Spreading the News

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announce, darkness, Good News, hope, John the Baptist, presence, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, world

Just a question on this commemoration of the birth of John the Baptist: How am I announcing the good news of God’s on-going presence in our world especially when it seems so dark and devoid of hope? 

 

 

 

 

 

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Bartholomew, One of the Twelve

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Apostle, encounters, Good News, influence, Jesus, pillars, shine, St. Bartholomew, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The saint whose feast is celebrated today is known only as one mentioned in the list of the original twelve apostles; nothing else is known about him. The Franciscan media commentary says that we are confronted with the fact that we know almost nothing about most of the apostles. Bartholomew certainly fits that description. There’s even a question if Bartholomew is the man who was also known as Nathaniel, a man from Cana in Galilee who was summoned to Jesus by Philip. As Franciscan Father Don Miller points out, however, the unknown ones were also pillars of the new Israel whose 12 tribes now encompass the whole earth…bearing tradition from their firsthand experience by sharing the “good news” of Jesus throughout the known world.

I think about these men – and, I dare say, women – whose entire lives were changed by their encounters with Jesus. They were not famous before they met him, nor after for the most part. They were just people on fire because of what they heard that touched their hearts who were compelled to share what they had come to trust as directive for their lives.

Has anyone influenced you in such a way that you are led to deeper, fuller experiences of life? Have you been that person for anyone else? Is it possible that you aren’t aware of your effect for good on someone’s life? Perhaps today is a day to dust off our best attributes and let them shine on all the people we encounter. We owe it to God for giving us such gifts to use them for the good of others, whether anyone remembers our name or not. Knowing the possibility of such influence ought to be enough to convince us that laziness isn’t an option. In whatever circumstances we live through this day, let’s get out there and shine!

 

 

 

 

 

Angels Among Us

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Acts of the Apostles, angel, barriers, Christian community, deeper freedom, Good News, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As we continue to read the Acts of the Apostles during these days of earth’s awakening from winter, it’s easy to find appropriate metaphors to explain events chronicled in the early Christian community of which we have little concrete experience in the present. Today, in chapter 5, we have the story of God’s angel opening the doors of the prison and leading the apostles out with the directive to preach the “Good News” in the temple area. Additionally, in one translation of Psalm 34:7 we have mention of “angelic forms” as follows: Know too that heaven surrounds you with angelic forms, those messengers sent out by God to guard and guide you through the many storms of life.

Although we have probably all seen magicians at one time or another who are able to escape impossible confinements, we generally do not assume angelic assistance from other realms to explain their release. Rather, they use long-practiced skills or sleight of hand to accomplish their freedom. Put God in the mix, however, and all things seem possible.

My thoughts today are somewhat more mundane and easier to conjecture. I simply wonder what my answer would be to the following question: Who are the angels in my life: those people who have broken down barriers for me and led me out to a deeper freedom than I could have achieved on my own? In small and great ways, I know God has gifted me with friends and teachers who, perhaps with just a word – or maybe for the “long haul” – have caused me to be a better and happier person.

And so I ask: who are the angels in your life?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For A Sunny Saturday Morning

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bad news, coffee, forgivenes, Fully Human Divine, Good News, guidance, Hebrews, hospitality, lightness, Michael Casey, sleep, support, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

A page from Michael Casey’s book Fully Human Fully Divine gave me pause this morning. After a “short night” when sleep evaded me until about 1:30am, I needed some encouragement and it seems I have found it. Perhaps it might set the course for someone else today as well. I’m a little late in “coming to the table” that Casey offers as I’ve already had one cup of coffee, but it’s better late than never for me today. What about you?

Each morning as we rise from sleep we can say, “This day God will send me whatever support, whatever guidance, whatever forgiveness I need.” It is only a matter of remaining alert, watching for God’s agents. “Do not forget hospitality since in being hospitable some have unknowingly entertained angels” (Heb. 13:2). What a difference it would make if I were to welcome everything that happens as good news. It may require some extra digging in some situations to get beneath the surface affront to discover the pleasant surprise, but what a different person I would be if I were to jettison my readiness to qualify everything unexpected as bad news. What an incredible sense of lightness would infuse my heart and mind, and thus modify the way I present to others. (p. 151)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Good News

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Acts of the Apostles, blind obedience, blinded by the light, christians, conversion, Good News, humility, light, love, Risen Christ, Saul, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, theophany, turning

Today is the feast of the conversion of St. Paul, an event that in today’s world would be characterized as “doing a 180.” Paul, one of the most diligent persecutors of Christians was “blinded by the light” in a miraculous theophany. He could suddenly see nothing with his physical eyes so that he would turn inward and see with spiritual eyes the pain he was inflicting on people. His conversion, the total turning of his life to the opposite direction, was startling.

