Learning to Rely upon Jesus

In today's first reading, Gen 49: 29-32; 50: 55-26, Joseph's brothers, following their father Jacob's death, are afraid that their brother Joseph, whom they  treated so cruelly by selling him as a slave into Egypt, would take revenge upon them. So they approached Joseph, begging for mercy:  "'Please, ...forgive the crime that we, the servants of your father's God, committed.' When they spoke these words to him, Joseph broke into tears. Then his brothers proceeded to fling themselves down before him and said, 'Let us be your salves!'  But Joseph replied to them; 'Have no fear. Can I take the place of God? Even though you meant harm to me, God meant it for good, to achieve the present end, the survival of many  people.'"

Feelings are natural reactions to situations in our lives, and, of themselves, are not sinful. However, when entertained and obsessed about, we make ourselves vulnerable to choosing actions based upon those negative feelings. Joseph's brothers did just that.  By feeding their jealousy and anger, the brothers fell  into sin by planning murder. Changing their plan to kill Joseph, they  expressed their anger by selling Joseph to Ishmaelites on their way to Egypt. To cover up their crime, they soaked Joseph's colored cloak in animal's blood to look as though he suffered a fatal attack by a wild beasts.

When have you and I entertained feelings of jealousy, anger, revenge? To what did those feelings lead us? Did we redirect our attention? Or did we act upon those feelings?  We have a choice to do either!
Let us turn our focus on Jesus, say the name Jesus and ask for help rather than relying upon ourselves to deal with situations that are problematic for us!

Trusting, Believing and Following the Lord to Freedom

In today's first reading, Gen 22: 1b-19,  God challenges Abraham's distorted thinking that he had to sacrifice the first fruits of his offspring to God.  Believing this cultural tradition, Abraham takes his son Isaac to a place where he intends to sacrifice him to the Lord. As Abraham approaches the place of sacrifice, he places wood on his son's back and continues the journey, leaving his servants behind at that point.  Isaac says to his father:  "Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?"  Abraham replies:  "God himself will provide the sheep for the burnt offering."  And God does so, stopping Abraham from harming his son at the very point at which he is about to kill him!  God sends a messenger from heaven who calls out:  "Abraham, Abraham!...Do not lay your hand on the boy...Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God,  since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son."  Abraham looks about and sees a ram caught by his horns in a thicket!

What do we learn about God from this passage? 

• That God knows our thoughts even before we do!
• That God provides for our needs
• That God tests our faith in many ways
• That God uses even our distorted thinking to reveal Himself and His will for us
• That God will and can stop us from engaging in wrongdoing
• That God challenges our distortions and guides us to the truth
• That God frees us from the power of Satan

Based on this passage from Genesis 22: 1b-19, how am I, are you, to live our lives?

• Trusting the in Lord, as Abraham did
• Realizing that God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow
• Following God's way, being cautious of the ego's power to mislead us into doing what is contrary to God's will, though what we are contemplating looks like the right thing to do
• Remembering that God will provide for all our needs and that the sacrifice God desires of us is the one we remember during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: Jesus' life, suffering, death and resurrection as well as our own

God: A God of Imminence, of Compassion and Power to Save

In today's first reading, Gen.  19: 15-29, God sends angels to lead Lot and his family out of Sodom, which God is about to destroy because of the wickedness of the people.  In the today's Gospel, Matthew 8: 23-27, Jesus saves his disciple from a storm at sea.  Both readings reveal a God who is imminent, compassionate, and aware of times that we are in danger. God is a God always ready to help us in time of need. 

How should you and I live according to these Scripture readings?  God, I believe, would say to us:  Live in complete trust of Me, Your Savior, and of God, your Father and the Holy Spirit, your Sanctifier. By your lives, may other people know that I am an imminent God, a God whom you trust, confide in and love with your whole heart.  Learn from Lot to trust me when I send angels to direct you out of danger.  From the disciples in the boat thrown about by turbulent weather, learn to call upon Me in your need. I am never asleep, as the disciples thought I was.  Know, as they learned, that no storm is too great for Me or the Father or the Spirit to calm.  We will keep you safe always!

Choosing God's Way

In today's first reading, Acts 2: 16-20, 3--31, St. Paul appeals to the leaders of the Jews in Rome, where he is under house arrest. He says to them: "My brothers, although I had done nothing against our people or our ancestral customs, I was handed over to the Romans as a prisoner from Jerusalem. After trying my case the Romans wanted to release me, because they found nothing against me deserving the death penalty. But when the Jews objected, I was obliged to appeal to Caesar, even though I had no accusation to make against my own nation. This is the reason, then, I have requested to see you and speak with  you, for it is on account of the hopes of Israel that I wear these chains."  His appeal for freedom was rejected. However, Paul continues to speak about Jesus and proclaiming the Kingdom to anyone who visited him. Luke, the author of Acts, says: "He received all who came to him, and with complete assurance and without hindrance he proclaimed the Kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ."

