Who is the Greatest

           All of us always want to know, “Who is the greatest.”  I think it is safe to say that we not only want to know “Who is the greatest,” but actually “Wanting to become the greatest,” is woven deep in our human nature.

          Think of how we want to know, “Who was the greatest president of all time?”  The answer for the most part falls between two individuals, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  We also want to know who is the greatest most successful business man or woman, again usually coming down to people like Bill Gates, the recently deceased Steve Jobs and now Mark Zuckerberg.  I remember arguing with a good friend who was a huge Beatles fan that the Rolling Stones were better than the Beatles.  I also remember arguing over sports teams and athletes.  We all wanted to know who was the best, was Joe Monatana the best quarter back ever or was it Johnny Unitas, or even now, Tom Brady.  That’s why we have championships, grade point averages, beauty contests for Miss America, and on and on.

          It is not only knowing or arguing who may be the best, but the desire in each one of us to be the greatest.  How many times have we laid in bed dreaming that I can be the next Steve Jobs, or Joe Montana or Miss America?  Dreams are good so long as they motivate and not just remain dreams.  I think the question the Apostles ask among themselves is a good one, “Which one of us is the greatest?”  Even St. Paul says, “out do one another in holiness.”  C.f. Rom 12:9. 

          God has given us this drive to be the best that we can, to become the greatest, but He gave us this drive not for self satisfaction but for the betterment of society – for service.

          Society since the time of the Apostles has not changed because man is still weak at times and will look to serve himself.  How can I get the beautiful house, with the beautiful fence, with the large automobile, with the beautiful wife?  I believe we just had a Talking Heads moment!  Anyway, we fall into this trap of “what about me.”  I therefore look to make myself happy, with things, with people, and the way to get more of them is to be successful – to be great.  Jesus warns against this.  He does not warn them “not to be great” but to be humble and to serve.  "If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all." 

          When we think of greatness why do we always fall back to, Miss America, one of the Presidents, or a Football Quarterback.  Should we rather not fall back to people like Mother Teresa or John Paul II.  These folks were greatness personified, because of their selfless acts of genuine kindness and work for others.  Not that Miss America, or the Presidents, or the QB are not good people, they may be more holy than us, but we shift greatness only to visible success and popularity, sometimes to the amount of things we have.  Mother Teresa had nothing and yet she had absolutely everything.  John Paul II may have lived in a palace, but in his mind he was always working in a field, God’s field.

          The twelve apostles truly became great, well renowned even, and still so 2,000 years later.  Somehow I doubt that many of those we deem great now will be remembered that long.  So why the apostles, why has their greatness come down through the generations?  Because they were just like you and me, they were ordinary hard working folks, but what sets them apart is that they served others all the time, even those that hated them and they served them with the greatest gift of all, their very blood – their very life, and no one forgets that greatness!  Let it be a greatness that we also strive for!

FJ

Praised and Humbled

One minute we are on top of the world, the next minute we find ourselves at the bottom of the gutter.  St. Peter found himself in both situations in less than 60 seconds.  When Jesus asks, “But who do you say that I am?”  Peter replies, “You are the Christ.”  He was like that student who is eager to raise his hand, get the answer right and then be acknowledged in front of the entire class.   That kind of enthusiasm needs to be encouraged and applauded.   And yet, that kind of enthusiasm also needs humility, unless one’s head blows up.   A lesson Peter learns within the next minute. 

Jesus begins to tell his disciples, “That the Son of Man must suffer greatly . . . and be killed.”  Peter then rebukes Jesus for talking such nonsense and the Good Lord responds to Peter, “Get behind me Satan: You are not thinking as God does, but as human beings do.”  One minute Peter is praised for his answer and within that minute he is also humbled for the wrong answer.

Now, we may not have experienced being praised and shot down within a minute and I am sure this scene may have taken longer than 60 seconds, but you get the point.  All of us like or love receiving praise.  It helps us to feel affirmed, wanted, respected, that we belong, that we are doing well, etc.  No one likes to be humbled; it makes us feel small, that we have not done so well, and we question ourselves and our own ability.  We forget, however, that when humbled we learn so much and it helps us to become a man – a woman, grown up, disciplined, strong and of good character, resolve, and teaches perseverance.

