Know Patient Love

How do we know God is love*?  God loves because God gives.  God gives us Himself.  

God sent His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.**  His only Son Jesus did not cling to equality with God; rather, Jesus loved us so much He emptied Himself, humbling Himself by becoming human,*** submitting in total obedience to the will of His Heavenly Father.  Jesus humbled Himself even further, living in poverty and eating with social outcasts to bring them The Word that would save them.  Jesus humbled Himself yet further in order to save us, giving Himself up to death, and even more strikingly, death on the Cross.****  

Even though God has given us so much, with ingratitude we do not turn to God.  Yet God is patient with us, since God is love, and love is patient.*****  

When we realize that God has given us so much and that we appreciate God's blessings so little, yet that God is still patient with us, we can come to see that God loves us.  God patiently waits for us.  Turn to God, and know love.  Amen.  

* 1 John 4:8,16 
** John 3:16 
*** Philippians 2:6-7 
**** Philippians 2:8 
***** 1 Corinthians 13:4 

Peace Through Us

Jesus tells us first and foremost to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind.  He tells us second to love our neighbor as ourselves.*  

In these two most important commandments, Jesus directs us to love.  We are to let love flow out of us to God and to our neighbor.  God asks us to open our hearts to the Holy Spirit, to help us to love Him.**  God asks us to consent to Him loving our neighbor through us.  

To love God, I must also love my neighbor.  Anyone who claims to love God but hates his or her neighbor is a liar.***  

To love my neighbor, I must not judge my neighbor.****  If I am judging my neighbor, there is no room in my heart to love my neighbor.   

We judge persons when we see what we do not like in them.  When I encounter thoughts, words and actions I dislike, I am to despise them in myself.  I am to be outraged at the appalling tendencies I notice in myself.  

I believe that the path to salvation is paved with despising my own horrible tendencies and begging God to forgive me out of His great mercy. We receive the infinite gift of God's immense mercy when we turn to look at ourselves, acknowledge our own sinfulness, and implore His mercy.  

Since I prefer to direct my energies toward how I need to improve, rather than on where other people might need to change, last week I made a choice reflecting this aspiration I have.  As I have previously mentioned, Catholic Workers regularly protest outside the facilities of a manufacturer of armaments here in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Last week I was asked to choose the short writings we would read before and after our protest.  

In line with the sentiments I have expressed about trying to focus on how I need to improve, for our brief reading just before the protest, I selected a composition in which the Trappist monk Thomas Merton wrote 

Instead of loving what you think is peace, love other men and love God above all.  And instead of hating the people you think are warmakers, hate the appetites and the disorder in your own soul, which are the causes of war.  If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed--but hate these things in yourself, not in another.  

I strive to love my neighbor, though often I find it challenging, and although often I fail.  We love our neighbor by taking an honest look at ourselves and how we need to improve so we can better love our neighbor.  

Thus I prefer to focus on what I need to do to treat people better than I do.  To help work for peace, we can examine our own thoughts, words and actions.  As Gandhi suggested, "You must be the change you want to see in the world."  

Herein rests the reason why I don't protest more than I do and why I don't write about protesting more than I do.  While I find it important to speak out against injustice, I strongly contend that it is far more appropriate to try to improve myself than it is to point out why others are inappropriately acting. Since I wish to witness to peace, I want God to bring about peace through me.  For God to bring about peace through me, I must open my heart to God so He can transform me and thus create peace in the world, right now, in this very moment.  

Consequently, for our short reading together immediately after the protest, I selected the prayer commonly attributed to Saint Francis, which beseeches God 

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is offense, let me bring pardon.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
Where there is error, let me bring truth.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let me bring your light.
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
O Master, let me not seek as much
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that one receives,
it is in self-forgetting that one finds,
it is in pardoning that one is pardoned,
it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life.  

We can agree to God's plan to be channels of His peace.  We can consent to God bringing peace to the world through us.  

