Rejoice in Hope, Endure in Affliction, and Persevere in Prayer*

Posted on June 1, 2013 by Michael

Our culture has co-opted and corrupted hope.  Culturally, hope is a wish for a particular outcome or result.  Christian hope is not a wish for reality to be different.  Christian hope lies in the fulfillment of truth and reality, a desire and expectation of sufficient grace from God to attain eternal life with Him.  Christian hope is a virtue that does disappoint. We rejoice in hope, because God is always faithful to his promises.  God will provide the grace needed to attain eternal salvation.  We only need to respond to His grace.

A response to His grace is a call to take up the cross of His son, Christ Jesus, and to follow Him.  Our hope for redemption and salvation lies in the cross.  Before drinking of the cup of the Heavenly banquet, we must first drink of the cup of the cross.  We may be called to bear the cross of physical or mental pain and suffering, the cross of rejection and ridicule, or the cross of the betrayal.

Our cross need not be burdensome.  With Christ, our cross is made easy and light (Matthew 11:30).  We will find rest through our union with Him in prayer that expresses our love for Him, prayer that yokes us to His will, and prayer of hope in the promised glory of heaven.  The Psalms abound in hope: “I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.” (Psalm 40:1)  We must be patient and persevere in our cries to the LORD, and tenaciously seek solitude and be ever watchful and attentive to His call.

*Romans 12:12

Posted in Meditations On Biblical Verses | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Appear Not Before the Lord Empty Handed

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Michael

Today’s Old Testament reading at mass was from Sirach (35:1-12), where we are warned, “Appear not before the Lord empty handed.”  This is a warning against bribes, not works; “offer no bribes, these He does not accept!” Rather, “In a generous spirit pay homage to the Lord.”  And, how is homage paid?  By doing what has written upon our hearts by the Lord: to seek truth; to love our neighbor as our self; and to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind.  These are to be paid cheerfully, freely, and with charity.   With such giving the Lord is well pleased, and returns not in kind, but seven fold.

Posted in Meditations On Biblical Verses | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Six Degrees of Love / Six Degrees of Sin

Posted on May 26, 2013 by Michael

Six degrees of separation is a theory that any two persons on earth are separate by way of no more than six introductions.  Mathematical models and analysis of social networks such as, Facebook™ and Twitter™ support the theory.   Basically, we can be introduced to any person on earth through six or less introductions.

Since the persons conducting the introductions are known to each other and have some type of interpersonal relationship, this means that our actions toward others affects every person on earth.  Conversely, we are affected by the actions of every person on earth.

Thus, small acts of love we extend to our spouse, children, family members, those we work with, and those we encounter are spread by six degrees throughout the entire world.  The patience we have with one person is transmitted to another, and so forth by six degrees to all.  Likewise, for kindness shown and self giving acts.

Similarly, one sinful act is perpetuated by six degrees.  Rude, self-centered behavior affects not only the people it is directed towards, it also impacts their interactions with others through six degrees, to eventually every person on earth.  Likewise, for acts of jealously, lustfulness, adultery, murder, fornication, and so forth.  Harm inflected on one person is harm inflected on all.

So, it is important as Christians that we live our life according to the two great commandments: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  If we conduct our encounters with others according to these two commandments, the love of Lord and His love, truth, and peace will spread by six degrees to all.

Posted in Essays | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

To What We Can Give Christ’s Church in Return for What We Have Been Given

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Michael

What has God given us?

He created us in His image and likeness.

He breathed life into us.

He gave us dominion over His creation.

God gave us His only begotten son.

What has Christ, God’s only begotten son, given us?

He freed us from the bondage of sin by taking on our sins.

He freed us from eternal death, by giving up His life for us and offering us the gift of eternal life with Him and His Father.

He bestows His divine mercy on his prodigal sons and daughters.

Christ gave us, after ascending into heaven to reign at the right hand of His Father, an “earthly” form of His body, His Church.

What can we give to His Church in return?

Like the poor widow, we have little to give in comparison to what we have been given.

But like the poor widow, what little we have to give, if given with pure heart will be pleasing to the Lord.

For as with Cain and Able, the heart’s disposition when presenting a gift matters more than the gift presented.

God cares not for a gift given with a hardened heart, but is well pleased with a gift given with a pure heart.

As Christ multiplied a few loaves of bread and a couple small fish to feed thousands, a gift given with a pure heart will be multiplied by Christ to provide for many.

