There is an old saying, “If you’re climbing the ladder of success, many sure it is leaning up against the right wall.” For it is too often the case that we spend time amassing worldly treasure and success only to discover it cannot help us with our true problem, and may, in fact, have contributed to our trouble.
We find we love the world, and our hearts, which were made for God, go astray. Oh how we love the world, and its toys and trinkets.
And yet, the Scriptures say: Do not love the world or anything in the world….For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away…. (1 John 2:15-17)
In the commercial below the end of all things is upon us. The scenario is the (silly) Mayan 2012 destruction myth. However, in the midst of all this destruction four men who love a certain pickup truck get a good look at what they get for their love.
Disclaimer – Now I am not against Chevy pickups, a Chevy is fine American car. But let the truck represent our love for the world and our capacity to amass and haul this world’s goods. And in this truck many do drive.
And what is the final condition of the treasure they amass by driving this truck of the world. What do they reap, in gaining the whole world:
A ruined world – For the form of this world is passing away (1 Cor 7:31)
Four men and NO women! – And from daughter Zion all her beauty is departed (Lam 1:6)
No Children – He has no offspring or descendants among his people, no survivor where once he lived (Job 18:19)
Twinkies are the only food in evidence – They will sow wheat but reap thorns (Jer 12:13)
And here come the frogs, even on their precious truck – Frogs will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs (Ex 8:3)
Yes, here is what the world can ultimately offer. Here is what loving the world ultimately gives.
The song says in the background:Looks like we made it. Left each other on the way, To another love.
Yes, that’s the problem isn’t it? We departed to another love. We were made for God, to love and to experience his love. We were made for heaven, and to be with God is the heart of heaven. But too easily we depart to another love. And all the while we say we’ve made it, we’ve struck it rich.
Rude awakening – The men in the commercial seem to have no idea at first of the world they have inherited. But something about the falling frogs gives them the first hint of their true condition.
Will it occur to them that they have sown in the wind and are now reaping the whirlwind? Will it occur to them that they have given their love and loyalty to a world that is doomed to destruction.
The story ends without an answer. For ultimately you and I have to give that answer. Will WE continue to love this doomed world? Or will we give our heart to God.
Somewhere, nearer than you or I imagine, God is saying:
Why spend your money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. (Is 55:2-3)
One of my favorite composers is Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741). While I love his secular pieces such as the Four Seasons, I am especially found of his Church music. It is so light, so bright and tuneful, and Vivaldi loved to go up and down the musical scale, varying the theme a half pitch at a time.
Ah Vivaldi, he is right up there with Handel, Bach and Mozart. I consider him to be an especially Catholic treasure given his large body of sacred Latin Liturgical music.
Just a few things about Vivaldi, that I’d like to share, things you may or may not know:
1. Vivaldi was a Catholic priest. He was ordained in 1703 at the age of 25, in Venice. However, it would seem the active priesthood did not suit Vivaldi. Within a year he asked to be excused form the daily celebration of Mass, due to a “tightness of the chest,” which he complained of his whole life. Most scholars think this is a reference to asthma, though there may have been other causes including heart related matters. But a deeper reason may lie in the fact the he was pressured to become a priest. In those days, going to a seminary was often the only way a poor family had to ensure free schooling for a son. Music seems to have been his passion. While it is hard to gauge the accuracy of the story, it is noted in some of his biographies that he would sometimes leave the altar to go into the sacristy and write down a musical idea that had come to him!
2. He spent most of his musical career working in an orphanage for girls. While this may seem an odd and unfruitful place for a composer, actually it was not. The “Ospedali” where he worked was one of four well endowed orphanages in Venice, some for girls, some for boys. And the residents were largely made up of “illegitimate” children of Venetian noblemen who conceived these children in their (sadly common) dalliances. The noblemen funded orphanages like these to care for such children of theirs. In Venice these homes developed a reputation for fine music, as the children were trained in music from the earliest years and concerts were a way the orphanages also raised money. At the Ospedali della Pieta where Vivaldi worked, some of the girls stayed on well into adulthood and continued to perform there. The video below shows what such a setting was like, and how Vivaldi would give performances, secular and liturgical with “his ladies.”