In every little fragment of time, in the present moment God is always extending His hand to us, inviting us to open our hearts to Him.  He is requesting that we assent to His will and open our hearts to Him, and love Him, so that He may enter into our hearts and love our neighbor through us, and thus bring peace into the world through us.  Let us open our hearts to God so He may abide in us,***** love through us and bring us peace.  Amen.  

* Matthew 22:37-39; Mark 12:30-31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Deuteronomy 6:5; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 
** Romans 5:5 
*** 1 John 4:20 
**** Matthew 7:1; Luke 6:37 
***** John 15:7 

Hopefully Arriving Now

We hope for what we do not see.*  We reach for what we cannot grasp.  Now we cannot go to the place we desire,** but we can be there now.  If we open our hearts to you, O God, we can taste the inner sweetness of your goodness, despite the outer bitterness of circumstances in which we find ourselves.  O God, if we but listen with our hearts, we will hear You speaking the Truth of Your love for us in the depths of our hearts.  When we hear the Truth, and embrace the Truth, and know the Truth, it sets us free.***  Liberated from our false ideas that we can rely on ourselves, we are empowered to do all things through You, O God, who strengthens us.****  Sure in the faith that You love us, therefore totally trusting in You, when we thus embrace You, O God, in the deepest recesses of our being now and in every moment regardless of what happens, now we can enter into the eternal life and into the joy You promise to us.  My Lord and my God, may Your will be done, now and always.  Amen.  

* Romans 8:25 
** John 8:21; John 13:33; John 13:36 
*** John 8:32 
**** Philippians 4:13 

Light Has Risen

Light has risen on us; we are no longer in darkness.  When we were in darkness, darkness clouded our vision.  Now, although we are not in darkness, but in light, yet because we mistakenly think we are in darkness, we cannot see.  Due to the darkness we think is around us, we cannot see despite the light which has already risen, which we do not yet recognize.  When we see so narrowly, we cannot see our loved ones when they are not standing before us.  When faith, hope and love permeate our being, then we see our loved ones even when they appear to be gone.  When we have faith, we welcome the Spirit at work in, through and around us, and see the Spirit transform us.  

We hear of these challenges of perception and vision in today's Gospel reading for Easter Sunday.  In this Gospel reading, we hear that 

On the first day of the week,
Mary of Magdala came to the tomb 
early in the morning,
while it was still dark, 
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter 
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, 
"They have taken the Lord from the tomb, 
and we don't know where they put him."
So Peter and the other disciple went out 
and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter 
and arrived at the tomb first; 
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, 
but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him, 
he went into the tomb 
and saw the burial cloths there, 
and the cloth that had covered his head, 
not with the burial cloths 
but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in, 
the one who had arrived at the tomb first, 
and he saw and believed.
For they did not yet understand the Scripture 
that he had to rise from the dead.*  

Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus so early in the morning that it was still dark.  When we are in darkness, we cannot see.  Jesus had just died.  Mary Magdalene thought she was in the midst of a dark time.  When we think we are in darkness, we cannot see.  

Yet Jesus had already risen from the dead.  Mary Magdalene incorrectly thought she was immersed in a dark hour.  Actually, Jesus had dispelled the darkness.  The light had risen.  Yet since Mary Magdalene was convinced that she was in darkness, she did not realize that the light had risen.  

Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb and saw that the huge stone, which had been blocking the entrance to the tomb, had been rolled away.  She went and told Saint Peter, and the other disciple whom Jesus loved, who was Saint John, and told them that they had taken the Lord Jesus.  She did not know where He had been taken, for she did not see Him.  

When we do not see who we love, we think they have gone.  Those we love live in our hearts.  Those we love live through us, in our thoughts and prayers.  We help those we love to live through the words we speak.  In our actions, we can give love to those we love, and let them live through the love we give.  We can honor the memory of those we love by allowing them to live on through us.  

Even though Saint Peter and Saint John saw the empty tomb, they still did not understand the Scripture passages which said that Jesus had to rise from the dead.  They did not realize that the Holy Spirit had raised Jesus from the dead.  

