Take the back seat

Humility is a word that seems to be overlooked in today's society especially in the world of Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.  Temptations to publicize our achievements and even works of charity abound.  I am always amazed at how many charitable sites give a person donating to their cause a chance to tweet or post about their action to their respective followers and the rest of the cyber world.  All this aside the struggle to be humble is quite real. The desire to be recognized for our accomplishments seems to be an ingrained human condition.  It is one that I as individual struggle with daily. Yet we read about the great saints and others who go quietly about their way serving without notice.

Sirach tells us to conduct our affairs with humility in the first reading today. Many of us are able to follow this advice fairly well during our daily interactions and activities, but then the temptation comes along where one is tempted to talk about others in order to project our identity. Thus we take the front seat, elevating ourselves above others.  Oh how this temptation looms strong.  In reading the meditation from today's Magnificat Fr. Cajetan Da Bergamo illustrates the struggle vividly. We strive for goodness and virtue with good intentions. We are making progress we think.  We then fall into the same trap we resolved to avoid.

For myself I this is the ever present reminder that I need the grace of God. Perhaps having the realization of these repetitive faulty actions brings us to God in act of contrition. Being humbled by the knowledge that I am not God and never will be is the first step of humility for myself. Oh how would I like to control my environment and the actions of others shaping them into my perfect sculpture of conformity. But not to be. Over and over again I fall from the so called elevated seat to the back row. As Paul states in Romans 7:19 "I do not do the good that I want, but the evil I do not want." And in Romans 7:24, "Miserable one that I am! Who will deliver me from this mortal body?"
Certainly not myself!

Only through the unfathomable grace of God can I survive for the guilt of repetitive sin and failure to resolve my faults on my own is daunting. Taking the back seat and acknowledging the powerlessness of my human condition is humbling, but this action brings me ever closer to the grace of the one who sent His only Son do die for my sins. Lord, Jesus Christ have mercy on me a sinner.

More on discipline

As I entered church for Mass today, I realized that much of today's Gospel passage correlates with the Olympics.  Athletes training for the ultimate reward, standing on the podium in front of the world after competing against the top participants in their respective event.  We see them on television or on the internet while participating, but do we really know their story. I watched an interview yesterday of the Gold Medal holder for the women's triathlon. I don't readily recall her name as I write this, but she talked of the sacrifice she made to become the medalist and of equal importance she mentioned her husband who was a professional cyclist who took up the slack at home in order for her to reach the pinnacle achievement.

As we are know only a few reach the heights of medaling in the games just as we are told about the few that are able to pass through the gate to heaven in the Gospel reading. This is not deny the hard work that many athletes put into training in order just to get to Olympics. Anyone who has trained for for any competition knows that there are sacrifices to be made both personal and physical. We all would like to be recognized on our areas of competition, but it requires training hours and hours of training. Even then one is not guaranteed success.

Having coached, played and watched sports for years I am quite familiar with over confidence.  In track runners are coached to run all the way through the finish line, not take for granted you have won just because you are in front.  In professional sports we hear of teams who don't take the underdog seriously only to lose the final game because of their brashness and presumption that they are going to win.

In order to reach the proverbial podium, disciplined and structured training must be at the center of our life. Sacrifices have to be made, those of worldly concerns, materialism, money, etc. One can never assume that just having label Christian is enough as well as attending Mass. The training must include a steady diet of true practice of forgiveness, compassion, prayer, attending reconciliation, and works of mercy. Just as the athlete follows a diet in order to attain success, we must as well attend to our spiritual diet. Each competition, in our case this could be the trials of life, serves to strengthen us. No athlete instantly makes it to the Olympics or for that matter any athlete does not make to the highest levels of their sport without trials, pain, and sacrifice. Perhaps we should as well endeavor to be like athletes training in order to attain our personal podium with our fellow travelers in heaven as our audience applauding our success.

The Rewards of Discipline

The past week's Gospel passages paint a stark picture of the consequences of following a worldly life.  Being thrown into the fire with the sounds of gnashing teeth, trying to pass through the eye of the needle,  and taking payment for work done in what seems unfair circumstances. Today we are presented with the image of being left at the door of heaven while assuming entry based on our own beliefs and way of life. It is a narrow gate that we must enter.

Let me paint another picture. Many of us have tried to enter a gate or door with bags in our hands, or carrying packages of luggage.  What becomes of the attempt? Bouncing of walls, sometimes falling, bruising ourselves as we try to squeeze through the gate. or door  I have such a gate that leads from the front to the back of my house. Taking our trash containers through the gate must be done carefully or a person ends up brushing against the stucco wall and sometimes scratching hands as the hands scrape against the wall drawing blood. It can be quite frustrating but with time you learn how to maneuver the containers to pass without incident.  The bags, luggage or in my case the garbage containers we carry through the gate is baggage that must be left behind if we are to follow the path to salvation. Leaving the baggage behind can be painful. Whether it be relationships that are no longer fruitful, addictions, habits that keep us in world of consumption, obsession with work and money, all of which have an ultimate price, our disconnection with God. Discipline gives us hope though.

