At that time, Jesus went unto mount Olivet. And early in the morning he came again into the temple: and all the people came to him. And sitting down he taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees bring unto him a woman taken in adultery: and they set her in the midst, And said to him: “Master, this woman was even now taken in adultery. Now Moses in the law commanded us to stone such a one. But what sayest thou?” And this they said tempting him, that they might accuse him.
But Jesus bowing himself down, wrote with his finger on the ground. When therefore they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said to them: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” And again stooping down, he wrote on the ground.
But they hearing this, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest. And Jesus alone remained, and the woman standing in the midst. Then Jesus lifting up himself, said to her: “Woman, where are they that accused thee? Hath no man condemned thee?” Who said: “No man, Lord.” And Jesus said: “Neither will I condemn thee. Go, and now sin no more.” John 8:1-11

At that time, Jesus cometh therefore to a city of Samaria, which is called Sichar, near the land which Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well. It was about the sixth hour.
There cometh a woman of Samaria, to draw water. Jesus saith to her: “Give me to drink.” For his disciples were gone into the city to buy meats. Then that Samaritan woman saith to him: “How dost thou, being a Jew; ask of me to drink, who am a Samaritan woman? For the Jews do not communicate with the Samaritans.” Jesus answered and said to her: “If thou didst know the gift of God and who he is that saith to thee: Give me to drink; thou perhaps wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.”
The woman saith to him: “Sir, thou hast nothing wherein to draw, and the well is deep. From whence then hast thou living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank thereof, himself and his children and his cattle?” Jesus answered and said to her: “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but he that shall drink of the water that I will give him shall not thirst for ever. But the water that I will give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting.”
The woman said to him: “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come hither to draw.” Jesus saith to her: “Go, call thy husband, and come hither.” The woman answered and said: “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her: “Thou hast said well: I have no husband. For thou hast had five husbands: and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband. This, thou hast said truly.”
The woman saith to him: “Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers adored on this mountain: and you say that at Jerusalem is the place where men must adore.” Jesus saith to her: “Woman, believe me that the hour cometh, when you shall neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, adore the Father. You adore that which you know not: we adore that which we know. For salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh and now is, when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore him. God is a spirit: and they that adore him must adore him in spirit and in truth.” The woman saith to him: “I know that the Messias cometh (who is called Christ): therefore, when he is come, he will tell us all things.” Jesus saith to her: “I am he, who am speaking with thee.”
And immediately his disciples came. And they wondered that he talked with the woman. Yet no man said: “What seekest thou?” Or: “Why talkest thou with her?” The woman therefore left her water pot and went her way into the city and saith to the men there: “Come, and see a man who has told me all things whatsoever I have done. Is not he the Christ?” They went therefore out of the city and came unto him.
In the mean time, the disciples prayed him, saying: “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them: “I have meat to eat which you know not.” The disciples therefore said one to another: “Hath any man brought him to eat?” Jesus saith to them: “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, that I may perfect his work. Do not you say: There are yet four months, and then the harvest cometh? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and see the countries. For they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life everlasting: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. For in this is the saying true: ‘That it is one man that soweth, and it is another that reapeth.’ I have sent you to reap that in which you did not labour. Others have laboured: and you have entered into their labours.”
Now of that city many of the Samaritans believed in him, for the word of the woman giving testimony: “He told me all things whatsoever I have done.” So when the Samaritans were come to him, they desired that he would tarry there. And he abode there two days. And many more believed in him, because of his own word. And they said to the woman: “We now believe, not for thy saying: for we ourselves have heard him and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.” John 4:5-52

The other day, I was called out for not taking responsibility for someone else’s actions.

I know, right?

In the course of this individual’s choices they made some mistakes in allowing certain things to occur because they profited from doing so. Or so they thought. The return on the investment didn’t show up, and it’s likely going to end up being a big mess for them.

So they called me and asked me to get them out of the situation. And I refused. And they got very angry, and called me out for not doing enough.

My response was to remind them that at the end of the day, they’d made their bed and now they were going to have to lay in it. I simply presented the truth back in a way that was understandable. And once they realized that I knew the full story of what’d happened (that they’d broken the rules and were now frustrated with bad results), they changed the subject, then they became very nice, very passive, and ended the interaction.

