Water on Stone

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anger, beatitudes, blessedness, dignity, drops of water, eye for an eye, happiness, Holly Near, human life, Matthew, mosaic law, Pope John Paul II, reform, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, violence

Chapter 5 of Matthew’s gospel is very challenging. Most of us know – or at least know of – the Beatitudes in which Jesus tells of the happiness (blessedness) of those who practice and/or endure justice and meekness and long-suffering, etc.(MT 5:38-42). The chapter doesn’t stop there, however. As Jesus lays out a new way of living – the fulfillment and next step in the evolution of the Mosaic Law, perhaps, he speaks of letting our light shine for the good of the world and then there is that most uncomfortable teaching that goes beyond anything his listeners could have expected. (MT 5:38-42) “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.”

Interestingly, what caught my eye this morning when I first opened the USCCB (Catholic bishops) website was the topic of capital punishment. It is one of the tenets of Catholicism that I applaud wholeheartedly. This was the explanatory paragraph that I read:

The dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform. (Pope Saint John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 1995)

As we watch the frequent news reports of horrific violence in our country and around the world, these are hard sayings to accept. Reacting to violence with violence, however, is never a solution. I feel led today to examine my own heart, seeking to root out any vestiges of violence – bursts of anger and even thoughts of “tit-for-tat” – that might add to the negative energy in the world. Offering what I find as an antidote to my own failures in conscious loving might become my strength when the next challenge to my ego comes along. I’m reminded of Holly Near’s song lyrics from long ago that asked, “Can we be like drops of water falling on the stone, splashing, breaking, dispersing in air, weaker than the stone by far but be aware that, as time goes by, the rock will wear away.”

May it be so in us!

 

 

 

 

 

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Let Us All Rejoice!

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christians, disciples, Divine Law, Easter, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, grace, Hebrews, Holy Spirit, mosaic law, Moses, Pentecost, respect, Shavuot, spirit, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, understanding

Today Christians celebrate the great feast of Pentecost (from the Greek for “the fiftieth day”), the commemoration of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that enlivened the disciples of Jesus to spread the message of God’s love for the world. Lest we think that Christians are the only ones who celebrate faith at this time – 50 days after Easter, we need to look further back to recognize that there is a linkage to the Jewish festival of Shavuot, the Festival of Weeks, which falls fifty days after Passover. In speaking of this connection, Fr. Dwight Longenecker writes from the Christian viewpoint: This [feast] was kept as a commemoration of Moses receiving the Divine Law on Sinai. The Christians understood that as the law came down from heaven to Moses for the people of God, so the Holy Spirit came down on the church. The age of the Mosaic Law was therefore fulfilled and completed by the new age of Spirit and Grace. (CRUX, June 3, 2017)

This morning, then, as I give thanks for the workings of the Spirit in my own life and throughout the centuries of the life of Christianity – amazed often that we have endured – I remember also the fidelity of the Hebrew people who carried their tradition from the days of Mosaic Law to the hearts of faithful Jews today. My prayer is that the Spirit will be instrumental in drawing us and all the peoples of the world into deeper respect and understanding that in essence our humanity makes us all one. May it be so!

Practicing Law

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holy, judge, judging people, justice, Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Leviticus, Matthew, mosaic law, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The stories on the news since Saturday about the unexpected death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia have been a lesson to me. Knowing only that Scalia was seen as one of the most conservative judges on the court, I failed to see this longest serving member as the brilliant scholar and interpreter of the law that he was. More interesting to me was the report of his close relationship with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose comment to the press about Scalia was that they were “best buddies.” They disagreed on everything about the law, it is said, but were able to discuss everything and remain deeply committed to their relationship. High praise from many quarters across the political spectrum helped me to see the unfortunate consequences of labels like “conservative” and “liberal.”

I felt somewhat the same when reading the lectionary texts for today. Matthew 25 is the familiar chapter about the sheep and the goats, i.e. the law of love for neighbor. It was the reading from Leviticus (19: 1-18), however, that brought the lesson to my consciousness. Leviticus is about the Mosaic Law, a book that I have tended to skip over, determining it “dry” or not applicable to life in 21st century America. I was surprised at the tone and the examples of the directives that I read this morning that were each followed by the declarative, “I am the Lord” – God’s reminder of who is in charge of making the laws. Two sections drew my attention the most after the command to “be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy.” Take a look:

You shall not defraud or rob your neighbor. You shall not withhold overnight wages of  your day laborer. You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but you shall fear your God. (much warmer and relational than the specific dimensions of the temple building…)

(This one’s for Justice Scalia.) You shall not act dishonestly in rendering judgment. Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your fellow men justly. You shall not go about spreading slander among your kin; nor shall you stand by idly when your neighbor’s life is at stake.

