the darkness cannot endure him easily. The longer we wait, the deeper we sink. Deathbed conversions are possible, but not as frequent as one might think. Jesus said, This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil (Jn 3:19). Yes, the light is detestable to a world in darkness.
Pride – Pride is the sinful refusal to recognize anyone or anything greater than us, to whom, or to which we owe reverence and obedience. Modern man has not only abandoned God, but even natural law. In Original Sin Adam said, “I will do what I want to do and I will decide if it is right or wrong.” Thus he refused submission to God. Modern Man extends this concept beyond God’s law, even to reality itself. In this attitude, there is no reality outside himself to which he must conform himself or to which he woes any allegiance. In abandoning natural law, modern man increasing says that reality is what he says it is. Reality no longer matters, all that matters is what I think or feel. In severing his relationship with God, and even with reality itself, the human person can turn in almost entirely on himself and be unreachable. He becomes hardened in his self-enclosed thinking and will only admit data and people who conform to his stinking thinking. As time goes by, almost nothing can break through this wall of pride. Scripture says, For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools….(Rom 1:22-23). They become hardened in their hearts and stubborn in their thinking.
Pleasures – Scripture is replete with warnings about the pernicious effects of wealth and worldly pleasure and how these things draw us away from God and cause us to stiffen our neck against God and following him. The world and its pleasures are considered preferable to God and those who go down this path become lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God (2 Tim 3:4). This makes God and any limits he might set, or demands he might make, seem obnoxious and too costly. The rich and the lovers of this word have too much too loose. Thus they harden themselves against God whom they come to see as unreasonable. Jesus said, How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! (Lk 18:24). Knowing this, most people, including Church going Christians, still want to be rich. Jesus’ teaching is “for someone else” who earns a $1 more an hour than I do. St Paul says, But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs (1 Tim 6:9-10). Thus the pernicious effect of wealth and pleasures of this world cause many to stiffen their necks against God who they increasingly come to see as a thief.
And so it is that some, even though often reproved stiffen their necks and harden their hearts against God.
3. Sudden Destruction – There comes a point when this hardening, this stiffening of the neck become permanent, beyond repair. Here too is a deep mystery. For in this life, conversion seems always possible. Yet God teaches, there comes a point when this is no longer the case, when our hardness of heart will be forever fixed and beyond remedy, our destruction complete. When exactly this happens may not always be clear. It could be death itself, or perhaps it happens for some, long before death. But the Lord is teaching us a very hard truth that, if we are not careful, our “No” will become permanent, our hardness of heart complete.
And the LORD said, My Spirit shall not always strive with a man (Gen 6:3), as if to say “There comes a day when I will accept that your “no” is final.” For now the Lord “often reproves us” but there comes a day when that will end for some, for they have stiffened their necks and hardened their hearts.
While we may think this time to be way down the road, the Lord warns us it may come suddenly, that is, more quickly than we think. For the descent into deep sin and toward a hard heart is steeper and faster than most imagine or admit. So God says, “suddenly.”
Please understand this post for what it intends to be. It is not a post of despair, or severity, but of sobriety. God is a Good God, and a divine Physician. But a good doctor does not lie to his patients, and make light of things that are deadly and harmful. He warns of heart disease not because he is cruel or judgmental, but because he loves his patients and wants them to be well and saved from sudden loss of health. It is more so with God who loves us and want to save us, but who also respects our freedom and warns us of the cumulative effects of our sin. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts! (Psalm 95; Heb 3:15)
I grew up in a Navy family, which meant that when I was a kid, my dad was often away from home while his ship was on a cruise. Fortunately, dad spent only one Christmas out at sea- the Christmas of ’73. I remember my mom and the other ship’s wives putting together a huge care package of cookies and other goodies they hoped could be delivered to the ship by Christmas. It wasn’t a guarantee that it could happen. But I remember how happy everyone was to learn that, in spite of rough seas, a helicopter delivered the crate on Christmas day itself.
Receiving that care package meant a lot to my dad and his shipmates. If you’ve ever been away from home- at summer camp, school, the military, Peace Corps, whatever- you know how wonderful it is to receive a care package. It’s a little bit of home we can enjoy while we’re away from home, sent by those who love us.