The truth really scares people because of their relationship with it. When Jesus calls out the woman at the well, she knows she’s been caught. Perhaps when Jesus asks her for water, he’s testing her to see her metal. Every day we have a choice in how we work our relationship with the truth. When I was growing up, I have a very bad relationship with the truth. I lied excessively–mainly because I was ashamed of who I was, I was ashamed of where I came from and wanted people to see me as valuable, as lovable. What ended up happening was the opposite. People saw me as what I was, a liar, someone who couldn’t be trusted, and quite possibly, a neurotic! And I may still try to live up to being slightly neurotic! 🙂

Accepting that we all tell lies doesn’t make it ok. Accepting that other people agree to accept a lie, or a bend of the truth, doesn’t make it ok. Seeking consent and permission to bend the truth, or bend a situation, doesn’t make it ok.

Conversely, we can’t be surprised if in the course of our lives if we knowingly accept/practice expecting benefits when we know full well there are potentials for uncomfortable consequences. If I smoke for 25 years and then am told by my doctor that I have lung cancer, I don’t have the right to be surprised at that unless I’d been completely deluding myself.

In the same light, we can’t expect to stand up for issues of social justice and expect no resistance from the people who benefit from the imbalance of power.

If we love, if we practice radical love in our lives at every opportunity, the end results can only be radical love in return. This might take more effort, and the results might take lifetimes to see, but it requires someone to start the emotion into motion.

And Jesus rising up out of the synagogue, went into Simon’s house. And Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever: and they besought him for her. And standing over her, he commanded the fever: and it left her. And immediately rising, she ministered to them.
And when the sun was down, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them to him. But he, laying his hands on every one of them, healed them. And devils went out from many, crying out and saying: “Thou art the son of God.” And rebuking them he suffered them not to speak; for they knew that he was Christ.
And when it was day, going out he went into a desert place: and the multitudes sought him, and came unto him. And they stayed him that should not depart from them. To whom he said: “To other cities also I must preach the kingdom of God: for therefore am I sent.” And he was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee. Luke 4:38-44

He went into a desert place. Why? Solitude, silence, peace. And yet, they followed him, they came to him, they stayed with him.

I’m operating on 12 hours sleep. In the last 72. Day one, it was anxiety about making sure I remembered training that I’d gotten to work in a different are of my job. Day two, it was waking up every two hours because people kept making noise in our home. Hardwood looks amazing. It’s loud. It reverberates easily. Also, our dog is becoming strange in her old age, wanting to go outside every hour and a half to sit in the snow and stare at the fence. Day three, she at least waited until 6:25 am. But now, she’s refusing to eat again and I can’t help but wonder if she’s coming to her end of days. Either way, I got angry. I stormed, reacted, slammed doors. If I wasn’t going to sleep, no one else was going to sleep either. I was an angry, unruly bear and it wasn’t right to react the way I did, but I did. Not perfect, amends made, try again. Progress not perfection, but still striving for perfection.

I want to go to a desert place. I need to sleep.

Going to a deserted place isn’t supposed to be permanent. It can’t be, because as adults our responsibilities come to us, stay with us, call us back from the deserted places. But we need those deserted places–be they our special room, or a quiet place in a park, a bath tub–we need these retreats to recharge our batteries.

A deserted place can also be just knowing when to say no to a request that could put our mental health at risk. So many years I spent putting my mental health on the back burner, that when I had a chance to be able to actualize the importance of this not just to my over all health, but to my best functioning as a worker; let’s just say I didn’t realize how easy it is to treat yourself poorly and not treat yourself with the same value everyone else deserves.

