Test From Above

Today I attended the 5:30 p.m. Mass.  When I was returning here to the Catholic Worker House, I drove by a mechanized traffic sign, the kind on which the wording can be changed when a different message is needed.  The sign read: "TEST" with an arrow above it, pointing toward the sky.  A test is coming from above.  

Obediently Trusting God

Do we have ears to hear?  If we have ears to hear, let us use them to listen.*  If we listen, do we understand?  If we have the good sense to do our best to try to comprehend what is being told to us, let us do our best to fathom that God wants to meet us in bottomless depths, and that God wants to raise us to great heights, if we are but willing to allow ourselves to be humbled.**    

Let us not fear, but trust in God, remembering that God holds us in the palm of His hand, and that He has unimaginably fantastic rewards in store for us.  If we but open our eyes and use them to see, we will recognize the magnificent wonders that God has already shown us.  Thus we will be led to open our hearts to welcome all the marvels which God wishes to work through us and otherwise in our little lives.  He wishes that we give our consent to welcome His will, so that our souls may flourish like tiny mustard seeds, just as the Kingdom of God is sprouting from a mustard seed into an immense bush which will provide much shelter,*** comfort and repose for ourselves and others, and ultimately bringing us into peace and joy in his loving embrace.  

And so it was when the angel Gabriel announced to the Blessed Virgin Mary that she would conceive through the power of the Holy Spirit and give birth to Jesus.  Thus yesterday in our celebration of the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, we heard that 

The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin's name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
"Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you."
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
"Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end."
But Mary said to the angel,
"How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?"
And the angel said to her in reply,
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God."
Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word."
Then the angel departed from her.****  

The angel Gabriel arrived and greeted Mary.  He acknowledged her as being full of grace, that God was with her.  Mary was troubled at this greeting; she wondered what type of salutation the angel could be offering to her.  

God is always wanting to talk with us.  God speaks to us.  Yet we don't understand what God is saying to us.  

The angel told Mary not to be afraid.  The angel assured her that she had found favor with God, so she had no reason to fear.  

When God speaks to us, how do we feel?  Do we worry when God addresses us?  Do we fear when God talks with us?  

In the midst of stressful circumstances in our lives, how do we react?  Do we panic?  Do we trust in God, or do we succumb to fear?  

When we fear, what does God have in store for us?  In times when we are scared of what is going to happen in our lives, is God trying to give us something we don't expect? 

The angel told Mary that she was going to conceive and bear a son, and that she must name Him Jesus, since He would save people from their sins.  Accordingly, He would be great.  He would not only sit upon the throne of His ancestor King David, but He would rule forever.  She was told that His Kingdom will have no end.  

When we are terrified, we must remember that God operates on a much grander scale than we do.  When we tremble, we must keep in mind that God holds us in the palm of His hand.   

When the angel told Mary that she was to give birth to Jesus, she asked, "How can this be?"  She so inquired because she had not had relations with a man.  

God works wonders.  We wonder how God works.  God unravels marvels in front of us.  We marvel at what transpires before us.  We wonder how all these wonders take place.  

The angel explained to Mary that the Holy Spirit would come upon her.  The angel revealed to her that God's power would overshadow her.  

We cannot see how God works through us.  We do not realize how God works wonders in our lives.  Through His mighty spirit, God transforms us, those around us and our lives.  God is infinitely greater than we are, and so God can transfigure us in ways and to extents we could never do without Him.  God reminds us of His great power to work amazing changes in us.  

The angel reminded Mary that her cousin Elizabeth had conceived in her old age.  People had called Elizabeth barren and unable to have a child, just as Sarah was thought to be unable to bear a child to Abraham since she too was elderly.  Yet angels also brought the glad tidings to Abraham and Sarah that soon they would have a son.*****  Thus the angel reminded Mary that nothing is impossible for God.******   

We are to look at what we have already seen.  We must look at the wonders which have already been shown to us.  In recalling these magnificent deeds God has already done for us, we are strengthened in our faith, and are emboldened in our quest to do His will.  

We have already seen the evidence of God's great power and His abounding love for us.  What more proof do we need of what He can do for us?  What more do we need to see to realize that He boundlessly loves us?  

In short, we are presented with a question which forces us to choose between fear and trust.  Do we trust God?  Do we believe that God wants to do great things for us?  

