We win! (Second Week of Lent, Year C)

Less than two months after a killer earthquake snuffed out more than 250,000 lives in Haiti and left an already impoverished country in ruin, yesterday we receive news of yet another even larger quake shattering buildings and claiming lives in Chile. The death toll is sure to rise as a tsunami threatens low-lying regions around the Pacific.

Earthquakes and tsunamis do more than shake the earth; they can also shake our faith. Who will be next? When will the destruction end? Why does God allow these things to happen, in Catholic countries no less?

When I lived in Masan in the early 1980s, we had a mild earthquake, just strong enough to rattle the dishes and shake the bookcase. It was a little frightening and also a faith-filled experience. After all, when the ground beneath your feet starts moving, where do you run? Where can you hide? It’s times like these that either break or strengthen your faith.

Scripture continually calls us to trust in the Lord, but how do you know if you are really trusting in God and not just in your own abilities to survive? You will never know if you really believe in God until your faith is tested. True faith assures you no matter how dark the night becomes or how deadly the way, God will see you safely through every danger and difficulty.

Why? Because we are the reason Jesus came to earth. We are the reason Jesus died on the cross. We are the reason he rose again from the dead. Having paid so great a price for us, God will not easily allow us to be lost, abandoned or forgotten.

Our first reading reminds us, in very gruesome detail, of the covenant between God and Abram through which God made the Jewish people his own. A covenant is a holy contract sealed in blood. In this reading it is the blood of cows and sheep and pigeons. Throughout their history the Jews never forgot that, despite terrible persecutions, they were chosen by God. You could deprive them of liberty, exile them, steal their property, even take their lives, but one thing you could never take from them: their identity. They always know who they are. And they act accordingly.

How many of us have that same conviction? How many of us know who we really are?

We are the new People of God, also sealed in a sacred covenant, this time not in the blood of animals, but in the blood of the only begotten Son of God. We too are the spiritual descendants of Abraham and Sarah, more numerous than the stars of the skies and the sands of the sea.

This knowledge of who we are and of the price paid for our salvation should influence how we behave and what we say and the way we live in the world. We should be influencing society and not the other way around.

St. Paul reminds us that no matter where we live on earth we are citizens of heaven. We should act accordingly.

We have entered into the holy season of Lent to remind ourselves we have on earth no lasting city and to remind us who we are. These forty days give us time to examine just how much society controls or influences our behavior. If you have not yet given up anything for Lent, or have already broken your Lenten sacrifices, so what? Start again today. It’s never to late to renew your citizenship.

Today the people of Chile are being tested. Tomorrow someone else will be. But eventually it will be our turn. That’s life. Now is the time to prepare.

And so on this second Sunday of Lent we read of the Transfiguration of Jesus. Last Sunday’s gospel emphasized Jesus’ humanity. Today we get a glimpse of his divinity. A spark of that glory will remain to get the disciples through the terrible days that lie ahead, when the Son of God, Jesus the Messiah, will be betrayed, arrested, tortured and nailed to a cross to die, executed like a common criminal.

And this glimpse of Christ’s glory also gives us hope in our hour of darkness. It is as if we are all part of a great cosmic story. We each have our personal role to play and our own lines to speak. The story of the Transfiguration at the beginning of Lent allows us for a moment to skip to the end of the story and to take a peek. It reassures us no matter what difficulties or dangers we face today, if we remain faithful, in the end, we win.

The devil can wait...and does! (First Sunday of Lent, Year C)

This confrontation between a very hungry Jesus and a very treacherous devil is one of the most dramatic scenes in the Bible. It is interesting to note how the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness precisely so he could be tempted by the devil.

The first temptation is straight forward. Jesus in hungry; all he need do is change a stone into bread. Simple enough. Who would begrudge him this? (And who would know?) Had Jesus not heard the voice from heaven acknowledging him as God’s son? Surely he had the power. But the other demon Jesus struggled with is in answering WHY Jesus had this power? And more importantly, for WHOM?

This power was for others, especially sinners, and not for himself.

Speaking of power, the devil’s next temptation was to show Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their glory: Egypt, India, China, Korea, the Aztec, perhaps even the power of later empires like Spain, Portugal, England and even the United States. All these the devil promises to give Jesus---and this is the interesting part---because the devil says they all belong to him. An objective look at history shows this as no surprise. Every single empire and kingdom on earth was built on the backs of slaves and survived by crushing all adversaries.