3. Not all found Vivaldi’s music as outstanding as many of us do today – An Italian Playwright of the time Carlo Goldoni writing in his memoirs described Vivaldi as “This priest, an excellent violinist but a mediocre composer…” Yet, to be fair, Vivaldi had his fans and patrons, and earned a decent living selling copies of his many concertos, operas, and Church works.
4. In 1720 Vivaldi began living with a woman, Anna Giraud. Though to be fair, he always insisted she was only with him as a housekeeper and friend. Further, her sister also shared the house. Vivaldi trained Anna to sing and she had an excellent reputation as a singer. Vivaldi stayed with her till his death. Were they more than friends? It is hard to say, but why not take Vivaldi at his word?
5. Vivaldi works all but disappeared from the scene after his death in 1741, and were not heard regularly or known widely again until the 1950s. In this sense he was an opaque luminary. The expression “opaque luminary” refers to people who shine brightly in their own time, but who, after their death are largely unknown. And until 1950 the name, Antonio Vivaldi was largely unknown.
6. Vivaldi’s works came back to light beginning in 1926 when the Salesian Fathers wished to sell a large number of “old volumes” in their archive and invited Dr. Alberto Gentili, professor of music history at the National Library of Turin to assess their value. Many of the 97 volumes contained Vivaldi manuscripts, along with other rare music. And thus Vivaldi Music once again came to light. The second World War slowed the process of compiling and collecting the full library from other sources, but the hunt was now on, and in 1951 concert goers in England were among the first to hear this newly rediscovered baroque master. Since then Vivaldi has taken his place with Bach and Handel, and is considered quite equal among them. He with them, paved the way to Mozart.
7. Vivaldi died in 1741 at age 63. The cause was said to be “internal fire” which was probably yet another reference to the asthma that plagued him all his life.
Yes, Vivaldi, the gift of his music is great.
In this video, is depicted the manner in which Vivaldi would have had his Church music performed.Note that it is all women who sing and play, (For Vivaldi worked at the “orphanage” for girls). Period musical pieces are also used and it is performed in the Church of the Pietà in Venice, Vivaldi’s church in Venice, attached to the Ospedali where Vivaldi largely worked. This is the movement from the now famous Gloria in D. The text is Domine fili, unigenite Jesu Christe. Most of us who have sung this piece are used to it in an SATB arrangement, but here, for historical purposes, it is sung by all women. Note the candles too!
Cardinal Wuerl shared with the priests of this Archdiocese (at the Chrism Mass last month) the full remarks of Pope Benedict that were given during the ad limina visit by bishops of this region. I had seen excerpts, but never the full set of remarks. They are powerful and ought to receive careful consideration by us all.
To that end, I would like to share substantial excerpts and offer a few reflections of my own. As is usual the original text is in bold, black italic text. My own comments are in red plain text.
For her part, the Church in the United States is called, in season and out of season, to proclaim a Gospel which not only proposes unchanging moral truths but proposes them precisely as the key to human happiness and social prospering.
A good reminder to us and to the world. We do not propose the vision of the Gospel merely as a set of prohibitions. Neither do we propose it merely because we wish to advance our right to speak out and make our voice heard in the world of ideas. Rather we proclaim the Gospel because we passionately believe that these truths are the key to happiness, salvation and every other good. In the past missionaries set out to distant lands and made great personal sacrifices, often losing their own life, because they had a love and passion for people and understood that the vision of God was essential for the salvation and well being of all. The loss of the gospel vision, the forgetfulness of God and confusion about the true purpose of human life has caused great harm. If we as a Church truly believe that the Gospel has answers and the remedy for our time, we must speak out. To remain silent or to allow ourselves to be compelled to silence would be sinful and selfish. The Church must say as St. Paul did: For I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! (1 Cor 9:16).
To the extent that some current cultural trends contained elements that would curtail the proclamation of these truths, whether constricting it within the limits of a purity scientific rationality, or suppressing it in the name of political power or majority rule, they represent a threat not just Christian faith, but also to humanity itself and to the deepest truth about our being and ultimate vocation, relationship to God. When a culture attempts to suppress the dimension of ultimate Mystery, and to close the doors to transcendent truth, it inevitably becomes impoverished and falls prey, as the late Pope John Paul II so clearly saw, to reductionist and totalitarian readings of the human person and the nature of society.