If we believe, then let us say with Mary that we too are servants of the Lord.  Trusting in God, let us say, "God, may it be done to me as you have said."  

How do we get to a point of such utter submissive abandonment, trusting in God so completely that we are totally obedient to God's will?  We use our ears to hear what God is saying to us.  If we remain silent and sit still, in solitude, we can listen to what God wants to tell us.  We look at the wonders God works around us.  We ponder these things in our hearts.*******  We open our hearts, and allow these marvels to permeate our souls and transform us.  Being attentive to the remarkable feats God performs in our lives, then we realize that we cannot rely on ourselves, and that we must depend on God.  When we allow ourselves to be humbled, then God will raise us up.  Then when we assent to His will, and agree to die to ourselves, then, being grains falling into the ground and dying, He will reap a rich harvest through us.********  Sure of this comfort, we rest secure in peace, and approach the joy that comes in eternal life.  Looking forward to this eternal bliss, we gladly offer our consent to our loving God.   

Thus confident that God will work wonders through us to His praise and glory and honor, let us courageously proclaim in bold prayer, "God, do what you want with me.  Here I am, ready to do Your will."   

* Matthew 11:15 
** Matthew 23:11-12; Matthew 20:26; Luke 14:11; Luke 18:14 
*** Matthew 13:32; Mark 4:31-32; Luke 13:19 
**** Luke 1:26-38 
***** Genesis 17:16, 19, 21; Genesis 18:14 
****** Genesis 18:14; Luke 1:37 
******* Luke 2:19 
******** John 12:24 

Abandoning Our Plans

We do not see what we are offered.  We are standing inside of a grand tale.  It is much larger than we are.  We cannot see how we fit into it.  We cannot even see where we are in it.  And yet we propose to determine our own place in this great drama.  However, the Master Storyteller knows and assigns the role each one of us is to play.  He will tell us, in the midst of our discernment, if we only ask Him.  We will hear Him if we merely listen.  When He tells us, we must choose if we accept the role he offers us.  In this decision, we determine our own destiny, which is inextricably interwoven with that of others.  

So Joseph, the husband of Mary the Mother of Jesus, had to decide.  Earlier this week, when we celebrated the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, we heard in the Gospel reading of the day 

Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.  
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, 
but before they lived together, 
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.  
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, 
yet unwilling to expose her to shame, 
decided to divorce her quietly.  
Such was his intention when, behold, 
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, 
"Joseph, son of David, 
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.  
For it is through the Holy Spirit 
that this child has been conceived in her.  
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, 
because he will save his people from their sins."  
When Joseph awoke, 
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him 
and took his wife into his home.*  

In how he began to relate how the birth of Jesus came to be, it is as if Saint Matthew was saying, "Let me tell you the full story."  Within this story, Saint Joseph had an idea of what he was going to do.  It was his own scheme.  It was not God's plan.  

In our lives, we are living a story larger than we realize.  We have our own plans.  Are our limited conceptions the same as God's boundless immensity?  

Our minds are finite; God is infinite.  God can, and wants to, and does devise and execute plans far greater than what we can ever possibly envision.  

Joseph and Mary were betrothed.  They were engaged to each other.  They were not living together.  She became pregnant.  

When we have committed to a course of action, sometimes does something unexpected happen?  How do we react?  

After Joseph learns that Mary is expecting a child, he devises his strategy.  He is going to divorce her, but quietly, because he doesn't want to disgrace her.  

We come up with our own approach to what unfolds in our lives.  Are we trying to stray from where God wants to lead us?  

God told Joseph that He had intended that Mary had come to be with the child within her.  Through His angel, God told Joseph not to be afraid to take Mary his wife into his home.  He explained to Joseph that the child had been conceived in her through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Joseph was to name Him Jesus, since he was destined to save people from their sins.  
Do we trust God when God tells us not to fear?  Do we rest secure in God?  Do we welcome how the Holy Spirit seeks to work in our lives?  

God seeks to give us gifts.  If humans, as evil as we choose to be, know how to give our children good things, how much more will God give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?**  God wants the best for us.  God wants such good for us, and so loves us that God sent His Son, Jesus, the Messiah, to save us from our sins.***  

If we abandon our own plans, then we can welcome what God has store for us.  If we empty ourselves, then we can be filled with what God wants to give to us.  