Discipline is commonly thought of as a negative especially if we look at the Old English meaning which is mortification by scourging of oneself. I particularly gravitate towards the more intellectual derivative of the word, that from Latin, instruction and knowledge. The instruction in the various Gospel passages by Jesus and by Paul in his letters provides hope for those who follow the words of Christ, prophets, and New Testament writers. The larger question is how is this done in our secular world?  For many this is the challenge of discipline. Do I want to carve out time daily for prayer and reflection time or do I have to give up watching a television program, checking my social media accounts, e-mail or even five more minutes of work?  Over many years of wrong turns and mistakes I found that I needed discipline.  The time spent in spiritual reading, reflection and prayer allows me to disconnect from my worldly concerns and listen. It also has provided me a deeper knowledge of my Catholic faith which in itself is rich beyond comprehension.  The rewards of this allow me to live a life more peacefully than I ever thought possible. As Paul states in in Hebrews: 12:11 "all discipline seems a cause for not joy, but pain, yet later brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those trained by it."  Hardships by dropping the baggage as one tries to figure a way through the gate are part of the pain. Bloodied at times by the sacrifice of worldly ways can be disheartening, but the daily passage through the gate brings us closer to our eternal reward.

Fire

If you were born during the 1960's and even the 1970's you are able to remember a few songs that incorporated the word "fire" in it.  From the Door's Light My Fire, The Ohio Players Fire, James Taylor Fire and Rain, to Springsteen's I'm on Fire, and more recently Alicia Keys' hit This Girl is on Fire. These songs primarily detail the passions that people have for one another in some sense. Other songs deal with themes of fire such as one of my favorites, The Talking Heads Burning Down the House.  All great songs I might say and  I'm sure I could compose a playlist of plenty more. But is this fire good?

Fire for those of us living in the Western United States conjures up images of large scale destruction, forests going up in walls of flames, people hurriedly fleeing the approaching inferno, and massive mobilization of resources. And once the blaze is contained and eventually put out blackened hillsides and skeletons of structures are shown on the news as well as interviews with those who lost most of their possessions.

Let us take a look at what happens with the wildfire. Much of what is burned is old growth whether it be trees or brush. Some of the fires themsevles are actually termed firestorms as the heat and wind that is produced by them is beyond comprehension. After the fire the landscape may seem dead, but what is actually happening is a rebirth albeit slow.  Those people that are affected by the tragic loss of life and possessions find a way to carry on.  Eventually the hillsides are filled with fresh vegetation and slowly but surely seedlings can reappear on parched hillsides.

Jesus says to his disciples; "I have come to set the earth on fire." His passion for saving the world can only be describe as all consuming. He uses language that can be disturbing for many as households will be divided as well as families.  My take on this is that he actually us to discard all things that prevent us from being in union with him. Attachments to worldly possessions,  and even people bring a dependency that is unhealthy. Thus we are deterred from the fulfilling God's purpose for us.  That zeal  that we read about in the saints and those that serve the Lord with passion is the Holy Spirit that can be kindled in each of us.  We can be as those fires which begin as a small spark and be transformed.  People who speak of spiritual awakenings can relate to this as they have learned that they must dispose of all unnecessary attachments and truly depend on God for sustenance and life. As with the once charred hillside that suddenly burst with verdant grass,  a new life begins.  Yes, fire can be good.

Afraid of the Unexpected

By Alvesgaspar - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43522641

Over the the last two days the Gospel passages deal with the theme of the unexpected. Little did Peter, James and John know that their journey to the top of the mountain with Jesus would expose them to Moses and Elijah as well as being overcome with the voice talking to them in the clouds. Caught in the unexpected they quite know what to do. Likewise we are warned of the impending coming of the master in today's Gospel, and the consequences of not being prepared.

So what should we make of this?  Perhaps understanding that traveling with Jesus requires a unwavering faith.  The master can arrive at any time therefore we should be ready.  For me this readiness means having an active prayer life which begins as soon as I awake and continues throughout the day with recognition that I am not in control of situations at work, home and other daily encounters, and surrendering the moments of difficulty and culminating with a nightly examen of my activities.  My hope is that I  will be ready, but not at a loss of words such as Peter, James and John.

This journey to preparedness has not been easy. There are moments which life seems to throw a curveball; family illnesses, deaths and conflict, financial challenges, work conflicts, the trials of parenthood, personal issues, all of which bring fear and uncertainty. None of these occasions was expected.  For myself each time I venture into the prediction game or draw a scenario out of how I would like a particular challenge to play out, I either make a mess of it, or after some reflection and prayer I allow the infinite graces of my Master into the situation. I guess this is type of preparedness even though I don't know the outcome.

Of course there are those unexpected moments that we don't have time to reflect, they just happen. It is in the time after that I must allow God into the situation as bad or good as it may seem.  For myself the current events in the world and in our nation bring out much trepidation and anxiety.  Where are we headed as a nation? Will I be financially secure to retire when I want to? What world will my adult children inherit? As a Boy Scout I remember the Scouts motto "Be prepared."  Faithfully I must also adhere to the Gospel message as well to face the daily challenges of this life as well as the afterlife. Be prepared.