Hear And Keep

Those who hear God's Word and who do it are blessed.  Persons who accept what they are called to do in each and every moment are blessed.  We are reminded of these truths in today's Gospel, where we hear that 

It happened that as Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, "Blessed the womb that bore You and the breasts that fed You!"  But He replied, "More blessed still are those who hear The Word of God and keep it!"*  

As Saint Augustine has noted, Our Blessed Mother Mary is blessed moreso because she heard The Word of God and kept it, rather than just because she carried Jesus in Her womb.  Our Blessed Mother Mary assented to the will of God that she would conceive through the power of the Holy Spirit, and bear the Son whom she would name Jesus.  In response to the angel Gabriel informing her that this would come to pass, she declared to the angel Gabriel, "Let it happen to me as you have said."**  Our Blessed Mother Mary heard The Word she was to bear, and welcomed Him into her womb, and, more deeply, into her heart.  She was so blessed because she heard the will of God and acquiesced to it.  

In how she lived her life while she walked on this earth, Our Blessed Mother Mary gave us a hint of the message she would come back to give in her apparitions to Saint Jacinta, Saint Francisco, and Servant of God Lucia.  When she appeared to these peasant children in Fatima, Portugal in 1917, she told them that we are called to pray much and make sacrifices, since many souls go to Hell since they have no one to pray for them.  Later Jesus told Lucia that the sacrifices demanded of each of us are the performance of the duties of our state in life.  

In our lives, we are constantly called to do our duties.  As the author of "The Cloud Of Unknowing" notes, we will be called to account for every fraction of time that has been given to us.  We are always being called to attend to the duty of the present moment, as the Jesuit priest Jean-Pierre de Caussade described.  In every little moment, we can make little sacrifices of love of our neighbor, as Saint Therese of Lisieux demonstrated.  

In each little instant of time, the duty of the present moment calls us to perform little acts of love for our neighbor.  Where each one of us happens to be, there we are called to love our neighbor as ourselves, just as Jesus taught us to do.***  Wherever each of us finds ourselves, there we are to love others and thus do the will of God, just as the situation calls us to do.  

For Our Blessed Mother Mary, in the moment when the angel Gabriel announced to her that she would bear the Son whom she would name Jesus, her duty was to give her consent to bear the Son of God in her womb.  In accepting the duty presented to her, she accepted the Son of God not only into her womb, but also into her heart.  She heard The Word proclaimed to her, that she would bear Jesus, and she accepted This Word and carried The Word out.  She was so blessed since she heard The Word of God and submitted to it.  

Those who obey the will of God are blessed.  People who hear The Word of God, and who do what The Word calls them to do, are blessed.  If you wish to be blessed, do what the state of your life calls you to do.  Amen.  

* Luke 11:27-28 
** Luke 1:31-38 
*** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 

Little Becomes Much

We can be convinced that we do nothing of any significance.  It might seem that all of the evidence shows that we are having no effect on another particular person.  

We see so little.  So much there is we do not see.  

What we do is little, yet it can matter so much.  It might seem to matter little, but out of just a little can come so much.  

What we do might matter little to us.  Yet it might matter a great deal to someone else.  

I am not speaking merely in theoretical terms here.  I have seen this truth demonstrated right in front of my very eyes.  

I am thinking of a generous person I know named Amy.  Amy likes to make desserts for people.  Recently Amy made a pie for someone who was turning 43, who said no one had ever made her a dessert for her birthday.  

We can think that we are doing something routine and normal and ordinary and therefore that what we are doing does not matter much.  However, we might find out that what we have done is much more special than we had thought, and gives much more love to a person than she has previously received.  In the little presents we give, we might be extending much more kindness, with much more of a nurturing and caring effect than we realize.  

Unlike people who do not see that little acts of love can have great effects on others, Amy recognizes that every dessert she makes is an opportunity to love her neighbor as herself,* just as Jesus taught us to do.  She bakes treats for people since she seeks to love others.  She seizes little chances to serve her neighbor.  

When we perform little acts of kindness for our neighbor, we follow the little way of Saint Therese of Lisieux, whose feast day we celebrate today.  Saint Therese sought to get to Heaven by making herself little, by making little sacrifices, by showing her love for others in a thousand little ways.  

As people choose to be content with doing little, in the end they might find that actually God is doing much through them.  If people give their assent to being humbled, to becoming less than they have been, they can come to find God doing great things through them.  

When much is accomplished through those who are little, God receives the glory due to Him, since He is performing the great works.  Through the little, God is glorified.  

When God is glorified, praised, and adored, we find the greatness for which we were made.  If you wish to become great, become little.  