This week I've heard from both Larry and Susan, my fellow Catholic Workers here at the Redwood City Catholic Worker House, that when one is discerning one's calling, one does well if one is indifferent.  That is, if you are detached from all vocational possibilities, then you can dispassionately evaluate the courses of action which rest in front of you.  When you're unattached to any particular choice, then your mind is clear enough to be well-disposed to hear and listen to what God is trying to tell you.  

If we stop clinging to our ideas about where we think we are supposed to be, and what we think we are supposed to do, then we are turning onto the road of objectivity.  When we let go, and stop trying to demonstrate our strength, instead admitting we do not know, allowing ourselves to be humbled, then we are given the strength we need.  Then we are able to discern well-reasoned, wise decisions.  

Saint Joseph gave up his plan, which he had formulated without understanding where he stood in God's master plan.  After he had been told what he was to do, he let go of the idea he had had to divorce his wife Mary.  Joseph did as he was told.  Once the angel had told him to take Mary his wife into his home, he did so.  Upon being told to accept Mary as his wife, he offered his own fiat.  He awoke and proclaimed through his actions that it should be done to him as he had been told by the angel.****  

For his obedient submission to the will of God, Saint Joseph was rewarded.  For his acquiescence to the will of God, Saint Joseph became the foster father of the Savior of Humanity, inextricably and intimately linking his destiny with that of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  

Do we cling to our own ideas?  Will we open our hands and let go of our own plans?  If we merely unclench our fists, then we are able to open them to what God wants to hand us.  In what God wants to give to us, we will receive what is far better than anything we can even imagine.  

We do not see what we have been promised, for we cannot see it this side of eternity.  As Saint Paul wrote, we fix our hope on what is not seen.*****  Yet as Saint Paul also wrote, we strive toward this goal.******  We are able to make this progress since The Way we follow is illuminated by the light of faith, as Pope Francis has told us.  And so we are encouraged as we move forward, knowing that we are bound in love as part of a communion of brothers and sisters stretching out over centuries.  We are inspired by the examples of faith our brothers and sisters have provided to us over the centuries.  Encouraged by their witness, we are confident that we too can hear and listen to how God is also calling us to abandon our own plans and turn to Him so we can be who and what He has always intended each of us to be.  

* Matthew 1:1-18, 24 
** Luke 11:13 
*** John 3:16 
**** Luke 1:38 
***** 2 Corinthians 4:18 
****** Philippians 3:14 

Seventy-Seven Times

Our hearts are small; we think of love in limited ways.  God's love is infinite.  Since God is so merciful, God forgives us for our grievous offenses against Him, for what we owe to Him but could never pay to Him.  Yet we hold onto much smaller offenses and hold them against our neighbor.  We must forgive our neighbor if we want God to forgive us.  

And so we hear in today's Gospel reading that 

Peter approached Jesus and asked him,
"Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive him?
As many as seven times?"
Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times 
but seventy-seven times.
That is why the Kingdom of Heaven may be likened to a king
who decided to settle accounts with his servants.
When he began the accounting,
a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.
Since he had no way of paying it back,
his master ordered him to be sold,
along with his wife, his children, and all his property,
in payment of the debt.
At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,
'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.'
Moved with compassion the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him the loan.
When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a much smaller amount.
He seized him and started to choke him, demanding,
'Pay back what you owe.'
Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him,
'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
But he refused.
Instead, he had him put in prison
until he paid back the debt.
Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened,
they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master
and reported the whole affair.
His master summoned him and said to him, 
'You wicked servant!
I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?'
Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers
until he should pay back the whole debt.
So will My Heavenly Father do to you,
unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart."*  

As humans we have limited conceptions of love.  We think we are to forgive our neighbor merely seven times.   

God is infinite, so God loves us infinitely.  When Jesus answers Peter's question, Jesus uses a figure of speech.  Jesus tells Peter that he is to forgive his neighbor not just seven times, but seventy-seven times.  

