“Crucify Him!”

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If you were present at Jesus’ trial, where would you see yourself?  

Would it be with the disciples who fearfully followed at a distance?  Would it have been with Pontius Pilate who found no basis for the charges brought against Jesus, but did not have the courage to resist the crowd’s demands for crucifixion?  Would it have been with the crowd shouting, “Crucify him?”

If I had never met Jesus, I would have likely been with the crowd.  Have I not demonstrated my lack of support for Jesus in my sins?  Have I not denied him in my failure to love and serve others on various occasions?

Even if I had met Jesus, I would have been no different than the disciples, following at a distance out of fear, or like Pontius Pilate, going along with the crowd.  How many times have I failed to speak up for Jesus or my Catholic faith in a hostile environment?

Unfortunately, the crowd seldom gets it right.  How often do we see conventional wisdom that is not wise, popular opinion that does not reflect the truth, and consensus that leads to the wrong result?  

Lest we think that the opinions of the crowd are not becoming more hostile to our Christian faith, a recent study by the Barna Group released in February, found that 45% of non-religious adults (atheists, agnostics and religiously unaffiliated) agree with the statement that “Christianity is extremist.”   More than 50 % of all U. S. adults were found to believe that the following practices were “very” or “somewhat” extreme: attempting to convert others to their faith; teaching their children that sexual relationships between people of the same sex are morally wrong; praying out loud in public for a stranger; or protesting government policies that conflict with their religion.

So, how do we resist the crowd of our culture that is becoming increasingly prone to crucify Jesus in its actions and beliefs?  Acknowledge and repent of our sins, commit or recommit our lives to Jesus Christ and seek the release of the power of the Holy Spirit received in our baptism.

It is the Holy Spirit that convicts us, gives us the courage and the power to resist both the crowd and sin.  It wasn’t until I personally experienced the renewal of the Holy Spirit in my life that I was given understanding, motivation and power that makes it now possible for me to resist the crowd.  I am still capable of stumbling if I don’t stay close to Jesus in daily prayer, the sacraments and surround myself with other like-minded Christian brothers and sisters.  But with God’s grace and mercy through the Holy Spirit, I am better equipped to say no to the crowd and yes to Jesus.

The crowd yelled, “Crucify him!” But the crowd got it wrong.  God redeemed the wrong and took the cross, a symbol of Roman cruelty and oppression, and transformed it into a symbol of love, sacrifice and hope.

“I Am Doing a New Thing”

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Do you like to hold on to things of the past?  

While some memories may be pleasant to recall, past hurts and sins can be painful.  Dwelling on them can lead to anger, resentment and self-condemnation.  Isaiah says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing!” (Isaiah 43:18-19)

God’s work did not end with his creation.  Jesus said, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.”  (John 5:17)  God never stops creating.  He is constantly doing new things.  Through his Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, he loves, forgives, teaches, heals and guides.  He also invites us to join with him in taking care of his creation.  In all of this he is always looking forward, not backward.

Our sin interferes with God’s creation and work, but fortunately God provides a remedy through repentance and forgiveness.  Once we acknowledge our sin and seek to change, God offers forgiveness.  Sometimes even though we have repented of sin and received forgiveness, we have difficulty letting go of our sin.  Since sin often has consequences, sometimes these consequences keep reminding us of our past sin.

While it is natural to regret our past sin and mistakes, once we acknowledge them and are forgiven, it is time for us to move on. That is what God does.  Jesus told the woman caught in adultery that he did not condemn her and that she should go and sin no more. (John 8:11)  While I still have regret for some of my past sins, I have moved on and seek to live the life that God is calling me to live today.

That life includes loving and caring for my wife of 52 years, supporting an adult child with special needs, and being available to love and encourage four other adult children who are raising families of their own.  It includes being a good steward of the time, talents and resources God has made available to me to serve him in family, work and ministry.

In each of these areas, God is always seeking to do something new to further his kingdom on this earth.  As spring approaches, we see God’s constant renewal in nature, with the budding of trees and the popping of daffodils out of the soil.  So to with us, he is always seeking to do something new – providing  new opportunities for us to love, forgive, teach, heal, guide – always looking forward, advancing his creation “on earth as it is in heaven.” 

St. Paul says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”  (2 Cor. 5:17)  May we embrace God’s desire to do a new thing in us each day.   

Being Washed by Jesus

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How willing are you to be served?

