Poor Wording

It’s surprising to hear good people make bitter complaints against the poor.

They’ll make comments about the lazy, irresponsible, drugged-out, undeserving poor.

They’ll spread messages and slogans on Internet sites like Facebook.

Some of those slogans have a touch of superficial cleverness or humor.

But when you stop to think about the message, you realize that it's flawed and mean.

Probably the work of some demagogue, playing on our worst instincts.

One relatively mild example would be a posting that’s going around now.

We keep hearing that Social Security is running out of money.

How come we never hear that Welfare is running out of money?

What’s interesting is the first group worked for its money and the second group didn’t.

There is a little cleverness there.

But very little truth.

Welfare is running out of money!

We’ve cut funds for school lunches, food stamps, housing, Medicaid and more.

But even worse than the untruth is the claim that those who need help don’t deserve it.

We’re all justifiably frustrated by the waste and inefficiency and abuse in the welfare system.

That’s probably what leads good people to send bad messages.

Without giving them closer analysis.

Our complaints and anger should be clearly directed against the poor system, not the poor people.

A very large portion of those poor people are totally innocent children.

Many others are good honest people who work hard but earn little money.

Some are frauds and cheats who are playing the system.

Jesus tells us that, of all the commandments and laws,

The second greatest commandment is that we love our neighbor as ourselves.

During Lent we’re specially called to almsgiving.

We’re called to notice our poor neighbors, and to do something to help them.

Is it enough that we pay taxes to help the government provide services?

Is it enough that we contribute to charities?

We could also get involved in some direct service to the poor.

We could also get involved in efforts to make the welfare system better.

Make it more effective, ferret out the cheats.

                                             

And what about those cheats?

They’re our neighbors too.

And, if we love them as we love ourselves, don’t they deserve some help or rehabilitation?

In our Lenten prayer and self-examination, we might each ask:

What more should I be doing?

Friday, Third Week of Lent

Mk 12:28-34           Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Transporter

Here we are, at the mid-point of Lent.

Preparing for the Good Friday Passion and the Easter Resurrection.

We’re looking to the end of Jesus’ time on earth.

Of course, in spirit, Jesus always has been and always will be on earth.

The earth, and everything else that is, was created through his Spirit.

His Spirit was present in his creation from the beginning.

His Spirit is still present in all creation, and especially in each human.

Dwelling within us—he still walks the earth today.

But there was that brief span of thirty three years or so.

When Jesus, as a distinct, physical, human individual, moved among us.

Today, we shift our focus from the end of those thirty three years to the beginning.

By tradition, we celebrate Jesus’ birth on December 25^th.

And here we are at March 25, exactly nine months before that birthday.

So this is the day we celebrate Jesus’ human entry into the world.

The beginning of Mary’s pregnancy.

We mark this day among the highest order of Holy Days.

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation if the Lord.

Gabriel comes to Mary and announces God’s plan.

And Mary bravely and faithfully agrees to accept her role in that plan.

During Lent we’re specially called to fasting, prayer and almsgiving.

And this Solemnity today opens so many avenues to prayer.

Our Gospel explains the beginning of that simple, powerful prayer.

The prayer that was, for many of us, one of our first experiences in learning how to pray.

Gabriel’s Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

This Solemnity’s falling within Lent gives us great food for contemplative and meditative prayer.

It draws together recollections and ideas and questions about Jesus’ time as a human on earth.

Our shift from focus on the end to a brief focus on the beginning

Opens up all the span in between as well.

The scene of the Annunciation is an excellent place to begin a contemplation.

Placing ourselves right in that scene with Mary and Gabriel.

Where is Mary when Gabriel comes to her?

In her room?  In the garden?  Is it a setting like our mural here?  Or some other artist’s vision?

Is it light or dark?  Warm or chilly?

What is Mary wearing?

Does she see Gabriel, or only hear his voice?

Are there long pauses in the conversation?

How is Mary managing to process this shocking information?

As we go deeper into that scene—deeper into our contemplation—we can be transported.

