A life less ordinary… A life extraordinary

“Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us;

he sets himself against our doings,

Reproaches us for transgressions of the law

and charges us with violations of our training.”

Wisdom 2:12

When we are faced with the truth, and we are in the wrong, how often is our natural reaction to lash out in anger? We do not want to be wrong. We do not want others to know we are wrong. And we certainly do not want others to tell us that we are wrong! So what do we do? We pick on, or make fun of, the “goody two shoes” who is telling us we are wrong.  Why? “Because he is obnoxious to us.” Or because he is calling us to a higher standard than we are currently calling ourselves to, and we want to rebel against that.

“To us he is the censure of our thoughts;

merely to see him is a hardship for us,

Because his life is not like that of others,

and different are his ways.”

Wisdom 2:14-15

We all have holy, virtuous, good people in our lives. You know who they are. The people who make you want to be a better person. And I am sure we have all experienced at one time or another, a time when we may have done something wrong, or said something wrong, in the presence of someone whom we admire like that. How do you feel? Ashamed. Little. Like a disappointment, maybe.

Darkness and light cannot occupy the same space. It is impossible – darkness is the absence of light. In the same way, good and evil cannot occupy the same space. When someone is living in sin, and is actively choosing that, even just to be in the presence of someone living a life of virtue is difficult. Because they know that they were made for more than that. That they are better than that.

We should strive to be this kind of person – whose “life is not like that of others.” Not in a negative way, but in the way that causes other people to want to be better. In the way that calls our friends to a higher standard. Proverbs 27:17 tells us: “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” We need each other to grow in holiness and virtue. So be the kind of man or woman that helps to sharpen your friends! Live an extraordinary life. Be a saint!

-Katie DiFato

Taking the Trinity Personally since 325

“Three Persons, one Nature” – we take this formula for granted.  But such wasn’t always the case.  In the first few centuries of Christianity, this was still under contention, and the early Fathers of the Church were struggling to articulate it.

The Fathers realized that belief in the Trinity consists of realizing that somehow God is three, without rejecting the Old Testament’s central assertion that God is One.  Passages like today’s Gospel were the building blocks for this doctrine.  Simply put, they show us that (in the words of Pope Emeritus BXVI) “there is a ‘we’ in God:” there is a dialogue in God, a back and forth between more than one something.  

This stands in very strong contrast to the history of thought that preceded the early Church Fathers.  As heirs to the spiritual legacy of Israel, they knew that the New Testament certainly did not reveal a multiplicity of Gods, and as heirs to the philosophical legacy of the Greeks, they knew that God could not be a composite of multiple pieces.  But in the revelation of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, God had revealed some kind of threeness in Himself, and they had to grapple with this.

In their efforts to articulate this “God is three” and “God is one” coherently, the Fathers adopted and developed a concept that has been indispensable to theology and philosophy ever since – the concept of person.

Nowadays, because of the way it was treated in Modern philosophy, our idea of person tends to be more individualistic.  But in today’s Gospel, Jesus expresses His identity as the Person of The Son and illuminates the Divine perspective.

Jesus says that he can’t do anything without The Father, that he only does what he sees The Father doing, that he only seeks The Father’s will, and that he is given his very life by The Father.  Elsewhere in John, he goes so far as to say, “The Father and I are One.” (John 10:30)  In short, his whole identity is defined with regard to The Father. But he never says “I am The Father;” not in John or in any Gospel: he is a distinct person.

What Jesus expresses, then, is His relationship with the Father: a relationship so profound that in it, He and the Father are truly One.  Our relationships, in friendship or romance or family or whatever their nature, unite us with one another.  But no matter how close they bring us, they can provide only a tiny glimpse of the reality that is relationship in God.  In the perfect unity of their relationship, the Three Persons are truly One God.  The complete intimacy of Father and Son that Jesus expresses today give us insight into this truth.

So we come to ourselves: if, in God, being a person is defined as being in relationship, and we are made in His image, then we can’t fully be what we are without being in relationship – relationship with one another and above all with Jesus, who invites us into the intimate life of the Trinity today, saying “whoever hears my Word and believes in the One who sent me has eternal life.”

Grace Greater Than All Our Sin

In the Old Testament reading for today, we see the immeasurable breadth of God’s power.  He created everything on earth and supplies our every need.  As spring begins we see life bursting forth around us; trees beginning to bud, birds singing and building nests, flowers opening and sharing their radiant beauty.  In all of this we find what we need to live, to survive physically from one day to the next.  The sun and rain that nurtures our food, plants from which we get medicine, the wood and other raw materials to build homes, roads, schools, churches, the intellect to use all that God has provided to survive and even thrive.