As Jesus came to Peter at the Last Supper to wash his feet, Peter said, “’You shall never wash my feet.’  Jesus replied, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.’”  (John 13:8)

How hard it is for us to accept being served by someone in authority, particularly when the service involves a menial task usually done by a slave or servant!  It upsets our paradigm.  A servant serves his master.  An employee serves his or her boss.  Jesus, the master and teacher, was turning that paradigm upside down.  Peter was the first to proclaim Jesus to be the Son of God.  How could he allow the Son of God to wash his feet?  Unthinkable!

From earliest childhood, we are taught to be self-sufficient.  A young child proudly proclaims, “I did it by myself.”  One of the challenges of a disabling illness or injury is having to depend on someone else to do things for you that you would ordinarily do yourself.

Several years ago our family was traveling from New York to the Midwest.  We alerted a former friend from law school and his wife that we would like to stop by to see them.  They expected us to stay with them overnight, but we decided to check into a motel, not wanting to impose upon them.  They were offended, interpreting our decision as a rejection of their offer of hospitality.  To use Jesus’ words, we were rejecting having a “part” with them.

Like so many of Jesus’ words and actions, his example offers multiple lessons for us.  While we need to be willing to receive service, it is even more important for us to serve.  When the disciples were arguing about who among them was the greatest, Jesus told them that “whoever wants to be great among you, must be your servant.”  He also reminded them that “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.” (Matthew 20:26, 28)

In David McCullough’s biography of Harry Truman, he tells the following story.  At a special reception Truman held for Stalin and Churchill at the Potsdam Peace Conference near the end of World War II, Sergeant Eugene List, an American concert pianist, played a Chopin waltz.  List asked if someone in the audience would be good enough to turn the pages.  Truman jumped to his feet, waived off another volunteer and did the job himself.  In a letter to his wife, List later wrote, “Imagine having the President of the United States turn the pages for you!…But that’s the kind of man the President is.”  

May we choose to follow both lessons from Jesus’ washing the feet of his disciples – having a desire to love and serve the people in our lives, and responding with gracious acceptance when being served by others.

Holding Up Our Leaders

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How do you support people in leadership – bosses, community and government leaders, pastors, etc.?   

The Book of Exodus reports that when the Amalekites attacked the Israelites in the desert at Rephidim, Moses stood on top of a hill with his arms raised and the staff of God in his hands.  As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but when he lowered his hands the Amalekites gained in the fight.  So Aaron and Hur had Moses sit on a rock and they held up his hands until sunset, and the Israelites won the battle. (Exodus 17:8-16)

A number of years ago in my morning prayer time, I found myself praying for my boss who headed up the legal department of the marketing and refining operations for a large international oil company employing several hundred lawyers.  He was an exacting boss, but a good person with great integrity.

While praying, I received the thought, “Why are you limiting your prayers just for your direct boss – why not his boss and the entire management team including the CEO and board of directors?  Pray for wisdom, integrity and love in how they oversee the operations of the company.  Your prayers can impact areas and operations of the company far beyond your immediate responsibilities and sphere of influence.”

At the time, this was a new revelation to me.  As Christians in the workplace, we have the opportunity through prayer to impact more than just the confines of our particular job or position.  We can intercede for God’s grace to impact even our bosses and the decisions they make.  We may not always see the direct results of our prayers, but we should never underestimate the power and influence they bring to the workplace.

Praying for our leaders is a way for us to hold up their hands in the battle they face in doing their jobs with righteousness, integrity and excellence. 

All kinds of leaders need our prayers.  Pastors and spiritual leaders are in particular need of our prayer support.  One of the first statements Pope Francis made after his election as he greeted the throngs in St. Peter’s Square was the request for people to pray for him.  He continues to repeat this request to nearly every individual and group he meets.

Governmental leaders also need our prayer support.  Their positions make them especially vulnerable to temptations involving pride and corruption.  Regardless of my respective politics, I regularly pray for the president’s protection, righteousness, wisdom and humility.  Remember the words of Jeremiah to the exiles in Babylon, “Work for the good of the country to which I have exiled you; pray to Yahweh on its behalf, since on its welfare yours depends.” (Jeremiah 29:7 JB)

Like Aaron and Hur, let us support the hands of our bosses, pastors, and leaders in community and government with our ongoing intercession and prayer.

“Listen to Him!”

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How do you listen to God?

