Church of St. Mary at Clinton Heights

At Siena College this week, my students were intrigued by the Paschal Mystery and the idea of Jesus suffering; that, if Jesus is God, why is he afraid?  In the end, I explained two issues: first, his sorrow stems from the fact that he is abandoned, he is alone, he is isolated even from God; and second, that this isolation really cannot be, can it?  God IS a relationship of love, that cannot exclude, cannot isolate, cannot abandon.  And so, the sorrow and fear of Jesus, really cannot be, cannot ever exist when it comes to you and me: we can never, ever be abandoned, alone, or isolated from God and his love.

Clearly, the prophet Isaiah reminds us, God cannot forsake us, forget us, withhold his care from us.  Apparently, even in the darkest of circumstanceswhen we’re in the most dire needGod can never forsake us.  Does this mean that life will be easier for us, that somehow we’ll be spared trials and suffering?  No, for as long as we live in this world, the things of this world can always threaten and harm us.

Recall our gospel, where two images are set against each other: God and mammon.  Many translations have equated mammon with money, but actually it is more than money: it’s all the stuff that can be acquired with money.  When I was younger (and much more idealistic and somewhat scrupulous) I used to think I was fine in this regard since I didn’t have much money.  But that’s not the case; it’s not just money, but anything that can be gotten or gained in this world.  So Our Lord is setting up a choice for us between God and everything else.  But if we look at how “everything else” can be begged, borrowed, lost or stolen, there really isn’t any other choice.  We can really only place our trust and hope in God and His care.

This past Mondayfor examplewe had a Finance Committee meeting.  While our parish can no longer avoid the financial crisis of the last 6 years, we must now struggle to meet our own financial concerns head-on.  While I normally approach such problems with analytics and high levels of anxiety, this time, in the end, I have to admit that “I can only do what I can do” and that because all of this is for God and his great glory, God will have to see us through.  It’s not naive, it’s just true.  Remember, the stuff of this world can fail us, but God cannot: it’s not within his nature to forget us, to fail us, to be without care for us.

So what does this mean?  Considering the birds and the flowers of our gospel, we witness how much greater we are and that it would be absurd for God not to care for us.  If he can shower such beauty and generosity on simpler things, then even the most intricate of creationhuman beingswill warrant even greater care and concern.

And so we simply TRUST him.  We give ourselves over to him.  We place ourselvesand nothing elseinto God’s embrace, where he cares for us and provides for us.  For remember: in the end, all these things that money can buy are fleeting, will pass away, or we’ll have to leave them behind on our death…the only thing that is truly lasting is the love we have with the Lord God.

From this day onward, might we be resolute: place ourselves into the trust-worthy embrace of the Lord of all creation?  He who made us and sustains us, is the only One who never changes, is always stable, and is always loving & caring when he deals with us.  Only then can we begin to convince ourselves that we truly trust God over mammon.

God love you, always.

On December 29 of last year, Pope Francis introduced this Prayer to the Holy Family (see below) that he wrote himself, asking the faithful to pray with him for families throughout the world and for the work of the upcoming Synod of Bishops devoted to pastoral care of the family.  Pope Francis has made Christian family life a central priority of his remarkable pontificate.  For guidance and inspiration, he asks us to fix our gaze on the Holy Family of Nazareth.

In our first reading, the Lord commands, “Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy.”  And then we hear how challenging and nearly-impossible the demands of holiness really are: we must go through life without revenge, without hatred…essentially, without sin.  And we only have to look at a day in our life and see that to live without sin is very challenging indeed.  Still, God commands us to be holy.

And Jesus helps us to see how holiness really is a blessing for us; let’s take a closer look at our gospel.  Now, in order to really appreciate the implications of Jesus’ words, we have to remember that He is speaking in ancient Palestine, where society was extremely shame-based.  The goal was to avoid being ashamed at all costs.

And Jesus says, “When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one as well.”  A strike on the right cheek involved either a backhanded slap from a right-handed person, or an open slap from a left-handed person.  Since the left hand was used for hygiene and would’ve been terribly offensive in that regard, we can imagine that the implication is a backhanded slap.  But because a backhanded slap is much more calculated and intentional rather than reflexive, it was considered four times more injurious, and required a much higher reward for injuries.  And so, Jesus’ instruction is much more difficult to take: not only do you not get an award for being struck and shamed, but you should submit again!  Why?  Because in turning the other cheek, the victim then reasserts his own freedom, his own power and control.  From there, the oppressor then must decide, he is put at the disadvantage…he now has to choose.  By turning the other cheek, the victim seizes the initiative from the oppressor, overcomes fear, and reclaims the power of choice…all while maintaining the humanity of the oppressor…it’s genius, and it allows us to live in holiness.

“If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand over your cloak as well.”  Remember that we’re in a shame-based culture and this time we’re in a court of law, and in Jesus’ teaching, if someone takes a case against me and demands my tunic, I am now also required to give them my cloak as well.  The result?  I would be in court and naked and, in this shame-based culture, nakedness was an unspeakable, unimaginable condition.  But shame would not be upon me, but rather upon the one who caused me to be nakedthe plaintiff.  He would be the embarrassed one.  He would then be forced to insist that I be dressed again.  A genius plan, again, and one that still allows us to be holy.

“Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go for two miles.”  Roman soldiers (of 1^st century Palestine) were most often Israelites turned mercenaries and they were allowed by law to force a fellow Israelite into service for one mile, but often they abused this right.  Carrying the war-gear was humiliating enough; being forced to do so by a traitorous fellow citizen was even more humiliating, but by Jesus’ command, again, the victim is asserting his own personal freedom, thus elevating himself.

“Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.” While the rich in Galilee wished to invest in land in order to prosper, most often it was not for sale, since land was always passed down by ancestral heritage.  But what would happen is the rich would lie in wait until a poor peasant farmer defaulted on his debts and they would pounce in order to seize the property.  Jesus was suggesting instead that poor peasants should band together and help each other so that they wouldn’t fall prey to greedy creditors.  They were to take care of one another and loan each other what was needed in order to prevent the loss of land.  Here, again, Jesus prevents violence being done in the face of violence, all while perpetuating a positive justice…brilliant, and holy.

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”.  Finally, Jesus reveals how the reign of Godand a life of holinessensures that everyone is treated equally.  To treat enemies with love does not necessarily mean that their hearts will soften and they will reconcile, but it does mean that we have not allowed another to change us, control us or dominate us.  In fact, just the opposite: the oppressor gives us yet another opportunity to grow in holiness.

In all of these, Our Lord is simply inviting us to see into God’s own life, where God showers his love on those who are good, as well as those who are not.  God’s love is inclusive and as disciplesas children of Godwe are called to share in that kind of love.  For true perfectionand our holinessexists when our love touches God’s love, and is shared with all, always.

God bless you.