In effect, the Pope is reminding us that what we announce is not merely something that is “meaningful,” but something which is true. And the opposite of true is not “less meaningful,” it is false. Falsehood and error harm the human person. Truth liberates and enriches. The suppression of the truth is the main cause of our suffering and poverty.
The reductionist and totalitarian readings to which the Pope refers have caused grave harm to the world because they are false. It is conservatively estimated that 100 Million people lost their lives in the 20th century due to totalitarian, materialist, fascists, secular and atheistic movements.
In current times the suffering continues as the West suffers from low birth rates, the horror of abortion, the advancing destruction of the family, distortion in the understanding of sexuality, and crippling debt as our spending swirls out of control. These too stem from reductionist understandings of the human person, creation, and the meaning human life.
Alienated from God, we lose our way and come to think we answer to no one. Thus, we become increasingly dangerous. Alienated from the truth we descend into the tyranny of relativism where reason cannot win the day and thus power does.
The Gospel is true. And the opposite of true is not just “another opinion,” it is false. And error leads to great suffering. The Church must continue to proclaim and propose the truth without compromise. For only the truth will set us free, and the Gospel is truth.
With her long tradition of respect for the right relationship between faith and reason, the Church has a critical role to play in countering cultural currents which, on the basis of an extreme individualism, seek to promote notions of freedom detached from moral truth. Our tradition does not speak from blind faith, but from a rational perspective which links our commitment to building an authentically just, humane and prosperous society, to our ultimate assurance that the cosmos is possessed of an inner logic accessible to human reasoning.
Magnificent. The appeal not only to Scripture, but also to reason and to Natural Law, (which the Pope speaks of as the “inner logic” of the cosmos), is what distinguishes Catholicism from simple fundamentalism. We reason from Scripture with ourselves and among believers, but we also appeal to reason and Natural Law, especially with those we do not share our belief in the Scriptures as the Word of God.
Our sacred teaching is both thoughtful and deeply rooted in a long and careful philosophical and theological tradition stretching back thousands of years. What we teach and proclaim is neither simplistic nor ephemeral. It is careful, well thought out, and has stood the test of time.
It has also helped enormously in the development of a more humane and caring world as the Gospel’s message of love and forgiveness has born fruit in hospitals, orphanages, universities, and the cultivation of the arts and sciences in the Christian West.
We abandon this wisdom and ancient teaching to our peril.
The Church’s defense of this law is not a threat to our freedom, but rather a “language” which enables us to understand ourselves and the truth of our being, and so to shape a more just and humane world. She thus proposes her moral teaching as a message not of constraint but of liberation, and as a basis for building a secure future.
Yes, As St. Paul said: I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes (Rom 1:16) And salvation here is not merely a heavenly reality, but one which on earth we experience as a kind of foretaste. The Gospel saves in the age to come and bestows health and help now as well.
The Church’s witness, then, is of it’s nature public: she seeks to convince by proposing rational arguments in the public square. The legitimate separation of Church and State cannot be taken to mean that the church must be silent on certain issues, nor that the State may choose not to engage, or be engaged by the voices of committed believers in determining the values which will shape the future of the nation.
Here again the premise is that silence is deadly. And whether that silence is due to the sinful omission by believers of their evangelical duty, or whether that silence is somehow compelled by the State, either way, evil triumphs when the voice of faith is silent.
In light of these considerations, it is imperative that the entire Catholic community in United States come to realize the grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres. The seriousness of these threats needs to be clearly appreciated at every level of ecclesial life. Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion. Many of you [Bishops] have pointed out that concerted efforts have been made to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices. Others have spoken to me of a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience.
Cardinal Wuerl has frequently commented that religious liberty is being increasingly construed by many to mean only the freedom to worship inside the walls of our Church and that otherwise, religious speech or expression has no place in the public discussion. This sort of thinking has been making incremental advances in our culture. And, while every other form of speech is to be tolerated in the public square, religious, and specifically Christian speech is attacked as “out of place” and in violation of the Constitution (which it is not). But this thinking is growing and hindering the Church’s critical mission to evangelize and speak the truth in love.