The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us as long as that Spirit dwells in us.**  I can testify to the transformative and healing power of the Holy Spirit.  When I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco, I read the entire Bible: day after day I would read a little of the Bible, so that after months had passed, I had read the whole Bible.  As I did so, I was purged of particular sinful tendencies I had had for decades.  After I had left Morocco, I looked back and I marveled, and was amazed and puzzled by how I had been purified of certain sinful inclinations I had had for so long.  When I lived at the hermitage, I related to one of the wise Camaldolese monks there how I had been rid of these sinful habits I had had.  I shared with him how I wondered at how I had been freed from the chains of slavery to sin which had bound me for so many years.  This sagacious monk pointed out to me that I was liberated from these sinful patterns upon reading the Bible.  He explained to me that I had been cleansed by The Word that God had spoken to me.***  

When we welcome the Word of God into our hearts, miracles happen.  We are transformed.  The Spirit of God flows into and through us, and frees us from what has been enslaving us.  

Jesus came to proclaim liberty to the captives.****  If we simply consent, God will set us free.  If we turn to God with all our hearts, if we open our hearts to what God has to say to us, God will loosen the bonds which have been holding us back.  If we want God to help us to come to Him, we must do our part: we must welcome Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength.*****  When we do so, God transforms us.  

Jesus came to give sight to the blind.******  If, living in utter simplicity, we uncomplicate our lives and simply assent to God, He will show us The Way which gives us the light we need to see as we journey back home to Him.  

If we acquiesce to being humbled by God, He will exalt us.*******  When we agree to the plan God has for us, God abundantly rewards us.  Upon welcoming what God has in store for us, we feel a deep and profound joy.  Here we dwell in the knowledge of who we are and who God is.  Here we have deep peace, and a joy which no one will take away from us.********  This is Heaven.  Let us, then, in this life now, enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and enter into eternal life.  Amen.  

* John 20:1-9 
** Romans 8:11 
*** John 15:3 
**** Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18 
***** Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27 
****** Luke 4:18 
******* Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11; Luke 18:14 
******** John 16:22 

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 

Faith Works Wonders

"Are you doing everything you can?"  Someone asked me that question months ago and it has been echoing in my mind since then.  In October last year, I attended the International Gathering of Catholic Workers, which took place in Nevada.  During the gathering, we participated in workshops on different topics related to our ministries as Catholic Workers.  Over the course of the few days we were together, we also walked in a couple of protests.  

In one of the protests, we went to Creech Air Force Base to protest the use of drones.  When drones are used to attack, those who deploy the drones are able to be further removed from the people who are killed and from the property which is damaged.  I took part in that protest because I want people to be conscious, aware, cognizant of what actions they are choosing to take and to recognize and realize the visible consequences of those acts.  

When we had finished the protest, I was speaking with an unusually cordial, polite law enforcement officer.  He appeared so collected in his demeanor that he seemed almost contemplative in how calmly he spoke.  He also struck me in how he seemed to be listening so attentively to me.  I was having with him the kind of calm, considerate, respectful exchange I envision ideally having with people who are in positions opposite me, that is, when I am conversing with someone who has views markedly different from the ones I hold.  In addition to being surprised by his demeanor and by his listening skills, he also took me off guard by asking me, in the context of whether we were accomplishing what we wanted to do through protesting, "Are you doing everything you can?"  

I replied, "It's a very good question.  In fact, it's a question which each and every one of us should always be asking ourselves."  

Now it looked like it was his turn to be taken off guard.  It seemed that he did not expect me to suggest that he should ponder that same question.  However, in keeping with how seemed to contemplate and process what was being said, I was not at all surprised that he appeared to be considering his own question.  

It is a question for everyone to ask themselves.  Are you doing everything you can?  Are you concerned about the state of the world today?  If so, what are you doing about it?  And, if you are doing something about it, could you also be taking additional actions in addition to what you are already doing?  