What do you and I do when what we ask for is not granted?  Like Paul, God's plan for us to proclaim or build up the Kingdom and/or speak about Jesus does not change. Only the circumstances around which we carry out the assignment God has given us changes.  Do I let go of my hurt in not having my ego requests granted and continue being Jesus' disciple or do I hold on to my grudges, dig in my heals and refuse to do the Lord's bidding? Do I let my ego edge out God?

God's Gift of Freedom and Protection

Today's Entrance Antiphon reminds each one of us that  "the Lord became [our] protector. He brought [us] out to a place of freedom; he saved [us] because he delighted in us."   We could rewrite that as a personal message, the Lord saying to each one of us:  "I  am YOUR protector. I bring YOU out to a place of freedom; I save YOU because I delight in YOU." We might recall the many times that the Lord has protected us from disasters on the highway, from serious illnesses that attacked others and took their lives, from job losses suffered by co-workers, from abusive marriages, from mental illnesses, from suicidal thoughts or actions, from making disastrous mistakes in choosing a partner in life. Or, we may think of the times that God brought us out to places "of freedom": out of serious depressions, out of thoughts of suicide or debilitating anxiety, out of disasters from which we thought we'd never recover.

On the other hand, we might simply ponder deeply the phrase "I delight in YOU." The God of the Universe delights in us.  The Creator of all humankind delights in you and me personally. The God who created the galaxies, the sun and the moon, the stars, the earth with its oceans and landscapes, its trees and wildlife, its seasons, night and day delights in you and me personally! God so delights in you and me that the Almighty, the Holy One, has taken up residence in each one of us! With His Presence, God anoints us as His Beloved. With His Presence God strengthens us, purifies us, makes us holy, sustains us and reconciles us to Himself when we fall into Satan's trap, as did Adam and Eve before us.  Our God is a God of relationships, drawing us into an intimate relationship with Himself and with one another, showing us the way of Love!

God be praised and glorified by our lives of love and unity!

What Hannah Teaches Us!

In today's first reading, 1 Sam 1: 9-20,  Hannah enters the Temple and "presented herself before the Lord."  She does not use a book to pray traditional Jewish prayers. No, she presents herself. She pours out her heart to the Lord. She is filled with sorrow at being barren and shares that sadness with the Lord, "weeping copiously".  "In her bitterness she prayed to the Lord, weeping copiously, and she made a vow, promising: 'O Lord of hosts, if you look with pity on the misery of your handmaid, if you remember me and do not forget me, if you give your handmaid a male child, I will give him to the Lord for as long as he lives'....When Elkanah had relations with his wife Hannah, the Lord remembered her. She conceived, and at the end of her term bore a son whom she called Samuel since she had asked the Lord for him.."  

Hannah teaches us the importance of 1) taking our problems to the Lord, 2) being honest with the Lord in prayer and 3) expressing our needs--telling the Lord what it is that we would like from Him. We need to be real with the Lord, as a small child is real with its parents! However, if we are neither truthful with ourselves nor with a trusted other about our feelings and our needs, it is unlikely that we will share our truth with the Lord in prayerful encounters!  How often do we not go into prayer as dry a desert and come out the same way! How often than not do our relationships reflect the same barrenness--nothing of significance happens between us because nothing of significance nor of the truth about ourselves is honestly shared, that is, we hide our vulnerabilities. Hannah did nothing of that sort!

Lord, help me be humble enough to be vulnerable in my relationship with myself and trusted others and honest with you in prayer!  It's not the right prayer that I need but an open heart that I am willing to speak my truth to you.  May I keep no secrets from you, Lord!

Led to the Right Path by Adversity

In today's first reading, Jonah 1: 1-2: 2, 11, Jonah boards a ship going in the opposite direction from Nineveh. God's request of Jonah was that he [s]et out for the great city of Nineveh, and preach against it; their wickedness has come up before me." Jonah runs away from God, as does a little child whose parents are asking of him/her what the little one does not was to do. Just as a parent runs after the fleeing child, so, too, does God follow Jonah. He gets Jonah's attention when a violent storm breaks out and the ship on which he is traveling is in great danger of sinking!  Frightened, the crew, once they believe that Jonah is the problem, throw Jonah overboard. The turbulence ceases. And Jonah is swallowed up by a huge fish and coughed up on the shores of Nineveh, so the story goes--a theological treatise teaching us that God is in charge and that, when we try to escape God's ways and fail to carry out God's will for us, we, too, will experience turbulence--a troubled conscience that deprives us of sleep at night and denies us the peace we crave. We, too, become swallowed up by darkness!

Our only chance of becoming free is that God ultimately rescues us from our waywardness. With Jonah, Jonah 2: 3-5, 8, we pray:

Out of my distress I called upon the Lord,
and he answered me; 
From the midst of the nether world I cried for help,
and you heard my voice.

For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the sea,
and the flood  enveloped me;
All your breakers and your billows
passed me over.

Then I said, "I am banished from our sight!
yet would I again look upon your holy temple."

When my soul fainted within me,
 I remembered the Lord;
My prayer reached you
in your holy temple.