And yet, despite of all of the beauty and perfection given to mankind, Adam and Eve gave in to the temptation of sin and brought about The Fall. Everything that GOD created was good, but sin brings pain and suffering into the world.  We are like the sick man sitting near the waters of Bethesda in today’s gospel.  We want to be well, forgiven from our sins, but we have no one to help us enter the healing waters.  But God shows us his immeasurable love and mercy, sending us Jesus, to heal us from our sins and to help “keep us on the road to heaven”.  The healing waters of baptism, the gift of the Eucharist, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the sacrament of Reconciliation… gifts from God to guide us back where we belong.  With Him.

Today, be conscious of God’s grace.  Share God’s love and mercy with those you meet, remembering that without HIS love and forgiveness, we would be nothing. From the old French prayer book, Gold Dust:  “How few there are who would thus dare to address God each night:  “Lord, deal with me tomorrow as I have this day dealt with others;… those to whom I was harsh, and from malice, or to show my own superiority, exposed their failings; others, to whom from pride or dislike, I refused to speak; I will not forgive,--to whom I will not show any kindness.” Thank you God for not giving me what I deserve.  Thank you for saving me.

--Melinda Cannady, convert (2011), wife, and mother of two precious little saintmakers.

While we are yearning for the Heavenly Jerusalem

       The first reading today from Isaiah obviously points us toward Heaven. Toward the time when we will walk with the Lord in Paradise and see God clearly face to face. No more crying, no more death, no more (insert frustrating things here), just eternal happiness with the God, who wants to “exult in His people.” A land where there will be no spiritual, physical, or emotional problems, but simply perfection and happiness.

         But our human nature inclines us to ask “what about now?” Are we just sad and miserable creatures trying to get by until we go to heaven? Is Our God a distant god who awaits us in Heaven, and until then we are on our own? NO! God created us “to be a joy” and when this scripture is read in light of our resurrected Christ, new meanings begin to stand out. While we are looking forward to our union with Christ in Heaven, Christ has established His kingdom here on earth in which we are also able to rejoice in and with Him now! There are many places that this intimacy with God is apparent within our faith, especially in two places.

         The first is our Catholic Church. A place where any where in the world

and any day of the week, we are able to take sanctuary in the loving embrace of God’s grace. Free of any judgment we are able to approach God and not receive just a sign, but actually receive Him, who is goodness, physically into our bodies and into our hearts. Within our Church we can rejoice in the Lord’s presence knowing we are loved and that we matter. It is within our church that “the fruit of the vineyard [we] plant” is taken by the priest and through Christ turned into Goodness Himself. It is here we truly catch a glimpse of Heaven!

         Another place we find joy within our faith is our Blessed Mother. Her whom Jesus gave to us on the cross. Her whom Jesus enjoyed, so much so, that He felt He must share Her love and care with us. And we are able to fly to the Virgin Mary anytime with our troubles, and know she will direct us always toward Her Son. In her comfort we can trust and rest, knowing, that our God Himself rested in her arms for the entirety of His childhood.

         So during this time of lent, as we walk with Jesus in the desert, let our hearts rejoice! While life might be tough at times, or we might struggle with our Lenten sacrifices, we know it is in these sufferings we are closest to Him. Jesus is not just our leader, but also our friend. He loves us and in this love we can truly pray, “I will praise you Lord, for you have rescued me.” While in Heaven our happiness will be of all kinds, now we can have peace and joy in Christ as we look forward to eternity.

 Thank you Lord for the gift of Your Church and Your holy Mother!

-Patrick Tunnell

         

In Christ

I would like to focus on today’s second reading, Second Corinthians 5:17-21, which is beautifully tied to today’s gospel reading, the famous pericope of Christ dining with sinners and tax collectors and his telling the Pharisees the parable of the prodigal son.

St. Paul highlights the beautiful sacrament of Confession as the way to enter into the forgiveness of the Father’s love through uniting ourselves to Christ. Let us look at it line by line:

“So for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation: the old order is gone and a new being is there to see” (5:17). St. Paul reminds the Corinthians that they are a new creation in Christ. What does it mean to be in Christ? Christ has died for our sins and rose again so that we might share in His glory, but how can we access that glorious resurrection?

“It is all God's work; he reconciled us to himself through Christ and he gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (5:18). We do not reconcile ourselves to Christ, but rather, Jesus reconciles us to the Father. But where is Jesus? How are we in Christ? Jesus said to His apostles at His ascension that He would send the Holy Spirit, cf. Acts 1:7-8.