Posted in Poems | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Lord’s Prayer Chiastic Structure

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Michael

The chiastic structure of the Lord’s Prayer:

        (A) Our Father

                  (B) Who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name

                          (C) Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven

                                      Give us this day our daily bread

                         (C’) And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors

                  (B’) And lead us not into temptation

        (A’) But deliver us from evil

The prayer opens and closes with the ones who vie for our souls: Our Father (A) in heaven, and the evil one (A’) who wants to deny us our heavenly inheritance.  We will spend eternity with one or the other.  The evil one, the father of lies, out of selfishness and spite tries to verve us off the path to holiness with empty promises and pleasures of the flesh. Our Father desires that all spend eternity with Him, but does not force His desire on us.  He honors the choice we freely make.  If we ignore His call and separate ourselves from Him, He will honor our choice and will withhold His grace and not call us to dwell with Him.  However, if we answer His call and draw near to Him, He will call our name, shower us with grace, and invite us to dwell in His presence, now and forever.  We will spend eternity as we live our life.

Our Father is Holy.  He created us for holiness (B) and will protect us from the false promises of the evil one (B’).  God freely bestows grace and sanctification on us, which we can accept or reject.  If we accept and act on His grace and sanctification, we will draw us near, we will grow in His holiness, and He will protect us from the evil one.  Christ in His humanity was subjected to the evil one’s temptation, but did not succumb and remained sinless.  Christ, however, did suffer the pain imparted by sin.  He suffered the pain of death by crucifixion for our sins and the sins of the whole world.  Christ calls us to unit ourselves with Him in His suffering to overcome sin, death, and the temptations of the evil one.  To achieve the holiness we were created for we must drop all earthly attachments and heed His call “to come follow me.”

God desires that all be citizens of His kingdom (C) and provides all with a way to citizenship (C’) – by forgiving those who have wronged us in sin.  Christ showed us how to forgive.  He forgave those who crucified Him, and the insurrectionist who hung at His side.  We are to trust in Christ’s mercy and show mercy to others.  In so doing, we become citizens of His kingdom with Christ as our king.  We join in His holiness and dwell in His presence forever.  When we fail to trust in Christ’s mercy or fail to show mercy to others, we reject Christ Jesus as our king and are excluded from joining Him in His holiness and from dwelling in His presence.

Christ is at the center of the Lord’s Prayer. Christ is brings God to man and man to God.  He is gate through which we pass to dwell in eternal glory in His Kingdom.  For more about Christ in the Lord’s Prayer see posting of May 12.

Posted in The Lord's Prayer | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Our Daily Bread

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Michael

In the Lord’s Prayer, the verse containing “our daily bread” is positioned between the verses about God and verses about humanity.  What is this “daily bread”?  Why is it after the verses about God and before the verses about man?

Bread is woven throughout the Old and New Testaments.  It is portrayed as sacred, food for the body, and part of God’s covenant.   In Genesis, the High Priest Melchizedek, King of Salem offers bread and wine as a thanksgiving to the Lord God.   In Exodus, God miraculously rains down supernatural bread from heaven in the form of manna. The Lord commanded that some manna be collected and placed in the Holy of Holies next to Ark of the Covenant and the Lampstand (Menorah).  The Holy of Holies was God’s dwelling place on earth with his people.  The bread He provided dwelled with Him in the Holy of Holies.  Moreover, on each Sabbath the priests ate the bread as commanded by God as part of His covenant with Israel.   The supernatural bread was part of the Sabbath liturgical celebration.

In the New Testament, Jesus proclaims that He is the true bread of life from heaven.  Before His betrayal and crucifixion, He blessed bread and said take and eat, for this is my body, do this in remembrance of me.  For, bread blessed in the priestly manner of Christ and in His remembrance is His true body.  The “daily bread” is Jesus, the true bread from heaven – a new manna.

Manna sustained the Israelites as they journeyed in the wilderness to the land God promised them.  This new manna, Jesus’ true body, sustains us as we journey on earth to a heavenly banquet, the wedding feast of the lamb, awaiting us.  As manna was a foretaste of the honey of the promise land, the new manna is a foretaste of the heavenly banquet.

Foreshadowed in God’s command to place manna the Arc of the Covenant and bread of the presence in the Holy of Holies next to the Ark of the Covenant is Jesus sitting at the right hand of God.  The Holy Spirit, the tongues of fire of the Lampstand, is also foreshadowed dwelling with the Jesus and the Father in the Holy of Holies.

Jesus, “our daily bread”, is located between the verses about God and humanity, because in His mystical presence in bread and wine Christ Jesus brings God to us and us to God.  Jesus is fully and completely divine and fully and completely man.  He brings the Divine to us through His Divinity and reconciles humanity to God through his humanity.  He is the door through which we must pass, the way we must travel, from our earthly existence to our new existence dwelling with God.

Posted in The Lord's Prayer | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Contemplating The Lord’s Prayer (Part III)

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Michael

forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors

This petition has two parts.   The first part, forgive us our debts, is contingent on the second part, as we also forgiven our debtors.  We admit, in the first part, our sinfulness and plea for forgiveness.  But, before we plea forgiveness we are to forgive others and, then, we will be forgiven as we have forgiven.