But this was not to be Jesus’ way. His kingdom was to be of free men and women who willingly left all to follow him. He will sooner lay down his own life rather than kill another. In addition, the price the devil asks is too great: “Bow down and worship me.” Idolatry ultimately undermines every kingdom and country on earth, whether it take the form of materialism, money or greed.

For the third temptation, the devil challenges Jesus to jump off the roof of the Temple to prove once and for all he is the Messiah. That would certainly convince people watching down below, especially the chief priests, It would certainly save Jesus from a lot of agony. Literally. And note that the devil himself quotes Scripture! Especially when he wants to distort its meaning and manipulate others. His should serve as a warning when we are too impressed by the way some people can quote the Bible chapter and verse. Very impressive. But what are they quoting it for, to liberate people or enslave them? To control others or free them?

Jesus tells the devil to get lost, knowing that in a few years he would mount the heights of Calvary and from there, the greatest point of weakness he would reveal his greatest power. The last line is telling. The devl departs to await another opportunity.

Jesus’ temptations are not over, just interrupted. On the cross he will be tempted one last time in almost the same words, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!”
Jesus reveals the greatest power comes from submitting to the will of God, no matter how painful this may be. He faced temptations every day, as now do we. But let us never hesitate to call on him who alone has the power to save us and who gave his life to empower us all.

Fasting for life (Friday after Ash Wednesday)

The holy season of Lent encourages us to cultivate a spirit of detachment and mindfulness. Of course, not just any mindfulness and not just any detachment. If you’re like me, you have plenty of mindfulness. Every morning I wake up mindful of the pains in my knee or the ache in my back or the constant ringing in my ears. I’m so mindful of my own problems I become detached all right, detached from our community life and often detached from life itself.

But Lent calls us to be detached from the things of this world in order to become mindful of the needs of our neighbors and the presence of God in this world and in our lives.

Giving things up for Lent has fallen out of favor in recent decades. But fasting and abstinence still have their place. We might be excused due to our age from traditional fasting from meals. But Isaiah shows us the true fasting pleasing to God: to break unjust fetters and share our bread with the hungry and shelter the homeless. There is no statute of limitations on acts of charity.

Giving things up for Lent, in my opinion, has to go beyond giving up harmful things: smoking or drinking or eating too much. Giving up these things have their place and Lord knows I can certainly stand to shed a pound or two---or twenty.

But Lent calls us to sacrifice other things, things that eat up our time and fill our mind. Turning the television or radio on as soon as I wake up in the morning, drinking countless cups of coffee, surfing the internet at every opportunity, reading newspapers and periodicals from morning till night, doing crossword puzzles, Sudoku or jigsaw puzzles might be OK and good in themselves, but done habitually they slowly, insidiously, numb me to life and therefore rob me of life itself.

It’s not the action so much as the routine I need to give up. I can go through my entire day on automatic pilot without so much as a conscious thought as to the flavor, smell or texture of the food I am eating, the aroma of the coffee, the smell of the freshly fallen snow, the coolness of the air on my face, much less the concerns of my fellow Maryknollers here in this house.

This holy season of Lent calls us to decide, not how we will spend the rest of our lives or not even these Forty Days but rather how we will live fully today, which is the only time any of us have in which to live. Each sacrifice, each penance becomes a reminder of how temporary our life is on this earth. Each food or beverage given up makes us mindful of the countless millions around the world for whom fasting is not a choice. And the Eucharist we are about to receive gives us all the strength, courage and grace we need to do something about the injustices in our world.

Above all, this holy season of Lent invites us, through fasting, through abstinence, through prayer and through sacrifice, to be ever mindful of each precious moment of life, the needs of our neighbors and the presence, the love, the mercy of God that surround us.

Marked for death (Ash Wednesday 2010)

As an overly pious high school student, I made it a point each year to go to the morning Mass on Ash Wednesday, just so's I could sport the Catholicity smeared on my forehead all day long. To be sure, this was partly in response to a few not-so-subtle anti-Catholic teachers who said things back then that would surely bring down a lawsuit (if not the wrath of God) if uttered publicly in a classroom today.

Seeing my fellow Catholics so smeared was sobering. The priest had marked us all for death with the words, "Remember man that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return." It was bad enough coming to terms with my own mortality; I didn't want to think about theirs as well.

I don't much care for the diluted formula IMHO used by some of my priestly colleagues still trapped, it seems, in the 1970s: "Repent and believe the Good News."

Oh, it's a noble enough message. But it doesn't say Lent particularly, as we can and should repent and believe all year long. And it certainly avoids any suggestion of death.

Time was when people fixated on the "Last Things": Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell.

Nowadays forget the last three things, it's all we can do just to bring up the idea that we are not here on earth permanently.

But ashes on our forehead are a wake-up call, literally. Our fasting and abstaining from meat today, our abstinance every Friday, and our personal sacrifices during Lent are not to make our lives miserable but rather to help us cultivate detachment and mindfulness. Detachment from things; mindfulness of God, our neighbor and life.

Things are good when they enhance life. Attachments are wonderful when they enliven our spirits and strengthen our souls.

But, speaking from the "I", I can easily go through my daily routine like a mindless robot, eating whatever I want whenever I want and as much as I want without paying so much as a single thought to the taste and texture of the food, much less to the countless millions who at this very moment have no choice but to go without.

Listening to the news every waking moment, constantly posting on Facebook, surfing the internet every chance I get, all these things, while good in themselves, have an insideous way of numbing me to life.

Thus I welcome the yearly reminder that I and none of us are long for this world. Time is precious precisely because it is so temporary. Life on this earth is temporary.

So what am I going to do, not with the rest of my life, not with these 40 days, but with this wonderful gift of life and time I have right now?

Mindfulness of God and my life and the needs of those around me fill me more than the steak dinner and cafe latte I forego.

I give praise and thanks to God for the gift of death which so starkly highlights the beauty and miracle of life.

Blessed curses (6th Sunday Year C)

Every curse contains a blessing, and every blessing a curse. Hardships are temporary, but then so is good fortune. That seems to be the theme of today’s readings. What’s more, the things people normally consider blessings—being well fed, being happy, having people speak well of you—Luke’s gospel calls curses; and the things they call curses—being hungry, being poor, being persecuted—Luke calls blessings.

One role of Scripture is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

Winning the lottery should be a blessing. But two weeks ago a woman in New Jersey won a $7,000 lottery. That seemed like good luck. But on her way to celebrate her win with friends, she was struck by a car and killed.

Missing your commuter train on your way to work seems at first like bad luck. But more than one worker at the World Trade Towers lived to bless their so-called bad luck later that Tuesday, September 11, 2001.

A man misses his flight, bad luck. His friend owns a small plane, good luck. At 25,000 feet, that small plane runs out of gas, bad luck. Both the pilot and he have parachutes, good luck! The man’s parachute fails to open, bad luck. Below he spots a huge haystack, good luck. At the last minute he spots a pitchfork in the haystack. Fortunately the man missed the pitchfork. Unfortunately he also missed the haystack.

This old bromide underscores that our personal story, our adventure, our life doesn’t end until the day we die. Only then can we know if we are truly blessed or cursed. For those of us who put our faith in Christ, all of life becomes a blessing no matter what hardships we may have had to endure.

Being nailed to a cross to die would seem like the epitome of bad luck. Yet we know the story doesn’t end there. The Cross became a blessing. But only if Christ is raised from the dead. As St. Paul tells us in the second reading, if Christ is not raised, than those who died believing in him are the most pitiable of people.

But if Christ is not raised from the dead, than why do we even bother coming to church? If Christ is not raised from the dead, then the Scriptures bear false witness. If Christ is not raised from the dead, than we and all humanity remain ultimately under the curse of death.

But if Christ has been raised, then death has been conquered. And if death has been conquered, than Scripture says we who live and die believing in him will also rise from the dead. If we are ultimately blessed forever, than no matter what misfortunes befall us, we know our final destination is nothing less than eternal life with Christ.

Jesus, avatar of Yahweh

In Hinduism, an avatar (from the Sanskrit word for “descent”) represents a god coming to earth in human form to help out a confused, endangered or wayward humanity. The disguise is necessary, one assumes, so the divine countenance doesn’t freak everybody out. There have been myriads of avatars over the ages, but Lord Krishna is the most famous avatar of Vishnu, the supreme Hindu deity.