It is in this vein that I responded to a recent query from a friend.  She asked, that in the midst of current affairs, if I was considering using certain means at my disposal for the greater good.  I replied that yes, I do intend to do so in some form, since I want to be firing on all cylinders.  That is, I am trying to use every last means at my disposal to have a positive impact on the world right now, given the present state of the world.  

And so, as I have previously indicated, I protest.  However, I do not endorse the use of violence, whether in protests or otherwise.  I am greatly saddened and disturbed, and find unfortunate and distressing the resort to violence in protests this week as well as during protests in years past.  I believe that violence towards others is unjustified, even when we find what others say to be offensive.  If we become hateful, we become what we despise.  Then we become hate.  

In contrast, when we peacefully protest, we seek truth since we are objecting to injustice.  When we seek truth, we love.  To fulfill our duty to our neighbor, we protest and we also take other actions.  

If we care, we will act.  If we love our neighbor, we will take action.  We act, rising up out of contemplation to apply those contemplative fruits for the benefit of both ourselves and our neighbor.  

Most certainly we are to pray.  Aware that we are nothing without God, we are to pray with devoted faith, sure of His great love for us.  We are to petition Him to help us love each other here and now in this lifetime.  

As vital as prayer is, we do not fulfill our duty to God solely through prayer.  Faith without works is dead.*  If we have true faith, we will act to show our love for our neighbor.  

And if you truly love someone, you want to do all you can for that person.  You utilize all the means at your disposal to love that person.  

Since I love my neighbor, I seek truth, which I do when I peacefully protest, to object to injustices done.  I protest to cry out against people's rights being violated.  

In addition to peacefully protesting, I write to my representative in Congress and to my Senators.  If we do not voice our opinions on what policies trouble us, how can we complain if and when those policies are later implemented?  

If we do not do what we can when we can, later we will regret it.  If we do not act now, we lose the time to act, which is now.  

Saint Catherine of Siena has related to us that God told her that at the moment of death, our consciences will accuse us.  We will be faced with what we could have done, but did not do.  We must remember at that critical moment of our existence, that God has immense mercy.  At that crucial point in our existence, we must not despair.  We must call out to God and beg earnestly for mercy, for not having loved Him and our neighbor better than we did.  For we will fall short.  None of us can ever possibly do well enough to have no need of God's mercy.  All of us are sinners. 

I know God is merciful.  As Pope Francis has told us, the name of God is mercy.  God is merciful because God is love.**  God is infinitely merciful, because God is infinitely loving.  Insofar as God is infinitely loving, when we see God, we will be basking in a vast peace and a boundless joy which is infinitely beyond anything we have experienced or ever could experience in this life.  We cannot comprehend how amazing God is.  No one can see the face of God and live.***  When our souls pass out of our bodies, you can call it death, but it is truly eternal life if you are going to Heaven.  I know that what awaits there is remarkable beyond measure.  Therefore, I focus on what is coming.  

I am not saying that you should not worry because everything will be all right.  I am certain that dark times are ahead here on this earth.  You should not worry because you cannot change anything by worrying.  As Jesus asked us, can any of us add a single moment to our lives by worrying?****  So He told us, "Do not worry."*****  On any given day, do what you can.  Then rest.  Rest, and get the proper nourishment and sustenance you need, or else the journey will be too much for you.******  

Rest in a sure and certain peace.  I have a deep peace and an abiding calm in me.  I know what awaits me on the other side of death.  It is infinitely better than anything we can possibly imagine. 

I try to do everything I possibly can to try to help my fellow humans now in this world.  I aim to die as much as possible at peace with what I have done.  Then, at that moment of passing away, I will turn over to God whatever regrets I might have over having offended Him, and I will trust in His mercy.  I rest confident in the gift of this faith God has given to me; I rest secure in the sure hope of the promise of God's great mercy.  

* James 2:17 
** 1 John 4:8; 1 John 4:16  
*** Exodus 19:21, 33:20 
**** Matthew 6:27 
***** Matthew 6:31 
****** 1 Kings 19:7