Further, religious liberty is not merely a right of the the Church. It is an individual right of every American to both proclaim and openly live their faith, and not be compelled to act against their faith. The First Amendment is not applied only to organizations or the Church, but to the individual.
Here once more we see the need for an engaged, articulate and well formed Catholic laity endowed with a strong critical sense vis-à-vis the dominant culture, and with the courage to counter a reductive secularism which would delegitimize the Church’s participation in public debate about the issues which are determining the future of American society. The preparation of committed lay leaders and the presentation of a convincing articulation of the Christian vision of man and society remaining primary task of the Church in your country…There can be no doubt that a more consistent witness on the part of Americas Catholics to their deepest convictions would make a major contribution to the renewal of society as a whole.
Pay attention Lay faithful. As we have discussed many times on this blog before, the specific role of the laity is the renewal of the temporal order, as they live and witness to their faith in the family and in the world. To this end the Church has initiated many programs of adult study in parishes and this must grow and continue. Robert Barron’s Catholicism series is an excellent example of adult study and renewal.
Lay Catholics must also courageously bring their faith to bear in the political order and insist on being included in the political process at every level.
A magnificent articulation of the problem and the solution for the Church here. It’s pretty old fashioned actually, but also time tested and true. And what is that ancient and yet always new way? In the face of rampant secularization, confusion and hostility:
Preach the Word; be ready, in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. (2 Tim 4:2-5)
In these videos Fr. Barron (a great evangelizer) sets forth some of the basic errors of our days that make the proclamation of the Gospel difficult, but not impossible.
I know, you think I got the title backwards. But I didn’t.
In the very busy and distracted time in which we live we need to hear some old advice from God who said, “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps 46:10) or again, Silence, all mankind, in the presence of the LORD! for he stirs forth from his holy dwelling(Zech 2:13). So again I say, “Don’t just do something, stand there!” Or kneel there if you will.
Much is lost to us for our lack of silence, for the fact that we rush through life and never pause. Stop fidgeting and let God get your attention.
Rather than type on, just a few sayings and illustrations and I’m done:
Saying: Artist Paul Gauguin famously said, “I close my eyes in order to see.”
Another old saying, “Don’t think!…..Look!” (In other words, don’t rush to analyze everything, enjoy the actual view and data God has given, analyze later).
Observation: I live in Washington, right near the Capitol and often observe that many tourist never really “see” the Capitol with their own eyes, but only through their camera lens. So obsessed to get the picture they could see in any book, the actual moment of vision is lost or severely diminished.
Another observation: This happens at Church too. So obsessed with getting the picture of a child’s First Communion, or a friend’s wedding, many miss the actual moments and, even worse, forget to pray in these moments (total loss).
Desert Father Story on the poverty of words: Abba Moses lifted his hands in the air and said, “Every word about God is more of a distortion than a description!” Bewildered his students said, “But teacher, when you speak to us of God you use words!” At this Abba Moses lifted his hands again and laughed and said, “When I speak of God, listen less to the words and more to the silence between the words.”
Another Story on the poverty of words. The teacher entered and said to his disciples, “Those who know do not say and those who say, do not know.” The confused disciples inquired as to the meaning of this saying. The teacher said, “How many know the smell of a rose?” All nodded. “Put it into words,” he said. And all remained silent.
Movie clip: There is a scene in the movie The Color Purple where the two main characters, Shug and Celiee are talking. Celiee says, “I’m angry with God.” Shug says, “You’re angry with God?! I think God gets angry with us when we walk through a field and miss the color purple.”
OK, so there it is. In the communication age we often forget that words often accomplish a lot less that actual experience. We forget that much is learned in silence and stillness, in contemplation, adoration and simple appreciation.
As you go through life, don’t miss the color purple. In many parts of the country the Lilacs are still in bloom.
Recently I preached a retreat for a good number of women here in our Archdiocese, and I based the the retreat on the Book of Ruth, a beautiful love story that is a kind of allegory for Christ and the Church. More specifically it is also an allegory of the individual’s salvation by Christ and relationship to Him.
