Saturday, July 2, 2016

Jeremiah 26: 11-16, 24

The priests and prophets said to the princes and to all the people,
“This man deserves death;
he has prophesied against this city,
as you have heard with your own ears.”
Jeremiah gave this answer to the princes and all the people:
“It was the LORD who sent me to prophesy against this house and city
all that you have heard.
Now, therefore, reform your ways and your deeds;
listen to the voice of the LORD your God,
so that the LORD will repent of the evil with which he threatens you.
As for me, I am in your hands;
do with me what you think good and right.
But mark well: if you put me to death,
it is innocent blood you bring on yourselves,
on this city and its citizens.
For in truth it was the LORD who sent me to you,
to speak all these things for you to hear.”

Thereupon the princes and all the people
said to the priests and the prophets,
“This man does not deserve death;
it is in the name of the LORD, our God, that he speaks to us.”

So Ahikam, son of Shaphan, protected Jeremiah,
so that he was not handed over to the people to be put to death.

Those who live in darkness never want to hear the truth. Those who speak the truth of God will always be hated, ridiculed, and persecuted, even on to death. This is the promise our Lord assured us of. Yet, if we are true to our faith we have no choice but to stand for the truth the Lord handed down to us through his word, his action, and his holy Church.

Jeremiah was threatened with death but he did not let that deter him. He did not back down from the message God sent him to deliver. He is willing to die for the Lord.

We live in very similar times where people are being put to death every day for the faith they have in God. Society demands we change our views, that we get with the times. Even many of our brothers and sisters in faith have bought into the lies the devil has convinced so many of. We will soon see clergy in our own country jailed for failing to change their will to that of man. Like Jeremiah, Christians everywhere need to stand defiantly and resist the temptation of capitulation.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Cultures come and go and this earth will perish in flame but the truth of the Lord endures forever.

Friday, July 1, 2016

Matthew 9: 9-13

As Jesus passed by,
he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post.
He said to him, “Follow me.”
And he got up and followed him.
While he was at table in his house,
many tax collectors and sinners came
and sat with Jesus and his disciples.
The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples,
“Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
He heard this and said,
“Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.
Go and learn the meaning of the words, I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

I desire mercy, not sacrifice. What need does the righteous man have for a savior? What good is a doctor to someone who isn’t sick? There have been only four people born immaculate. The first two gave up their cleanness and the last was divine. Every other person who will ever walk this earth has been born with a stain. Any man who believes himself righteous and not in need of a savior has a cancer no doctor can cure.

Pharisees defined righteousness by having done more good deeds than bad. The better you kept to the word of the Law the better a person you were. The goal of the Pharisee was to be like Saul; “as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.” Such a man was perfect in God’s eyes, as seen through their own.

Jesus didn’t come here for these mighty people. He came to save the sinner. He came to raise up the lowly. He came to be the savior to those who knew they weren’t worthy of God’s love. Mercy is the pinnacle of God’s love for us. If we were given justice who could stand before the Lord a righteous man?

Have mercy on me Lord, a sinner.

Thursday, June 30, 2016

Matthew 9: 1-8

After entering a boat, Jesus made the crossing, and came into his own town.
And there people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,
“Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.”
At that, some of the scribes said to themselves,
“This man is blaspheming.”
Jesus knew what they were thinking, and said,
“Why do you harbor evil thoughts?
Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’
or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?
But that you may know that the Son of Man
has authority on earth to forgive sins”–
he then said to the paralytic,
“Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.”
He rose and went home.
When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe
and glorified God who had given such authority to men.

“This man is blaspheming.” Why would the scribes say this? Because it was believed that only God could forgive sins. Jesus tells the paralytic that his sins are forgiven making a clear statement that he is God. Actions speak louder than words. The scribes believe that’s all he did, utter some useless words that no man could fulfill. So Jesus goes further and acts on his words by doing another thing that was believed only God could do. He healed the paralytic man, proving that he indeed could forgive sin.

It was believed in Jesus day that illnesses like paralysis were caused by your sins or the sins of your fathers. The man was paralyzed because of the sin in his life. The only way this paralysis could be cured was if God forgave those sins. In Jesus words he states quite clearly he is God and then he backs it up with action.

