OLDER LECTIO DIVINA

Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep

God desires for everyone to come back to him, even those who were never part of the Body of Christ, the Church. In today’s culture, there is a crisis of fallen away Catholics. They are lost sheep, but so are those who never believed. Rejoice, Christ says, not only when a fallen away Catholic comes home but also rejoice when someone who never believed comes to the Church, since they also were lost and now are found. A nonbeliever may have never had a home in the Church, but Jesus still calls nonbelievers his lost sheep as well. We all are his sheep and we all belong to him. We all belong to the one true shepherd, who wills for all of us to be saved. 

PRAY

Dear Lord,

As I aim to be a good witness for you and your kingdom for others, keep me humble. We all need you. My goal in sharing you with others is to simply show them the great nourishment and blessings I’ve received from you, so they can share in them. Like a sheep who has found greener pastures, inspire and teach me how to show people the way to those pastures. Thank you for all you have given me, and show me how to share it with others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.

Holding onto things has become our way of life. Storage unit facilities are being built more than ever before. We have savings accounts, trust accounts, broker accounts, and the list goes on. None of these things are wrong or bad or evil, but there is something better. We can give up all of these things and still be okay. Excessive concern for our possessions will make us lose sight of what is infinite and eternal. Ultimately, renunciation of the treasures of this world is at the heart of the Gospel. Earlier, Jesus used a short analogy of a king going into battle. Whenever a king (or these days, a general) went (or goes) into battle, he knows there is great risk involved. He has to calculate and mitigate the risk the best he can. History has proven though, that “fortune favors the bold”, and if you take no risk you receive no reward–and in fact taking no risk is the greatest risk of all. Okay, I’m done with my litany of cliches. My point is, that living the Gospel is the ultimate risk. It is the ultimate high-stakes game. It’s the boldest wager we can bet because we are putting all we have on the line for a reward we’ve never even really seen. In the end, we don’t even know if the reward will really come to us. But this is the condition for following Jesus. Are you all in?  

PRAY

Dear heavenly Father,

Your message is clear: unless we love you above all else we will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. Oh, how I struggle to put you first. I cannot pray enough to ask for your help in this matter. Through your blessed angels and saints, please grant me the grace I need to pursue only what is true, good, and beautiful; and to stop running from you. You know my heart’s truest and deepest desires better than I do, so it makes the most sense to love you more than I love myself or anyone else. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

When we listen to God, we remember how small we are. Sometimes I take a drive just to remember how big the world is, and how insignificant I am in the large scheme of things. This doesn’t mean I can do whatever I want and it won’t matter, because I have my own soul to tend to. In fact, when I see how big my Father’s world is, my task becomes clear. I then notice that he only expects me to get my own life in order. As St Teresa of Calcutta said, “Sanctify yourself, and you will sanctify the world.” 

PRAY

Dear heavenly Father,

When bombarded by the pressures of the world to be successful in the eyes of my peers and colleagues, it’s easy to lose sight of heaven and the values you cherish. Help me to focus on you and see that you are the only reward worth pursuing in the end. Everything else I pursue should only be a means to you. Then I will learn true humility, as I live for the one in whose presence I must always be humble. Teach me to be humble, because I believe that is the key to happiness in life. In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

“For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last."

It’s not about me. The quicker I notice that, the happier I will be. The sooner I can realize that it doesn’t matter if I get ahead, it doesn’t matter what other people think of me, the better off my day will be. And it does take daily reminders, because there’s this constant fear in the back of my mind that says I’ll be left behind. Being left behind in the race of life is not as bad as being dismissed by Jesus, though. He tells us to store up our treasures in heaven, treasures such as the virtues–because those last while the things the world tells us to chase after really do not. We will be looked down upon for upholding the values Jesus teaches, but we will have this reassurance in our souls that runs deeper than anything the world can give us. It’s that deeper meaning we’re all after, and that’s what Jesus offers.

PRAY

Dear heavenly Father,

When I come to you humbly, you remind me who I am. You remind me of the simple moments when there was just you and me, and I did not care what the world thought. Bring me back to those moments so I can recognize you for who you really are, and so you can recognize where I am from. I don’t want to come from a place of sin anymore. Show me the way back to your kingdom and help me build it up here on earth so more people can proclaim that they come from
there when they reach the gates of heaven. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen

"I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!”

“Jesus!? You want to set the world on fire? What on earth do you mean?” That’s my first thought upon reading this as a responsible adult who is generally opposed to pyromaniacs. But then again, Jesus’ message still burns within me despite my inclination to resist reckless behavior. He is not encouraging reckless abandonment of the world, but he is encouraging abandonment of it. In fact, that seems to be a central theme to the entire gospel: Cast away your concerns for the
earth. “Store up your treasures in heaven,” as we heard in last week’s Gospel. As dramatic and radical as Jesus’ teachings may sound sometimes, he definitely is consistent, nonetheless. Don’t cling to this world. It will pass away. It will go up in flames. All of this will perish. Keep your eyes on heaven. Learn the biblical virtues at any cost: charity, faith, hope, justice, temperance, fortitude, and prudence. These are treasures in heaven. Jesus wishes everything in this world would go up in flames because of how much it all distracts us from these treasures, from love for him.