At that time, then came to him from Jerusalem scribes and Pharisees, saying: “Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the ancients? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread.” But he answering, said to them: “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God for your tradition? For God said: ‘Honor thy father and mother’: And: ‘He that shall curse father or mother, let him die the death.’ But you say: ‘Whosoever shall say to father or mother, “The gift whatsoever proceedeth from me, shall profit thee.” And he shall not honor his father or his mother’: and you have made void the commandment of God for your tradition. Hypocrites, well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth me with their lips: but their heart is far from me. And in vain do they worship me, teaching doctrines and commandments of men.’ “
And having called together the multitudes unto him, he said to them: “Hear ye and understand. Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man: but what cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.” 
Then came his disciples, and said to him: “Dost thou know that the Pharisees, when they heard this word, were scandalized?” But he answering, said: “Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they are blind, and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both fall into the pit.” 
And Peter answering, said to him: “Expound to us this parable.” But he said: “Are you also yet without understanding? Do you not understand, that whatsoever entereth into the mouth, goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the privy? But the things which proceed out of the mouth, come forth from the heart, and those things defile a man. For from the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies. These are the things that defile a man. But to eat with unwashed hands doth not defile a man.” Matthew 15:1-20

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: “But if thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more: that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And if he will not hear them: tell the church. And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican. Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven. Again I say to you, that if two of you shall consent upon earth, concerning anything whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by my Father who is in heaven. For where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
Then came Peter unto him and said: “Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?” Jesus saith to him: “I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times.” Matthew 18:15-22

How do you forgive someone who hates you?

And how can you forgive when the offense is to deny the essence of your soul, and deny that you too were created in the image of God?

I don’t know what the response should be. I’d love to be able to answer this, but I can’t.

There are people in the world who believe that people are victims, that victims like being victims and benefit from being a victim. These are generally people who don’t like to admit they are perpetrators.

The talk right now in Regina has to do with one small congregation of evangelicals whos pastor has preached a sermon. I don’t want to talk about the sermon. I don’t want to name the pastor, or the church, and give them any publicity: they want the publicity. Sermons like this are preached precisely for publicity.

How do I, as a Christian, reach out to those who are queer? What role do I have to play in reconciliation? What does it even look like?

My heart aches.

This is what is loosed on earth. Heart ache, pain, division, derision. Suffering. This is not love. This is not the Gospel message.

From “Who We Are”, the web page of the Eucharistic Catholic Church:

As individuals, members of the ECE-ECC have made a decision to live out their Catholic Christian vocations and lives in a Church which allows them the possibility of living authentic lives according to their consciences.

We have taken a position of active witness in relation to these deeply held beliefs. Rather than advocate from within the Roman Church, we have chosen to “actualize” those beliefs outside of the institution. While this conscious choice separates us from our parent institution, our exile brings freedom to live authentically as a child of God and pursue a deepening commitment to spirituality and mission.

Our active witness is not carried out in a reactive manner, where every action and decision of the parent institution propels the exiled into renewed action fed by anger. Rather, our active witness is characterized by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, discerned through a practice of daily meditation and liturgical prayer centred on the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus offered to us in the Eucharist. This latter characteristic implies and necessitates an individual attention to the development of an adequate level of psycho-spiritual maturity.

At that time, Jesus was casting out a devil: and the same was dumb. And when he had cast out the devil, the dumb spoke: and the multitudes, were in admiration at it. But some of them said: “He casteth out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils.” And others tempting, asked of him a sign from heaven. But he seeing their thoughts, said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation; and house upon house shall fall. And if Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? Because you say that through Beelzebub I cast out devils. Now if I cast out devils by Beelzebub, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore, they shall be your judges. But if I by the finger of God cast out devils, doubtless the kingdom of God is come upon you. When a strong man armed keepeth his court, those things are in peace which he possesseth. But if a stronger than he come upon him and overcome him, he will take away all his armor wherein he trusted and will distribute his spoils. He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through places without water, seeking rest: and not finding, he saith: I will return into my house whence I came out. And when he is come, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then he goeth and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself: and entering in they dwell there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.” 
And it came to pass, as he spoke these things, a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to him: “Blessed is the womb that bore thee and the paps that gave thee suck.” But he said: “Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it.” Luke 11:14-28

At that time, Jesus said to the Pharisees: “Doubtless you will say to me this similitude: ‘Physician, heal thyself. As great things as we have heard done in Capharnaum, do also here in thy own country.’ ” And he said: “Amen I say to you that no prophet is accepted in his own country. In truth I say to You, there were many widows in the days of Elias in Israel, when heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there was a great famine throughout all the earth. And to none of them was Elias sent, but to Sarepta of Sidon, to a widow woman. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet: and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian.” 
And all they in the synagogue, hearing these things, were filled with anger. And they rose up and thrust him out of the city: and they brought him to the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he passing through the midst of them, went his way. Luke 4:23-30

Last week I started to feel very tired. By the time Friday came, I was knowing that I’d reached my limits and I wasn’t able to function to the best of my ability, and by Saturday I’d almost reached the point where while I was able to function, I just wanted to rest. I did some work, it wasn’t my best work, I came home, and I went to sleep.