Today- Corpus Christi Sunday- or more properly, the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ- is a day we celebrate God’s gift of the Eucharist: a gift we might think of as a care package from God. You and I are far from home, because Scripture tells us that our true home is in heaven. In the Eucharist, however, our loving God gives us a little taste of our heavenly homeland, so we can begin to experience what it will be like.
Consider what Jesus said in today’s gospel. He spoke of a “living bread come down from heaven.” This heavenly bread is the Eucharist; it’s bread from our true home. But this bread is more than just bread. Jesus explained that those who eat it will live forever. So not only does this bread come from heaven. It also allows us, even now, to begin to enjoy the eternal life promised us in heaven.
Of course, there’s a danger in equating the Eucharist with a care package. There’s a big difference between heavenly bread and homemade cookies. We don’t want to risk minimizing the importance of the Eucharist or misunderstanding what it is. So maybe we should consider another analogy.
Many of you know that I’m a runner. As a runner, I’ve learned that what I eat, and when I eat it, is critically important. To begin with, runners need carbs for fuel. You’ve probably heard of runners “carbo-loading” on pasta in the days leading up to a long race. In addition, it’s also important that runners eat during a long race- typically little energy gels or beans which pack carbs, electrolytes, and even caffeine. Also, it’s important to eat right after a race for muscle recovery- typically a bagel and a banana. In short, to run well, one needs to eat well- before, during, and after a race. Because if you don’t, you’ll slow down, conk out, or get hurt.
St. Paul tells us that our spiritual life is something like a race- an endurance run in which we need to persevere and keep our eyes on our heavenly goal. “Run in such a way as to get the prize,” Paul told the Corinthian church. In this race, just like in road running, we need to eat well in order to run well. And the food we need for this spiritual journey is the Eucharist.
But what sort of nourishment does the Eucharist give us for our journey? We already know that it gives us a taste of heaven. But it gives more than that. In today’s gospel, Jesus said: “I am the bread from heaven.” This bread is Jesus! Or more precisely, at Mass bread becomes Jesus. It doesn’t simply remind us of Jesus; nor is it merely symbolic of Jesus. It is Jesus: His “body, blood, soul, and divinity.”
During televised coverage of the Pope’s Mass at National Stadium a few years ago, one obviously non-Catholic commentator said: “This is when the bread is ‘transmorgified’ into Jesus.” Now, you can read the Catechism from cover to cover and not find anything about “transmorgification.” What you can read about, however, is “transubstantiation.” It’s a fancy Catholic word loaded with philosophy. At its heart, however, transubstantiation means that something becomes something else while continuing to look the same. In our case, bread becomes Jesus. It may still taste like bread. But what it nourishes us with is the very life of God. And it is life that we need, more than anything, as we continue our spiritual journey.
We ask for this whenever we pray the Our Father and say: “Give us this day our daily bread.” With these words, we aren’t just asking that God provide us with essential things like food, clothing, and shelter. The word we translate as “daily” is a rare Greek word found nowhere else in the Bible. It’s means “super-essential” or “more than essential.” And it refers to the bread-become-Jesus in the Eucharist.
It’s good that we think of the Eucharist as “daily bread” because we need the nourishment it gives us in our daily lives. We need Jesus. And there’s no better way to meet him, and receive him, than in the Eucharist. That’s why daily Mass has become an important part of Catholic spirituality. Every one of the 140 parish churches in the Archdiocese of Washington has a Mass celebrated every day. Some churches in business areas offer Mass at Noon, to accommodate the lunchtime crowd. And other churches have Masses in the late afternoon to catch folks coming home from work.
It’s not possible for most of us to attend Mass each day. But we can make it a Sunday priority, and try to come as often as we can, so we can enjoy God’s care package of love, and have the fuel we need to run our race until we finally arrive at our heavenly home.
Today we celebrate the birthday of St. John the Baptist. We don’t decorate trees, send card, or exchange presents as we do on Christmas. But I don’t think that John the Baptist minds that his birthday is celebrated with less fanfare than that of our Lord. You’ll recall that he once said about Jesus: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
In fact, it’s thanks to these words that we celebrate John the Baptist’s birthday today. Because from this point on, daily sunlight will decrease until we arrive at the birthday celebration of Jesus, when daily sunlight will begin to increase.