How do we know that Jesus is using a figure of speech when he tells Saint Peter that he is to forgive his neighbor not just seven times, but seventy-seven times?  Why is it significant that Jesus uses a figure of speech to answer Saint Peter's question?  Jesus follows up on his answer to Saint Peter with a parable.  In the parable, a debtor owed a huge amount to his master.  There was no way he could ever repay it all.  The debtor did not owe ten times a usual amount.  The debtor owed a gigantic sum: the debtor never would be able to repay the debt owed to his master.  

There is no way to completely repay God.  God created us; therefore, we can never pay him back.  There is nothing we can possibly do to completely satisfy this debt: God did something for us far beyond what we could ever do for Him.  

In creating us, God showed us tremendous love, love which we can never repay.  In creating us, God began to show us why all glory, praise and honor is due to Him.  

God created us, yet we sin.  God has immense love for us, yet we show grossly insufficient gratitude to Him.  

As Saint Catherine of Siena related that God had told her, God is infinite goodness.  She added that God explained to her that to sin against God commits an offense which demands infinite satisfaction.  

If God would not forgive us, we would be doomed.  God, in His great mercy, forgives us.  

Accordingly, we are to beg God for mercy.  God will forgive us if we earnestly implore Him to be merciful to us.  

Yet our neighbors commit far lesser offenses against us, and we insist on enslaving our neighbors for what they have done.  Consequently we enslave ourselves.  If we refuse to forgive our neighbor, God will not forgive us.  

Jean Vanier wrote that people escape from the prisons of past hurts as they learn to forgive.  As we learn to forgive, and to let go of the past injuries we have suffered, we are liberated from the pain which has been holding us hostage.  As we relent and forgive our neighbor, we free our neighbor from the anguish and regret they may feel, and from the hurt we inflict on them by failing to forgive them.  

Otherwise, if we refuse to forgive our neighbor, we can end up in prison for a long time with our neighbor.  Consequently the road to forgiveness can be long, with many turns.  Almost certainly we will have to keep forgiving our neighbor, just as we too would like to be repeatedly forgiven.  

I think of two particular homeless people I know.  A little over a month ago, on Valentine's Day, I wrote of how Jocelyn had stuck by her boyfriend Jonny despite his drug use.  Later in the day on Valentine's Day, after I had posted that blog entry, Jonny told me that he had broken up with Jocelyn.  He explained that she was always keeping him up at midnight.  He told me, "I can't live like this; I need to get up in the morning so I can go to work."  Despite their breaking up, a few weeks later I heard that he had been thanking those who bring food, beverages and clothing to Jocelyn when he's not around.  Yesterday I saw Jocelyn and Jonny together just outside their tent where they sleep in the bushes.  Jocelyn and Jonny forgive each other.   

I think of another specific homeless person I know, who again here I'll call "Brendon."  A couple of weeks ago, I had heard that after he had been abusing hard drugs, Brendon entered a drug treatment program.  I saw him about a week ago.  He told me he had gotten high the previous day.  We can judge Brendon and others who are also homeless, who are also addicted to illicit substances.  Or we can listen to them.  We can love them.  

In the last couple of weeks, Brendon also told me, "I've always lived in institutions and in foster homes.  I don't know how to function in society."  If we're busy judging Brendon and others on the fringes of society, our hearts are not open to them.  If we're judging Brendon and others who are marginalized, we're not forgiving them.  If we forgive our neighbor, we can listen to our neighbor.  When we listen to our neighbor, we can understand our neighbor.  When we understand our neighbor, we come to love our neighbor.  As we come to know our neighbor, we come to love our neighbor as ourselves.**    

When we forgive our neighbor, we love our neighbor.  When we choose forgiveness, we let God love our neighbor through us.  When we forgive, we turn to God.  When we forgive, we become love.  

* Matthew 18:21-35 

** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 

Compassionately Loving Neighbors

We show who we are in how we react when we see others suffering.  We declare who we are in what we wear and what we eat.  We proclaim who we are by what we do with the abundant resources at our disposal.  We determine our eternal destiny when we make these choices.  In choosing whether we are compassionate now, we decide where we are going.  We are to be compassionate and merciful toward our neighbor, just as God is compassionate and merciful towards us.  