In all those colorful pictures of Krishna, especially in the Bhagavad-Gita, blue skin distinguishes him from mere mortals. This clues us in to the divinity hiding behind the human face. My guess is the blue skin of the Na’vi on Pandora was not coincidental.

The movie Avatar affords us an opportunity to take a fresh look at Jesus. Theologians in centuries past wrestled with their understanding of Christ. They came up with the now familiar yet still mind-boggling formulas such as the Word-made-flesh, true God and true man, one in being with the Father. Expressions like “hypostatic union” and “consubstantial with the Father” were their attempts to explain how Jesus had two natures, one human, one divine, yet at the same time was one in being with the Father. Ultimately their terminology remained as inscrutable as the mystery itself.

Now, thanks to the immensely popular movie, people may be ready to accept Jesus as the avatar of Yahweh.

There are, of course, extremely important differences between Jesus and Krishna, let alone the fictional character Jake Scully!

The humans in the movie are not going to Pandora to save the natives but to exploit its resources. Interestingly enough, however, Jake’s avatar ultimately does indeed save the Na’vi from destruction. This captures the dilemma of requiring a savior from “above” but who is nonetheless like us in all things.

Few would argue that the human race continues to be confused, endangered and wayward, no less today than 2,000 years ago. The idea that “no one can see the face of God and live” is as prevalent in Judeo-Christian tradition as it is in Hinduism, so should Yahweh choose to come to earth to save us, a human being would be necessary to save us both from our situation and from seeing God face-to-face.

In the movie, the humans use avatars to protect themselves from the toxic air on Pandora. In order to mix with the native, blue-skinned Na’vi race of felinesque humanoids, people must either wear oxygen masks or enter a genetically altered, hybrid human/Na’vi avatar body. To do this, they lie down in a coffin-like computerized container that monitors their every brain wave and bodily movement. The container then slides into a special chamber, reminiscent of the cardboard coffin rolling into the crematory furnace in the opening scene. Their minds and souls, as it were, pass into their avatars and return to their human bodies at the end of the day, once the session is over.

Like the valiant missionaries of centuries past, Dr. Grace Augustine (get it?) spearheads the Na’vi “inculturation” program. Select humans will live among the natives,look like them, learn their language and culture, and hopefully win their hearts and minds. And as happens with earthbound missioners, “going native” sometimes results in identifying with the people so completely we become one of them, even if we are misunderstood as “betraying our own race.”

In the movie’s last scene Jake Scully, the human, dies and then, through the power of the Deity Eywa, opens his eyes in his erstwhile avatar body. He has successfully gone from inculturation to incarnation. He has passed from death through God to new life.

That last “eye-opening” moment best captures Jesus as Yahweh’s avatar, God come to earth in human form to save us; so identifying with us he totally becomes one with us from the first moment of his conception till his last breath on the Cross. Unlike the avatars in the movie, Jesus doesn’t merely borrow a human body so he can conveniently move among us, going back and forth to his divine Self. Remaining God, he becomes totally human to save our humanity through his humanity.

This truth echoes through the hymn in Philippians 2:6, “Although he was in the form of God, he did not deem equality with God something to be grasped, but rather emptied himself, taking the form of a slave and being born in human likeness.”

The prologue to John’s gospel declares, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God…and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

Jesus himself states, “The Father and I are one” (John 12:30) and “The one who has seen me, has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

With this notion of Jesus as the avatar of Yahweh, I invite you to search the Scriptures yourself to see if this holds true.

As for my using the diving name instead of just saying God, I wanted to emphasize it is very much the Jewish God taking human form in Jesus, whose name “Yahoshua” in Aramaic means “Yahweh saves.” The divine name itself translates “I AM WHO AM.” (Ex. 3:14) Thus, in John’s gospel, Jesus himself invokes the divine name declaring, “Before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58).

While we should not overlook the symbolism of Hometree and the Tree of Souls in Avatar, more important is their Deity, Eywa, arguably an anagram for Yawe(h).

OK, so a case may be made (and in fact has been acknowledged by Hindus centuries ago) that Jesus is the avatar of Yahweh. So what? Well, here’s the kicker: I believe we are called to be avatars of Jesus!

