Heal My Soul

I love this verse from today's Psalm (Psalm 40).

As for me, I said: ‘Lord, have mercy on me,

  heal my soul for I have sinned against you.’

It really shows the Eastern Christian idea that when we have sinned, we don't need punishment as much as healing, from God. That is why Jesus came to earth--to heal us.  To those who have suffered at the hands people who would have us sink into permanent shame over our sins, Jesus came as the Divine Physician, and as the "mother hen" who wants to gather us under her wing and care for us until we are healed.

Very Timely Scripture From Today's First Reading

Today's first reading was from the beginning of the Letter of James, which reads, in part:

Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters,
when you encounter various trials,
for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

It never ceases to amaze me how timely the cycle of readings often is, especially given the fact that the readings are chosen ahead of time and current events are not!

Keep the faith, everyone!

Daily Spiritual Journal

I have found an excellent spiritual resource that I am very excited about.  Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Church in DC is doing a daily spiritual journal.  Each year, the church has a new "theme" and this year's theme is spiritual growth. Each day of this journal/quiet time has a short scripture reading with questions to answer and a prayer prompt.

With the plethora of online journaling opportunities, not to mention the old standby notebook and pen, it is easier than ever to grab a bible and do this every day.

Since the new year is only a week long, it is easy to catch up.  Click on the above link to go to their "quiet time" page and start this journal of spiritual growth.

Book Review--John Moles

Jesus the Healer in the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and Early Christianity by John Moles

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This scholarly article proposes that the name of Jesus was similar in appearance, sound and meaning to the words "healing" and "saves" in both Greek and Hebrew and that this relationship would have been obvious to Hellenized Jews as well as to Greeks of the first few centuries, A.D. New Testament writers used this relationship between a person's name and other words, as did Classical Greek writers, to illustrate and reinforce (through assonance, alliteration and "punning through synonyms") characteristics of the person being written about.

Greek gods and goddesses themselves carried names that pointed to their functions in the Pantheon. The consistent juxtaposition of the name of Jesus with words like "healing" and "saves" illustrates the superiority of Jesus to Greek gods with names of similar sound and meaning. This point was driven home by the New Testonament writers, whose audience would have picked up on these textual similarities.

Salvation, Moles says, is linked to healing in the sense that illness was often seen by Jesus' contemporaries as being related to sin. So, the name "Jesus" which means "Yahweh saves" also means "Yahweh heals". The idea of God/religion/Jesus-as-healer is one that pervades Eastern Christianity which sees salvation as being primarily a healing process rather than the more retributive view of the West.

To read this work in its entirety, go here:

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Online Homilies

Ever feel a hunger for a good homily?  I have been searching for some online homilies to help us feed our faith and have come up with a list on the sidebar.  Check out these great resources for some homilies from around the world!

The Lord God is Our Strength

For the fig will not flower,

the vines will not fruit,

the work of the olive will be lost.

The fields will yield no food,

the flocks will be cut off from the sheepfold,

there will be no cattle in the stalls.

But I will rejoice in the Lord, take joy in God my saviour.

The Lord God is my strength.

He will make me as sure-footed as the deer.

He will lead me up to the heights.

~Habakkuk 3, from today's morning prayer

This passage from Habukkuk was part of today's morning prayer. The entire world is experiencing economic hardship not seen since the 1930's and political unrest not seen since the 1960's.  So many of us are unemployed or "underemployed", without health insurance and without a safety net of any kind. 

But, "the Lord God is (our) strength. He will lead (us) up to the heights". 

I've been attending daily Mass at a neighboring parish three days a week and one of the priests there had been reflecting on the Feast of Christ the King.  He said, essentially, that there is a lot of fear-mongering going on right now regarding politics in the United States and that we should not be shocked and worried about what might be happening here because the only kingdom that will last forever is the Kingdom of God.  No other ones will last.  That is just a fact. 

The Lord God is our strength.

Autumn Rains

As they go through the Bitter Valley, they make it a place of springs, the autumn rain covers it with blessings. ~Psalm 84, from today's morning prayer

Being Pruned

I heard the verse about pruning from John's Gospel on the radio the other day and it got me thinking.  In it, Jesus says,

I am the true vine and my Father is the vine dresser.  Every branch that bears no fruit in it, He cuts away.  Every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it bear even more.  

~John 15:1-2

It occurred to me that whether we bear fruit or not, God cuts out what is useless in us.  This involves (painful) cutting and sometimes we may not be aware of why we are being cut at the time.  We need to trust that God knows, though.

