The Ancient Path to God
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63. The King Comes Home (Mt 21:1-11)
- St Anastasius of Antioch Matthew 21:1-11 When they were near Jerusalem and had come in sight of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, ‘Go to the village facing you, and you will immediately find a tethered donkey and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you are to say, The Master needs them and will send them back directly.’ This took place to fulfill the prophecy: Say to the daughter of Zion: Look, your king comes to you; he is humble, he rides on a donkey and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden. So the disciples went out and did as Jesus had told them. They brought the donkey and the colt, then they laid their cloaks on their backs and he sat on them. Great crowds of people spread their cloaks on the road, while others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in his path. The crowds who went in front of him and those who followed were all shouting: ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessings on him who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heavens!’ And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil. ‘Who is this?’ people asked, and the crowds answered, ‘This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.’ Christ the Lord The Pharisees had put a price on Jesus’ head by this time. The natural reaction to that kind of enmity would be for him to shy away from public attention. But Jesus does just the opposite. As the most sacred of Jewish feasts approached (the Passover), over a million Jewish pilgrims would have been swelling the already crowded city of Jerusalem. Jesus chooses just such a moment to draw all eyes to himself. Fulfilling Zechariah’s prophecy (entering the Holy City on a colt never before mounted) and with the people imitating past celebrations of mighty Jewish victories (paving the road with palm branches), Jesus Christ becomes a living billboard announcing his claim to be the Messiah, the Anointed One of God come as the prophets had promised to reestablish the Davidic Kingdom. It is worth nothing as well that the event was not a spontaneous one; the throngs did not suddenly and without reason feel moved to rally around Jesus and proclaim him their king. Jesus himself organized the demonstration; he is the first one to assert his Lordship. Christ the Teacher In ancient times, kings of the Middle East would frequently ride on donkeys, which were (and are) much more impressive and respected animals there than in the West. During times of war, the king would ride on a horse, but not during times of peace. Christ’s gesture, then, indicates that he has come to bring peace. His sacrificial death on the cross, just a few days ahead, would reestablish peace between man and God; his Eucharist, instituted during the Last Supper and perpetuated throughout the centuries by the ministry of the Church, would sow that peace in the hearts of men, whence it would overflow into peace among peoples. The palm branches symbolized military victory and its subsequent order and prosperity. Christ was coming to conquer sin, selfishness, and death – a victory unmatched and unmatchable by any other king. The people shouted “Hosanna,” a cry for deliverance and salvation (literally, it meant “Save now!”). They acclaimed him “Son of David,” a title for the Messiah and an allusion to the hopes they put on him, hopes that he would bring back to Israel its ancient glory and fulfill the promises God made in ages past. This signified God’s faithfulness to his people. Palm Sunday, when the Church commemorates this triumphal occasion in its liturgy is a preview of the Kingdom of Christ. If we welcome him each day as he was welcomed then, then his peace, victory, and faithfulness will enter our hearts as gloriously as he entered Jerusalem. Christ the Friend Wherever Jesus goes, he brings his disciples with him. He could easily have gone himself to untie the colt, or even made it miraculously appear at his side, but he didn’t. Instead, “he sent two disciples” to do it for him. In Christ, God wants to enter into our lives and involve us in his works of love and salvation. The Incarnation is God’s way of relating to us as the human beings we truly are. In the Church, God continues this same tactic, touching us with human hands and calling us to be his hands for others. Jesus: That day the people of Jerusalem welcomed me into the city, but not all of them welcomed me into their hearts. Even today, many of my followers look like Christians by their outward actions, but they haven’t let me become the Lord of their lives. It is not enough to be known as a Catholic; I want to make you into a saint. The gates of the city mean less to me than the gates of your heart. Only you can open those gates, because when I created you I gave you the only key. Christ in My Life Lord, many times I have proclaimed my faith in you; I do so again right now. You are the fulfillment of all the prophecies, the answer to every heart’s quest, and the hope of every searching soul. You are my Lord and my God, my Savior and my closest, most faithful friend. I want to walk with you each day of my life, sharing your triumphs and your sorrows. I believe in you. I want to be faithful to you, as you have been to me… You came to bring your peace to my soul. You came to bring your victory over sin and hopelessness and selfishness into my heart. I have experienced your peace and your victory, but you know how much I still need your grace. Come and be the Lord of my heart, Jesus; teach me to follow you more closely, to love you more fully… Only you know how many people still haven’t accepted your offer of salvation and friendship. But I know one thing: you have asked for my assistance in helping some to do so. Give me, Lord, the prudence, charity, and fortitude I need to be your faithful messenger. Give my words, deeds, and example the stamp of authentic Christianity: self-forgetting love for my neighbor… Yours sincerely in Christ , Fr John Bartunek, LC ThD Subscribe To Site:
How do I deal with issues of advancement and self-promotion at work?