The Lord teaches us these lessons so that we can become mature – to learn, and to become “good.”  Society, however, shies away from this kind of learning, “becoming humble or to be humbled.”  Culture has changed, in the past people had toughness about them and they taught this toughness to their children by helping them to become humble, but something has shifted in our culture.  For example, twenty years ago if a young boy or girl got in trouble in school, they were also in trouble at home, the teacher was right 99.5% of the time.  Somewhere that shifted.  If that same student today got in trouble in school or was humbled by a teacher, coach, or mentor, they would not be in trouble at home, for the most part, and often times the parent\s will come to the school to plead the child’s case, i.e. the teacher is too rough, too hard on my child.

The problem here is that we don’t let kids grow up no more.  Maybe it was a little extreme in my day, I had tough teachers and coaches (all of whom were excellent), but the pendulum has definitely swung to other extreme – that now a child is protected from all constructive criticism and a child is not allowed to hear that he or she needs to work harder or that it was his or her fault, that they failed the test, or their team lost the game – which was not their fault but their coach’s fault.  We don’t let them grow up.  It’s not just the kids; we don’t want to grow up either.  I do not like to receive constructive criticism or to be humbled.  I can only imagine what Peter felt like to be lifted up one moment in front of the others and then to be shot down the very next in front of the others.  The good honest question here is, did that lesson help him or hurt him?  I think we can all agree that it helped him, especially since it was the Lord who was the teacher.  So, the question can go further, do lessons like that help us or do they hurt us?  I think, again, we can all agree that they help.  If so, then they can help our children as well.  Let them be humbled, whether it is in the classroom, on the field, with their friends, from the neighbors, don’t worry, they are made of tough stuff, they’ll get over it, we did.

I’ll share with you a scene from the movie “Gettysburg” which was taken from Michael Shaara’s “Killer Angels.”  The scene involved General Robert E. Lee reprimanding his Calvary Commander General Jeb Stuart.  Stuart was to have been relaying troop movements back to Lee prior to entering Gettysburg, this he did not do for whatever reasons, it left the Southern army blind.  When Lee finally met with Stuart he told him, “It is the opinion of some very fine officers that you have let us all down, you were to be our eyes, but you left us blind.  It was only by God’s grace that we survived.”  This was a terrible blow to Stuart, especially since he was considered a great Calvary Commander, and to have Lee lose faith in him was more than he could handle.  Stuart is shook up, he begins to relinquish his sword and rank, when Lee slams his fist on the table saying, “There is no time for that, there is no time, a mistake has been made, it will not be made again, you are one of the finest officers in this army, I know your quality, you must take what you have learned here and learn from it like a man learns.”  This is a powerful scene to see on film as well as to read that of Stuart coming home full of glory and soon afterward humbled.  I pray that I too can continue to learn like a man does, because the lessons of dealing with praise of others are good, but learning humility is better.

If you’d like to see the scene check it out on youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtX7veX5Lko

FJ

Lord Heal Me, Heal Me Now

In this Sunday’s Gospel from St. Mark we see that Jesus opened that which was closed, “. . . he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, ‘Be opened.’”  Jesus heals the deaf man and opens his ears and also opens and loosens his tongue from his speech impediment.  This is a wonderful miracle.  Imagine for a moment, whether deaf from birth or turning deaf sometime in your life and then to have your hearing either restored or given to you, wow!

All of us crave for this kind of healing, all of us want to be made whole, and all of us regardless of age suffer at least some small impediment or large one.  Human beings  struggle right from birth, some have severe allergies, prone to many colds, some are born or acquire terrible diseases from youth, others grow sick with age.  On and on we can go with our problems and sufferings.  Therefore, all of us crave a little healing.