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

Dying For Others

July 1941.  Auschwitz.  A prisoner escapes.  In retribution, the Nazis condemn ten prisoners to death.  At roll call, they announce the names of the persons who they will send to their deaths.  One of the ten sentenced to death, Francis Gajowniczek, cries out that he has a wife and children.  Another inmate there at roll call, a Franciscan priest named Maximilian Kolbe, steps forward and says he would like to take the place of Gajowniczek.  

The Nazis agreed to the switch.  Kolbe and the other nine were subjected to forced starvation.  Despite dehydration and starvation, after two weeks Kolbe still had not died.  Kolbe was executed by a lethal injection on August 14, 1941.  

Gajowniczek later described how he could only thank Kolbe with his eyes.  He added that it was the first and the last time such an occurrence transpired at Auschwitz.  

Beauty and warmth and compassion can spring forth in the midst of horror and atrocities.  Kindness can be shown when brutality is all around us.  Love can be offered in reply to hate.  

Often we cannot control what happens to us.  However, we can always choose how we respond. When we are convinced that our freedom has been taken away from us, we can realize that we still have the free will that God has given to us because He loves us so much.  When we ask in disbelief and misunderstanding how God can allow such pain and suffering in the world, we can realize that God loves us so much that He gives us our free will.  God loves us so much that He will not force us.  God loves us so much that He lets us make our own decisions.  

Today as we celebrate the feast day of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, we can be led through the remembrance of the bravery of this saint to carefully consider our own choices.  We might never be given the chance to sacrifice ourselves courageously by physically dying for someone else.  However, in every fleeting moment of time, we can decide to die to ourselves so we can live for our neighbor in little ways.  Over and over again, we can put our neighbor before ourselves as we perform little acts of love for others, as Saint Therese of Lisieux did in her little way.  In every little action we do, we can decide to give away our lives for our neighbor, and thus save the life of our neighbor.  In each and every moment, we can choose to love our neighbor as ourselves,* as Jesus taught us to do.  

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

Loving Buried Treasure

When we love our neighbor, we give to our neighbor.  If we love our neighbor, we store up treasure in Heaven.  As we love, we feel joy.  Energized by the joy we know when we realize that God is love,* we become empowered to let go of all we have.  As we become detached from what we have, and give it out of love, we prepare ourselves to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  

We hear what the Kingdom of Heaven is like in today's Gospel reading.  There we hear that 

Jesus said to his disciples:
"The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,
which a person finds and hides again,
and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant
searching for fine pearls.
When he finds a pearl of great price,
he goes and sells all that he has and buys it."**  

The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure buried in a field.  In Heaven we find what is most valuable.  

When we realize the joy we will have in Heaven, we feel great joy now.  Once we taste merely a tiny morsel of the love of our Heavenly Father which we will feel in Heaven, we are joyous now.  

Feeling the love of our Heavenly Father, we are empowered to do as Jesus says, and go and sell all we have from love of God and our neighbor.  Some people might wonder whether all of us are called to give up everything we have and live with nothing.  We are all called to be completely detached from what we have.  If we are totally unattached to what we own, then we can do as we are called to do, and thus love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength,*** and love our neighbor as ourselves.****  Thus we are called out of love to let go of what we have if our neighbor needs it.  When we can live out such relinquishment of what we possess, we can enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  

We give up all we have to gain Heaven.  If, out of humility, we can become nothing for ourselves, then we can become something of great value to our neighbor.  

When we let go of things which we mistake for ourselves, then we can find our true selves.  As we gradually discover that our true identity rests in giving up ourselves for our neighbor, then we will be able to do as Saint Therese of Lisieux explained she was able to do: then, like her, little by little we are able to sacrifice ourselves more easily and without hesitation.  Bit by bit we can come to realize that what we think we have is not ours alone.  

As we release our hold on what we think is ours, we find we share it with others.  With every little thing, when we loosen our grip on it, we come to gain a grasp of the reality of love that binds us together with our neighbor.  

When we perform little acts of love for our neighbor, we plant seeds of love in our neighbor's heart.  As we act with love, we are sowing love in the world.  In every little loving choice we make, in time we can come to bear a rich harvest of love in our neighbor's heart.  

When we give up all we have from love of our neighbor, especially those amongst us who are most in need, we store up treasure in Heaven.  Upon letting go of what we have had, with our hearts emptied of all we thought we had had, then we can be filled with what God wants to give to us.  Having given up all we have had, then we can follow Jesus.***** 

Jesus told us that where our treasure is, there our hearts will be.******  When we fully give ourselves to our neighbor out of love for our neighbor, we live with transformed hearts: we reside in the hearts of our neighbor, and, residing there, we can love our neighbor as ourselves.  Having planted seeds of love in our neighbor's heart, we can come to find a rich harvest there.  Having given away all we have out of love of our neighbor, we can come to realize that, in the love we find in our neighbor's heart, we have treasure buried in the heart of our neighbor.  Having placed our love in our neighbor's heart, we can find our love abounding there if we cultivate it there.  Those who sow in unrestrained love reap rich rewards.  

Let us reap a rich harvest.  Let us give away what we have, and thus love God and love our neighbor, so we may find buried treasure.  Amen.  

* 1 John 4:8,16 
** Matthew 13:44-46 
*** Deuteronomy 6:5; Deuteronomy 10:12; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27 
**** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 
***** Matthew 19:21; Mark 10:21; Luke 18:22 
****** Matthew 6:21; Luke 12:34 

Presently Loving Others

It turns out I'm going to stay here at the Redwood City Catholic Worker House.  A few months ago the other Catholic Workers here told me they'd been more pleased with my work than when we'd previously spoken months earlier about my work and about whether or not I'd stay here.  Consequently, they said I could keep living and working here long-term.  

Larry, who founded the Redwood City Catholic Worker House dozens of years ago, wondered if I'd been throwing myself more into the work simply because I'd become more comfortable and because I had relaxed.  In our work, we pick up donations, including of food and clothing and toiletries, and people come here to the Catholic Worker House and get what they need.  Apparently I have been immersing myself more in this work, although I haven't been aware of any change in myself.  

Susan noted how I've been connecting with homeless folks and other persons who are especially in need here in Redwood City.  She talked about how homeless folks come to our front porch to get items that are donated and left there, and how they know me.  

Both Larry and Susan were receptive to my continuing to live and work here at the Catholic Worker House.  They expressed how they felt it could be beneficial if I were to stay.  

I've felt and heard the gratitude my homeless friends and my other impoverished friends have shown to us Catholic Workers here.  I enjoy when they give thanks, and I feel their thankfulness is a reward, but their gratitude is not the reason I do this work.  We are to serve our neighbor because we are to love our neighbor as ourselves,* as Jesus has instructed us to do.  

In the love I feel for them, and in their appreciation of our presence and our ministry, I find indications that love is blooming in their hearts.  Love can bloom in our hearts if we welcome every little chance we get to plant little seeds of love in our lives.  Saint Therese of Lisieux was named The Little Flower, for she had this little way of doing little loving acts for others.  In the little acts of love we can strive to perform for others, and in joyous gestures of thanks people give us in return, we can see the fruits of love flowering out of the little seeds of love that have been planted in each others' hearts.  

And so I cannot help but suspect that I am where God wishes me to be.  God calls us to the duty of the present moment.  Thus the Jesuit priest Jean-Pierre de Caussade counsels us to open our hearts to what we are being called to do in the present.  Indeed, when you embrace the duty of the present moment, and love your neighbor who is right in front of you, you please God.  

Sometimes in various ways we can find surprising this duty that has been placed in front of us.  We can become blinded to what God is asking us to do if we become too attached to our own notions of ourselves.  If we are not detached from our own conceptions of ourselves, we are not opening ourselves up to God to allow ourselves to conceive what God wants to bring to birth through us.  

We can come to overvalue realizations we've had about ourselves in the midst of discernment, such that we can unwittingly let such knowledge about ourselves come to dominate us and unduly influence our decisions.  We do well to temper our self-knowledge against the backdrop of our current circumstances, in the context of where we currently find ourselves.  Right now, who are we being asked to love?  As we love our neighbor, we witness the fruits of that love in the joy we feel.  Love and joy are two signs that we are accurately discerning our vocation, which is what God is calling each of us to do.  

We do well to try to cultivate gardens of love in our hearts.  We can evaluate the health of what is growing in our hearts by means of the joy we feel.  

Thus we can check our relying too much on our self-knowledge, and we can prevent ourselves from letting it drive our actions too strongly, by looking at the love and joy in our hearts.  The love and joy in our hearts is threatened by the selfishness that our egos tend to inflict upon ourselves and on others.  We should not discard our self-knowledge, but also we should not let it control our discernment so much that we use it as an excuse to ignore what God is calling us to do right now.  

As I'd mentioned in a previous blog post, I'd come to find that I do better where there is more structure, and when I am specifically directed what to do.  Yet I've also found that we do well when we don't cling rigidly to our expectations of what we think our ministry is supposed to look like.  Yes, I do well with structure and direction; yet even though I know I have these tendencies, I don't have to be closely directed in a highly structured environment.  Yet I should be conscious of these tendencies, and let these insights influence how I structure my day.  If I am obedient to the duty of the present moment, then I can find the direction I crave by lovingly serving my neighbor when she asks me to do so.  

So, in time, I have been coming to discover that I find the direction I seek coming directly from my neighbor.  The Holy Spirit speaks to us through others.  When we love and serve our neighbor, we submit to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  As we embrace the duty to give lovingly what our neighbor needs right now, we obey the will of God.  

And so, submitting to the demands of the present, and obediently acquiescing to what God is asking me to do now, I find the direction I seek.  As I open my heart to give the love that my neighbor requests of me, my day becomes structured by what I find the Holy Spirit asking me, through my neighbor, to do for my neighbor.  

And so I am here.  I do not know how long I will be here.  Indefinitely I will be here.  There is no clear indication that the Holy Spirit is guiding me elsewhere.  In contrast, I feel community and connection and warmth and love with these homeless and other needy people here.  I am grateful to God that I can be with them here.  And so I embrace these lovely opportunities with these people in need right now, who are right in front of me.  Amen.  

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

Littleness Bears Fruit

This morning I looked out my window here at the Catholic Worker House and saw Jacqueline walking down the sidewalk.  She's a homeless woman who came here to the Catholic Worker House a few weeks ago.  

That night nearly a month ago, the doorbell rang.  When a Catholic Worker opened the door, there stood Jacqueline.  She explained that she was by herself.  And then, she added, as she burst into tears and started sobbing, that she didn't know where she was going to stay for the night.  

Although the Catholic Worker answering the door felt like she couldn't do anything to help, she figured she could at least try to calm Jacqueline.  She suggested to Jacqueline that she sit down on our front porch and take some time to rest.  She told Jacqueline that when another Catholic Worker got home in a little while, we could put our heads together to figure out how we could help her.  

Jacqueline sat down on the porch and began to eat something someone had given to her.  Later that evening, I went out to the porch to check on Jacqueline, but she was gone.  

A couple of days ago, when I was out and about here in Redwood City, I saw a woman walking through a parking lot.  Wanting to be friendly, I greeted her.  

She came over to me and her face lit up.  She revealed to me that she was the one who had been so distraught that night on the porch.  Somehow I hadn't recognized her.  Jacqueline expressed much appreciation and gratitude, saying that she had felt supported during her time in need by that Catholic Worker who had answered the door that night.  She updated me on her life, relating that since then, she has started living in a homeless shelter here in Redwood City.  She was beaming as she happily told me about how she is doing.  

Now Jacqueline is finding shelter and security.  That night a few weeks ago, it seemed she was inconsolable, yet in the midst of her trial, she was finding comfort and care: it had seemed that there was little or nothing that could be done to help, yet that Catholic Worker had been soothing her more than initially was apparent.  

There in the little scraps of time which that Catholic Worker had had with her, in the present moment with her, were tiny chances to perform little actions of love for her.  We can brush off opportunities to give little gifts of love to others, since in the duty of the present moment God might be calling us to such minuscule acts of love that we conclude such opportunities are too insignificant to bear substantial fruit.  

Yet in every little chance we get to love our neighbor as ourselves* as Jesus taught us, we are given a chance to plant a little mustard seed for the sake of the Kingdom of God.  If we seize every small chance we have to love our neighbor, if we plant every such tiny little seed of love, much fruit can result for the Kingdom of God.  

Jesus told us if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we could move mountains.**  If we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we will have confidence in God's ability to bear much fruit through our little actions of love in each moment, in every tiny scrap of time.  If we have faith, we can value little fragments of time which "The Cloud of Unknowing" describes, and we can be more attentive to "The Sacrament of the Present Moment" as Jean-Pierre de Caussade urges, and can be well-positioned to perform little acts of love, as Saint Therese of Lisieux related.  

Little acts of love are like little grains of wheat: as long as they remain unused and unplanted, they have little value.  Just as little grains of wheat yield a harvest once they are planted, so it is that little loving actions only yield much spiritual fruit once they are actually carried out.  

Jesus told us that unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains a single grain; yet if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.***  If we but die to the inaccurate assumptions we have about what God calls us to do in the present moment, and instead embrace the person standing in front of us, the microscopic seeds of our miniature acts can bear much fruit in the heart of our neighbor.  Having faith in this approach to life, we can let God move mountains through us, when it seems we are only picking up a grain of sand.  With faith, we become more comfortable with dying to our own ideas about what we are to do, and are freed up to love our neighbor in his time of need.  

When we love our neighbor in his time of need, his fear about surviving dies.  When we love our neighbor, we let God love our neighbor through us, and our neighbor is reassured that he is loved by God and by us, and is given the strength from God to carry onward.  When our neighbor lets the fear in her die, she can live to grow into the person God has always intended her to be; she can see who she is and what she is to do.  

Dying to his fear, our neighbor rises from the death that fear had caused.  Then when we see our neighbor risen from the dead, we do not recognize our neighbor.****  He has grown into the new person God has always intended him to be.  He is living out the new life God has meant for him to live.  We foster and nourish this new life when we die to our misconceptions of what we believe we are being called to do in the current moment.  

By embracing the duty of the present moment, to love our neighbor in every little instant of time, we realize that every small act of love for another can bear much fruit in the heart of that person.  By letting God love others through us, others have the love they need to become who God has always intended them to be.  

* Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 
** Matthew 17:20; Matthew 21:21; Mark 11:23 
*** John 12:24 
**** Luke 24:16; John 21:4 

Little Loving Present

This morning I picked up and dropped off food donations.  When I got home, I was happily surprised to see a few of our friends on our front porch.  

One of them, who I'll call "Betty" here, asked me for a pen and paper so she could exchange contact information with someone I'll call "Jane" here.  Someone I'll call "Christy" asked me for a bag so she could more easily carry the items she had just gotten for free that had been left on our front porch.  

When I had gotten what they had requested, I came back out onto the porch to give them the seemingly insignificant items they wanted.  First I gave a pen to Betty, along with a little pad ornately decorated with colorful flowers and sparkling designs, and told her she could keep it.  Then I said to Christy something like, "And much less impressively, here is this bag."  

Immediately Jane got up and came over to me.  She embraced me.  Right away I could tell she needed comfort.  I rested my head against hers and really tried to soothe her with calm and peace as we hugged.  

Before today I had already known that Jane was homeless.  However, after I saw Jane today, someone told me that all of her possessions had just been stolen.  She had nothing.  In the context of being bereft of all she had had, she was in dire need of tenderness and kindness.  She just needed someone to do merely what they were capable of doing, showing her love.  

We do these things in life we don't even consider.  We do little things we forget.  We don't even think about them, so we wouldn't even think that they matter even if we did think about them.  

Yet tiny little moments can be windows of opportunity for great love to be shown through us. If we open ourselves up to what is happening right in front of us, we can let God love others through us.  

In each tiny fragment of time, we can be present to our neighbor to perform little acts of love for each other.  In this vein, I have been wondering if anyone has ever written about the convergence and intersection of thought amongst "The Story of a Soul" by The Little Flower, that is Saint Therese of Lisieux, and "The Sacrament of the Present Moment" by Jean-Pierre de Caussade, and "The Cloud of Unknowing" by an anonymous medieval author.  

The anonymous author of "The Cloud of Unknowing" wrote of how we are responsible for even fractions of seconds.  Thus, even an instant, although it is so brief, holds much significance, since it holds the potential for great love to be expressed in it.  

Saint Therese of Lisieux wrote of how she would get to Heaven along her little way of serving her neighbor through little loving actions.  She saw her vocation as being one of love expressed in small gestures of love for others.  

The Jesuit priest Jean-Pierre de Caussade, in his book "The Sacrament of the Present Moment," explains that we find our duty to God in the present moment.  He explained that we serve God when we embrace what the present moment requires of us.  
If we are attentive to what the current moment presents to us, then in every microscopic moment, we can realize immense potential to love through seemingly insignificant little acts of charity towards others.  Jesus told us that if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we could move mountains.*  If love that is the size of a mustard seed is in our hearts, we can move mountains with this little love.  The mustard seed of our little loving act may bear much fruit in the heart of the person who receives the love of God that is being shown through us.  If we embrace the duty currently being presented to us, if we agree to love our neighbor** in little ways, even in fleeting instants, we can be witness to much love blooming in the hearts of others.  

Each of our little loving acts can be little flowers.  And from one little action of love, much love can be sown in the heart of another, just as from one little flower, much pollen can spread and germinate and bear much fruit.  

We can become convinced that some actions are insignificant.  How do we know this to be so?  We can assume some acts have no important impact.  How can we be sure this is so?  

Do we think that what we do makes no difference?  Maybe we think it makes no difference to us, but maybe it makes a big difference to someone else.  

* Matthew 17:20; Mark 11:23  
** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 

Mercifully Giving Love

When we open our hearts, we give.  In whether we give, and with how much love, we ourselves determine how much we will receive.  To enable us to love, we are not to judge.  Rather than judge, we are to forgive.  In deciding not to judge, we give.  In choosing not to judge, we are set to receive.  

And so in today's Gospel reading we hear that 

Jesus said to his disciples:

"Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.  
Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, 

packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you."*  

If we judge others, we close our hearts to them and refuse to show them compassion.  In judging others, we are not listening to them.  As we judge others, we are deciding that we are not going to learn about them.  

I recently received a lesson about the importance of not judging others.  I've mentioned before a specific homeless woman who I'll call "Roslyn" again here.  For quite a while now I have seen Roslyn take many bottles of water when water is available to her.  Quite recently she told me that she takes so many water bottles because she has only one kidney.  Without knowing this fact, someone could look at her and conclude that she is greedy, selfish and inconsiderate.  Yet she has a particular need for water in a way that most other people do not.  

There is so much we don't know about other people.  Even if we did know everything there is to know about others, still we would not be in a position to judge others.  It is not our job.  Besides, in this life never will we know everything about others.  

Only Jesus knows everything about each of us.  Jesus knows every one of us better than any of us know anyone else.  Thus Jesus judges us according to The Word He has spoken, according to the law of love which is the rule presiding over all of our thoughts, words and actions.  

And so Saint John of the Cross explained, "In the evening of life, we will be judged on our love."  At the end of our lives, we will be judged by how much we have loved.  Thus we will do well to concern ourselves with how much we are loving, and not preoccupy ourselves with judging others.  

We are in a position to love others: the duty of this hour is to love our neighbor as ourselves.**  It is not our duty to judge our neighbor; we are not positioned to judge others.  

Insofar as we are not in a position to judge others, when we catch ourselves judging others, we can follow the example of Pope Francis.  Today, on the fourth anniversary of his becoming pope, we can recall how Pope Francis once asked, "Who am I to judge?"  

In this vein recently I overheard a conversation which has stayed with me.  I heard an addict, in the midst of relapsing, saying to his friend, "Please don't judge me."  His friend gave a reply something like, "I don't have your problem.  I'm not in your position, so I won't judge you."  

Even if we are facing the same type of difficulty as someone else, still we are not in the exact same set of circumstances as someone else.  Each person brings his or her own experiences to what he or she encounters.  Just because we have overcome a certain obstacle, we are not entitled to judge someone else who is struggling with that same challenge.  Rather than judge someone who is falling prey to adversity that we have successfully weathered, instead we can mercifully forgive that person's failings and thus compassionately love that person.  

Saint Teresa of Calcutta pointed out, "If you judge people, you have no time to love them."  If we judge our neighbor, we are enslaving ourselves to our false ideas of our neighbor, and thus we are not free to love our neighbor.  By succumbing to our inaccurate views of our neighbor, we are closing our hearts to love.  However, when we refuse to let our misperceptions dictate our behavior, then we can open our hearts to love our neighbor.  

If we love our neighbor, then we are not judging our neighbor.  If we do not judge, we will not be judged.  If we give mercy, we will receive mercy.  Saint Therese of Lisieux wrote, "It is the Lord, it is Jesus, Who is my judge. Therefore I will try always to think leniently of others, that He may judge me leniently, or rather not at all, since He says: 'Judge not, and ye shall not be judged.'"

In however we think of our neighbor, in any event we give to our neighbor.  Instead of giving judgment to our neighbor, we can give love to our neighbor.   

According to the measure we give, with that same measure will be given to us.  What do we want to receive?  Considering that, let us give out of our hearts accordingly.  

* Luke 6:36-38 

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

Giving Of Ourselves

At every single instant we are faced with monumental choices.  In the tiny spaces of life we find intersections of various choices before us, choices which appear not to deserve much consideration, yet which have gigantic significance.  With every choice we make, whether it seems tremendous or inconsequential, we decide whether or not we are valuing the opportunities God has given us as his agents to love others.  

We might think that only the decisions which appear to be immense have great impact.  While over the centuries it seems that some of us have made such momentous choices spontaneously, we must not believe that we cannot be useful instruments in the Hand of God for effecting great change if we do not make giant leaps all at once.  God calls us to radically follow Him, in steps both large and small.  

And so earlier this week we heard in the Gospel that 

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up,
knelt down before him, and asked him,
"Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Jesus answered him, "Why do you call me good?
No one is good but God alone.
You know the commandments: You shall not kill;
you shall not commit adultery;
you shall not steal;
you shall not bear false witness;
you shall not defraud;
honor your father and your mother."
He replied and said to him,
"Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth." 
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him,
"You are lacking in one thing.
Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor
and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."
At that statement, his face fell, 
and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples,
"How hard it is for those who have wealth
to enter the Kingdom of God!"
The disciples were amazed at his words.
So Jesus again said to them in reply,
"Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God!
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle
than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God."
They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves,
"Then who can be saved?"
Jesus looked at them and said,
"For men it is impossible, but not for God.

All things are possible for God."*  

The young man went away despondent, for he was very rich.  Perhaps he was visualizing selling everything he had all at once.  

We can become discouraged if we try to imagine doing too much all at once.  The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.  We cover a very long distance a little bit at a time.  