The remote background to the text I want to share here is too lengthy to detail here. But a few points will help. The story features three main Characters: Boaz, Ruth and Naomi. Boaz is clearly a picture (or “type”) of Christ. He is Born, and lives in Bethlehem, and he acts, ultimately, as Ruth’s “kinsman-redeemer” by rescuing her from her poverty and paying the price to cancel her debt. This of course is just what Christ, born in Bethlehem, does for us: redeeming us by his blood and canceling our poverty and debt. And Ruth is a picture of the individual soul in need of Christ’s redemption and mercy. Naomi serves several roles in the book, but in the passage we will consider here, she is a picture of the Church, as she advises Ruth in what to do, and draws her to Boaz (Christ), her redeemer.
Consider the following text and then let us she how Naomi pictures the Church.
Naomi said to Ruth, Is not Boaz…a kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. Wash and perfume yourself, and put on your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.” “I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered. (Ruth 3:2-5)
The advice that Naomi gives is quite in line with the instruction that our Mother the Church gives us. For in our poverty, and under the debt of our sin, the Church exhorts us to seek our “Boaz” who is Christ. Observe the advice given by Naomi and consider how it sounds so like our Mother the Church. Namoi advises:
1. Be Firmly Convinced – Naomi says, Is not Boaz…a kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. Ruth knows her poverty, her pain and her debt. Naomi does too, and she exhorts Ruth to seek for Boaz, for he is near, and can help. Boaz is wealthy and thus has the power to save her, to draw her out of her overwhelming poverty. He has the capacity, unlike any other to cancel Ruth’s whole debt. She is to seek him at the threshing floor where he is preparing and providing the bread that will sustain her. She must go, firmly convinced that Boaz will love her and save her.
And so too does the Church exhort us: Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near (Is. 55:6). Yes, there is one among us, a near kinsman, who is not ashamed to call us his brethren (Heb 2:11). His name is Jesus and he, as God, has the power to save and cancel our whole debt. Cast your cares on him, for he cares for you (1 Peter 5:7). He is at the threshing floor of his Church preparing a banquet for you in the sight of your foe (Psalm 23:5). And the grain he is winnowing is the Eucharistic Bread of his own flesh. Yes, says the Church, Come to Jesus, firmly convinced of his love and power to save.
2. Be Freshly Cleansed – Namoi says next and simply, “Wash.” In other words, the first step in finding help from Boaz is to be washed, to be freshly cleansed.
So too does the Church draw us to Christ with the exhortation, “Wash,” that is, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). Yes the love of God will be poured forth on us, and the cancellation of our debt will take place as we are washed from our sins.
Here are some other texts wherein the Church, our Naomi, our Mother exhorts us to be Washed:
James 4:8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
2 Cor 7:1 Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
Is 1:15 Wash and make yourselves clean.
Is 52:11 Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.
Acts 22:16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.
Heb 10:22 Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
3. Be Fragrantly Consecrated – Namoi says to Ruth “and perfume yourself” In other words: Be nice to be near. Come with an aroma that is sweet and pure.
So too does the Church, our Naomi, exhort us to to be fragrantly consecrated. The fragrance we are called to is that of a holy life, which we receive in baptism. Like a sweet incense, or perfume, should our life in God be. Consider some of the following texts the Church gives us:
Eph 5:2 – Live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God
2 Cor 2:15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
Song 4:12 [The Groom (Christ) speaks to his beloved]: You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride; you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain. Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, with henna and nard, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree, with myrrh and aloes and all the finest spices.
Ex 30: 7 Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps.
4. Be Fitly Clothed – Naomi says to Ruth – and put on your best clothes.
Here too does our mother the Church advise us to be fitly clothed. And for a Christian, to be fitly clothed is to be adorned in the righteousness that comes to us in Christ, by Baptism. In the Baptismal liturgy the Church says to the newly baptized of the white garment they wear: You have become a new creation and have clothed yourself in Christ. Receive this baptismal garment, and bring it unstained to the Judgment seat of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you may have everlasting life.
In other words, be fitly clothed, wear well the garment of righteousness that Christ died to give you. Scripture too speaks of the garment in which we are to be fitly clothed:
Is 61:10 I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Rev 19:7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure”– for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
5. Be Fully Committed – Naomi says, Then go down to the threshing floor, ….until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down.
In other words, Ruth place yourself at the feet of your redeemer. This action of Ruth was a way of saying to Boaz, I put myself under your protection. I am fully committed to you.