After describing the transfiguration of Jesus and the appearance of Moses and Elijah speaking to him in the presence of Peter, James and John, Luke’s Gospel reports that a cloud covered them and a voice came out of the cloud saying, “This is my Son whom I have chosen; listen to him.” (Luke 9:35)

It appears that God was directing his remarks to the three apostles.  Peter was focusing on his delight of being present to witness the miraculous appearance of Moses and Elijah.  He makes kind of a silly offer to make shelters for Jesus, Moses and Elijah as if they were going to continue to hang around physically after having completed their mission to speak to Jesus.

In almost the form of a rebuke, God lets Peter and the others know that their friend, Jesus of Nazareth, is God’s very own son whom he has chosen.  He emphatically commands them to listen to his Son.

This is a command that is applicable not only to the apostles who spent three years with Jesus, but also their successors and followers, including us.  Do we listen to Jesus?  How do we listen?

There are multiple ways in which Jesus can speak to us.  He can do so directly by putting thoughts in our minds through the presence of the Holy Spirit.  He can speak to us through our reading of scripture and other spiritual writings.  He can speak to us through others.

Let me share a recent experience.  In the middle of the night about a week ago, I awoke and could not go back to sleep.  As I tossed and turned, a good friend of mine kept coming to mind.  At first I just dismissed it as a random thought in my quest to go back to sleep.  But thoughts and a picture of him in my mind kept persisting.  I wasn’t going to sleep and the thoughts of him were not going away.  I started to wonder if something was wrong for him.  Was he experiencing some health issues?  Was he in physical danger?

I was prompted to start praying for him – if it was a health issue or if he had an accident, I prayed that God would protect him from serious illness or injury and get him the medical care he needed.

The next day I was shocked to receive an e-mail that my friend, who was on a mission trip repairing houses, fell from a ladder that very morning, incurring a concussion and seven cracked ribs.  The timing was beyond coincidence.  Fortunately, a co-worker was present who arranged for immediate emergency transportation to the hospital.  He is now on the road to recovery. 

I can only conclude that the Holy Spirit was bringing my friend to mind and prompting me to intercede on his behalf before the accident even occurred.  I thank God for his grace and mercy, and for the Holy Spirit that led me to listen.

Battling Temptation

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How do you fight temptation?  The Gospel of Luke reports that Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.  (Luke 4:1-2)

If Jesus, who shared our humanity, needed the Holy Spirit to resist the temptations of the devil, how much more do we?  Certainly, our fallen humanity makes us subject to all kinds of temptations.  The list is lengthy.  St. Paul says, “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies and the like.” (Galatians 5:19-21)

Other sins are more subtle, such as checking our faith at the door of our workplace, not taking time to listen to someone who is hurting or failing to be kind and respectful in our relationships.  These sins of omission can be just as destructive to others and us as the more obvious sins of commission.

There was a time in my life when I let my work and career take precedence over my wife and family, but fortunately I was invited by a priest and a group of nuns to be prayed with for the release of the power of the Holy Spirit.  Experiencing the presence of the Holy Spirit in a more personal and real way opened my eyes to both the sins of omission and commission.  The Spirit gave me an entirely new perspective in how God was calling me to love and serve him through my family, work and ministry.

Experiencing the fullness and presence of the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential to resisting the devil’s many temptations. 

We all have different propensities to sin, but Jesus came to forgive and free us from our sins through the power of the Holy Spirit. I can personally testify that Jesus can set you free of a nagging, persistent sin.  Ask Jesus with all your heart to take a sin from you, and he will do so!   

Last week I received word that one of the nuns who had prayed with me years ago had died on Christmas Eve.  Her name was Sister Pauline Cinquini of the Sisters of Charity, part of the St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton House of Prayer in Scarsdale, New York.  She was truly a woman of God, using her gifts of love, teaching and music to bring the renewal of the Holy Spirit to countless people for more than forty years.

I will never forget her reassuring words of God’s love and forgiveness on an October evening years ago that, together with the power of the Holy Spirit, changed the course of my life forever.   I know she is in the presence of the Father, and as Paul says in 1 Cor. 1:9, we have not heard, seen or conceived what God has prepared for her.

By Jesus’ example in the desert, let us fervently seek the Holy Spirit in order to resist the temptations of the devil.  