Sunday I woke up for Mass (Mass is live streamed from our Cathedral parish every Sunday at 10:00 CST), got out of bed, said to myself–nope, I can’t do it. I knew in my heart it was good for me, it was self care of the best nature, but I needed to stay in bed. I rolled over, then got up, then made coffee, then crawled back into bed with my dog and snuggled with my fiancé, grateful that I was able to spend the morning with my family.

Sunday night, I paused. Realizing I needed to take time in the chapel, I prepared the altar, went out and helped my fiancé take care of a difficult task, returned into the chapel, vested, and said a practice Mass. Now I know that it’s not an actual Mass because I’m not a priest. When I say the words of consecration, I’m not actually consecrating. But it’s the closest thing to the Blessed Sacrament I’ve been to in almost 5 years. It’s an exercise in learning, but it’s also a spiritual act if not a sacrament. I still mess up, and I know that I’ll probably be working to perfect my use of the liturgy until the last day of my life–and what a blessing that is!

Monday, I spent most of the day in the chapel getting lost in video games. Towards the end of the day, I lit the candles on the altar, read Scripture, and listened to the recording of Compline just said at a Cistercian Abbey somewhere in France. (Great podcast: search for Les offices de l”Abbeye Du Barroux.)

And I didn’t get to writing any blogs. I’m a very bad friar.

Sometimes we just need to take a break from the routine. The danger for a religious in doing this is that, like the man that Jesus exorcized, we have to keep a clean house. In the Autocephalous Churches, that means we not only have to make sure we’re doing our best to represent the true spirit and meaning of the Gospel message, it means that we need to work at gently reminding ourselves that our authenticity is valid.

Last night, I watched a movie on Netflix about Fatima. St. Lucia in the movie was portrayed as a child, finding herself confronted at all angles by people who told her that her visions weren’t valid, that she was making them. All the while, she was seeing the Blessed Mother. While the struggles of this saint are far greater than those of use who live the autocephalous catholic life, there are times in my own life that I’ve felt questioned, where in my mind I felt the need to question the validity of what it was I was doing.

Last night I had a moment like that. As I sat in the chapel listening to compline being sung, I asked myself, and I asked God: Am I doing your will? So many years ago on the morning I was going to profess my vows for the first time, a voice inside my head urged me to pack my bags and go back to Regina. It urged me to not undertake what I was about to do. The closer it came to the time to head down into the chapel in Toronto, the more I questioned this voice. I asked myself–if I do in fact profess, follow the line of actions towards becoming a priest in this church, at the end of my life will I have done more evil than good?

If I stand before God at the end of my life, what I hope is that God will see (and know) that I have acted to praise Him, to celebrate His creation, and to see His Son’s presence in the least of us. It was a gamble I was prepared to make. I question it from time to time; mostly I just return to prayer. When my mind takes me outside the city walls, and tries to hurl me over the cliff, I pause, I take a breath, I grab my rosary, and I do my best to pass through the thoughts and go my way.

At that time, Jesus spoke this parable to the multitude of the Jews and the chief priests, “There was a man, an householder, who planted a vineyard and made a hedge round about it and dug in it a press and built a tower and let it out to husbandmen and went into a strange country. And when the time of the fruits drew nigh, he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits thereof. And the husbandmen laying hands on his servants, beat one and killed another and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the former; and they did to them in like manner. And last of all he sent to them his son, saying: ‘They will reverence my son.’ But the husbandmen seeing the son, said among themselves: ‘This is the heir: come, let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance.’ And taking him, they cast him forth out of the vineyard and killed him.
“When therefore the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do to those husbandmen?” They say to him: “He will bring those evil men to an evil end and let out his vineyard to other husbandmen that shall render him the fruit in due season.” Jesus saith to them: “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? By the Lord this has been done; and it is wonderful in our eyes.’
“Therefore I say to you that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and shall be given to a nation yielding the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder.”
And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they knew that he spoke of them. And seeking to lay hands on him, they feared the multitudes, because they held him as a prophet. Matthew 21:33-46

Today I confronted someone I knew was hiding the truth from me. Not because I was trying to be vicious, but because in order to help them, I needed them to remember that the relationship we have is based on trusting each other. This person got angry with me. I kept telling them that their reaction was just because they’d been caught in a lie, and to come back to the truth.