Although they were all amazed the people there still did not believe. They gave glory to God, not because they saw Jesus as God but because God chose to work a miracle through a man. Wasn’t this the son of Joseph the carpenter? Why did he warrant such favor that God would choose to work through him? Look everyone; we have a living prophet in our midst that wields the authority of the Father. They saw but they did not understand.

How much are we like these people? God works miracles around us all of the time and yet we do not believe. We have compartmentalized God to one or two hours a week on Sunday. We do not try to change our wills to that of the Father. Far too many only pay lip service to God, hedging their bets in case all this bible stuff has some truth to it. They stand up in church on Sunday and proclaim, “I believe…” without hearing the words that come forth from their mouths, in a rush to get on with their day.

Do I live each day for the Lord? Do I give him the glory, honor, and praise he is due? Of course I don’t. Very, very few of us dedicate our lives to do that to the level it is due. To God is due all glory, honor, and praise, not just what I have time to offer one day a week.

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Matthew 16: 13-19

When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi
he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter said in reply,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

On July 19, 1970 I was baptized by the Trinity Lutheran Church in Harvard, Illinois. I began Lutheran instruction at the age of three and was confirmed at fourteen. I was a member of this church for twenty-eight years. Then, like Saint Paul I underwent a conversion experience. I wasn’t knocked off a nonexistent horse by a blinding light and my conversion took a little longer than three days. Through time God revealed to me his Church, the Catholic Church, the Church instituted in this reading. Through studying and comparing theologies I came to believe for myself the claims the Catholic Church makes as being true.

This reading is rich and profound in the statements it asserts. First Jesus affirms that he is the messiah, the Son of God, come to save mankind. This is revealed not through human understanding but directly from the Father. Then Jesus appoints Simon as the head of the Church he had just instituted. He is called the Rock, the foundation the rest of the Church will be built upon. Peter’s faith at this point is still sand and he will go on to fail the Lord on several occasions but by the time Jesus ascends to heaven Peter’s faith will become the rock on which the early Church survives.

We receive Jesus’ assurance that the Church he just instituted will never fail. He never said that we will not face trial. He never said we will not have controversy, corruption, or abuses. He said that his Church will never fail. Through time, no matter how bad, corrupt, or power hungry any of the Church leadership, including popes, have been not one teaching of Christ has ever been changed by the Church. Many have made and continue to make claims that the Catholic Church makes up stuff for Catholics to follow, some going as far as to call us the devil’s church. They have closed themselves off to God’s revelation by only accepting what is written in the bible. This is similar to trying to understand the American Revolution and the ideologies of the founding fathers by limiting yourself to the reading of the Constitution of the United States. Jesus didn’t come to write a book, he came to start a Church. In fact the only time in the bible where it said Jesus wrote anything he was scrawling in the dirty and no one ever looked at what he wrote. If Jesus wanted us to get our faith solely from a book he would have handed one to the Twelve before his ascension into heaven. If the Twelve wanted us to get our faith from a book that would have been the first thing they did after Jesus left them. Instead they set about converting Jews by word of mouth, oral tradition.

Lastly we see Jesus handing his authority over to the Twelve. Everything the Father has given to me I now give to you. Jesus had thousands of disciples. He didn’t hand his authority over to all of them. He only gave authority to the twelve he selected to lead his Church. When the Twelve needed help they passed their authority on to other chosen men. This is the basis of Apostolic Succession. No one can claim this authority for them self, despite the many who have tried. Just as I cannot come to your house and demand that you open the door in the name of the FBI I can’t demand something of you in the name of Jesus if I have not been given that authority by the organization that holds that authority to begin with. The authority of Jesus resides with the Church he gave it to. Others cannot claim it out of thin air. This ultimately was the final nail in the coffin of my conversion once I understood it. Do I want to be a member of the Church Jesus started, the Church he promised would never fail, or did I want to be a member of a church some man started because he believed the Church of Christ had failed? The church of men teach the opinion of men and not the teaching Christ handed down to his Church, through his disciples, to us, through Apostolic Succession.

First accept the teachings of the Church Jesus started, then seek to understand.