 

 

Unique in Birth and Purpose

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“You were an idea in God’s mind before you were born,” my wife overheard our 5 year-old granddaughter, Rosie telling Ellie, her younger sister.  Ellie had asked where she was at a time before she was born.  This may have been an idea Rosie had heard from her mother, but it is nonetheless a profound truth confirmed by God’s Word.

The Lord said to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5)  The psalmist says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”  (Psalm 139:13-14)

These words spoken to Jeremiah can also apply to us.  We are not a product of chance.  We are not the result of some random accident of an evolutionary process.  The most important part of our nature – our soul and spirit – was created by God and known by him before our physical nature was born.  St. Paul says God “chose us in him before the creation of the world.” (Ephesians 1:4)  We are “precious in the sight of the Lord.” (Psalm 116:15)

God loves us even before we come into being.  Like a parent’s love for a new baby, he loves us before any of our achievements or failures become evident.   When our first daughter was born, I was so full of joy and love that I went directly from the hospital to our church, knelt before the altar and thanked God for this new person who was precious in my sight.  I experienced the same level of love for each of our other four children.

Not only does God consider each of us unique, he has a unique purpose for each of us that is distinctly tailored to match the gifts and nature of our being.   This purpose includes loving and caring for the people in our lives that we are uniquely suited to love and care for.  I believe that God intended for my wife and me to come together and love and care for one another.  When we may have appeared to be going different ways, he implanted a course correction in our hearts to fulfill his purpose for each of us.  He intentionally gave us specific children and now a larger family to love and care for that has always been a part of his purpose for us.

God’s unique purpose for each of us also includes our work which we are distinctly equipped to do. When I graduated from college, I began to work in the marketing department for an international oil company, but that is not where God equipped me to be.  Through another course correction he put in my heart the desire to go back to school and study law, and he gave me a work especially designed for me that served others and thus, him.

Whatever our work, if it is where God wants us to be, it is important to him.  It is like a thread in the larger fabric of civilization.  Regardless of how small the thread, pull it out, and the fabric is weakened.  (See Lester DeKoster, Work – The Meaning of Your Life)

While our pride and sin can frustrate God’s purpose for us, we can take confidence in Paul’s words, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)

 

 

 

 

Encouragement – God’s Special Gift

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IMG_0494Who doesn’t like to be encouraged?

The Book of Hebrews says, “Encourage one another daily, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” (Hebrews 3:13)  The Gospel of John explains what “sin’s deceitfulness” means when it tells us that the devil “is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)  His most frequent lies are that we are not worthy, that we are not loved or appreciated, that what we do doesn’t matter, and that God does not really care about us or our lives.

These lies seek to oppress us.  They cause us to forget that we are God’s special creation, made in his image and likeness with the important task of taking care of the garden of his creation and establishing his kingdom on this earth.  These lies can be disabling.  They derail us from the reason for our being. They prevent us from carrying out the work God has in mind for only us to do in the context of the people and circumstances of our lives.

The antidote for these lies is encouragement.  Psalm 10:17 says God encourages the afflicted.  We are his agents for encouragement.  It is an act of love.  One of the ways he shows his love for us is through the encouragement of one another.

During this past weekend, those of us living in the Washington D. C. area were snowed in with more than two feet of snow.  Since we were confined to the house, I decided to clean out my home office of old files, records, bills, letters, magazines and other materials that had accumulated over many years.  

One cabinet shelf included cards and letters from my wife, children, grandchildren, parents, and friends dating back as much as 40 years.  There were cards covering birthdays, anniversaries, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, letters from former work colleagues and friends, get well cards when I had cancer surgery, and thank you notes for a variety of things.  Of course, I couldn’t throw them away without reading them.

Over the next several hours as the snow was accumulating outside in record proportions, I was bathed in an avalanche of encouragement and love! Countless expressions of affirming love from my good wife and children, specially designed picture cards and artwork from grandchildren, a poignant letter from my father at crucial time in his life, letters from friends reminding me of special times long forgotten, a thank you note from the husband of a former secretary who died prematurely of colon cancer — were among the treasure trove of love and encouragement.

What a lesson in how God uses encouragement and love to sustain us in good times and bad! May we be ever mindful of the opportunities that God places in our paths to be his agent to bring encouragement and love to others.

“They Have No Wine”

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How reassuring it is that God, our Father, should concern himself with a practical thing like a wedding party running out of wine.  