We can follow wherever it leads us; and then just sit and listen.

We may or may not hear anything from Gabriel, but we’ll hear something from God himself.

The Annunciation of the Lord

Lk 1:26-38           Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Drink Up

During my annual physical, my doctor was going through his checklist.

He asked if I was having any problems with eating.

I said no, but maybe I don’t drink enough water.

According to articles I’d read, I should be drinking a hundred ounces a day.

And I probably drink fewer than eight.

I should be taking in more than ten times as much as I do.

He said, don’t worry about it.

Your body has a built-in mechanism to ensure that it gets the right amount of water.

It’s called thirst.

When’s the last time you experienced more than a mild thirst?

It’s pretty rare for us today, in America, to have a strong, prolonged thirst.

All variety of drinks are right at hand for our immediate satisfaction.

Coffee, soft drinks, beer, juice, tea, milk, energy drinks.

We’re seldom more than a few steps away from a faucet, a water fountain, or water bottle.

There may be times when we’re thirsty.

Some medical conditions may keep us thirsty.

Or we might have some brief, temporary thirst while traveling.

Or during some medical preparation or procedure.

There might be other times.

But, for the vast majority of us today, serious thirst is a rare experience.

Water for drinking hasn’t always been so accessible.

People died of thirst.

They still do in some parts of the world.

The Jews in the desert knew thirst.

In our first reading they grumble against Moses.

Why’d you bring us out here to die of thirst in the desert?

We could have died a lot more comfortably back home in Egypt.

[A touch of Jewish dry humor.]

Thirst was probably still familiar to Jesus and the Samaritan woman.

When they met at Jacob’s well, Jesus was tired from his journey.

The woman was making her routine trip to fetch water.

Jesus said Give me a drink.

But she didn’t draw any water for him.

Instead, she gave him a verbal jab about the rift between his people and hers.

And that led them into a remarkable conversation.

A conversation in which:

Jesus offers her a spring of living water welling up to eternal life.

He demonstrates that he’s a prophet.

And explains that Jews and Samaritans will someday worship God together.

That The Father [actively] seeks [a united] people to worship him.

He goes so far as to assure the woman that he is the Messiah.

Some scholars say that in using the words I am, he was actually stating that he was God.

There at the well, who was thirsty for what? 

Throughout the ages the idea of thirst has been applied to more than just physical thirst for water.  The Oxford Dictionary defines thirst as A strong desire for something.

We thirst for freedom, justice, knowledge, understanding, and love.

And when we find a source, we drink it in.

The woman didn’t say she was thirsty.

Maybe she didn’t even realize that she was.

But as they talked, her thirst for knowledge and understanding grew.

She drank in all Jesus had to tell her.

And then ran off to tell the townspeople about him.

Jesus didn’t get the drink of water he asked for.

But he got a drink of what he wanted even more.

His greater desire was his thirst to do the will of the Father.

To spread his truth.

To draw the Gentiles to himself and the Father.

To bring unity.

And he succeeded in drawing in the woman and many of the townspeople.

It was their drinking he wanted most, not his own.

Their drinking in the truth and knowledge of who he was.

And of what the Father wanted from them.

In a few weeks when we hear the reading of the Passion,

We’ll again hear Jesus call out, I thirst!

Even as he hung upon the cross.

And he’s still thirsting—for the fruits of his mission.

We can help quench his thirst and, at the same time, our own.

Jesus is waiting for us just as he waited for the woman at the well.

Waiting for us to enter into a conversation with him.

To bring our questions to him.

Waiting to give us greater understanding and knowledge.

Waiting to assure us that he is who he said he is.

And that he truly does have living water and eternal life to give us.

In these remaining weeks of Lent,

Let’s reacquaint ourselves with the sensation of thirst.

Let’s take that thirst to God in prayer.

And then listen to him, and drink in all he has to tell us.

With a sharper alertness to our spiritual thirst,

We could start drinking in more than ten times as much as we have been.

Third Sunday of Lent

Jn 4:5-42           Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Doin' the Best That We Can

O Lord, it’s hard to be humble.

When you’re perfect in every way.

I can’t wait to look in the mirror.

‘Cause I get better lookin’ each day.

To know me is to love me.

I must be the best in the land.

O Lord it’s hard to be humble.

But I’m doin’ the best that I can.

That old country song always pops into my head when I hear today’s Gospel passage.

Mac Davis wrote those words, and a dozen other singers recorded them.

Of course, Mac was being a bit playful and tongue-in-cheek with those lyrics.

But deep below that exaggerated, oblivious pride, there’s a layer of truth.

Most of us do have a pretty high opinion of ourselves.

If we’re managing to get by socially,

That’s a sign we’ve probably overcome our most blatant self-centeredness.

But at some level, we still feel we’re entitled to all the good things we have.

At some level, we still feel we deserve full credit for all the talents and gifts we have.

At some level, we still feel our ideas and beliefs count more than everyone else’s.

At some level, we like honors and greetings and titles just as much as the Pharisees.

The song does get one thing right.

It is hard to be humble.

Humility is recognizing and acknowledging the truth regarding our talents.

And the truth regarding our own importance versus the importance of others.

We don’t have to deny or bury our talents.

God gave them to us.

And he gave us, and keeps giving us, opportunities to develop them and use them.

Use them in service to others.

Lent is a special annual opportunity to take a look at our virtual reality.

A look at the reality of whether we’re growing in virtue.

A time to make an honest assessment of our progress in developing humility.

A time to ensure that we really are …

Doin’ the best that we can.

Tuesday, 2nd Week of Lent

Mt 23:1-12           Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Trespassers

Not long ago I read an article on the brain and emotions.

It said that science formerly held that the brain has two very separate regions.

One primal area that controls emotions, like fear, anger, sadness and joy.

And another more evolved area that controls intellect and reason.

What studies in the past twenty years have shown is that those brain areas aren’t so separate.

Pathways exist that let the intellect area communicate with the primal area.

Activity in these areas and pathways can now be studied with MRIs and other technology.

And certain activities and exercises in the intellect area can actually expand the pathways.

And increase the control of the intellect over the primal.

That control could lead to major breakthroughs in treatment of depression and other conditions.

At some levels, this understanding is not new.

People have always understood that we have some ability to control our emotions.

Even to shape our attitudes.

Repeated exercise in performing good acts, and thinking good thoughts can build good habits.

And good habits can become virtues.

Just as bad acts and bad thoughts can become vices.

I think Jesus had this in mind when he taught us how to pray.

The Lord’s Prayer is a series of petitions.

All the things that Jesus said we should ask for to enjoy our lives:

For everyone to join together in worshiping God

For the Kingdom of God to take shape on earth

For everyone to follow God’s will

For our daily needs to be met

For forgiveness of our sins

For freedom from temptation

And for protection from evil.

Those of us who pray clearly recognize all those things as things we need and want.

But one phrase in the Lord’s Prayer doesn’t seem to fit.

Why does Jesus have us saying:

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us?

Why should we ask to have a condition or limitation placed on the forgiveness we receive?

We would really like to say: Forgive us our trespasses—Period.

In our Gospel, Jesus elaborates on how important it is that we forgive others.

He tells us that the forgiveness we receive is indeed dependent upon the forgiveness we grant.

That condition and limitation is a fact-of-life, and we need to recognize it and respond to it.

Intellectually, we know the benefits of forgiving others.

We know that harboring grudges is damaging to our own health and well-being.

We know it’s damaging to our families, to society, to our own peace and to world peace.

Jesus added that clause to the one prayer he gave us, because he knows how our brains work.

The mental exercise of repeating that phrase reinforces the message to our intellect.

The repetition also widens those pathways to our primal emotions of anger and hurt.

And helps us keep control and make the intellectual choice.

The choice God wants us to make.

The choice God rewards us for making.

The choice to forgive.

Tuesday, 1st Week of Lent

Mt 6:7-15           Read this Scripture @usccb.org