This process begins at Baptism, when we die to our old self, but it requires a true conversion, not just a change of religion or even a change of heart. It demands a total transformation of self into Self until we, like St. Paul, can say, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).

St Paul tells us “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man” (Ephesians 4:23-24) Sexist language notwithstanding, St. Paul admonishes us to allow the grace, the spirit of Christ, to possess us totally and transform us into new creations.

As avatars of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, we truly become the Body of Christ, not just in symbol but in fact. This is not just for our individual or even communal salvation, but for all creation which “groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now…waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons and daughters, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:22-23).

Through Jesus, God saves humanity. Through humanity, Jesus saves all creation. We have our work cut out for us. Open your eyes

Whom shall I send? (Fifth Sunday, Year C)

What do Isaiah, St. Paul and St. Peter have in common? They each had an experience of God that changed their lives.

Isaiah had his vision of God while worshiping in the Holy of Holies inside the Temple in Jerusalem. He describes God seated on a high throne, the train of God’s robes filling the Temple. Clouds of incense rise up and the Temple shakes as angels call out, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts! All the earth is filled with God’s glory!” You might recognize what the angels said, as we use similar words to mark the holiest part of the Mass. They warn us we are about to enter into the very presence of God.

Isaiah’s reaction to seeing God bears noting. He was filled with fear. He thinks he is doomed to die. “Woe is me! I am doomed!” he cries, for no one can look at the face of God and live. He is overcome by his own sense of unworthiness. “I am a man of unclean lips from a people of unclean lips!”

But instead of striking him dead, God sends a seraph angel with tongs to take a red-hot coal from the incense burner and touch Isaiah’s lips to purge away any sin, any evil, any uncleanliness.

“Whom shall I send? Who will be go for us?” God then asks. Purified by fire, Isaiah answers, “Here I am Lord, send me.” In taking away Isaiah’s sin, God also took away his excuses.

Unlike Isaiah, Paul wasn’t worshiping in the Temple when the Risen Christ appeared to him. In fact, he was actually persecuting the Church, arresting Christians and putting them in prison. He believed he was doing the work of God. Paul was so determined to wipe out followers of Christ he even held the cloaks of the men who stoned St. Stephen to death.

After Jesus appeared to him, Paul became conscious of his own unworthiness to be a disciple, much less an apostle, of Christ. But this experience convinced him we are not saved by our own efforts; we are saved by God’s grace. Paul wrote in Romans 5:8 “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” If he, Paul, could experience God’s grace while trying to destroy the Church, than anybody can experience God no matter what they are doing.

And Peter wasn’t even doing God’s when he became aware of Jesus. He wasn’t in the Temple praying; he wasn’t going about fanatically following his interpretation of the Law. He was fishing. He was just doing his job, trying to make a living. He was literally minding his own business. To be sure, he wasn’t having a very good day (or night) fishing. In fact he caught nothing. You might say he was a failure.

Then along comes Jesus, a carpenter, telling him to try one more time, cast out into the deep and lower his nets for a catch. I mean really. What does a carpenter know about fishing? But I guess to humor Jesus who seemed like a well-meaning fellow, Peter and his companions launch their boats again. They lower their nets and so many fish fill them that the nets were in danger of breaking and the boats of sinking.

Peter, like Paul, like Isaiah, is overcome by his unworthiness and asks Jesus to go away. Jesus dismisses Peter’s painful humility and instead calls him to be a fisher of men and women. Use your experience, use your skills to spread the kingdom of God and let your humility constantly remind you it is not your business you are doing but mine.

But Isaiah, Paul and Peter not only experienced God and were overwhelmed by their own unworthiness, they also shared something else: a willingness to do God’s will.

What about you? Today, February 7, 2010 it’s your turn. Have you ever experienced God while at prayer or while sinning or while minding your own business? Whatever you are doing, God is calling you today to get over yourself.

Do you trust that the one who is calling you will give you the strength and grace you’ll need to answer God’s call? Your protestations of sinfulness or unworthiness are futile. God knows who you are. God knows what you did. He calls you anyway. Not because you are worthy. Not because you are holy. But because God loves you. So, are you willing to use your experience, use your talents, use your skills to spread the kingdom of God. God still asks, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”

Who will answer, “Here I am , Lord, send me”?