It is so hard to embrace the truth.

Someone close to me has told me several times that everyone lies to some degree or another. On the one hand I agree with this, but on the other hand, holding this view closes one’s mind to the potential of truth.

I believe in honesty. But I also know the repercussions of living in a lie.

In the parable, the people are living in a lie, that they are somehow entitled to the ownership of the vineyard. They believe that the owner somehow doesn’t care about them, that because of this they are justified in their actions, even in killing the owner’s son. What they fail to realized is that the owner actually loves them, suffers because of where they are, wants them to be better.

When therefore the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do to those husbandmen?

He will bring the evil men to an evil end and let out his vineyard to other husbandmen that shall render him the fruit in due season.

And while this parable may be speaking in ways that make us think of bonfires and brimstone, what it’s really talking about is something very simple: the natural consequences of our actions. We often act in ways that minimize the natural consequences, only to be surprised and angry when these consequences arrive. A smoker who’s smoked two packs a day for 25 years is confronted by their doctor who says they have lung cancer; they say to the doctor, how can this be? I don’t know how this could’ve happened!

They did know. They simply avoided the natural consequences. And now the landlord has come.

Our planet is heading for a two degree raise in temperature. It is, if we are to believe what science tells us, an inevitability. Yet, we keep driving our cars, buying trucks that we don’t need, living as if it was 1970. When the climate forces immigration even deeper into our country, when it fails crops in both the United States and Canada, and we exclaim: How could this happen? What did we do wrong? The landlord will come.

Live in honesty. Speak truth in the face of injustice, in the face of what you know to be untrue. Speak with courage, and fear.

And let that honesty be rooted in compassion and love, for others and for yourself.

God love you.

At that time, Jesus said to the Pharisees, “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and feasted sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, who lay at his gate, full of sores, Desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. And no one did give him: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. “And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man also died: and he was buried in hell. And lifting up his eyes when he was in torments, he saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom: And he cried and said: ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue: for I am tormented in this flame.’ And Abraham said to him: ‘Son, remember that thou didst receive good things in thy lifetime, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted and thou art tormented. And besides all this, between us and you, there is fixed a great chaos: so that they who would pass from hence to you cannot, nor from thence come hither.’ And he said: ‘Then, father, I beseech thee that thou wouldst send him to my father’s house, for I have five brethren, That he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torments.’ And Abraham said to him: ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them.’ But he said: ‘No, father Abraham: but if one went to them from the dead, they will do penance.’ And he said to him: ‘If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe, if one rise again from the dead.’ ” Luke 16:19-31

One of the exercises that we are encouraged to do in our spiritual process is called Lectio Divina. The process is to take a piece of scripture and read slowly, thoughtfully, allowing the mind to rest on a certain quote or series of words and to contemplate them.

Here we have a man, wealth beyond all recognition, and no indication that he has sinned except that he was rich. And then we have Lazarus, a man wounded by sickness only wanting the crumbs that would fall from a rich man’s table. Lazarus ends up in Heaven at the bosom of Abraham. The rich man ends up in hell, tormented by flame.

When I read today’s reading, I was transfixed on the idea of a great chaos between Heaven and Hell. Rather than think of it as storm between two places, I thought back on my own life, reflecting on the chaos that I encountered between my own states of heaven and hell. When we sit in comfort and look down through the chaos at poverty, is it not natural to equate the poverty with the chaos?

Do we carry chaos in our own minds, in our lives? How comfortable does the chaos become, so that we feast with it as a guest. We dress it in our finery. We accept it, even though we know it is the cause of our misery, and the road to our destruction.

