PRAYER

PRAYER

Lk 18:1-8   The Judge and the Widow

 ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

Luke 11:5-13   The Neighbors

I tell you, even though he will not get up to provide for him because of his friendship, yet because of the man’s persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

These two readings are often used to illustrate how to pray, suggesting that if we persist in pestering God, he will eventually relent and give us what we want.  Looking at various translations of the parables, we get a wide variety of words like impudence, sheer audacity, pestering and nagging in place of persistence. None of those words are appropriate for prayer.  When Jesus explained to his disciples how to pray, he said, “When you pray, don’t babble.  God knows what you need before you ask.”  Those words should be the model on which our prayer is based.  Jesus also said, ‘Pray always’, which means to keep the line of communication with God open at all times wherever you are, whatever you are doing.

Some things we should ask ourselves –

Do I love God?

Do I trust God?

Do I believe in His promises as told to us by Jesus? 

If the answers are yes, yes and yes, then ask yourself one more. 

What’s all the begging for? 

We act as though God does not hear us, making it necessary to repeat our prayer over and over again.  This is based on our flawed understanding of what God’s love means.  If only we could rid ourselves of the notions that God can be bribed or cajoled into giving us what we want, and that if we nag enough, he will relent.   On the one hand, we say with apparent sincerity, that God is all love, but on the other hand we pray as though he is, either Santa Claus, a puppeteer or deaf.  We constantly forget that God is not us, prey to moods and unpredictable instead of steadfast and faithful.  “God knows what you need before you ask!”  God does not require anything from us except our heartfelt sincerity. God’s love is transcendent. God only wants what is best for us and if we would trust that, we would know what the peace that Christ offered us really means.

God is as immense as all the universes, and as close as your next heartbeat. 

Believe it.

Blessings,

Carol Lemelin OPA

Jesus, The Revolutionary

JESUS, THE REVOLUTIONARY

I wonder if we ever realize that Jesus started a genuine revolution.  Admittedly, only in Israel and only among Jews, but the ramifications have spread to the whole world for 2000plus years.  There was quite a battle going on in Galatia between St. Paul and the Jewish leaders there.  They were insisting that circumcision be mandatory for any gentiles who wanted to be counted as followers of Jesus and St. Paul was adamant that this was a grave mistake.  Circumcision was critical to Jewish tradition, but Paul insisted that if a man submitted to it, he would then be bound to the laws, which Jesus said were strangling the people’s relationship with God.  Paul’s last words on the issue were these, “For through the Spirit, by faith, we await the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision or uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” (Gal 5:5-6)

Pope Francis faces a similar situation as he tries to whittle down the many laws that have developed over time in the church.  The problem with these laws, as with the Jewish law, is that they become the faith for some and obedience to them is seen to be the road to God and often encourage judgment of one another.  Jesus opposed this in no uncertain terms over and over.  When the Pharisees condemned him for curing on the Sabbath, he countered by asking them if a prized animal fell into a pit on the Sabbath, wouldn’t they pull it out regardless of the law that forbid physical labor on that day? The Pharisees took every opportunity to judge Jesus’s actions.  One criticized him for not doing the ritual washing before a meal and Jesus responded that they would clean the outside of the cup and dish while the inside remained filthy.  Jesus was never subtle when he spoke to this issue.  No one could mistake his meaning.

Laws may have their place, but a relationship with God through Christ does not need a slate of laws, but only faith in Him, love for Him and for one another.  When those things are in place, the need for laws disappears.  The bond between God and a believer is deep and strong.  It transcends everything else because it so powerful, it can withstand any and all obstacles.

Take up Chapter 23 of Matthew’s Gospel and read how vehemently Jesus condemns those who demand obedience to the letter of the law while ignoring the spirit of the law.  These statements are his revolutionary manifesto.  The simplicity of his message, that is, loving one another and loving God are sufficient for salvation, was too much for many people of his time and is too much for many people today.  Be that as it may, it is still true that following the commandments that Jesus set down, are all we need for peace in our hearts and in our world. 

“Love one another as I have loved you.  This is how all men shall know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

Blessings,

Carol Lemelin OPA

SPIRITUAL STONES

SPIRITUAL STONES

I love you, Lord, my God.  You are my rock and my fortress.  My deliverer is my God. I take refuge in him, my rock, my shield, my saving strength. 

(Psalm 18:1-3)

Throughout Scripture God is referred to as a rock. Moses’ relationship with God involved rocks a couple of times and in Deuteronomy he says: “The Rock, his work is perfect.(Deut. 32:4)”   Isaiah says, “ The stone, which the builders rejected, has become the cornerstone.” (Is: 28:16)

What do we think of when we hear the word?  We think of a big stone, a strong man, a dependable friend or a building foundation – all those things.  Sometimes you see a huge rock on someone’s lawn and wonder if they built the house around it or did they really haul it there?  There is something awe inspiring about big rocks and in a strange paradox even though they haven’t any, they are a symbol of strength. 

Jesus was a master at metaphors to which people responded.  When first he changed Peter’s name from Simon to Cephas (rock) and said, “You are my rock” His meaning was clear to all.  “This is the person you can depend on and I know he will lead with strength and not fail.” 