John the Baptist knew that his mission was to prepare the way for Jesus. He lived his life, not to promote himself, but to promote the Lord. In this, John the Baptist is an important witness for us and challenges our society’s preoccupation with self-promotion. He reminds us that Christians shouldn’t aspire to be a celebrity, but should strive to be a servant. We should live lives that shout not “Look at me!” but “Look to Jesus.”
This is not to say that John the Baptist was not important. He was incredibly important! That’s why each of the four gospels begins the story of Jesus’ public ministry, by first telling the story of John the Baptist.
You and I may be called to positions of importance: in the workplace, in society, in the church. But there’s a big difference between being important and self-important. John the Baptist bears witness to that.
So happy birthday, St. John. Like you, may we live our lives, not for ourselves, but for Jesus.
St. John of the Cross wrote: “From my observation, our Lord is to a great extent unknown by those who claim to be his friends.” I thought of these words while reflecting on today’s gospel.
Jesus spoke of those who called him “Lord,” and who even claimed to have acted in his name. Nevertheless, Jesus said, they never really knew him. These words remind us that cultivating a personal relationship with the Lord is to be a priority in our life, not an afterthought.
Our Lord gives us clues on how to do this in today’s gospel reading. First, we need to listen to him as he speaks to us through Scripture, Church teaching, and in prayer. Yet we need to do more than listen. We also need to act. “Everyone who listens to these words of wine and acts on them,” said Jesus, “will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. On the other hand, Jesus describes the person who listens but doesn not act as a fool.
A young student once asked German theologian Karl Rahner what books he should read in order to grow in faith. “No books!” Father Rahner replied. “Go instead and serve the city’s poor.” That young person needed to act, in addition to “listening.”
And so do we. Today, each of us is challenged to be wise- to build our houses upon rock- by listening to Jesus, and acting in his name- that we might know him, as a true friend.
A servant’s heart should characterize every Christian. Yet not every Christian lives the life of a servant. I think this is part of what Jesus laments in today’s gospel when he says that not many people find their way through the narrow gate.
Unfortunately, we have a culture that discourages us from becoming servants. Instead, it conditions us to be selfish, and to think only of our own needs. Consider how marriage is typically understood these days. So often our primary concern is, “Am I happy in my marriage?” Which is a fair question to ask. But as servants, should not the primary concern be instead, “Is my spouse happy in our marriage?” Whether we’re married or not, we can easily become so concerned about ourselves and our needs, that we forget about the needs of all those people God has given us to love: family, friends, neighbors, co-workers…whomever. We wind up waiting for other people to make us happy. They in turn wait for us to make them happy! And everyone winds up unhappy.
But Jesus tells us, “Do to others what you would have them do to you.” Think about that. If we really followed this “Golden Rule,” how might our relationships change? How might we change? It’s all about thinking of others first. It’s all about having a “servant’s heart.” Some would call this a “paradigm shift,” and it is! But Jesus says, quite simply, that it is the way to “life.”
No marriage is truly successful, I’ve heard it said, unless husband and wife are each other’s best critic. And, it’s conventional wisdom that effective parenting involves establishing fair but consistent boundaries for children. In both of these activities, making sound judgments is an essential component.
This is good to remember when considering today’s gospel. We do need to judge others’ actions; Jesus doesn’t deny this. What he does insist is that we examine our motives before we do.
We usually can’t judge a person’s motives. We can judge what they do, however. But before we do, we need to consider our motives. That’s because when we judge, we assume a measure of moral authority. And that carries with it great potential to hurt the person whose actions are being judged. We know this, and that’s why criticisms are frequently employed as weapons in arguments, tools of manipulation, or expressions of our own insecurities. It’s true that we most criticize in others those things we dislike about ourselves.
The only proper motive for making a judgment is love. When we judge another’s actions, it should be with the intention that they mature as a human being, grow in holiness, and that our relationship with them might deepen. That’s loving judgment. Just as God loves, when he judges us.
The older I get, the harder I find it to stay asleep through the whole night. Squawking birds, rumbling trucks, flushing toilets, the dog pacing downstairs- something’s always waking me up. So I find it hard to imagine Jesus sleeping on a rocking boat in the midst of a violent storm. Perhaps he was really tired. Or maybe we’re to understand Jesus’ peacefulness in the midst of chaos as a contrast to the panic of his disciples. They had freaked out. But they wouldn’t have done so, according to Jesus, if only they’d had faith.