Lent calls us not only to charity, but to stillness. Lent calls us to rest our bodies through fasting that our souls might feast. Lent is the season that is a beacon for us to see through the chaos in our lives to the still point that is Jesus. We encourage this stillness by being fearless in examining our consciences; by being diligent with and sincere in our confessions. But it also calls us as religious to take account of our lives, how we minister, how we exercise the vocation of Love that we are called to do. Jesus is teaching this parable to the Pharisees, those who have become burdened down in their robes, and the law. Have we as priests, as bishops, as religious, become burdened down with our chalices, our patens, the wafers we so casually ‘consecrate’? Have the books we pray from, we read Mass from, stopped being missals and become instead chains?

If we are weighted down by rites and the need to justify our lines of succession, we won’t have room to pick up our crosses to follow Him. The security of things does not replace the security of Divine Love, and the need to share that Divine Love in our actions daily.

At that time. as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples apart and said to them: “Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be betrayed to the chief priests and the scribes: and they shall condemn him to death. And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified: and the third day he shall rise again.” 
Then came to him the mother of the sons of Zebedee with her sons, adoring and asking something of him. Who said to her: “What wilt thou?” She saith to him: “say that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left, in thy kingdom.” And Jesus answering, said: They say to him: “We can.” He saith to them: “You know not what you ask. Can you drink the chalice that I shall drink?””My chalice indeed you shall drink; but to sit on my right or left hand is not mine to give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared by my Father.” 
And the ten, hearing it, were moved with indignation against the two brethren. But Jesus called them to him and said: “You know that the princes of the Gentiles lord it over them; and that they that are the greater, exercise power upon them. It shall not be so among you: but whosoever is the greater among you, let him be your minister. And he that will be first among you shall be your servant. Even as the Son of man is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a redemption for many.”  Matthew 20:17-28

*In my haste, I mistakenly wrote yesterdays reflection based on the wrong day! Today, we’re going backwards in time to the reading from the Mass of March 1.

At that time, Jesus said to the multitudes of the Jews: I go, and you will seek Me, and in your sin you will die. Where I go you cannot come. The Jews therefore kept saying, Will He kill Himself, since He says, ‘Where I go you cannot come’? And He said to them, You are from below, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sin. They therefore said to Him, Who are You? Jesus said to them, Why do I speak to you at all? I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you; but He Who sent Me is true, and the things that I heard from Him, these I speak in the world. And they did not understand that He was speaking to them about the father. Jesus therefore said to them, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that of Myself I do nothing; but that I preach only what the Father has taught Me. And He Who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, because I do always the things that are pleasing to Him. John 8:21-29

How hard is it to speak truth, especially when the majority of those around you don’t want to hear it, or are unable to hear it because it would require such a massive shift in world view?

Plato taught something called “The Allegory of the Cave”. In the story, you are asked to imagine a group of people chained hand and foot, facing a wall where in front of them a fire is lit. People walk past carrying statues of various things: animals, tools, plants, anything you can imagine. Plato asks us to consider that one of the people chained somehow gets free, and in their escape, is able to see that in reality, what they thought were the things in themselves were just clay statues being carried by people past a fire. The man escapes the cave, and standing in the light of day is blinded because the sun is so very bright, and he has never seen the light of day before. Then suddenly, he begins to see the things that he has only before known as either shadows, or the statues that are thrown on the wall when those statues are carried past a fire.

This person finds ecstasy. And in that pure moment of joy, returns to the cave to tell the prisoners they had lived with for so long. In telling them what they had seen, the prisoners are so perplexed and infuriated, they kill the person who had been freed.

Love your enemies. For many that frames as love Donald Trump, love the people who support Donald Trump. Love big oil, and the people who believe that oil is necessary. Love the liberal, the politically correct person who drives you insane with the need to pussy foot around everything, the crazy green hippie. Love the activist who dances against the reality of pandemic wearing shorts on a winter day. Love the militant christians who work so hard to push people out rather than welcome people in. Love the anarchist, the satanist, the agnostic and the athiest. Love the abortionist. Love the pro-life activist. So many opportunities for love where anger easily fills in the cracks.

This is a hard teaching. What makes it especially hard is that, only in loving these people do we find Christ.

Suddenly, the camel passing through the eye of a needle makes sense, yes?

It takes practice. I struggle greatly, and even fail mostly. But I think that it will boil down in the end to the energy we spend in the attempt rather than how we succeed or fail. At least I hope so!