Who among us does not desire forgiveness?   Sometimes it is hard, due to pride, to ask for forgiveness, and other times it is easy to half-heartily ask for forgiveness as we presumptively assume mercy and forgiveness, for we know God eagerly awaits the return of a sinner.   As we learn from the parable of unmerciful servant (Matthew 18:23-35), we are asked to extend the mercy we receive to others.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church (paragraph 2840) teaches that the “outpouring of [God’s] mercy cannot penetrate our hearts as long as we have not forgiven those who have trespassed against us.”

The forgiveness we extend to others perfects and prepares our heart to receive and act on the mercy extended by Christ to us.  If we fail to extend forgiveness to others, our heart will be ill prepared to receive and act on the mercy extended by Christ for the forgiveness of our sins.

lead us not into temptation

More accurate interpretations of “lead us not into temptation” would be “do not allow us to enter into temptation” or “do not let us yield to temptation.”  But, God does not tempt.  Thus, this is not a petition asking God not to tempt.  Rather, we pray for God to provide us with strength, discernment and endurance to resist temptation.

deliver us from evil

“Deliver us from evil” is a direct plea to be protected from the Evil One, Satan.  A prayer for deliverance for the Evil One is a prayer to be free from the corruption of sin and death, and to be free from all evils past, present and in the future.   Thus, we pray for the entire world and ourselves.

Posted in The Lord's Prayer | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Contemplating The Lord’s Prayer (Part II)

Posted on May 5, 2013 by Michael

Our Father who art in heaven

“Our Father who art in heaven” is an invitation from God to turn our focus from our earthly exile to heaven, our intended home, for we were created to live and dwell with Him in His house.  But, through the sin of our first parent’s, Adam and Eve, we live in exile, dwelling apart from Our Father.  By invoking “heaven” we are not limiting God’s presence to a place.   Instead, we are seeking a relationship with Him and requesting release from our exile to be in His presence forever.  In so praying, we respond to His freely bestowed grace and mercy, and express our desire to be in communion with Him as “his adopted sons and daughters,” created in His image and likeness.

Hallowed be thy name

“Hallowed be thy name”, is a proclamation that God’s name is set apart from all other names.  His name is to be glorified and consecrated.  Further, His name is a reminder that we, as His adopted sons and daughters, are called to holiness in union with Him.  We are to praise and glorify Our Father’s name, first in the words we pray with our lips and second by the actions we undertake with our heart.  However, the prayer of our lips will ring hollow, if the actions of our heart fail to hallow His name.

Thy kingdom come

“Thy kingdom come” is an acclamation of God’s glory and a cry to live forever in His glorified presence.  His kingdom is proclaimed throughout the Gospels and has been becoming since the Last Supper and Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Asking for His kingdom to come is a prayerful request to persevere in this present age with faith, hope and charity in a life lived in, through, and for Christ Jesus until He returns in glory in the age to come.

Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven

“Thy will be done” is an acknowledgement of the Father’s merciful loving relationship with His sons and daughters, for He desires all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of His truth.  God send his only begotten Son, Jesus, to show humanity the way to what is pleasing to Him and how to conduct our lives according to His will.  Jesus taught what His Father wills in the Beatitudes and the two great commandments, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind … [and] … your neighbor as yourself.”  When we pray “Thy will be done” we are asking that the Father continues to extend his grace and mercy to us, so that our hearts not be hardened, and that our will be aligned with Our Father’s so that His will be done “on earth as it is in heaven”.

Posted in The Lord's Prayer | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Contemplating The Lord’s Prayer (Part I)

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Michael

“Our Father”

I would like to spend the next few weeks contemplating the Lord’s Prayer.  I learned this prayer as child and have prayed it thousands, if not, tens or hundreds of thousands of times.  Over the last few months, the prayer has blossomed in my heart with new meaning.  I would like to share what has blossomed.

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus refers to God as “my Father” when speaking about His relationship with God, and as “your Father” when speaking about our relationship with God.  In doing so, Jesus is affixing a belonging or inclusive filial relationship between humanity and God.  This filial relationship is deeper and more intimate than a covenant, a contract between parties.  A filial relationship is based on a shared, common lineage.

By teaching us to address His Father as our Father, Jesus is drawing us into a relationship with Him, His Father, and eventually with the Holy Spirit.  We have a filial relationship with Jesus through our shared humanity, with God the Father, as adopted sons and daughters, through our shared image and likeness, and with the Holy Spirit through shared love between Jesus, God the Father, and us.

Jesus taught us to open our prayer with the one who formed us, created us in His image and likeness, breath live into us, and who proclaimed us to be very good, by acknowledging the intimate relationship God is calling us into, by addressing Him as “Our Father”. (Typographical errors corrected on May 5, 2013)

Posted in The Lord's Prayer | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment