Month: February 2014

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JESUS LOVES THE DIVORCED

“Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and the woman who divorces her husband and marries another commits adultery.” —Mark 10:11-12

Jesus does not believe in divorce, and He never will (see Heb 13:8). In fact, Jesus hates divorce (Mal 2:16). Of course, this does not mean that He hates those who are divorced. The very reason He hates divorce is because He loves those who are divorced and did not want to see them hurt by divorce.
The Church, as the body of Christ, has always been true to Jesus, the Head of the body, and has opposed divorce. In recent years, some denominations, not in full communion with the Catholic Church, have ignored Jesus’ words forbidding divorce and second marriages. The Catholic Church has recognized that divorce is sometimes not the fault of divorced persons but something imposed on them by their spouses. In this case, those divorced are not rejecting Jesus’ prohibition of divorce but are victims of injustice. The Catholic Church has also realized that not every marriage is a marriage by God’s standards, and the Church’s diocesan tribunals discern such marriage cases carefully and prayerfully. Therefore, the Church may discern that some second marriages are actually the first and only marriages by God’s standards. However, individuals should not discern that for themselves. The Church alone has that responsibility.
Taking into account these clarifications, as Christians we must oppose divorce and second marriages. We must say, do, and love as Jesus does.

Prayer: Father, thank You for the divorced who have unilaterally been faithful to their marriage vows.
Promise: “You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and have seen what the Lord, Who is compassionate and merciful, did in the end.” —Jas 5:11
Praise: Although her husband deserted her with two children, Rita, through God’s grace, remained faithful to him and was able to care for him when he returned to her shortly before his death.

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My soul, rejoice in the Lord!

From the Explanation on Ecclesiastes
by St Gregory of Agrigentum
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Come, eat your bread with joyand drink your wine with a glad heart;for what you do, God has approved beforehand.
This exhortation of Ecclesiastes is very proper if you take its words in their ordinary everyday sense. If we embrace a simple rule of life and let our beliefs be inspired by a sincere faith in God, we should eat our bread with joy and drink our wine with a glad heart. We should not fall into slanderous speech or devote ourselves to devious stratagems; rather, we should direct our thoughts on straight paths and (as far as is practicable) help the poor and destitute with compassion and generosity – that is, dedicate ourselves to the activities that please God himself.
But the same text can be given a spiritual meaning that leads us to higher thoughts. It speaks of the heavenly and mystical bread, which has come down from heaven, bringing life to the world, and to drink a spiritual wine with a cheerful heart, that wine which flowed from the side of the True Vine at the moment of his saving passion. Of this, the Gospel of our salvation says: When Jesus had taken bread and blessed it, he said to his holy disciples and apostles, Take, eat; this is my body which is being broken for you for the forgiveness of sins. In the same way he took the cup and said, Drink from this, all of you: this is my blood, the blood of the new covenant, which will be shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.For whoever eats this bread and drinks this mystical wine enjoys true happiness and rejoices, exclaiming: You have put joy into our hearts.
Moreover, I think this is the bread and this is the wine that is referred to in the book of Proverbs by God’s self-subsistent Wisdom (that is, Christ our Saviour): Come, eat my bread and drink the wine I have mixed for you. Thus he refers to our mystical sharing in the Word. For those worthy to receive this are forever clothed in garments (that is, the works of light) shining as bright as light itself. As the Lord says in the Gospel, Let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. And, indeed, oil will be seen flowing eternally over their heads – the oil that is the Spirit of truth, guarding and preserving them from all the harm of sin.

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MAIN-LINE

“If your foot is your undoing, cut it off!” —Mark 9:45

Jesus commands us to gouge out an eye or cut off a hand or foot under two circumstances. Jesus does not mean for us to literally maim ourselves, but He emphasizes that we should go to great extremes to resist temptations, especially temptations to sin sexually (Mt 5:28-29) or to oppose another’s ministry (Mk 9:39-47).
Most of us are surprised by these emphases because we don’t think an impure glance or a negative reaction to another’s ministry the worst sins imaginable. However, we must lay aside our ideas and take on Jesus’ priorities. We must not even mention or allude to sexual sin. Our “holiness forbids this” (Eph 5:3). In addition, we should never hinder, criticize, or gossip about the ministries of other Christians, even if they are from a different denomination or theological background. We must oppose heresies but always encourage those ministering in the name of Jesus, even if not of our company (Mk 9:38ff). We should be more willing to cut out our tongues and maim our physical bodies than to maim the body of Christ by saying a discouraging word about another Christian ministry.

Prayer: Father, may I maim my physical body before I would maim the body of Christ.
Promise: “God will redeem me from the power of the nether world by receiving me.” —Ps 49:16
Praise: Theresa’s quiet acceptance of her suffering transformed her nursing home.