During his leadership of the infant Church, St. Peter, in one of his letters, calls on the faithful with these words, 

“Come to Him, the living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house…acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter  2:4-5)

Peter is calling all believers, including us, to become the spiritual rocks on which the faith will rest.  It is a huge challenge.  It is much more comfortable to lean on others to lead the way, be brave, speak up and be the rock, but Peter, living up to Jesus’ trust in him, calls us out and challenges us to be the spiritual rocks.  We can’t just sit like that landscape rock and consider our lives justified.  It isn’t enough for us to simply build our lives on the rock that is God; we must also, by our example and words, encourage others to do the same.  In that way too, we, like Peter, are rocks.  We have to live so as to bring others to the same understanding, actively, consciously.  Faith in God is the rock and we are the foundation rocks upon which his kingdom on earth is built.  Everything else is sand.

Blessings

Carol Lemelin OPA

IN DEFENSE OF ST. THOMAS

IN DEFENSE OF ST. THOMAS

“The evil men do lives after them.  The good is often interred with their bones.”

(Wm. Shakespeare: Julius Caesar)

Marc Antony was speaking of Julius Caesar, but the words apply to St. Thomas the Apostle as well.  Because Thomas would not take the word of the other disciples, but instead insisted on seeing the risen Lord for himself, he has been dubbed “The Doubter” for centuries.  Whenever his name is mentioned that sobriquet is always added. This is unfair and unjust.  When Mary Magdalene told Peter that Jesus had risen and she had seen him, he dismissed it as the ramblings of a woman and ran to see for himself.  No one has called him a doubter.

Thomas probably regretted his dramatic words about putting his hands in the nail holes, etc., but wanting to see for himself before committing was part of who he was and he couldn’t help that.  I guess I want to defend Thomas because I would have done what he did. I might not have phrased it exactly as he did, but I would have wanted to see for myself.

There is nothing to be done to correct the fact that Thomas will always be identified as the Doubter, however, it is indicative of something else.  Thomas was a victim of gossip as surely as any person, whose actions become common knowledge and by that they are judged.  Can you just hear it?  Someone mentions that Thomas is one of the twelve and someone else says,

“O yes.  Isn’t he the one who didn’t believe Jesus rose?”

Think of it, a close disciple of Jesus, one of the revered twelve, a victim of judgmental gossip for 2000 years.  Perhaps that is why Thomas evangelized in India.  He made his way through the east and finally stopped in India.  There he founded the church and baptized many.  To this day their descendants are known as St. Thomas Christians.

Gossip ought to be regarded as the 8^th deadly sin.  Gossip causes us to sit in judgment on others, which Jesus warned would have repercussions for us. It destroys reputations. It ruins lives and it shrinks the souls of those who spread it. I once quit a job because a co-worker gossiped incessantly about neighbors I knew. I quit when I realized I not only repeated the gossip, I believed it with no evidence what so ever. I quit rather than confront her and I regret that very much.  Today I ask people not to tell me what they are dying to tell.  If I hear it before I can stop it, I tell the person that I wish they had never told me because now I have to live with the knowledge. The Spirit within must cringe every time.   We can’t broadcast our neighbor’s faults, errors and sins and not care what effect it has on their lives, and still call ourselves disciples of Christ.

Blessings

Carol Lemelin OPA

THE FIRE THAT IS GOD

THE FIRE THAT IS GOD

            You have not approached that which could be touched and a blazing fire, gloomy darkness and a storm and trumpet blast and a voice speaking words such that those who heard begged that no further message be addressed to them…Indeed so fearful was the spectacle that Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling”.  No, you have approached God, the judge of all and spirits of the just made perfect, and Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and the blood that speaks more eloquently than that of Abel.  (Heb. 12:18-24)

            This is at the end of the Letter to the Hebrews and the writer is reminding the Hebrew Christians that God, as shown to them by Jesus, is not the voice so terrible that those who heard it prayed to never hear it again.  Instead, the author reminds them that the voice they hear now is that of Jesus.  He reminds them that the new covenant does not enslave but rather frees and the voice of Jesus sends them forth and can be trusted.   The last line of this chapter states, “Our God is a consuming fire”.

            Is God a consuming fire in us?  He certainly was for the writer and the early apostles and disciples like Paul and Timothy. He has been a consuming fire for Joan of Arc, Bishop Walsh, Dorothy Day, St. Vincent DePaul, Francis of Assisi, Fr. Cunningham and millions of others.  It seems though, that in the ordinary person the voice of God is muted, the volume turned down so that it will not get in the way of doing the things we think are important.

            The twelve, and then the seventy-two were sent out by Jesus to talk to the countryside and spread the good news.  He did not provide a prepared script.  They were expected to follow the sound of his voice and that is what they did.  What’s the difference between them and us?  They had even less to go on, we at least have the entire Gospel, plus the Acts and the Epistles to use as reference and yet we are largely silent.

            We are called.  Those are three simple words, which throw out a challenge that we must meet.  There is no such thing as God and Jesus.  They are one!  One consuming fire, one power, one life within us and yet we keep it hidden. Jesus referenced that the day he said, “you do not light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket, rather you put it on a stand where it might be seen in the dark”. (Matt.5:15)  The dark is all around us, it’s time to light the light that is the Word of God, follow the sound of his voice, and show the world the consuming fire that is God.

Blessings,

Carol Lemelin OPA