We can't second guess God's intentions, but, rest assured, He is pruning us and preparing us to learn to love as He loves.

This is also a beautiful illustration of the purpose of pain in our lives.  There are those who think that Christians, or religious people shouldn't have pain and that if you do, you are not doing something right.  This verse shows that even when we are bearing fruit , God allows painful things to happen to us for our growth.

There are also those who question the existence of God based on life's pain.  Pain occurs for a reason.  Jesus acknowledged when he spoke of the man born blind, that often it is undeserved.  In this parable, though, He says that His Father does painful pruning in those bearing fruit so that more fruit can be grown for the Kingdom.

God's Kingdom is all around us.  If we are not part of its growth, others will not be shown His love through us.

Like children who do not understand parental restrictions, we question pain, but God is pruning us to show His love to the world.

Go Deeper

In today's Gospel from Luke, Jesus tells the Simon (Peter) to "put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch."  Simon is skeptical and doesn't think this will work. Jesus tells Simon to trust in Him.

Similarly, Christ calls us all out to the "deep water" of a dependent and disciplined faith life.  We human beings often don't see a way out of our problems.  Very often, the Church (or more accurately, the people in it) seem only to exacerbate our difficulties. 

But, as I heard in a sermon yesterday, those who are not (yet) saints are saint makers.  In other words, those who challenge us the most have perhaps been put there by God to hone and polish our faith through patience and constant prayer.

Jesus is calling us to find a prayer practice that fits our station in life and practice the Benedictine virtue of stability in sticking with it.  Row out to the deep water of life.  Depend not on ourselves, money, or even each other. 

Depend solely on God.  

Of God and Weeds

Today's Gospel reading is the parable of the sower. The sower (God) sows the good seed but when harvest time comes, weeds have grown up among the plants, sowed by the enemy. The servants want to separate the weeds from the good plants, but the owner refuses, not wanting to throw away good with the bad. He tells them to wait until the harvest time.

God always gives us a second chance. He wants to give us enough time to grow. Only at harvest time will God see whether or not we have yielded a crop of good or bad. In this parable, Jesus is counseling us to be patient with ourselves and with others--with the evil that is in the world. The fact that both good and evil grow together is all part of what this transient world is all about. We are to have patience with others and with ourselves.

Also, sometimes, what we may think is a weed, may not be. It is for God to judge, at the end of time, not for us. As Romans 8:28 reminds us, "All things work together for good." God uses the weeds in our lives for the greater good.

Brother Charles at Praise and Bless tells us that this parable can go even deeper than that. God sees both our good and our selfish intentions and will harvest out the good and forgive the bad.

Also in today's Gospel is the parable of the mustard seed. The mustard seed, in ancient Palestine, grows into an invasive, weedy plant. How is the Kingdom of Heaven like that? God does not work in organized little boxes. Jesus came to shake up the status quo, both then and now. His love is a radical love--stopping at no one, no race, creed, gender or status. God has no ulterior motive--he is love.

This even further, illustrates the point of the first parable. What we think may be something to be weeded out of our lives, may have been planted there on purpose.

 Our weed may indeed be a mustard seed.

Psalm 51

Today is Friday, still a penitential day in the Church. Let's meditate on Psalm 51, the ultimate penitential psalm.

I made this slide show years ago.

The Jesus Prayer and Living Water

I was saying the Jesus Prayer today and realized that both it and today's Gospel use the word "living".

Living Water
Today's Gospel from John tells the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus tells her that if she knew who He was and knew "the Gift of God" He would give her "Living Water."

Living water is water that is not stagnant--it is flowing and moving; it sustains life.  The early Church used to baptize in "living water".

The Jesus Prayer
Many Orthodox and other Christians pray The Jesus Prayer daily:

Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

God is the "Living Water" Christ speaks of.  He is the Uncreated Energy.  He sustains all life.

If we meditate on that image, we discover that our troubled, stagnant lives are but a drop in the ocean of God's merciful love.  When we have stopped feeling, stopped caring and stopped moving forward, if we allow ourselves to become a drop in the deep ocean of God's caring love He will dissolve all our temporal shortcomings and cares and we will become one with Our Lord who cares for us so deeply.

Say the Jesus Prayer slowly, meditating on each word, and ask God to allow you to become one with Him.

Psalm 51

This is a video I did some years back on Psalm 51, a psalm that is prayed every Friday in the Church.