A: Your question is a good one because when we are trying to faithfully follow Christ in a world where competition is fierce at times, it can seem like we are caught between a rock and a hard place: I want to follow Christ and have a successful career. Christ tells us in John’s Gospel that we are in the world but not of it (cf Jn 15:19); that is, that we have to live and work in it but that we don’t adopt its godless ways. It is a challenge for us. First, Christ is calling Christians to have the attitude of self-detachment. What do I mean by this? I mean it in a two-fold way. There is nothing wrong with recognizing the gifts and talents we have received from God for the good of others and in having them recognized by others- unless we are bragging in an arrogant way- but our identity should never be based on this recognition. We are first and foremost sons of God by adoption. This is our primary identity. Also, we need to have an attitude of gratitude realizing that God is the Author of all that we have received and we are called to use our gifts and talents wisely but in a detached way. We need this spirit of detachment so as not to allow our abilities or duties to interfere with our union with God and cloud a proper vision of the human person. With our fallen human nature often the tendency is to let success and money replace God. St Luke tells us in Lk 16:13 that we can’t serve both God and money. Second, we need to foster purity of intention in all our actions and achievements. This is hard at times as we can easily find ourselves doing things out of pride or vanity. To maintain purity of intention we need increase our union with Christ through prayer, sacrament (Eucharist and Confession) and self-examination (examination of conscience). These means help us to always give our best by putting our talents and gifts at the service of God and others. They also help us not to become self-centered, not to use others for personal gain and not to think we can do it without God’s help. A person with purity of intention is committed to God and to the common good. He doesn’t seek rewards. Third, we need to be humble. Humility doesn’t mean weakness; it means recognizing that God is in charge, that He is God and I am not. All too often, people can live as if there was no God and can do atrocious things to others (ie: slander, calumniation, criticizing, etc) to get ahead in a career or because the other got the job and they didn’t. The competitive spirit is good but never at the cost of charity. As a Christian we can never stoop to those levels just mentioned. We may also experience our own sufferings along the path of life due to others who will try to get ahead at all costs, who will try to trample us underfoot or undermine our efforts. We need to be humble and upright before God and others and let our integrity speak. Humility helps us not to compromise faith and morals and to avoid deceiving ourselves. With these three essential points that can help us to work hard on our career choice, keep God at the center of who we are and all we do and maintain a healthy consciousness of using all that God has blessed us with personally for the good of ourselves and the good of those we serve. Yours in Christ, Father Todd Arsenault, LC Subscribe To Site:
62. Servants and Signs (Mt 20:20-34)
- Pope St Leo the Great Matthew 20:20-34 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came with her sons to make a request of him, and bowed low; and he said to her, ‘What is it you want?’ She said to him, ‘Promise that these two sons of mine may sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your kingdom’. ‘You do not know what you are asking’ Jesus answered. ‘Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?’ They replied, ‘We can.’ ‘Very well,’ he said ‘you shall drink my cup, but as for seats at my right hand and my left, these are not mine to grant; they belong to those to whom they have been allotted by my Father.’ When the other ten heard this they were indignant with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that among the pagans the rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt. This is not to happen among you. No; anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’ As they left Jericho a large crowd followed him. Now there were two blind men sitting at the side of the road. When they heard that it was Jesus who was passing by, they shouted, ‘Lord! Have pity on us, Son of David.’ And the crowd scolded them and told them to keep quiet, but they only shouted more loudly, ‘Lord! Have pity on us, Son of David.’ Jesus stopped, called them over and said, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, let us have our sight back.’ Jesus felt pity for them and touched their eyes, and immediately their sight returned and they followed him. Christ the Lord The cure of these two blind men immediately precedes Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. St Matthew places it here for a reason. The two blind beggars throw the Pharisees into sharp relief. The beggars hear that the crowd has gathered because Jesus of Nazareth is passing through town. They have heard of him – by this time all of Palestine knew of the wonder-working Rabbi from Galilee. They probably thought they would never have a chance to meet him, and now here he is passing right beside them. Immediately they start yelling. They give him the messianic title “Son of David” and ask for his attention and his favor. They want him to come and heal them. They want it so much that even when the crowds try to browbeat them into silence they keep on shouting, even more loudly. They don’t care what other people think of them – they are not going to let this moment of grace pass them by. Jesus hears their cries; he senses their faith. He comes over to them. He asks them what they want. They in turn ask him to open their eyes, to let them see again. Jesus touches their eyes, heals them, and they follow him rejoicing. Ever since the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus has been assailed by Pharisees who actually saw his miracles and heard his teaching, unlike these beggars who had only heard about Jesus from others. The Pharisees never acknowledged his claim