the Price of Souls: Never Give Up

There's some old-fashioned Middle Eastern haggling going in today's Old Testament Reading (Genesis 18:20-32) between Abraham and God. The subject is Sodom and Gomorrah, and the price of souls is.... well.... the subject of negotiation. Listen To Abraham's approach:

"Then Abraham drew nearer to him and said: "Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty? Suppose there were fifty innocent people in the city; would you wipe out the place, rather than spare it for the sake of the fifty innocent people within it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to make the innocent die with the guilty, so that the innocent and the guilty would be treated alike! Should not the judge of all the world act with justice?"

The LORD replied, "If I find fifty innocent people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake." Abraham spoke up again: "See how I am presuming to speak to my Lord, though I am but dust and ashes! What if there are five less than fifty innocent people? Will you destroy the whole city because of those five?" "I will not destroy it," he answered, "if I find forty-five there."

But Abraham persisted, saying, "What if only forty are found there?" He replied, "I will forebear doing it for the sake of the forty." Then he said, "Let not my Lord grow impatient if I go on. What if only thirty are found there?" He replied, "I will forebear doing it if I can find but thirty there."

Still he went on, "Since I have thus dared to speak to my Lord, what if there are no more than twenty?" "I will not destroy it," he answered, "for the sake of the twenty." But he still persisted: "Please, let not my Lord grow angry if I speak up this last time. What if there are at least ten there?" "For the sake of those ten," he replied, "I will not destroy it."

Set aside the fact that Sodom and Gomorrah ended up being destroyed anyway because, according to the story, only Lot and his family were righteous. Set aside, too, the fact that our concepts of God have matured in the four millenia since Abraham struck this bargaining pose with the Almighty.

There is still something quite admirable in Abraham's intercessory persistence. A similar merciful winsomeness adheres to the persistent friend in today's gospel parable (Luke 11:1-13). Jesus commends his persitence in asking for help:

"I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence. "

Thank heaven that God NEVER gives up on us. And thank God that there are these kinds of people, ...irksome, troubling, nagginhg intercessors who continue to pray for faithless relatives and friends when everyone else has folded up their tents and gone home.

They are like dripping water faucets, like recurring taps on the divine Shoulder. But they get the job done. I know at least two families who are facing this type of situation with family members right now.... dealing with those who are recalcitrant in regard to self-care, and in regard to their responsibilities to God and others. But my friends keep on praying and hoping that somehow, some way God will intervene and change their family members' lives.

These hapless, hopeful intercessors are reflections of the Divine Mercy, which never asks whether it should persist in love. He only asks that we continue to respond, both on our own and on behalf of others, "for us and for the whole world."

Weeds and Wheat

Another small but (to me) amazing triple confluence in the river of Life.

I went to Mass this morning and listened to the parable of the wheat and the tares.

Mt 13,24-30. He proposed another parable to them. "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.

The slaves of the householder came to him and said, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?' He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' His slaves said to him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'

He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, "First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

Then I went home to tackle my appointed semi-annual task- the pulling of weeds from the cracks in the gutter on the street in front of my house.

A few minutes ago I also read the July 28th reading from the Rule of Benedict: Chapter 48- On the Daily Manual Labor. It reads in part:

And if the circumstances of the place or their poverty
should require that they themselves
do the work of gathering the harvest,
let them not be discontented;
for then are they truly monastics
when they live by the labor of their hands,
as did our Fathers and the Apostles.
Let all things be done with moderation, however,
for the sake of the faint-hearted.

Ok, so weed pulling isn't exactly harvest gathering.

But it IS hard, back-breaking and sweaty work. Labora with a capital L. However, even if I could afford it I'm not sure I would pay someone to do this particular piece of yardwork for me. There is something very salutary about working hard, and then looking back down the road and seeing the clean and visible seams of asphalt which until this morning had been spotted over with weeds in various stages of ugly development.

But as good as the labora of weeding feels to the gardening soul, we still hear a Gospel warning about our weeding work in the Kingdom.

In a word. Don't do it.

The householder says 'No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, "First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

It's not ours to try and practice unnatural selection either in the Church or out in the world, not even in the garden plot of our own lives.

Why is that?

The householder of the parable is simply reflecting the Divine Father's merciful heart. We are told over and over again in Scripture that God wants us, has a passion for our souls, and will go to almost any length to help us return to Him. He loved us so much that sent His Son to die for us.