And so we hear in today's Gospel that Jesus said to the Pharisees 

"There was a rich man 
who dressed in purple garments and fine linen
and dined sumptuously each day.
And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, 
covered with sores,
who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps
that fell from the rich man's table.
Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.
When the poor man died,
he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham.
The rich man also died and was buried,
and from the netherworld, where he was in torment,
he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off
and Lazarus at his side.
And he cried out, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me.
Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water 
and cool my tongue,
for I am suffering torment in these flames.'
Abraham replied, 'My child,
remember that you received what was good during your lifetime
while Lazarus likewise received what was bad;
but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.
Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established
to prevent anyone from crossing
who might wish to go from our side to yours
or from your side to ours.'
He said, 'Then I beg you, father, send him
to my father's house,
for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them,
lest they too come to this place of torment.'
But Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets.
Let them listen to them.'
He said, 'Oh no, father Abraham,
but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
Then Abraham said,
'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be persuaded
if someone should rise from the dead.'"*    

We can go about our day meditating on how we are affecting others or not pondering how we are affecting them.  We decide whether or not we acknowledge the impoverished person standing on the street asking for assistance.  Either we give to such individuals or we do not give to them.  Do we even think about how we affect their lives?  At every moment, we choose whether or not we are going to evaluate how our actions are impacting others.  

Like the rich man in the parable, do we wear fine clothing?  If we do, do we consider how it was made, by whom, and under what conditions?  Was it made by young children?  Was it manufactured by a destitute person, who is living in an underdeveloped country, who is not making enough money to live in safe, clean housing and to eat a nutritionally balanced diet everyday?  Gandhi said, "There is no beauty in the finest cloth if it causes hunger and unhappiness."  If we are not mindful of how the clothing was made that we wear, we might be financially supporting unjust working conditions of extremely poor persons.  We might be turning a blind eye to the plight of impoverished persons as we wear the fine cloth they have sewn in their underpaid labor.  

Similar to the rich man in the parable, do we eat delectable food everyday?  Who helped supply the ingredients in the food we eat?  Who picked the fruits and vegetables we eat?  Were they paid a fair wage for their back-breaking work?  In the companies we patronize, we are indirectly ratifying how they treat their employees.  In the marketplace, we vote with our dollars.  We can express our values in how we spend our cash.  By consciously directing our funds to companies which fairly treat their employees, we can show real, effective concern for our neighbors who are economically struggling.  

Do we too encounter an impoverished person who is languishing in illness?  Do we do anything to help such persons heal?  I think of a doctor I met who volunteers his services here in northern California.  He provides free medical care to homeless people.  These particular indigent persons push their belongings around in shopping carts.  They sleep in tents on sidewalks.  This doctor does not see himself as being above them.  He meets with them.  He sits down with them.  He serves them.  He does what he can to help them to heal.  He sees the sores on their bodies and not only believes that they deserve better than having their sores licked by dogs, as occurred in the parable.  He welcomes them, listens to them and does what he can to remedy their ailments.  He is not ignoring them, but is doing what he can to care for them.  

We too can help hurting people to heal.  When we cross paths with a homeless person, we can apply a soothing medicine to them as we simply acknowledge their presence.  In this easily applied remedy, we restore their dignity to them.  In merely greeting them, we admit that they are human beings who are worthy of our attention.  In simply speaking with them with courtesy, we give them a valuable gift of respect.  

Do we encounter people who would gladly eat their fill from the scraps of food from our tables, as Lazarus would have done with the scraps from the table of the rich man?  Again, we can easily, with almost no effort, hand food to homeless people.  If we know we are going to be walking down particular streets where we likely will pass homeless people, we can plan so that we bring extra food with us to give to them.  On a larger scale, I have happily and joyously witnessed companies here in Silicon Valley donating their food leftovers, from the lunches they provide their employees, to charitable organizations serving needy individuals.  There are many ways for the rich man to share his scraps with the least of those among us.  

Once we die, we will be sent where we deserve to be sent as a result of who we have helped.  After we die, we will go where we deserve to go based on what we have done.  

After death, what we receive will based on what we have given.  If we want to receive, we must give.  Today at Mass, in his homily the priest explained that if we give, then we receive.   

If we give our love to someone else, then we too are recipients of that love.  The Trappist monk Thomas Merton beautifully and eloquently explained that "love can only be kept by being given away."  He wrote that if we truly love others, then their good becomes our good.  Then we truly wish the best for other people.  Then we are compassionate for other persons, because we are so identified with them that we seek our good solely in their well-being.  

When we truly love our neighbor, then when someone, when the poor man at our doorstep, asks that we have pity on him, we most certainly express compassion for such a person in how we care for him.  Truly loving our neighbor, we do not turn a blind eye to the suffering of our neighbor.  

However, after death, will we be asking that pity be had on us?  Will we be asking to be relieved of suffering?  

During our life, what have we received?  During others' lives, what have they received?   

Do we live in luxury without acting out of compassion for those who live without basic necessities such as housing, food, clothing and medical care?  Do we turn away from the agony others are enduring?  If so, we invite eternal torment upon ourselves, the anguish of others that we refuse to alleviate now, while we still can.  

During Mass today, the priest noted that Lenten observances of more intense prayer, fasting and almsgiving are ultimately about stirring us to be more compassionate.  Through undertaking such penitential practices, we are to be led to be more merciful and compassionate toward our neighbor.  During Lent, we are to be moved to act, to ease the suffering of our neighbor.  

Now is the time to be compassionate.  After we die, we will not be able to send someone to warn others, to urge them to love their neighbor as themselves.**  

In the parable, the rich man asked Abraham to send Lazarus back from the dead to warn his brothers that they might have compassion and love their neighbor.  Abraham responded that they have Moses and the prophets, and that they should listen to them.  

The rich man realized that his brothers would not listen to the law of love that Moses delivered to the people.  He also knew that they also would not listen to the message of repentance from sin that the prophets had delivered over centuries.  The rich man replied that if someone from the dead went to them, they would repent.  Abraham told the rich man that if people don't believe Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if someone comes back from the dead.  

I think of the book "90 Minutes In Heaven" and the film based on that book.  In this book and in this film, we hear from a man who died and came back to life.  He explains how, when he was dead, he went to Heaven.  He is only one of the people who have described this journey.  Persons have gone to Heaven and back: people still do not believe.  

Even though we already were given enough in Moses and the prophets, and in Jesus, who is The Word made flesh, suffering and dying for us to save us from our sins, and rising from the dead, still God gives more to us.  Although God had already given us plenty of signs and messages to convince us to believe, God loves us tirelessly.  God will keep trying to convince us to turn to Him.  God is love,*** and so God will keep on loving us forever.  

God loves us infinitely more than we can understand, since God is love, God is infinite, and God loves us infinitely.  God is merciful toward us, and has infinite compassion toward us.  

Thus we are called to be merciful, just as God is merciful to us.****  We are called to be compassionate, just as God is compassionate toward us.  We are called to love our neighbor, just as God loves us.  

* Luke 16:19-31 
** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 
*** 1 John 4:8; 1 John 4:16  
**** Luke 6:36 

Loving Through Humility

We find true, lasting, limitless power in love.  Those who serve become great.  However, if we raise ourselves above others, we will be lowered.  Yet if we lower ourselves, we will be raised up.  As we bow before others, we are empowered to lift others up.  Thus, if we are humble, we will love our neighbor as ourselves.*  

And so in today's Gospel reading, we hear that Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, saying 

The greatest among you must be your servant.  Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.**  

The greatest one among us has served us, and has served us better than anyone else.  Jesus came to serve.***  He taught us The Word in all He said and did, and thus in His great love for us, He showed us that He is The Way, The Truth and The Life.****  He has loved us so much that He was obedient even unto death, death on a cross,***** so that we would be saved from our sins.  

If we too wish to be great, then we too must serve.  A servant is not greater than his master.******  We should not expect to be greater than Jesus.  When hardship befalls us, we should remember that we too are expected to suffer, just as Jesus suffered and died for us.  We are to die to ourselves so we can live for our neighbor, just as Jesus died for us.  

Essentially, we are called to consent to being humbled, just as Jesus gave His assent to His Heavenly Father humbling Him.  We are called to humility.  

Here we are not presented with easy work.  Our egos tend to get in the way.  I am reminded of an interaction someone related to me.  A young woman I know very well described how she was standing in a busy cafe.  A middle-aged woman who appeared impoverished was also standing at the counter in the process of ordering an item.  This older woman kept glancing nervously at a shopping cart loaded with personal items, which was stationed just outside the cafe.  The young woman gestured to the older woman and the merchandise she wanted.  The younger woman altruistically offered, "I'll get that for you."  