PRAY

Dear God,

While I struggle to leave this world and all of its pleasures behind, I am encouraged by your message because the world also often disappoints. It promises one thing and then gives something else, or takes away what it gave. You are not like that. You are an abundant font of grace that seeks nothing in return but love and gratitude. Even those things are gifts from you, because you are their ultimate source. So, help me to cast aside everything I treasure in this world, even my loving relationships–because if I do not put you first then even the love I have in those relationships is disordered. I ask for the strength to do your will, because it is so contrary to earthly wisdom.

Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival

In keeping the faith, there is a great deal of waiting involved. We hold vigils to prove our faithfulness as we wait for the Lord to act, for the Lord to return. I’m sorry, but I can’t help but ponder, what if we are wrong? What if Jesus isn’t coming back, and what if a life of faith ends up being all in vain? Blaise Pascal, a philosopher and mathematician during the Enlightenment, and a Christian, asked the same question. His conclusion is known as Pascal’s Wager, which states:

“ Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is.”

Fans of sports teams could wait an entire lifetime for their team to win a championship and never see it happen. Was their hope all in vain? I would say no, of course not. As we wait, we learn what it means to be faithful, hopeful, and patient. We learn how to live with integrity. At the end of our lives, being vigilant in waiting for the Lord will make us into virtuous people because of the very nature of vigilance. God is vigilant in waiting for us to turn to him. By being vigilant as we wait for him, as we wait for anything good, we exhibit one of his qualities.

PRAY

Lord,

Thank you for the hope you give. Help me to be vigilant as I wait for your return. Having faith is not easy. Sometimes I wonder why you make it so difficult. But it’s my own stubbornness that makes it so hard. Teach me to be humble and to see the truth all around me, your truth. Let that truth lead me to the hope of your return, so I may live a life of virtue and vigilance. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. 

Rich in what matters to God.

More and more I am noticing how Sunday Gospels end with a few powerful words that resonate. This week, we are left with these words, “what matters to God.” What riches matter to God? Virtue, holiness, doing good and avoiding evil. What matters to God is the heart, so I ought to work on having a rich heart. What does this mean? Fill it with the things and people I love, and nourish those people and things like the plants and flowers in a garden. Jesus wants me to be happy. He tells me to store up treasures in heaven, because those are the treasures that have deep, lasting qualities which will sustain my happiness longer and not leave me disappointed.  

PRAY

Good teacher,

I ask nothing of you, except for you to teach me more about these treasures of heaven and how to obtain them. I know too little about them, and that’s why the treasures of this world tempt me so much. I know they do not compare to the treasures of heaven, but the treasures of heaven are so hard to notice and appreciate while we are surrounded by things that appeal to the senses. I turn to those things for immediate satisfaction, but they always fall short of completely satisfying. Thank you for reminding me that we are made for something more. Please, show me more of that something more. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen. 

Give us each day our daily bread

We get from prayer what we put into it. If we pray daily, Jesus will give us what we need daily. Also, the connection to the Eucharist here is clear. Does this mean we should go to Mass daily? It wouldn’t hurt. There is probably no better way to pray than by praying with the whole Church in the very presence of Jesus and then actually receiving the Daily Bread from heaven, Christ himself. But “daily bread” in the way it is used in the Lord’s Prayer could also mean our daily needs, since bread is the most staple part of our daily diet. Prayer is one of those daily needs. So by simply praying every day we are helping God sustain us. You may think it is impossible to help God with anything, but we can help him help us. Because he respects our free will, he is not going to come to our aid if we don’t ask him to. The central message of Christ’s instructions regarding prayer is to ask God for help. Just ask and he will provide, but if you don’t ask he will not provide. That is why prayer is so important.

PRAY

Lord,

I want to find you, but so often I look in the wrong places. With your grace, show me how to love you better, how to pray better. Great teacher, I am asking for your guidance and I am confident you will provide it. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

There is a need for only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.

 There is so much truth and so much wisdom in these final sentences that I can only summarize it all. That “one thing”, the “better part” and the fact that it will not be taken from her are the subjects of books that could fill a library. One could say the entire spiritual tradition of the saints comes down to that one thing. Priests and religious have devoted their lives to that “better part”, leaving behind all other parts in their lives. What is that one thing? What is that better part? Some say it’s the presence of God. Others say it’s a relationship with God. Still others say it’s both. Can we be in his presence without having a relationship with him? Can we have a relationship with him without ever being in his presence? Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist has been adored for ages, but many people have a relationship with him without even believing in the Real Presence, do they not?  Here we have Mary in the presence of Jesus, sitting there beside him with the intent to strengthen her relationship. Many of us sit in his presence at church and don’t really work on improving our relationship with him. And some of us try to improve our relationship with him without spending time in his presence. Perhaps that is what Martha was trying to do. She was trying to draw closer to Jesus by serving him, which–in any other circumstance–would be fine, but when Jesus is there with her, the better thing is to just be with him.

Lord God,

Help me to not be a busy-body, but to know when to serve you. Help me also to not be idle in my worship, but to know when it is best to just be in your presence. Your presence is efficacious. It is our life source, the font of goodness and holiness. This will never be taken from us, if we abide in you and you in us. Help us to notice the better part, and to let your presence take precedence in our lives when we pray and when we serve others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.