(Article attached for printout in pdf format) Five Important Spiritual Thoughts from the Liturgy of the Word
…and follow up for the Secular Franciscan
July 21-27
1 – They have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns,
that hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:13)…We tend to dig broken cisterns that hold no water, that is,
we tend to look at solutions which are really not solutions. Do I turn to God
enough as I seek solutions to the problems I have?
2 – Mary Magdalene “saw
two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where
the body of Jesus had been.” (Jn 20:12)…There are people in
my life who are “my” angels. Who are they and have I thanked them for what they
have done?
Extended
meditationIt’s interesting to study the “empty
tomb” as theologians call the beginning of the Resurrection experience in the
various evangelists. Each one gives a
different rendition of the empty tomb.
In John’s Gospel, there are two angels who make the announcement to Mary
Magdalen.We can only prove the existence of
angels by reading the Scriptures and in every instance, they are presented as
workers or messengers of God. But there
are many instances of angels in human form.Chloe needed an angel that night, and
the angel came in the guise of a rather large African American man by the name
of Donovan. She had lost her husband
because of what her neighbors called “The Chicago Violence,”—a drive-by
shooting that happened all too often in her neighborhood, and her husband was a
victim. Chloe was completely distraught.
At the hospital while she was awaiting
the horrible news, Pastor Donovan who called himself a “street pastor” came to
her and prayed with her. He prayed for
love and peace and unity. And he came
back to her home a couple times the following month. He was the angel she needed.Pastor Donovan is a real person who has
made it his mission to care for the survivors of gun violence around the troubled
spots of Chicago. NBC News heard about
him, and followed him around one evening.
“I’ve been blessed to be loved,” he said in the interview, “it’s
important that I love now.” He said that
he has cared for over a thousand different survivors of families that had a
homicide due to gun violence.One of the frequent names that is given
Francis of Assisi in the stories known as “The Little Flowers of Francis of
Assisi” is that of an “angel.” He spoke
like an angel, he helped like an angel, and so forth.A follower of Francis must take note of
that calling. There are people all
around us who need an angel who will deliver the message of God to them. Maybe we can find a mission in helping those
people.
3 – “What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for
a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?”
(Lk 11:11-12)…God knows more than I do. In
my prayer of petition, I may be asking for things that would have been harmful
to me.
4 – “…the great ones make their authority over them felt.But it shall not be so among you.” (Mt 20:25-26)
…How strong is my self-pride?
Extended
meditationAccording
to St. Thomas Aquinas, a capital sin is that which has an exceedingly
desirable end so that in one’s desire for it, the person goes on to the commission
of many sins, all of which are said to originate in that sin as their
chief source. And first and foremost among the capital sins is the sin of
pride or vainglory. It was the sin which transformed Lucifer into Satan, and is
called the sin of sins.And
so, Jesus calls attention to it often.
Here, Jesus’s disciples suddenly had power that they never expected to
have, and their human natures wanted to exercise that power. Quite naturally, they wanted to exploit their
authority. Human nature has been
predictable since the day God created humankind: we always want more than
others. Here, quite directly, the Lord
says to them and to us: “It shall not be so among you.”In
our history, American historians have ranked the 1960’s in the southern United
States to be one of the most painful moments in American history. Black Americans
found themselves in a state of desiring freedom from the oppression that had
been accepted behavior up to that time in that part of the world. (see Movie:
“The Help”)Part
of that moment in history resonates with the sin of pride because the American
white person probably without knowing what he/she was doing thought themselves to
be more than the black servants who were employed in various jobs. Did they know what they were doing? After all, a College Study had recently
stated that blacks were inferior to whites.A
recent song described that pride to be “noise.” Singing of a person who is
taken up with self, and therefore a victim of pride, the person who feels less than
another says, “You don’t know the way that you look when [your] steps make that
much noise.” (Song: “Cooler Than Me”)If
we want to be truly Christian, that is a member of a group who are called to be
“Christianity squared,” we must face the feeling of always wanting more. We naturally try to be better and better at
what we do, but too often we find ourselves judging others to be “less.” We
feel superior over others who don’t do as well as we do. It is but a short step then to make them “slaves.”The
noise of pride is loud. It tends to
drown out any attempt to do good.
5 –
“…sells all that he has…” (Mt 13:44, 46)…”Sells
all that he has” is central to Jesus’s stories here. Obviously it cannot be taken literally
because I need things to live. But as a
Franciscan, what things in my life should I give up to show my dedication to
the Lord in a better way?
