Do not be afraid to allow God to change your plans!
Beloved, God might seem to be interrupting your plans when He calls you to do something for His glory! However, it's only when we allow God to change our plans that we become most effective instruments of grace. This was true of Elisha in the first reading. It was true of Paul in the second reading. It was true of James and John who wanted to call down fire on those who opposed them, but had to give in to Jesus's plan of peace and love.
Like those called in the gospel today, we will always have our own good plans and be ready with excuses when God comes to "interrupt". However, it is only when we allow God to change our plans, that the good plans we have become the best plans not only for us, but also for others and for the glory of God! Does God seem to be "interrupting" you right now in your life? Hold on because with Christ, things do not fall apart, they fall in place!
Take Up Your Cross! Be a Fountain of Grace for Somebody
Happy Father’s Day to all of you fathers and all who play the role of a father in people’s lives! On behalf of all mothers and children, I would like to thank you very much for all the sacrifices you continue to make so that others will have life.
Last year, MSN news.com reported a story about a nine year old boy, who boy was found dehydrated but responsive near the body of his father in a desert in New Mexico. The story made me very sad; but also gave me hope in what human beings can do if we want to do it right! Reports from those who rescued the boy in Otero County said the boy and his parents were tourists from France who got lost in the desert for days. They ran out of water and were left with only one bottle. The parents decided to leave the last bottle for their child. The father stayed with the child as the mother walked some miles to find water. Both parents were later found dead and the possible cause of dead was said to be dehydration. These parents used the last drop of the water to keep the child alive even though their own lives were in danger. They laid down their lives for their child! The boy is reported to have said that when he grows up, he will work to make sure that people everywhere in the world have water so that nobody dies of thirst.
Beloved, this boy appreciates the love and sacrifices his parents have made for him to be alive and so he vows to bring life to others. You and I have gathered today to celebrate our God who laid down his life for us. Shouldn’t we, like the nine year old, respond to God’s love in a way that makes us givers of life to others?. In the first reading, the prophet Zechariah prophesying about the death of Christ, says because of that mystery, God will pour his spirit on all who believe so that they will be fountain of grace to bring life to others.
In the gospel, Jesus tells his disciples to take up their cross and follow him. What does Jesus mean? Usually when we hear “take up your cross and follow me” our minds go to some sinful habit or personal suffering we might be going through. That is all true; but the invitation to take up our cross means more than that. We need to place this reading within a broader context in order to derive the full meaning of Jesus’ words. In Luke’s gospel, the story comes right after Jesus had fed the five thousand. In that story, the disciples had told Jesus to send the people away so that they could go and find some solution to their problem of hunger. Jesus told them: “ “Give them some food yourselves”. (Luke 9:10-19). It is as if he was telling me: No! I cannot send them away because their problem is my problem; and because you are my disciples; their problem becomes your problem too. Therefore, you need to feel their hunger. Then he broke the bread and gave it to the apostles to feed the people. It was after this event that Jesus asked the Apostles, “Okay, now, who do you say that I am? Peter said, “Oh, we know; you are the Christ, the anointed one who makes people's’ problems your problem. Then Jesus told them: You need to follow my example and take up your cross, i.e, make their problem your problem because if you wish to save your life, you will lose; but if you lose your life for my sake and their sake, you will save it. Beloved, the cross Jesus carried was not only the wood of the Cross, that was the ultimate symbol of all the problems of the people he had made his own as he interacted with them daily to share in their hunger, thirst, and all their pains. He even took our sin upon himself so he could help us walk out of it.
Beloved, like David in the responsorial psalm, many people are thirsting for God. Our world is thirsting for love! Our world is thirsting for peace! Our world is thirsting for forgiveness! Our world is thirsting for unity. St. Paul in the second reading tells us when we look at life from a Christian perspective, we will begin to see that what affects one affects all; that we are one in the Lord, children of the same father. Beloved, being a fountain of grace might mean offering your last bottle of water to somebody so that that person can live even if it costs you your own life. Will you be the fount of grace that will keep somebody alive this week? May it be so! Amen!
The Year of Mercy is an Invitation to Restore Our Friendship with God
Beloved, why do parents get angry when their children make wrong choices in life? Is it just because those choices disgrace the parents? I think it is more than that. It’s because those choices destroy what the parents love most, which is the life of their children. Even though many children do not know it, parents are not just parents, they are also the best friends of their children. The souls of parents are so tied to those of their children that when a child is hurting, parents are also hurting. Beloved, this kind of love is what scripture describes as caritas, friendship-love. The words of St. Paul in the second reading today “.. it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me” reminds me of how Aristotle defines friendship: “a single soul dwelling in two bodies”. Beloved, when we attain spiritual maturity we don’t remain only the sons and daughters of God, but also become his friends. God is not only our parent, He is also our best friend. Jesus reminds us of this in when he tells us I don’t call you servants anymore, I call you friends and that is why I lay down my life for you. You are not just my children or servants, you are my friends (John 15:15-17).
It is this friendship-love in its perfect form that God has for every human being he has created. God gets angry when we sin because sin destroys what God loves most, our lives and those of other human beings He has created. The Soul of Christ is so tied to our souls that when we make choices that hurt us or others, we hurt God. This is part of what it means to say that human beings are made in the image and likeness of God (image dei). Our souls are so tied to God that we become restless when we are separated from God by sin (St. Augustine).
How do you feel when you lose your friendship with your best friend? How do you feel when you see your best friend restless and in pain? Don’t you become restless? You take steps to restore that friendship, right? That is what God has done throughout the history of salvation. Our first reading and the gospel today all talk about the mercy of God as an invitation to restore our friendship with him. David has committed adultery, and to over up, killed the the husband of the woman. When God sends the prophet Nathan to confront David, God does not make any reference to the law but focuses on the love behind the law of thou shall not kill; and thou shall not take thy neighbor's wife. It was as if God was telling David “is that how to treat your best friend, destroying what He loves most, the lives of Uriah, Bathsheba, and your own life? I made you my friend, protected you from your enemies, honored you as a king so that you will protect what is most precious to me, my people! Why are you hurting and killing them? These words made David cry inside, rethink his friendship with God, apologize and asked for the restoration of that friendship.
It is the same restoration of friendship that we see in the gospel. Many biblical scholars identify the woman in the story as Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. If you remember, the gospels describe this family as friends of Jesus. It is not surprising that Mary, after sitting at the feet of Jesus and perhaps coming to a deeper understand of God’s love for her, began to understand the wrong choices she was making as choices that hurt her best friend, Christ, and decided to do anything to respond to God’s invitation to restore that precious friendship. When she had to restore that friendship, nothing was too costly not even three hundred denarii (one year wage) worth of ointment, her tears, nor her hair. Beloved, when you really want to restore your relationship with your best friend, nothing is too costly. Even if it cost her whole life to restore that friendship, she was ready to do!
Beloved, with this special Jubilee year of Mercy, God is inviting you and me to accept his mercy and take steps to restore our friendship with him. God is not throwing laws at us; he is inviting us into a friendship with him. God is inviting us to see the wrong choices me make as choices that hurt our best friend and not as offenses against a divine being who has power to send us to hell. May God help us to see him not only as our Father, but also as our friend, who does anything including laying down his life for us because we are his friends. May God help us to make concrete choices like David, Paul, and Mary to restore our friendship with him so that we can say with St. Paul “it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me”.
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