Healing, however, comes in many ways, but usually centers on body, mind, and spirit.  Jesus wants to heal us completely, not just from physical imperfections, but even imperfections in our faith lives which touches the spirit and mind.  Yet, we are not always ready for healing.  There are things that hold us back.

St. Augustine is well known for saying, “God heal me, but not yet.”  How true that saying is.  All of us struggle with being closed, just like the deaf person, however, being deaf or becoming deaf is not a choice, for the most part, but being closed to God’s healing of spirit is a choice.

Sin is to be closed.  I close myself off from Truth.  There are truths about me that I am not willing to accept, because I have chosen to live the way I do and it seems good to me or justified, however, it is my own justification.  This state of being is one that is closed and for Jesus to open what is closed will take plenty of grace and finally my acceptance of Truth and opening myself.

Opening oneself is scary, because it forces me to humble myself, to become vulnerable, and to give ultimate trust to someone besides myself, in this case, Jesus.  But why not trust him, Mark himself writes, “He has done all things well.  He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”  If Jesus can control nature itself, can he not help me spiritually?  That is unless I believe I need no help.  Yet, we do need help.  So instead of, “Lord heal me, but not yet,” why not and simply, “Lord, heal me, heal me now.”

FJ

Be Back Soon

Dear Friends, New reflections will resume after Labor Day.  I did not have a chance for a reflection this week, Deacon has the homily and life's busy(ness) got in the way.  The next two weekends I will be away on vacation.  So stay holy my friends, and when you don't get to confession :) Peace and God blessings, Fr. John

Body and Soul

Today we celebrate not only a great feast in honor of our Blessed Mother, but a promise and a future that awaits all of those who hope in God.  This hope and this future Mary has already experienced in her glorious Assumption into heaven, body and soul.

She is not the first to experience this great gift as there is Scriptural evidence that Enoch “walked with God and then God took him and he was no more.” (Gn. 5:21-24)  It is also possible that Moses was also taken body and soul into heaven, Elijah was taken up in a fiery chariot (2 Kings 2:11), and when Jesus’ sacrifice was finished, “the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.” (c.f. Mt. 27:51-53)  There is no Scriptural proof of Mary being assumed into heaven, but there are writings from the Church fathers that attest to this, and logic would dictate and actually be very convincing that Jesus who raised some of the patriarchs would also do the same for his own mother, who shared with him even in his very suffering, “and a sword shall pierce your own heart.” (Lk. 2:35)  So, yes, Jesus gave her this gift, to experience heaven in body and soul, a gift for the Theotokos (the God-bearer).

We honor this most holy of women, who is “the fairest honor of our race.”  As Catholics we know Mary’s place in our church and in our lives, a great mother to us indeed.  But, we do not only celebrate her assumption, but also and eventually ours.  Where Mary is, she too wants us to be, like Jesus promises in the Gospel of John, “Where I am I also wish you to be and I will come back and take you to myself.” (c.f. Jn. chapter 14) 

I would like to believe that Mary prays for us to one day be with her in heaven and to also be there whole and completely, both body and soul.  Reflect on that, that we will be made whole and perfect, no more pain, sorrow, growing old, or being bored, or tired, but always vigorous, happy, and content in the presence of the Lord and all his angels and saints. 

The Assumption only has meaning for us if we desire the same, it cannot just be what was done for someone else, yes, we do give honor and remember Mary, but to truly honor her is to do like she did, follow her Son in every way, fully, completely, and without reservation.  Great rewards are only given to those who give great effort that is why Mary is blessed with the greatest gifts.  So, “Let us strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts,” (1 Cor. 12:31), so that the Assumption or its end result will also be ours.  Our holy mother Mary was given this gift and as a good mother she also wants to share it with us.  God bless you and may Mary, Queen of heaven, pray for us, Amen!

FJ

You are Good!

This 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time continues with the Bread of Life Discourse and will continue over the next two weeks. I wanted to move from that and pick up on it next week. I pray you don’t mind.