This is the norm.  The vast majority of the time, human beings do not make major changes in the blink of an eye.  

However, when we are willing to humble ourselves, God gives us the grace to perform remarkable deeds.**  In the third century, while he was in church, Saint Anthony of Egypt heard this Gospel passage about the rich young man.  When Saint Anthony heard it, he felt called by God to do as he had just heard, so he went out and sold everything he had.  He gave most of the money to those who were poor, keeping only a small amount for the care of his sister.  He then devoted himself to a life of prayer and asceticism, yet he also healed and advised those who came to him.  

Saint Anthony was enabled to sell everything he had, to give the proceeds to those who were impoverished, and to go and follow Jesus because God had empowered him to do so.  On his own, Saint Anthony would not have been able to renounce himself and follow Jesus.  Since God had given him the grace and the strength to give up all he had, he considered it all worthless,*** and gave it all away for the sake of Jesus and the message of love of God and love of one's neighbor which Jesus preached.  

Rather than huge steps, usually we assent to being humbled bit by bit.  Typically we agree to changes in our lives little by little.  Even Saint Francis of Assisi, a great saint, who ended up living in extreme poverty, gave away everything he had in incremental steps.  

Everyday we are to die little deaths to ourselves so we can live to our neighbor.  God calls us to give of ourselves at every instant; we are to love our neighbor at all times, both in moments which seem crucial and pivotal as well as in those which seem trivial.  

Earlier this week I received another good example of this way to live of treasuring every chance to give away what we have to our neighbor.  Once again I spoke with a particular homeless woman, who I've previously called "Roslyn" here.  Yet again I learned about how often she offers what she has to people who need it.  She has little, yet she consents to God that she may be even further lessened.  She consents to God that she may become less so that she may become more.  She lets herself be given to others, so that her heart may expand in love for others.  

We can give ourselves away to others in every moment.  With every little act we perform, we can give more and more and more of ourselves away to others.  At every instant, we can come to die more and more to ourselves and live more and more to our neighbor.  

Saint Therese of Lisieux, The Little Flower, told us that her little way of getting to Heaven was through performing little acts of love for those around her.  When she was irritated by another nun who made noise handling her rosary while praying, Therese offered up her irritability with this other nun in prayer to Jesus.  Confronted with the little frustrations in life, which may appear to be meaningless to us, we can affect the atmosphere of the world in how we choose to respond to such seemingly unimportant matters.  

In the little decisions we make about how we react to the people around us, we consent to God shaping the world through our choices.  And so, conscious of how we can choose to embrace the will of God at every moment in our lives, we can take courage in our small actions.  We can find encouragement in the little windows of opportunity to love in our lives.  If we make ourselves little enough so that we gladly fit through these windows of seemingly inconsequential opportunities to love, God will work wonders through us.  

As we assent to being humbled by God little by little, God gives us the grace to do His will.  God empowers us to love our neighbor.  God enables us to do what would be impossible without Him.  God helps the little to become great.  God exalts those who allow themselves to be humbled.****  God raises up those who bow down to Him.  God brings those into His Kingdom who live in love.  Let us live in love at every moment, through acts both large and small, and constantly be entering into the Kingdom of God.  

* Mark 10:17-27 
** 1 Peter 5:5; James 4:6 
*** Philippians 3:8 
**** Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11; Luke 18:14 

Simply Love Now

When we live simply, we love God, for then we trust Him.  When we live without a huge surplus, we come to rely on God.  Content with who we are, dependent on God, we come to praise God, for we know that is who we are, people who God created to adore and praise and glorify Him.  Content with what we can do, with how we can serve, we find joy in the little acts of love we can show to our neighbor.  Living in love, we find the joy God has always intended for us.  So we were told in the Gospel reading this past Sunday, in which 

Jesus said to his disciples: 

"No one can serve two masters.  
He will either hate one and love the other, 
or be devoted to one and despise the other.  
You cannot serve God and mammon."  

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, 
what you will eat or drink, 
or about your body, what you will wear.  
Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  
Look at the birds in the sky; 
they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, 
yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  
Are not you more important than they?  
Can any of you by worrying 
add a single moment to your life span?  
Why are you anxious about clothes?  
Learn from the way the wild flowers grow.  
They do not work or spin.  
But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor 
was clothed like one of them.  
If God so clothes the grass of the field, 
which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, 
will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?  
So do not worry and say, 'What are we to eat?'  
or 'What are we to drink?'or 'What are we to wear?'  
All these things the pagans seek.  
Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, 
and all these things will be given you besides.  
Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.  Sufficient for a day is its own evil."*  

We are not to worry about what we are to eat and drink and wear.  Instead, we are to look at the example of simplicity being lived in front of us.  We are to be like the people before us who are grateful to be living with whatever God gives them to eat and drink and wear.  