Reading these relational statements from Leviticus makes me see that perhaps even the tiniest or seemingly banal tenets of the Mosaic Law might hold some meaning if I took it upon myself to look deeply and not judge this book by the proverbial “cover.” Today, then, I will resolve to pay more attention to any tendency in me toward judgment without evidence, and I will pray in gratitude for men like Justice Scalia who clearly lived a life of integrity in service to God and to the law.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Collaboration

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Acts of the Apostles, Christianity, discernment, ecumenical, mosaic law, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As a result of missionary work by St. Paul and his companions, there were many non-Jews who embraced the message of Christianity. Inevitably, as in any growing organization, questions of correct practice began to emerge. In today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles (15:1-6) we see the serious question: Must the Gentiles first become Jewish (i.e. follow Jewish law/practice) in order to become Christian? The questions were about the necessity of circumcision and other tenets of Mosaic Law. This moment in history was a crucial one and occasioned the first “ecumenical” (or “whole church”) council – the 23rd of which was the monumental Second Vatican Council of 1962-1965 that transformed the Roman Catholic Church in many ways.

Today’s reading stops short of the decisions of the Council of Jerusalem (stay tuned) but the important line for me was the last of today’s text: The Apostles and the presbyters met together to see about this matter. In times of confusion or disagreement about serious issues, whether in family, church or in any organization, we can do no better than to come together in a stance of discernment to find the best direction in which to proceed. Discernment is not about the strongest person or group prevailing. It is about deep listening to one another in trust that all have the good of the whole in view, allowing a solution to emerge from the silence that accompanies the conversation. It is, if allowed to be so, a holy thing to experience, as the result may be something that no one in the group has foreseen that arises from the common spirit existing deep within each and all of the participants. It is the way of the heart.

Sabbath Time

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discern, hear, Jesus, Matthew, mosaic law, obedience, Sabbath, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Obedience is one of the three vows that I took as a Roman Catholic Sister many years ago that is still part of religious profession. In my early days (the “good old days”) it was easier to live that vow as it was interpreted by most as just doing what one was told by the superior who had the ear of God in all things large and small. As we have evolved, so has our understanding of this vow that we take to God through our religious community. We understand that the root of the word “obedience” – from the Latin – means to hear. Most often for religious, it means to hear together, to discern in community or to hear honestly what God is saying to us individually while not abrogating the responsibility to be obedient as well to legitimate authority. The difference is, in part, the recognition that every mature person is called to maturity in decision-making.

Jesus often ends a story or a lesson with the words, “Let the one who hears…” followed by the requisite action. He is calling for an obedience that comes from understanding of what he’s asking and then an assent to it. Sometimes his call is to a higher law, going beyond, but not abrogating, the Mosaic Law that he came not to destroy but to fulfill. This morning’s gospel (MT 12:1-8) is a great example of going beyond a law for a higher good. The disciples are hungry, but it is the Sabbath. The law calls people to refrain from picking grain on the Sabbath. That reminds me of when I was young and the law of the Church was clear: “No unnecessary servile work on Sunday.” We used to define that in my house as no doing of laundry, no ironing…but it didn’t mean we could skip washing the dishes. It’s easy to see the reason; we were supposed to spend our day differently from other days of the week, in a way that kept us in mind of God. It was never to be a question of “the letter” of the law, but rather of living in that spirit. It was a process of doing what was logical to achieve the goal while always thinking of the good outcome. Putting on the mind of Christ means making good decisions, living in the love of God at all times and acting from that center. In that way we will always know what is the right thing to do. In that way every day will be our Sabbath.

 

What must I do?

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Jesus, love, Mark, mosaic law, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today’s gospel (Mk 10:17-27) recounts the familiar story of the rich young man who “went away sad” because, although he had kept the Mosaic law in an effort to inherit eternal life, he didn’t think he could manage the “one more thing” that Jesus asked: “Go,” he said, “sell what you have, and give to the poor…then come, follow me.” Over the years I have heard many interpretations from many schools of thought about what Jesus really meant by his response to this young man. It seems illogical to take the command literally since, if we sold everything we had, we would end up on the streets, hungry and cold like the poor we are trying to help. This solution would just add to the number of destitute people in our society. Sheer population facts make it impossible for individuals today to be taken care of by people like the villagers of first century Christianity who were expected to care for strangers who came through their towns. I’ve come to the conclusion that this story has more to do with consciousness and a sense of responsibility than by a dollar amount of charity gifts.

The gospel says that Jesus, looking at him, loved him before he told him what he had to do. I think Jesus was so desirous of having this young man realize that the only thing necessary was love that he put it in terms of material things because that was what the young man was used to dealing with in his life. Clearly this young man was an upstanding citizen, a good person, who desired more than to be a law-abiding contributor to society. But Jesus wanted it all. Jesus wanted him to recognize that everything is possible if we will only surrender to love. Paradoxically, once we come to the point in our lives where we recognize that truth – when we are willing to do anything necessary to follow Christ with our entire life – everything else becomes relative and we are able with St. Paul to say that we are content with whatever life brings to us.

I am working toward that contentment and I have a hope that the young man encountered Jesus again and, having reflected and yearned for more, was able to offer himself in love to Jesus and ended up with more happiness than he could ever have believed possible in this life.