And so too the Church bids us to do the same, that we go to the threshing floor, to that place where the threshed and winnowed bread becomes the Eucharist.
Beneath, or near, every Catholic altar is the Cross. And on that Cross are the uncovered feet of Jesus Christ.
The most sacred place on earth is at the feet of Jesus Christ. And to that place, to that altar, beneath the uncovered feet of Christ, the Church, our Naomi, bids us gather each Sunday. The Church says just what Naomi said, “Place yourself at the feet of your Redeemer.”
6. Be faithfully Compliant – Naomi says to Ruth, confidently and succinctly: He will tell you what to do.
And here too the voice of the Church echoes what Mother Mary also said long ago regrading her Son: Do whatever he tells you (Jn 2:5). How can our Naomi, the Church, say anything less or anything else? The Church has one message: Do whatever Christ, your redeemer tells you.
So Naomi is a picture of the Church, Boaz a picture of Christ, and Ruth a picture of the soul in need of salvation.
How does the Story end? Well I am tempted to to tell you to read it for yourself. But since Boaz is a picture of Christ, you already knows how it ends. Ruth, firmly convinced and having been freshly cleansed, fragrantly consecrated, and fitly clothed, fully commits herself to Boaz and is at his feet. Boaz who saw and loved Ruth before she ever saw or loved him (cf Ruth 2:5), arises and takes her as his bride, paying off all her debt, and giving her a new life. Sound familiar? It is the story of salvation if we have eyes to see it.
Yesterday was Good Shepherd Sunday and a chance to meditate on the King of Love, Jesus who is our Shepherd and Lord. But of course there is the clear implication that we then, are compared to sheep.
What is the significance of this? In this meditation I do not propose a deep theological answer to the question of significance, just a pastoral one. A reflection that is, for us both humbling and, I pray, encouraging.
Lets begin with the thought that it’s not all that complimentary that the Lord calls us sheep. Consider that He could have said: we are strong and swift as horses, beautiful as gazelles, or brave as lions! But, instead he said we are like sheep.
No come on reader, get a little indignant with me here! 🙂 The Lord is comparing us, not to the swift eagle, the mighty bear, or the clever and intelligent dog. No, he looks at us as says we’re like sheep. Hmm… While reality may hurt, the truth can liberate. So let us consider four qualities about sheep that may help illustrate, at a pastoral level (pardon the pun) what the Lord is teaching.
1. Sheep are WAYWARD – It means that they just tend to wander off. It just grazes awhile then looks up, and looks around and says, in effect, “Where am I?” A sheep will nibble here and browse there and get lost lost, he doesn’t know how to get back to the sheep fold unless the shepherd goes and brings him back. Sheep just keep on going and don’t come back. Dogs and cats can find their way home, The horse can find the barn, But not the old sheep. It doesn’t know how to get back to the sheep fold unless the shepherd goes and brings him back.
Now don’t tell me that doesn’t describe us. All we like Sheep have gone astray, every one to his own way (Isaiah 53:6). This is how it is with us. We get easily lost. We need the sheep fold of the Church and we need the Shepherd, who is Christ, ministering through his Pope, bishops and priests. Otherwise we just wander here and there.
2. Sheep are WITLESS– That is to say they just plain dumb. Ever hear of a trained sheep? We train dogs and birds, horses and even lions. But the sheep cannot be trained! Now we human sheep like to think we are so smart. Sure we’ve been to the moon and we have all this technical computer stuff. But too many of us aren’t even smart enough to pray every day, get to Church on Sunday, and follow God’s basic directions for life. We’re so witless that we even do things that KNOW harm us. Even the simplest directions from God we either confuse or get stubborn about. We cop an attitude and say “We know a few things too.” That’s right, we do know a very few things. We’re so dumb, we think we’re smarter than God! We think we have a better way than God’s way. No that’s really dumb.
3. Sheep are WEAK– A sheep just has no way to protect himself. The mule can kick, the cat can scratch, the dog can bite, the rabbit can run, and the skunk…you know what he can do. But the old sheep? Without the care of the Shepherd and the sheep dogs, the sheep is history. The wolf comes and all he can do is stand there and get killed.
And so it is with us, if it were not for the care of Jesus the Good Shepherd, the world, the flesh and the devil have got us cornered. And if it were not for the Lord, and the power of his grace, we would be toast.