Although I could refer to various indigent persons at this point, I am thinking of a particular homeless man here in Redwood City.  Here I'll call him "Manuel."  More than once I have heard him softly, politely, meekly ask for food, drink or clothing.  I saw too that he was rewarded for his courtesy with all he had requested.  

He is well aware that God has been calling him to be humble.  Recently Manuel confessed to me that he believes that in his having to wear the particular clothes he wears, that God is calling him to embrace his current circumstances out of humility.  Manuel admits that he struggles with this lesson from God, which he believes God has been persistently presenting to him.  

Recently all of his property was stolen.  He has almost nothing now, but he has been replenishing what he lost.  He is truly living in simplicity, yet involuntarily so.  I do not mean to insinuate that the simplicity in which I aspire to live can be like the simplicity in which he lives.  I am not desperate, but he lives on whatever people are willing to give Him.  God loves all of us through our neighbor, yet often the less one has, the more evident this truth becomes.  

Manuel gratefully accepts what people give him, which is not much, yet he does receive all he needs.  He is not gathering supplies and bringing them back to a safe and secure home.  He sleeps in the bushes.  He is living on whatever God sends his way.  

Yet Manuel gets what he needs.  By how he lives, he shows us that we can totally rely on God.  When we consider that Manuel is getting all of the food and drink and clothing he needs, we realize that we have no reason to worry about whether God will feed us and clothe us.  

Manuel utterly depends on God.  He must turn to God.  God does not want us to live in destitution, but He does want every one of us to be in constant contact with Him.  Insofar as Manuel has to turn to God, he lives in resplendent simplicity.  In his circumstances which seem tragic and disastrous to some, he is blessed to be in a position which inclines him to be habitually in prayer to God, continually petitioning God.  He is like a little wildflower, clothed in complete simplicity, relying totally on God, and thus magnificently adorned as rich people tend not to be.  

God provides for the little flowers of the fields.  God gives us all we need too, if we welcome the light of God which enables us to see clearly what God wants to offer to us.  

God calls us to have faith in Him.  We are not to ask how we will get what we need.  

First we are to seek the righteousness of God.  If we do, everything else will be given to us.  

How can we first seek the Kingdom of God?  How can we act so that we value building the Kingdom of God as being more important than everything else, which will then be given to us?  

We will succeed as God's servants even if we are only like little flowers.  We will thrive if we emulate those who live in simplicity.  Just as we can benefit by living in material simplicity, so too we can benefit through simplifying our desires.  Like becoming little in how we view possessions, we can also become little in our actions.  In seeking to love our neighbor as ourselves,** we are to perform little acts of love for our neighbor.  

We are to put first before all else simply loving our neighbor.  God calls us to be simple in our desires.  We are not to worry about ourselves; we are to focus our attention on loving our neighbor as ourselves.   

Saint Therese of Lisieux spoke to this simplicity of spirit.  She addressed this simplicity of desire, and wrote about how we will get to Heaven by simply loving our neighbor, whether we seem to be small or great.  

Saint Therese, also known as "The Little Flower," since she saw herself as a little flower, mused upon why some saints were towering giants, while other saints were simple little servants.  She realized that just as a meadow has many different types of flowers, so the Kingdom of Heaven is populated with many different kinds of saints.  The strikingly deep red rose does not deprive the lowly little daisy of its modest charm.  And both are infinitely loved by Jesus.  

Seeing herself as a little flower, Saint Therese spoke of her little way of getting to Heaven by doing little acts of love for her neighbor.  She knew that this little way would get her to Heaven.   She insisted, "My way is a sure one."  

We are not to worry that we must be doing huge grand works.  We are to be content to do what we can.  God calls us simply to love the person directly in front of us.  

We too can be clothed in abundant simplicity.  If we consent, God will clothe us in brilliant majesty.  

This way is sure.  If we have so little faith that we have no confidence in God, we will not believe in the surety of this way.  Yet if we have the little faith of the sure way, then in confidence we will believe The Truth that This Way is The Life.***  

God calls us to love our neighbor.  If we truly, deeply love our neighbor, we will feel true, profound, eternal joy right now.  

If we have the sure trust in God which He wills us to have, we will have the joy that is yet to come, and this is a sure hope we have in His promise.  Yet if we trust God with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul, and with all our strength now, we will start to have some of this joy now, while we are still in this life.  

This eternal joy is the joy that is born of everlasting love.  We can be in this joy right now when we totally love the person right in front of us, when we completely depend on God, when we love God with all we have right now.   

* Matthew 6:24-34 
** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 
*** John 14:6