The older woman immediately and indignantly rebuffed the younger woman's generous offer, scoffing, "Oh, no, you won't!"  The younger woman was surprised and silently backed away.  The older woman seemed like she was too proud to accept help from someone else.  

Yet if we raise ourselves up, sooner or later we will be humbled.  At some point we will realize that we need others to help us.  The twentieth century Trappist monk Thomas Merton pointed out that "no man is an island."  If we isolate ourselves, we cannot survive.  

Yet if we acknowledge our weakness, we embrace the reality of our own humanity.  When we admit that we need others, we see the true nature of being human.  Jean Vanier, founder of the L'Arche residential communities for intellectually disabled persons, has noted, "If we deny our weakness and the reality of death, if we want to be strong and powerful always, we deny a part of our being, we live an illusion...  To be human is to be bonded together, each with our weaknesses and strengths, because we need each other.  

When we admit our needs, we are humble, since we are seeing ourselves as we really are.  If we acknowledge that we must rely on each other, we touch the reality of life.  

Otherwise we are destined for disaster, to have no peace.  Saint Teresa of Calcutta has explained, "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other."  When we proudly insist on being completely independent of all others, we are setting ourselves up for ruin.  

However, we are set and ready to aid others if we but humble ourselves.  We witness this truth in the lives of many saints over the course of millenia.  Saint Anthony of Egypt, a great saint who was considerably sanctified during his life on earth in the third and fourth centuries, saw in a revelation numerous spiritual snares laid out in front of him.  It seemed that no matter where he would step, he was going to get caught and fall.  He prayed to God, asking Him what could possibly get him through such treacherous terrain.  He was told that with humility, he could successfully traverse such hazardous spiritual landscape.  

Saint Anthony lived for decades as a monk in the Egyptian desert.  He survived on what people brought to him.  Upon his consenting to his being so humbled, God greatly blessed Saint Anthony.  Through him God healed those who came to him.  

Once Saint Anthony had given his assent to being humbled, in effect he had agreed to let God use him as an instrument to heal others in the world, to kindle others' faith in God.  When a person, such as Saint Anthony, or like our Blessed Mother Mary, obediently acquiesces and submits to the will of God, God will utilize that person, helping others through her, since she has become an appropriate vehicle for positive change in the world due to her humility.  

At the time we may view humbling circumstances as embarrassing and demoralizing, but if we have faith in God, in time we come to realize that God will work wonders through such apparent misfortune.  Through our hardships we can come to better understand the difficulties others suffer, and thus we can become better equipped to help them.  

Thus the fifteenth century monk and priest Thomas a Kempis wrote that 

It often happens that after great consolation there comes profound desolation, or troublesome temptation, or bodily unease, or aggravation on the part of men, or loss of friends, or attacks of the enemy, or disturbance of soul, or derision from children or reproof from elders, or harsh correction by superiors.  All these are designed to humble the pride in our hearts, so that we might have compassion on those who are ill as well as on those who are tempted and troubled.  

When calamity strikes, understandably we feel overwhelmed.  However, we are not offered pointless agony when we encounter catastrophes.  If we look by the light of faith, that light by which God seeks to illumine the path before us, we can see that a deeper meaning rests below the surface of the apparent misfortune which has befallen us.  

In the midst of the adversity we face, and the greater understanding we are being given of others' suffering, we are being trained to comprehend others' plight, we are being led to be more compassionate, and thus to better love our neighbor.  How do we respond to such invitations from God?  Do we become angry at God?  Or do we realize that God is inviting us to open our hearts in the midst of trials and tribulations, so that, through intense pain, we can learn to love with greater hearts?  

In effect, when we find ourselves in the midst of humbling circumstances, in how we respond, we are faced with the question on which we will be judged for all of the choices we make in our entire lives.  When we are presented with chances to be humbled amidst afflictions, it really comes down to the question, are we going to choose to love?  

* Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 

** Matthew 23:11-12; Matthew 20:26; Luke 14:11; Luke 18:14  
*** Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45; Luke 22:27; John 13:1-15  

**** John 14:6 

***** Philippians 2:8 

****** John 15:20