We like to think we’re strong. We have armies, we amass political power, monetary power, star-power. It all gives us the illusion that we are strong. But then the slightest temptation arises and we fall. We need the Lord and his grace and mercy or we don’t stand a chance because by our self we are weak and prone to sin.
AND YET…
4. Sheep are WORTHWHILE animals. The sheep is a valued animal. In Jesus’ day many a man counted his wealth by sheep. Sheep give meat and milk, produce lambs and wool. Shepherds made many sacrifices in Jesus’ day to breed, herd, and protect these valuable animals. And so it is with us. We may not feel worthy at times, but apparently we were worth saving because the Lord paid the price of our redemption. He saw the price, and paid it all. And not with any diminishable sum of silver and gold but with his own precious blood (1 Peter 1:18-19).
5. Sheep WALK together – Sheep flock together, and thus are safer. To be a solitary sheep is dangerous. It’s a good way to get devoured. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). The scriptures also say Woe to the solitary man! For if he should fall, he has no one to lift him up (Eccles 4:10). Sheep are not supposed to go off on their own, neither are we.
We are called to part of a flock and to be under the care of a shepherd. Most of us realize this in a parish setting. But in the wider sense, we are under a bishop’s care and ultimately the care of the Pope who is the chief Shepherd and the Vicar of Christ, the Good Shepherd.
The Lord Jesus said there is to be one flock and one shepherd (John 10:16). God wants us to be in the protection of the flock with a shepherd watching over us. An old spiritual says, “Walk together children. Don’t you get weary. There’s a great camp meeting in the promised land.” Now too many like to say, “That old Pope doesn’t know this or that.” But again please consider that to wander from the care of the flock and the Shepherd is a mighty dangerous thing.
6. Sheep are WARY– Jesus says, He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens; the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. (John 10:11-14). Sheep have the remarkable quality of knowing their master’s voice and of instinctively fearing any other voice and fleeing from it.
In this matter real sheep are smarter than most of us. For we do not flee voices contrary to Christ. Instead we draw close and say, “Tell me more.” In fact, we spend a lot of time and money to listen to other voices. We spend huge amounts of money to buy televisions so that the enemy’s voice can influence us and our children. We spend large amounts of time with TV, radio, Internet.
Yes, we can so easily be drawn to the enemy’s voice. And not only do we NOT flee it, but we feast on it. And instead of rebuking it, we turn and rebuke the voice of God and put his Word on trial, instead of putting the world on trial.
The goal for us is to be more wary, like sheep and to recognize only one voice, that of the Lord speaking though his Church, and to flee every other voice.
Just a few thoughts on being compared to sheep. Humbling? Yes! But true, and therefore, liberating and instructive.
The video below takes an interesting twist on the usual cell-phone commercial which emphasizes strong signals, numerous “bars” of signal strength, and the memorable question, “Can you hear me now?”
But this commercial seeks a very different kind of “connectivity” using the cell phone, as its owner is desperate to get away, and not be heard or seen.
Suddenly the “bars” are not about connectivity, but are prison bars. The signal strength is more about the strength of the world to hold us captive. And the incessant question “Can you hear me now” comes to represent the din of a world that never stops its intrusive distractions and the need to hear another voice, the voice of God.
We moderns have many creature comforts, and a standard of living unimagined by our ancestors. And yet we also have levels of stress and a pace of life that would terrify most of them. Today, I put 110 miles on my car going about my day on numerous priestly errands. Two hundred years ago, it was quite possible that a person never journeyed more than 50 miles from their birthplace in their entire life.
Imagine the shock to a denizen of the 18th Century, magically transported to our time. There he would be with me in the car as I traveled at almost 70mph down the highway, merging in and out of traffic at speed, a speed almost unimaginable to him (70 miles in one hour? he thinks, Really? Is that possible?). And all the while:
A voice out of thin air, from a device they call a “radio” sounding with a fast-paced announcer,
And a “metal box they call a cell phone” ringing and conversations taking place with an unknown interlocutor by some magical process.
And there we would be, pulling into a hospital, 43 miles away, in less than an hour (how is that possible?!), in what was to him a distant city.
Overhead fly “airplanes” from the nearby Airport, the planes whisking overhead at 300 mph.