It was the 2nd reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians that caught my attention, especially when he says, “So be imitators of God…” What does that mean to be an imitator of God? He answers this in what we today call the famous wedding reading, St. Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians chapter 13. “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

St. Paul knows that love in its essence is God, so he could have easily substituted the word love with God, which would have looked or sounded like this, “God is patient, God is kind, He is not jealous, God is not pompous, He is not inflated, He is not rude, He does not seek His own interests, He is not quick tempered, (you get the point).

St. Paul exhorts us to be imitators of God and therefore we should since not only does St. Paul do so, but Christ as well when He says, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

In my observation of people I would like to think, or if I may be so bold as to conclude, that most people do strive to be like God, even with all of our shortcomings. We can think of people in two ways, as genuinely good or genuinely evil or no good. I like to think of people as good, though we are all a little messed up due to our faults, weaknesses, and sins. Nevertheless, Jesus had to see some good otherwise He would have given up on us, so you see there is hope for all of us.

Some may object, “Where have you seen this good, surely not in Colorado with the recent shooting spree at a local theater, where twelve died and many more were injured; surely not at the Sikh temple where another gunman opened fire; surely not in all the wars around the world?” That is the worst of man and the worst sometimes happens, but other times we see God in man, when firemen run up burning buildings to save strangers, when police officers jump into freezing waters to save a life, when parents devote every spare minute to a sickly child, when Mother Teresa picked up (literally) out of the sewers people who needed help, when we spend time with those who grieve, when we look to others instead of ourselves, when we say a kind word to another even when they are not kind to us, when we lend without seeking a return, and we can go on and on.

Take a good hard look at yourself today, yes you are wounded – like everyone, but you are precious and good, for God made you so through His love and grace. You have the ability to be a saint and a great one, and in some ways you already are! Do you believe it? If not, then do so, because God loves the cheerful heart and the cheerful giver, and you are both! Praise God and give Him glory, Amen!

FJ

For Free

In life we all look for that easy break or the big break, if I could only get the higher paying job, the better house, hit the lottery, and our wishes go on and on.  Everyone looks for that free ride.  In today’s Gospel our Jewish brothers and sisters also looked for that handout, for their big break.  “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled.”

We ate our loaves and were filled, since it was free; why not look for some more?  Jesus is asking us to remember the signs that were manifested, i.e. multiplication of loaves and fishes.  More importantly he wants to get across through our thick skulls is that he wants to feed us, but that we should begin looking towards the heavenly food that leads to eternal life.  Earthly food sustains this human body but not the soul.  Jesus feeds both, but he is setting up the latter as more important.  The people are not listening; they keep on thinking of what they can get for free.  Jesus must be a little forceful and let them know their searching for a hand out is not happening and that it is wrong to do so.  He begins to move slowly towards his point, that He is the bread of life and whoever comes to him will never hunger or thirst, i.e. never be wanting in any way since Jesus will be all and in all.

Yet, like our Jewish brothers and sisters we revert back to things of this world, not just free bread, but more money, bigger and better homes, better vacations, better jobs, fancier restaurants, up to date electronics – yesterday is too old already.  To better oneself is not the issue, the issue or question is for what purpose?  Along the way I look for hand outs, sometimes even handouts from God.  But life doesn’t work that way.  The order is wrong.  We must seek God first, then everything else second.  God provides Himself as the means for what we need and that is in the Bread of Life, Jesus in the Eucharist.  If we do not seek Him in the Eucharist then we will seek other things instead, i.e. everything this world offers but him, we will reduce him to our means, to our justifications, to our beliefs, to the little man in the corner whom I pull out when I need some free bread and some free fish.

All of us are guilty to some degree of looking for a handout, it is in our weak human nature and that is why Jesus was so patient in his ministry, he was dealing with stubbornness, weakness, and sinfulness.  Thank goodness for his patience, but more importantly he wanted to give himself completely so that we would have the means to become holy and good, he left us himself.  How in the world could we ever refuse such a gift?  I did for a while before my conversion and looking back now I realized I was empty though I had just about everything I wanted, I was just missing the most important thing, my Lord and my God in the Eucharist.  Never again!