“I mean, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not holding anyone's faults against them, but entrusting to us the message of reconciliation” (5:19). It would be a cruel trick if Jesus promised us the forgiveness of our sins in Him without giving us a sure way to be united to Him. St. Paul, therefore, reiterates the importance of our connection to Christ through the Apostles and those who succeed them.

“So we are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God were urging you through us, and in the name of Christ we appeal to you to be reconciled to God” (5:20). To whom is St. Paul referring when he says “you” and “us”? When St. Paul says “us,” he is referring to himself and the other Apostles, as well as to their successors, the priests and bishops of the Church. “You” refers to those who are in need of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, i.e. all of us! St. Paul is not making a false dichotomy between “the righteous” and “sinners,” like the Pharisees do in today’s Gospel. Rather, he invites the Corinthians (and us) into the gift of Reconciliation in Christ and through apostolic authority.

“For our sake he made the sinless one a victim for sin, so that in him we might become the uprightness of God” (5:21). Again, St. Paul says that it is God’s work. All are sinners, including the Apostles, but in Christ all are made whole and return to the Father like the prodigal son.

-Jacob Pride

"Let us walk humbly with our God."

          In today’s gospel, Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. In his prayer, the Pharisee reminds the Lord of all he has done, fasting, praying and tithing. The tax collector goes humbly, on his knees, and asks for mercy for his sins. Jesus reminds us that it is the tax collector who is justified. “The one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

          For many of us reading this, we are good people trying to live out our faiths in a very secular world. We go to Mass each week, we may attend a Bible study. We spend time in prayer, we fast. It can feel like we are doing so much compared to others.   We measure ourselves against a world that, these days, doesn’t set a very high bar. But even if we measured ourselves against the piety of the holiest man, it is our humility the Lord most desires.  If  we went to Mass every day, made a monthly confession and tithed more than our 10% and came to the Lord showing him all our good deeds, He would be more pleased with the person  who had done none of this but said to Him, “Bless me for I have sinned.”

          There is a great comfort in knowing that it is the condition of our hearts that will hurt or please the Lord. We absolutely should spend as much time as possible in prayer, fasting, almsgiving. These things make us more like Jesus and bring us closer to Him. We just have to do so with humility. We can’t earn our way into Heaven. Jesus took every one of those nails out of the same love for saint and sinner.  We say at Mass, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof.” We humble ourselves before we receive the greatest gift ever given, the actual body of Christ. That shows how important humility is in the Christian walk.

          We will all walk through different seasons of life. There will be times when we can make it to daily Mass and monthly confession, times when we can tithe 10% before taxes. Hopefully, we will get on our knees each night of those plentiful times and tell the Lord that we are thankful for His provision and ask for forgiveness for the ways we didn’t honor Him. There will also be times when we can’t get to daily Mass, when our tithe will be in time rather than money. Hopefully we will get on our knees during those times and tell the Lord we are thankful for His provision and ask forgiveness for ways we didn’t honor Him.

          Our God loves us in plenty or in want. He loves us not for what we do or give, but who we are. God doesn’t love us because we’re good. He loves us because HE is good. 

-Keri Ninness

Freedom from the Law

            “[Jesus] said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’” Man, would I love to hear that from Jesus! Clearly, the scribe who questions Jesus in today’s Gospel reading gets it; let’s try to learn from his example and see how he got so close to the kingdom of God.

            The Jews in Jesus’ day were all about the letter of the law, and I can see why, given how complicated their law was; I’m certain I would have broken it on accident a few times per day. They had strict laws for purification, diet, and observing the Sabbath, among other things. If you had a rock for every time I ate a meal with unclean hands, you could stone me!

            One of the purposes for Jesus’ mission (besides dying for our sins, obviously) was to give us freedom from the law. This is not freedom in the way we usually think about it—the ability to do whatever we want, whenever we want. That’s called license. True freedom means being free of any sinful desire or attachment. If we no longer desire to break the law, we are free of it; it is no longer a burden on us. Let’s see a practical example of this.

            Consider a young man who thinks the Mass is boring. He doesn’t understand why we have to go every Sunday. The law is a burden to him. But imagine if someone explained to him that the Mass is heaven come to earth and that we are connected, through our participation in the Eucharist, to every Catholic throughout history, regardless of time! This young man begins to think about Mass differently. He starts coming to Mass every Sunday, and maybe even during the week occasionally. He has achieved freedom from the law!

Bio:

Michael LaPointe is a FOCUS missionary at Georgia Sothern. Originally from Montgomery, AL, he graduated from Auburn University in 2011.