Suddenly it is back to the big city, a quick lunch with food that is heated, not by fire but in some magical box with a high-pitched hum.
And it’s off to another meeting across town weaving and whisking through traffic.
Everywhere in that city people rushing about, phones ringing, radios playing, cars tooting horns, construction noise, the sound of loud buses, and, overhead, still more planes and helicopters.
Despite what was to him breakneck speed, still there is me, complaining as to the slow pace of traffic and that we’re going to be late.
Soon enough our friend from the 18th century begins to shake with trauma, and cover his ears from all the loud noise and the constant interruptions. Magically transported back to the 18th Century, and shaking with trauma, he tells his friends of his visit to hell, where people rush about in metal devices at dizzying speeds and complain that they are late. And the noise! Oh the noise! And the terrifying fact that the people are required to travel over 100 miles a day before they can rest, and they must be in multiple places and do multiple things all at once: Being forced to talk into metal devices whenever they ring, and still hold conversations with people around them, even as another voice coming out thin air (which they called a radio) speaks of bad things like murders, and no jobs and rising prices, and then it blares music. And the little metal box keeps ringing, and they keep talking into it, and rushing down roads at high speed and wondering if they’ll be late again.
Well you get the point. Can you imagine how quiet it would seem if we magically went to the 18th Century?
In the hours after 9/11 here in DC, nearby National Airport ceased operations, and most businesses closed here, and most people stayed home, glued to their TVs. Most cell phones fell silent too; the still new technology overwhelmed by demand, simply shut down. There was an eerie silence outside. Only the strange smell of burning jet fuel from the nearby Pentagon reminded of the horrible mayhem that preceded this eerie peace. No cars, no phones, no planes over head. All in stillness.
“Can you hear me now?” Yes Lord, I can hear you now. I can hear you you in the stillness. A still, small voice, a whisper in the heart, a pause in the action, giving room for God. Yes, Lord, I can hear you now. I can hear you.
In this commercial four men seek for a place where there is “No Signal” from the world. The Ad says, “Chevy runs deep.” Yes, but God runs deeper, in that place where God says, “Be still and know that I am God.”
Where is your place of no-signal? Where is your place that you can hear God say, “Can you hear me now?”
In the video below you will see a visual representation of Worldwide Airline Traffic in a 24 hour period. Each plane is represented by a small dot of yellow light.
As you view the video consider some of the following:
Every dot is a plane that carries hundreds of people.
Each individual has a story.
Some are joyful and flying out to attend a wedding or family event.
Some are sad and flying to funerals.
Some are nervously flying to a job interview in a distant city.
Others are flying to conferences or preparing to give business presentations.
Each dot is a plane filled with people who have both gifts and struggles.
Their lives intersect with hundreds of other people.
Some are influential and well known.
Others live more hidden lives, but are very precious to others.
There are mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, children, spouses, young and old.
Some of the people on those planes, represented by those dots, will die soon.
Others are just beginning their lives.
All of the people on these planes have lives that are swept up into the great mystery of God’s unfolding plan.
None of them are accidents, or surprises to God.
Each have the dignity of being an intentional and loving creation of God.
Each is known to God more then they know themselves.
God knows everything about every person on every plane represented by every tiny dot.
He knows their past, their present and their future.
He sustains every fiber of their being.
Before they were ever formed in their mother’s womb, God knew them, loved them, intended them.
Every one of their days was written in God’s book before any of those days came to pass.
Each dot, a plane. Each dot, a gathering of people. Each person with a history and a destiny unfolding, known to God, loved by God, sustained by God.
Behold the mystery and the dignity of of Humanity as seen in a thousand points of light:
A Prayer for travelers:O God, Who didst cause the children of Israel to traverse the Red Sea dryshod; Thou Who didst point out by a star the road that led the Magi to Thee; grant us we beseech Thee, a prosperous journey and propitious weather; so that, under the guidance of Thy holy angels we may safely reach that journey’s end, and later, the haven of eternal salvation.
Hear, O Lord, the prayers of Thy servants. Bless their travels. Thou Who art everywhere present, shower upon all, the effects of Thy mercy; so that, insured by Thy protection against all dangers, they may return to offer Thee their thanksgiving. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