Jesus and his disciples, along with his mother, Mary, had been invited to a wedding in Cana. (John2:1-11) At the reception, Mary learns that the host had run out of wine and asks Jesus to remedy the situation.  Though Jesus first responds that the time for his manifestation has not yet come, he accedes to his mother’s presumption when she instructs the servants to do whatever he tells them.  He instructs the servants to fill some large jars set aside for ceremonial washing with water, draw some out and take it to the headwaiter.  After the headwaiter had tasted the water turned into wine, he exclaims to the bridegroom that he had kept the best wine until the end.

There is a common notion by some Christians that we should only seek God’s assistance in important matters and not bother him with practical every day needs.  Situations involving life and death or economic calamity may qualify, but surely not replenishing the wine supply at a wedding party.

Yet, that is exactly what Jesus did at the request of his mother.  God places no restrictions on what we may bring to him in our requests for his action.  St. Paul says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Phil. 4:6)

As father of the bride and host of three of our daughters’ weddings, I would have been horrified if we had run out of wine.  No doubt Mary was a close friend of the family hosting the wedding at Cana, and brought God’s mercy to bear through her son Jesus.

Over the years, my wife and I have brought all manner of requests to God, our Father, from mundane things like a parking place at a busy shopping center to the healing of a daughter’s heart born with holes between the auricles and ventricles.  We have prayed for where we should live, the health and well-being of our children and parents, good schools, good neighbors, good friends for our children and their future spouses, safety in travel, wisdom in our relationships, and that we would all come to know God more each day.

We should not forget that in his suggested prayer to us, Jesus asked us to pray each day for our daily bread.  It is only natural that God, who created us in his image and likeness and entrusted us with taking care of his creation, would want to respond to our requests for the practical needs of life.

Gentle Evangelism

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What is your stereotype of evangelization?  

For many of us when we hear the word evangelization, we conjure up images of someone handing out Christian tracks on a street corner, the broadcast of a televangelist in a mega church, or a famous preacher in a large stadium.

The prophet, Isaiah, in speaking about the coming of Jesus gives us a different perspective.  “He will not shout or cry out or raise his voice in the street.  A bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.”  Isaiah 42:2-3

Jesus did not need to shout or raise his voice in the street to proclaim the kingdom of God.  His concern was for the broken hearted (the bruised reed).  He would not snuff out the smoldering faith of the weak and downtrodden.  He wouldn’t do the usual things we think of to get attention, to promote a cause or persuade others with an argument.  “My ways are not your ways,” God says.  Jesus simply responded with compassion, mercy, wisdom and God’s power.

Although the above words may have been intended by Isaiah for God’s incarnation in Jesus, they are also applicable to us, his followers and successors.  We are God’s current day incarnation, for he has given us the same Spirit that he gave Jesus.  The following story illustrates how this can work.

Jerry works in a medical office and wasn’t feeling well.  So, he asked his boss, Karen, who oversees the administrative staff, if he could have the rest of the day off.  When Karen asked what was wrong, Jerry offered a rather vague response.  Karen continued to probe, asking if he would be returning tomorrow.  Jerry said he didn’t know.  Karen asked if there was something wrong and Jerry said no.  She invited him to sit down and he started to share that nothing was going right in his life.  He wanted to get married to the woman he was living with, but she didn’t want to and was in fact talking about moving out.  He was having difficulty finding enough time for his two small children and relating to them in the right way.  He seemed quite despondent to Karen.

As he was leaving, Karen asked if she could make a suggestion.  He said yes.  “When you go home, go into your bedroom, close the door, kneel down and ask Jesus to come into your life and help you.”  Jerry said, “I’ve tried church.”  Karen said, “I am not talking about church, I’m just saying that if you offer that prayer, Jesus will not refuse you, and things will start to change.”

Sometime later, Karen noticed that Jerry appeared to be happier and had a more positive attitude.  She asked how he was doing.  He smiled, and said, “I did what you suggested and something did happen.  I started to feel warm all over when I prayed.  Later, I bought a Bible and started reading it.  I bought a Children’s Bible and started reading the stories to my kids.  We have started to go to church and my partner and I are moving toward marriage.” 

You will notice that Karen did not judge Jerry or preach to him. She gave him an opportunity to talk, she listened, she empathized, and she asked if she could make a suggestion. She related to him as Jesus would. A “bruised reed” she did not break.

How do we reflect the presence of Christ to the people and circumstances in our lives — with shouts of judgment and argument, or with mercy, wisdom and the power of the Holy Spirit?  The latter is evangelism.