I find the inner exchange that he had at that moment with the Risen Christ quite interesting. Others saw the light but the voice that was only for him did not give him a command but rather asked him a question: Why are you persecuting me? In Paul’s account, (ACTS 22) he responds in the manner of a schooled debater with his own question: Who are you, sir? When the answer came that the voice belonged to Jesus, whom Saul was persecuting in the Christians, it seems that the ego that was Saul was smashed instantly as he answers with another question: What shall I do, sir? Humility entered with that question and the great apostle Paul was born from the enemy Saul. He needed to take the hand of his companions and walk in blind obedience for the next three days.

Paul was used to giving orders. I wonder how he would have responded if the voice he heard was one of commanding power rather than one that engaged him in a conversation. For the rest of his life, Paul was asking and answering questions in conversation with God as he went about spreading “the Good News” of Christ. That good news was the message of love and not condemnation that I believe Paul was blessed to understand in the way Christ treated him. Perhaps my interpretation of things is a bit far-fetched; being thrown to the ground by a flash of lightning certainly isn’t an amiable way to get someone’s attention, after all. I would argue, however, that it does point up the possibility that God treats each of us as loved in a way that we, as individuals, can understand. And that is, to me, very good news!

What Would You Say?

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Alleluia, captives, Good News, Jesus, love, message, poor, sent by the Lord, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As I read the gospel acclamation for this morning (the “Alleluia verse”) which said, “The Lord sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor and to proclaim liberty to captives” (LK 4:18), a question passed through my mind. If you were the one being sent by the Lord, I heard, what would be your message to the poor and the captives? In the following of Jesus, that is perhaps a great question for us. How do I – how do you – see the “good news” of God? What glad tidings do we have to share with the world, particularly for the benefit of those most in need?

My answer would certainly include the concept of love made concrete, but how would that look? Although it will take more than today to adequately answer that question (probably the rest of my life in actuality…), I can’t imagine putting it off now that it was such a clear message. Small steps may be all there are today, but small is, I trust, enough for God. It’s about keeping the intentional consciousness of the question before my eyes and heart. May God bless the effort!

Spread the News!

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Good News, grace of God, humility, Jesus, proclaim, St. Mark, the love of Christ, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, worries

Today is the feast of St. Mark, known as the evangelist who wrote to proclaim the “good news” of Christ to the Gentiles, those beyond the Jewish communities who had experienced Jesus during his lifetime. In the gospel today we hear Mark pass on the post-resurrection mandate of Jesus who appeared to the Eleven and said to them: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.” (MK 16:15)

Peter, the one who loved Jesus so fiercely and knew himself to be loved in all of his foibles and missteps as well as his willingness to serve the mission, took up the charge. His urgency and energy can be heard in his letter quoted this morning, a letter that reflects his own experience as well as his relationship with Mark whom we celebrate today. Listen in to what he writes:

Beloved: Clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another for “God opposes the proud but bestows favor on the humble.” So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your worries on him because he cares for you…I write you this briefly through Silvanus, whom I consider a faithful brother, exhorting you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Remain firm in it. The chosen one at Babylon sends you greeting, as does Mark, my son. Greet one another with a loving kiss. Peace to all of you who are in Christ. (1PT 5: 5-14)

Whether written by Peter himself or later by one of his disciples (this fact is disputed) the message is certainly consistent with Peter’s experience and desire for “the whole world” to know the love of Christ and the manner in which to follow what had been taught. The image I have is of a man on fire scribbling quickly on a parchment the most important things he wants to say so that Silvanus can carry it to a new and growing community of believers. Today I am grateful for these early figures who have left us such a rich treasury of teaching and I look within to catch that fire in my life.

Palm Sunday

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bad news, betrayal, crucifixion, death, faithfulness, Good News, Holy Week, Isaiah, Jerusalem, Luke, Palm Sunday, Philippians, praise, psalm 22, surrender, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, torture, trust

We have often heard the adage: “Good news, bad news – who knows!” The caution in this statement is about holding out until the end, when the final conclusion allows an informed assessment of whether the situation under consideration is, in fact, good or bad news.

Palm Sunday is the epitome of a good news/bad news story. We begin with Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem to jubilant chants of “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” (LK 19: 28-40) and end with the crucifixion, death and burial of Jesus as Luke tells the story (LK 22:14-23:56). Admittedly there is some telescoping of the time frame as we know the incidents happened over several days rather than all at once, but it is nevertheless a stunning example of the vicissitudes of crowd mentality.