to be the Messiah, they never admitted they had any need for God’s grace in their lives, and instead of following him, they tried to trip him up again and again. They never sincerely asked Jesus to open their eyes to the truth. As Jesus enters Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit gives us a glimpse of what might have happened if the Holy City’s leaders had shown a touch of humility in the presence of Christ the Lord. Christ the Teacher Jesus has just finished explaining for the third time that his messianic mission will achieve fruition only through suffering and humiliation, and two of his closest disciples come up to him, vying for power and honor in his court. How little they have understood! In spite of the frequent predictions of his passion, in spite of repeating that greatness in his Kingdom means becoming small, like a child, Jesus has not been able to convince his disciples that Christian glory is hidden in this world and only bears fruit in the next. But the Lord doesn’t lose patience. He restates his lesson, more clearly and directly this time. His followers, and therefore even more emphatically the leaders of his Church, must redirect their natural ambition for excellence. They have to seek to serve, not to be served; to praise, not to be praised; to sacrifice themselves for others, not use others for their own self-aggrandizement. They must become not only like children, but lower themselves even to becoming slaves. Then, no longer blinded by their worldly ambitions, they will be kings with the King, and their longing for a worthy life will be fulfilled. Christ the Friend James and John send their mother to make a bold request, one they were probably ashamed to make themselves (as evidenced by the umbrage the other disciples take at hearing about it). Jesus sees through their ploy. He addresses his answer to them and not to her. But he answers without taking offense. He is glad that these two disciples want to be close to him and be great in his Kingdom. If he could give them what they ask for, he would. But since he can’t promise them that, he will give them the next best thing: they too will suffer for the Kingdom (thus staying close to him). Here he teaches them the secret to real greatness – serving, giving, forgetting oneself. Is our path any different? Jesus wants us to confide in him, to be honest with him; that’s all he needs in order to make us his everlasting friends. Christ in My Life I too want to see, Lord. I want to see you. I want to see the truth about myself, about the world, and about the meaning of life. I want to see your will for me and the way to fulfill it. I want to see the needs of those around me and how to meet them. I want to see the beauty of your doctrine and of your heart, so that no other ambition will interfere with my striving to be truly great in your Kingdom… Excellence – how ardently I long to excel! And yet you, the Lord of all, chose for yourself just the opposite: humility, obscurity, humiliation, suffering. You chose this path to prove to me that the only satisfying excellence is the excellence of love, of self-giving. Teach me to follow in your footsteps, Lord. Be my good shepherd… Lord, I am reluctant to serve. My natural tendency is to want to be served, especially at home, among those I should serve most. So often I think first of myself. But if you call me to follow in your footsteps, to give my life for others, then it must be possible. You never ask the impossible. Through you, with you, and in you, I can be all that you created me to be. Okay, Lord, whatever you want. Thy will be done… Yours sincerely in Christ , Fr John Bartunek, LC ThD Subscribe To Site:
Redemptive suffering and abuse
A: Dear friend, it sounds like your situation is very challenging. I will do my best to answer your question and I will pray for peace and resolution for you and your family. I would also like to ask all of our readers to join in prayer for you and all those who find themselves in these very painful situations. The concept of redemptive suffering can certainly apply to suffering that is emotional, mental or spiritual. Each of us is a unity of body and soul, and suffering of the soul is every bit as real as physical suffering — sometimes more so. Emotional suffering includes situations like having to watch a loved one struggle with a terminal illness. Mental suffering can include cases of chronic depression. Spiritual suffering could include the “dark night of the soul,” where a devout person has a deep sense of loneliness or desolation, to the point of feeling abandoned by God. (In this last case the Almighty is actually purifying the soul.) Quite separate from these is the case that involves emotional/mental/spiritual suffering in an abusive relationship. An abusive relationship is unhealthy both for the one being abused, and also for the one who is abusing. Therefore, the truly loving thing to do is to find a way to end the abuse. This may involve seeking psychological or pastoral help for yourself and, if possible, for your husband. The abuse indicates that he likely has deep-seated issues that need attention and healing. Moreover, your own psychic (and physical) health faces risks from long-term exposure to abuse. Thus, a wife owes it to herself and her family to seek outside help. In the meantime, you should also do what you can to remove yourself and your children from harm’s way. The Church is actually quite clear about this. The Code of Canon Law in No. 1153 §1 states
Do not think that this course of action is some kind of spiritual cop out. Taking steps to protect yourself and your family from current abuse, and actively seeking ways to help resolve the underlying causes of your husband’s behavior are not easy tasks. They will be painful on many levels, and that suffering – the internal suffering caused by the challenge of trying to right this wrong – will indeed be redemptive, as you unite it through prayer and the sacraments to Christ’s own suffering on the cross. Yours in Christ, Father Edward McIlmail, LC Father McIlmail is a theology instructor at Mater Ecclesiae College in Greenville, RI. Subscribe To Site:
What is “spiritual reading” and how do busy people find time for this?