Therefore, it behooves us who are called into His presence to act like him. Yes, we need to call sin a sin and let people know when they are sowing bad seed in their own lives and in the world (to extend the metaphor a bit).

But, steadfastly Christ chose not to judge another person's state before God. That was part of the Divine winsomeness of His ministry. He didn't. We aren't supposed to either.

Judge not, lest ye be judged. Period. End of story.

But not really the end. Because Christians can sometimes be even harder on themselves than they are on other people. So God is telling us again here, don't even judge yourself. "Let me do that," the Father says "in my kind and stern yet merciful way. Let me bring you home. Let me weed your garden. Let me bring you life."

Sometimes we get so down on ourselves that we can't even hear the Dvinie Mercy calling out to us. We might be like Groucho Marx who claimed that he wouldn't join any club which would have him as a member. So, if you aren't supposed to ride herd on others, and not even on yourself, then what are you left with? A listening heart, and a willing spirit, which only God can give.

I love Pope Pius XII (1939-1958). He's always so practical, if a little pompous in his language.

He addressed this issue of the holiness of the visible Church in his encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi (On the Mystical Body of Christ), 1943. Read it here if you get time. The writing style is a little foreign, but the concepts in this letter led directly into some of the most profound insights of Vatican II.

“Let them grow together until harvest”

"Nor must one imagine that the Body of the Church, just because it bears the name of Christ, is made up during the days of its earthly pilgrimage only of members conspicuous for their holiness, or that it consists only of those whom God has predestined to eternal happiness.

It is owing to the Savior's infinite mercy that place is allowed in His Mystical Body here below for those whom, of old, He did not exclude from the banquet (cf Mt 9:11). For not every sin, however grave it may be, is such as of its own nature to sever a man from the Body of the Church, as does schism or heresy or apostasy.

Men may lose charity and divine grace through sin, thus becoming incapable of supernatural merit, and yet not be deprived of all life if they hold fast to faith and Christian hope, and if, illumined from above, they are spurred on by the interior promptings of the Holy Spirit to salutary fear and are moved to prayer and penance for their sins.

Let every one then abhor sin, which defiles the mystical members of our Redeemer; but if anyone unhappily falls and his obstinacy has not made him unworthy of communion with the faithful, let him be received with great love, and let eager charity see in him a weak member of Jesus Christ.

For, as[Augustine] the Bishop of Hippo remarks, it is better "to be cured within the Church's community than to be cut off from its body as incurable members." "As long as a member still forms part of the body there is no reason to despair of its cure; once it has been cut off, it can be neither cured nor healed."

Epilogue: Dialogue and Prayer

Ok. I'll quit blogging on this subject after this one, last post. Last night I was privileged to join in a committee meeting where the following reflection was shared regarding the Divine Mercy motto "Jesus I Trust in You." I thought of two other areas where insights from this reflection might also prove helpful: the war in Iraq, and the announcement of our new Archbishop.

"Jesus I trust in you."

What is trust and how do we trust? What does that trust mean in ... areas of conflict or differences of opinion?

I know there have been times in my life where I have been suffering from a lack of trust, most everyone has. Yet we are to go on trusting in God and in each other instead of hardening our hearts. Are we to trust blindly?

Even well-meaning groups, councils and leaders have occasionally led countries, communities and individuals down paths seemingly less than fruitful. In addition, in hindsight many may ask, why did not someone question what was happening?

Tradition asks us to look at our actions in light of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul also says to bear with one another with love. (Ephesians 4:2) To look at our actions in light of the Holy Spirit means to test it with love. Maybe we are not called to trust blindly, but reflecting on our actions to make sure all our actions come from a place of love.

Ask questions and expect answers, but do so with love. When others question our actions, listen with love and respond in return with love. Maybe it is in this way that we can say, "Jesus I trust in you" with confidence and full surrender."

Discussion questions:

1. In areas of conflict, have you asked questions with love?
2. In areas of differences, have you responded with love to others who question you?

Think Globally, Act Mercifully.

Today was Divine Mercy Sunday in the Roman calendar. It is a world-class holy day, despite having only been celebrated universally in the Roman communion for the last six years. Our local Catholic paper was packed with a list of over two dozen local celebrations.

There was an all afternoon event at the Cathedral of St. Paul, and I attended Exposition and Mass at Divine Mercy parish in Faribault. Good music, great preaching, opportunity for confession and prayer.

Divine Mercy Sunday is world-class in more ways than one. It's really all about the world.

For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world,

Divine Mercy is about spreading God's mercy, his everlasting grace and love, to the whole world. It's not only about accepting God's mercy for ourselves, it's also about sharing that mercy by being merciful to others.

Yet that message seems buried in the historical circumstances surrounding Divine Mercy. God chose to reveal this powerful message in the most unusual way.... by locution and vision to a Polish nun.

St. Maria Faustina Kowalska (canonized in 2000) received these messages in the early 1930's, as a harbinger of and defense against the shadow of totalitarianism then falling across the world. In fact, a young underground seminarian, the future Pope John Paul II, labored near her burial place and prayed in her local parish church during the war's darkest days. Hence, his strong devotion to Divine Mercy, on the eve of whose feast he died in 2005.

The pictorial depiction of Divine Mercy is a strange amalgamation, part Sunday school Jesus, part Sacred Heart, but totally reflective of Christ-centered piety with its tagline prayer emblazoned across the bottom, "Jesus, I trust in you!" The two fold stream, white for water and red for blood, recalls the piercing of Christ's side at the Crucifixion. Baptism and Eucharist, flowing from Christ, sheds God's love abroad in the world.

The world needs that mercy today more than ever. We need God's long lasting love to invade our poor little lives and to overflow to those around us.

Here is the opening prayer of the Divine Mercy Chaplet, the opening to a set of brief given by our Lord to be prayed each day at 3:00.m., the hour of His death, the hour of great mercy:

You expired, Jesus,

but the source of life gushed forth for souls,

and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world.

O Fount of Life,

unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelope the whole world

and empty yourself out upon us.

Song of the Prodigal Sons

From Saint Romanos the Melodist (Syria- d. around 560), Composer of hymns.

This is Hymn 28, The Prodigal Child.

Notice especially the interaction between the older son and the Father.

“We had to celebrate… This brother of yours was dead, and has come back to life.”
The older son said to his father in anger:
“I constantly obeyed your orders, without disobeying a single one…
and the prodigal one comes back to you,
and you make more of him than of me!”

The father had only just heard his son speak in this way,
when he gently answered:
“Listen to your father. You are with me,
for you never distanced yourself from me;
you did not separate yourself from the Church;
you are always present at my side together with all my angels.

But this one has come covered with shame, naked and with no beauty,
crying: “Have mercy on me! I have sinned, Father,
and as one who is guilty, I implore you.
Accept me as a day laborer and feed me,
for you love human beings, Lord and master of the ages.”

“Your brother cried out: ‘Save me, holy Father!’…
How could I not have mercy, not save my son who was moaning and sobbing?
… Judge me, you who blame me… At all times, it is my joy to love human beings…
They are my creatures: how could I not have mercy on them?
How could I not have compassion when they repent?
My entrails have brought forth this child on whom I had mercy,
I who am the Lord and master of the ages.
“Everything I have is yours, my son…
The fortune you have has not been diminished by this,
for I don’t take away from it when I give your brother gifts…
I am the one and only creator of both of you,
the one and only father who is good, loving and merciful.

I honor you, my son, for you have always loved and served me.
And on him I have compassion,
for he is surrendering entirely to his repentance.
So you should share the joy of all whom I have invited,
I, the Lord and master of the ages.

“Thus, my son, rejoice with all who have been invited to the banquet,
and mingle your songs with those of all the angels,
for your brother was lost and now he has been found again,
he was dead and contrary to all expectations, he has risen.”

The older son let himself be persuaded by these words,
and he sang: “Everyone, cry out with joy!
‘Happy is he whose fault is taken away, whose sin is covered.’ (Ps 32:1)
I praise you, o friend of humankind, you who also saved my brother,
you, the Lord and master of the ages.”

Reason, Faith and the Battle for the Human Soul

Here is a cogent and well argued analysis of Benedict XVI's recent actions with regard to Europe and Islam:


"Western Civ 101: Pope Benedict's Seminar on Fundamentals" by Daniel Henninger


http://opinionjournal.com/columnists/dhenninger/?id=110009323

Since the Concordat with Mussolini our Holy Father in Rome has had no land to defend or legions to command. But the battle for human souls and human dignity continues. We fight for God, leaving behind triumphalism, but with strong weapons of reason and faith, a la Ephesians 6:12-13:

Our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities,
with
the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the
evil
spirits in the heavens. Thererfore, put on the armor of God, that
you may
be able to resist on the evil day, and, having done everything, to
stand.

Thank you, God, for bringing us a Pastor who adheres so closely and speaks so clearly to your Word of Human Justice and Divine Mercy.