The Jesus Prayer

In today's gospel from Luke, the Tax Collector utters the most beautiful and heart felt prayer in the midst of his feelings of inadequacy in the Presence of God--

Oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner. 

This prayer forms the basis of the Jesus Prayer which is said by Eastern Christians.  The practice uses the Holy Name of Jesus, which is very powerful, to begin this prayer of the heart, and is said continually throughout the day to fulfill St. Paul's admonition to pray without ceasing.  

Practice

Some form of 

Lord Jesus Christ, 

Son of God,

have mercy on me, 

a sinner, 

is used.  It could be 

Lord Jesus Christ, 

have mercy 

on me, 

or even as simple as, 

Jesus, mercy.  

It is often said on an Orthodox prayer rope, usually with either 33, 100 or 300 knots.  The smaller prayer rope is sometimes worn as a bracelet, which would be a wonderful reminder to pray during the day.  

God's Prescription Against Anxiety

He who practices virtue and speaks honestly,
stopping his ears lest he hear of bloodshed,
closing his eyes lest he look on evil.
~Isaiah 33

Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

~Philippians 4:7-8

Keep your mind pure and free from the cares of this world by focusing on Jesus Christ and His love. Keep away, as much as you can, from needless cares, stoked like a destructive fire, by the modern world.

Wednesday of Holy Week--The Holy Face

Today's first reading from Isaiah shows Christ's willingness to suffer for our sake.

I gave my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;
My face I did not shield
from buffets and spitting.

The responsorial psalm goes further:

For your sake I bear insult,
and shame covers my face.
I have become an outcast to my brothers,
a stranger to my mother’s sons,
because zeal for your house consumes me,
Rather they put gall in my food,
and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

The line "zeal for your house consumes me" has always touched me, especially in relation to being an "outcast to my mother's sons."  There will be times, especially now, when being a Christian will put you in direct opposition to those around you; when longing to be in the Presence of God in His house, will make you a laughing stock.  Remember that Jesus walked that road for us and before us. Our consolation *is* being in the Presence.

As always in the psalms, though, it ends praising God.

I will praise the name of God in song,
and I will glorify him with thanksgiving:
“See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts revive!
For the LORD hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.

Hang onto this hope. God will be praised.

Tuesday of Holy Week--Do Not Despair

In today's gospel, Jesus predicts the betrayal of both Judas and Peter.  The stories are parallel but differ in important points.  Judas betrays Christ and later despairs while Peter repents.  Judas does not think that God is great enough, or merciful enough to forgive him.  Peter, on the other hand, weeps for his sins, but repents and goes on to lead the Apostles and the new Church.

We see these differences symbolically in this painting by Andrea del Castagno (1423-1457)Judas is shown in dark garments sitting across the table from Jesus.  Peter, shown as the traditional wise old(er) man and future pope, sits on Jesus' right hand and John the Beloved Disciple sits on his left.

As long as we stay with Christ, we will be saved.

Let us fight against despair and always remember God's mercy is for us individually.

Monday of Holy Week--Take Courage

Today's gospel reading is the raising of Lazarus from the dead.  St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church tells us that in this story, Jesus is shown as both God and man.  His divinity is shown by his raising Lazarus from the dead and his humanity by his weeping at the death of his friend.

The raising of Lazarus gives us hope in some very real ways.  Lazarus was a human.  Lazarus, doubtless, sinned.  But Jesus nevertheless, raised him from the dead and Jesus, our God, wept for him.

Today's psalm (27) tells us to "wait for the Lord with courage.  Be stouthearted and wait for the Lord."

Hat tip to Vivificat for the link.

He Shall Be Peace

Thus says the LORD:
You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah
too small to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel;
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient times.
He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock
by the strength of the LORD,
in the majestic name of the LORD, his God;
and they shall remain, for now his greatness
shall reach to the ends of the earth;
He shall be peace.
~Micah, Chapter 5.

He shall be peace.
Nothing else. No one else is peace--not money, not health care, not political deals made in the dark of night under promises of "change" and "openness", not a strong military, not political power, not personal control--nothing brings permanent peace, and certainly, nothing else is peace.

Jesus doesn't bring peace.   Jesus doesn't cause peace.  Jesus doesn't force peace.

Jesus is peace.

Come, Lord Jesus!!

I am the Lord--Unrivalled

Apart from me

all is nothing.

I am the Lord,

unrivalled.

I form the light

and create the dark.

I make good fortune

and create calamity.

It is I, the Lord,

who do all this.

~Isaiah 45:6-8