A: It sounds like you have found a wise spiritual director. If daily meditation is like the bread-and-butter of your spiritual diet, spiritual reading is your multi-vitamin supplement. First let’s reflect on why that is the case, then we can make some practical recommendations for squeezing it into your schedule. What Is Spiritual Reading? Spiritual reading consists of reading something that explains some aspect of Catholic truth in an attractive, enriching way. Its function is to help reinforce and deepen our Christian view of ourselves and the world around us. In previous eras, popular culture itself was imbued with the Christian world view, so even popular books and dramas would reinforce the Christian value system. But now that is not the case. Instead, our minds are flooded every day by messages (advertisements, films, TV shows, news, music) that directly contradict the Christian world view. That will have its effect on how we think and what we value. In fact, this is one of the reasons the Church is suffering so much from so-called cafeteria Catholics. They get their Catholic formation from secular sources (The New York Times, Newsweek…), and so they simply can’t understand why the Church would ever be against such popular and seemingly reasonable propositions like artificial contraception, artificial reproduction, and gay marriage. Because of this ongoing flood of secular ideals, we have to consciously nourish our minds with authentic Christian teaching in order to avoid being poisoned. That’s what spiritual reading can do. Spiritual reading is either instructive or refreshing. It either informs our minds so that we learn to think and understand more and more in harmony with Revelation, or it refreshes what we already know/have learned by making it shine out more clearly once again. In either case, it counteracts the seductive, secularizing messages that saturate our cultural atmosphere. This is why it’s such an important spiritual discipline. It plants seeds of Christian truth in your mind, and they grow and germinate in your subconscious as you go about your daily business. These seeds often flower during your daily prayer and meditation; in fact, spiritual reading frequently provides topics, ideas, or insights that are excellent material for Christian meditation. Getting Practical Spiritual reading differs from plain reading not only in the content, but also in the method. You don’t need to spend a lot of time doing spiritual reading; fifteen minutes a day is fine. And you don’t need to read fast. The idea is simply to taste, chew on, and swallow some healthy Catholic concepts every day. The difference between spiritual reading and meditation is the end result. The goal of your meditation is to converse with the Lord about what matters to him and what matters to you. The reflection and consideration that forms part of your meditation is meant to spur that conversation in your heart. The goal of spiritual reading is to inform your mind; it doesn’t finish with a prayerful conversation (though that can sometimes pop up spontaneously, which is fine!). A lot of the books we have been recommending on this Web site are prime material for spiritual reading. But if you’re not a reader, or if you think you don’t have time, you can also get creative. Good Catholic novels (novels imbued with a Catholic world view, where characters exemplify Christian virtue in a realistic but inspiring way) can serve as a kind of spiritual reading. Listening while you drive or exercise to recordings of spiritual talks, homilies, or conferences (or books on tape, or even good Catholic podcasts) can also do the trick. The point here is that we all need to be always growing in our knowledge of the faith, because if we are not growing, we’re withering. Yours sincerely in Christ , Fr John Bartunek, LC ThD PS: The beautiful painting is entitled “Prayer” by Itzhak Tordjman Subscribe To Site:
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