Reflecting on this Sunday’s readings one realizes that the need for the faithful to wait for “the rest of the story” is implicit at each step. Isaiah’s words (IS 50: 4-7) paint a fearful picture of what the servant suffers in trying to speak God’s word to the weary: beatings, plucking of his beard, buffets and spitting. The message to us, however, is in the last verse where the prophet witnesses to God’s faithfulness in all the violence he has endured. The Lord God is my help, he says, therefore I am not disgraced. I have set my face like flint, knowing I shall not be put to shame.

The refrain of the responsorial psalm (PS 22): My God, my God, why have you abandoned me could be interpreted as despair of the crucified Jesus. Not so! Jesus, who likely knew all 150 psalms by heart, knew the ending. Like Isaiah, he trusted that whatever happened, God was faithful and worthy of praise: I will proclaim your name to my brethren, the psalmist sings; in the midst of the assembly I will praise him. (vs.23)

Even as we focus on reciprocal fidelity as the linchpin of relationship between God and Jesus, we know that the suffering endured in the Paschal Mystery was monumental. From betrayal of friends to physical torture and death, Luke’s gospel reminds us that Jesus trusted God and poured himself out in love for our sake. It would behoove us to spend time with this text seeing anew each compassionate encounter on his path from the Last Supper to the cross.

Only the Letter to the Philippians speaks from a post-resurrection perspective today (PHIL 2:6-11). It is the willingness of Jesus to surrender everything that leads to his exaltation as Lord. But let us not be too hasty to reach the finish line. Let us rather take every step of this Holy Week with Jesus, trusting as he did that the Lord God is our help.

Prepare!

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Advent, apostles, devotion, Good News, holiness, Isaiah, Jesus, John the Baptist, Mark, Peter, prepare, prepare ye the way of the Lord, psalm 85, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As the big commercial push of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, etc. recedes (after more than a week of each!), the urgency of preparation in a different way for Christmas emerges more strongly. Interestingly, the word prepare is the theme in every one of the readings for this morning, beginning in the Hebrew Scriptures with the foreshadowing message of the prophet Isaiah (40:1-5) centuries before the birth of Jesus. Psalm 85 echoes the prophetic words: Justice shall walk before him and prepare the way of his steps.” For those who recognized Jesus as the one spoken of by Isaiah, John the Baptist appears at the very beginning of Mark’s gospel as “a voice of one crying out in the desert” proclaiming the same theme: Prepare the way of the Lord!

By the time the gospel of Mark was written about 40 years after the Resurrection, belief in Jesus as the fulfillment of the prophecies had taken hold in many places in the known world. We have the letters of those apostles who became missionaries of the “good news” urging faithfulness to Christ and his message of God’s love. In those early years, their understanding of the prophecies and the words of Jesus had convinced the Christians that the end of the world as they knew it would be coming soon and Christ would appear to take them to their next life in the kingdom of heaven, a realm of peace and justice. The fact that we are still here does not negate the importance of the messages to the early Christians about preparing “as we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” The second letter of Peter (3:8-14) asks us to reflect on a great question as we wait – maybe the perfect one for a Sunday in Advent:

What sort of persons ought you to be, conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion…?

All Good – All God

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Corinthians, courage, Good News, Isaiah, Jesus, let go let God, Luke, music of life, Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, truth will set us free

This morning’s readings echo essentially what I said on Saturday, but Paul’s message is even more stark, it seems to me, when he says the following (1 Cor 2:1-5):

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you but Jesus Christ …my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but a demonstration of spirit and power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

This reminds me of the phrase that became popular some time ago: Let go and let God – which is catchy to say but not so easy to do. It is also reminiscent of my favorite chant from Wisdom School that I love to sing and hope someday to achieve. It says: I am a hole in a flute that the Christ breath moves through. Listen to this music; listen to this music. It seems that Paul had totally grasped that concept of becoming a conduit for the “music of life” that God provides when we are able to totally surrender our ego to the pure truth of love whose melody is known only to the heart.

And lest we think that this melody is all sunshine and flowers, the gospel for today (a perfect follow-on to Paul) tells the incident (Lk 4: 16-30) that occurs when Jesus stands up in the synagogue to read from Isaiah about bringing “good news to the poor” and says – in the manner of the prophet – that he has come for just that mission. Consequently, the crowd sought to destroy him for what they saw as blasphemy. So the truth will set us free but great courage is sometimes needed to remain focused on the message rather than the outcome. This, I would wager, is the on-going work of a lifetime.