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The immeasurable depths of God

From the Instructions of
St Columbanus, [ 543 – 615 A.D. ], abbot

Given his indescribable and incomprehensible essence, who will explore the Most High? Who can examine the depths of God? Who will take pride in knowing the infinite God who fills all things and surrounds all things, who pervades all things and transcends all things, who takes possession of all things but is not himself possessed by any thing? The infinite Godwhom no-one has seen as he is? Therefore let no-one try to penetrate the secrets of God, what he was, how he was, who he was. These things cannot be described, examined, explored. Simply – simply but strongly – believe that God is as God was, that God will be as God has always been, for God cannot be changed.God is everywhere. He is immeasurably vast and yet everywhere he is close at hand, as he himself bears witness: I am a God close at hand, and not a God who is distant. It is not a God who is far away that we are seeking, since (if we deserve it) he is within us. For he lives in us as the soul lives in the body – if only we are healthy limbs of his, if we are dead to sin. Then indeed he lives within us, he who has said: And I will live in them and walk among them. If we are worthy for him to be in us then in truth he gives us life, makes us his living limbs. As St Paul says, In him we live and move and have our being.
So who is God? God is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God. Do not demand to know more of God. Those who want to see into the depths must first consider the natural world, for knowledge of the Trinity is rightly compared to knowledge of the depths of the sea: as Ecclesiastes says, And the great depths, who shall fathom them? Just as the depths of the sea are invisible to human sight, so the godhead of the Trinity is beyond human sense and understanding. Thus, I say, if anyone wants to know what he should believe, let him not think that he will understand better through speech than through belief: if he does that, the wisdom of God will be further from him than before.
Therefore, seek the highest knowledge not by words and arguments but by perfect and right action. Not with the tongue, gathering arguments from God-free theories, but by faith, which proceeds from purity and simplicity of heart. If you seek the ineffable by means of argument, it will be further from you than it was before; if you seek it by faith, wisdom will be in her proper place at the gateway to knowledge, and you will see her there, at least in part. Wisdom is in a certain sense attained when you believe in the invisible without first demanding to understand it. God must be believed in as he is, that is, as being invisible; even though he can be partly seen by a pure heart.

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HERE TODAY AND GONE TOMORROW

“You have no idea what kind of life will be yours tomorrow.” —James 4:14

Contrary to Scripture, most of us have many ideas about our lives tomorrow. We don’t expect major changes. We certainly don’t expect to die. We believe we’re in control.
God’s Word disagrees; it bluntly states: “You are a vapor that appears briefly and vanishes. Instead of saying, ‘If the Lord wills it, we shall live to do this or that,’ all you can do is make arrogant and pretentious claims” (Jas 4:14-16). We’re just thinking like everybody else, and God’s Word calls us “arrogant and pretentious.”
The Lord wants us neither to rest on our laurels nor count on the future but live for the present. “Now is the acceptable time! Now is the day of salvation!” (2 Cor 6:2) We’re not taking anything for granted. Life on earth is a gift, every heartbeat a grace. There’s no guarantee that I will be able to finish writing this sentence, or you will be able to finish reading it. Our lives are fragile, precarious, and fleeting. Anything can happen at any time.
“Only in God is my soul at rest; from Him comes my salvation. He only is my Rock and my Salvation, my Stronghold; I shall not be disturbed at all” (Ps 62:2-3).

Prayer: Jesus, in a constantly changing world, You are my Rock, my Fortress, my Refuge (see Ps 18:3).
Promise: “No man who performs a miracle using My name can at the same time speak ill of Me.” —Mk 9:39
Praise: Ronald committed as a young adult to pray daily for the conversion of six of his friends. Three of them converted within a year, two more converted within a decade, and the last one gave his life to Jesus many years later on his deathbed.

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Seek the things that are above

St Jerome’s [ c.347 – 420 A.D. ]commentary on Ecclesiastes

in our zeal and our labour. Even though that is good, until Christ is manifest in our life it is not yet fully good.‘Every man to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and find enjoyment in his toil — this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.’ In comparison with the man who feeds upon his wealth in the gloom of cares and hoards up perishable things with great heaviness of life, he says that man is better who enjoys his present joys. For in one case there is perhaps little pleasure in enjoyment; but in the other there is only a multitude of cares. And he gives the reasons why it is a gift of God to enjoy wealth. Because ‘he will not much remember the days of his life’. If God calls him away in the happiness of his heart, it will not be in sadness, he will not be troubled by anxiety, taken away in happiness and present pleasure. But it is better that spiritual food and spiritual drink should be understood, according to the words of Saint Paul, and to see goodness in all one’s labour, for with great labour and zeal we can behold true goods. And this is our task, that we should rejoice
‘All the toil of a man is for his mouth, yet his spirit is not filled. For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living.’ All, over which men labour in this world, is consumed in the mouth, and, munched by the teeth, it passes down to the stomach to be digested. For the little while that it delights the appetite, it seems to give pleasure while it is held in the mouth. When it has passed to the belly, there ceases to be any difference between sorts of food.
After all this, the soul of the eater is not satisfied; either because it again longs for what it has eaten, and both the wise man and fool cannot live without food, and the poor man seeks for nothing except how he can keep the organism of his pitiful body alive and not die of hunger, or because the soul gains no advantage from the refreshment of the body and food is the same to the wise man and the fool alike and the poor man goes where he can see wealth.
It is better however that we should understand this about the writer of Ecclesiastes who, being learned in the heavenly scriptures, has his labour in his mouth and yet his soul is not satisfied since he always longs to learn. In this matter the wise man has the advantage over the fool, that, when he feels that he is poor (by ‘poor’ we mean the man who is called blessed in the gospel), he hurries to find out those things which pertain to life, and he travels along that narrow, confined path which leads to life, and is poor in evil works, and knows where Christ dwells, who is life.