Tag: <span>Relationship</span>

August 3, 2021August 2, 2021

Transformative Love

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

Jesus once said, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” (Lk. 17:5). The transformative impact of a deep faith, of intimacy with God, is monumental, and it is our destiny.

We see it in today’s readings. From the towering cloud, the Lord testifies to His intimacy with Moses:

“Should there be a prophet among you,
in visions will I reveal myself to him,
in dreams will I speak to him;
not so with my servant Moses!
Throughout my house he bears my trust:
face to face I speak to him;
plainly and not in riddles.
The presence of the LORD he beholds.”

It is as if the Lord is proud of this relationship. He considers intimacy with His creatures, it seems, His greatest achievement, one not to be taken for granted.

Today’s gospel puts an exclamation point on this reality. The apostles had seen Jesus work many miracles of nature, perhaps none more powerful than the healing of human flesh. But it may be said that they had never witnessed any miracle as impactful to the senses as the calming of an entire sea. Certainly, His Divinity–and His intimacy with the Father–is the source of this power, bringing His human reality to a whole new level. Still, maybe we would “expect” this level of power from God-made-man.

Something perhaps less to be expected is the impact on Peter–rough, vacillating, impetuous, not-yet-saintly Peter. In faith, grounded in his relationship with His Master, he asks to be bid to come out onto the water. Jesus so bids him. And regular old Peter takes some steps out onto the water–and it holds him, as surely as cured concrete.

Sometimes we think that our Christian life and its impact and power is seated on our moral advancement and perfection. It is not. It is seated upon the trusting and intimate relationship that we have with the Lord, which is the entire end game of our creation and redemption. Our moral life is merely an essential element of our “yes” to that relationship.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to help you become a giant of trust in Him, and to be fully infused with His divine life, not for your own sake only, but so that you may have the powerful impact in spreading His grace to others that He desires for your life.

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July 28, 2021July 27, 2021

Transmogrified

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

They say that it is uncanny how often a dog bears striking physical resemblance to its master.

You are what you eat, they say.

The simple reality is that our relationship with the world around us shapes us and becomes part of what we are. It doesn’t fundamentally adulterate our human essence, of course; but it does mold that essence.

And as such, what we dedicate our hearts, minds, priorities to can ennoble us, or conversely can cheapen us. We’ve all seen the negative manifestation of this. A man gives himself over to obsessive gambling, or drink, or promiscuity. Every aspect of his manner of seeing, processing, reacting to the world becomes insipid, cheap, unworthy. Or, a young lady falls in with the wrong crowd of friends. Her outlook becomes cynical; her behavior reflects quiet despair.

Moses shows us the upside of this phenomenon in today’s first reading, however, as do all the saints throughout the history of the Church. When Moses emerges from the presence of God, his face is radiant–so radiant, that he ultimately puts a veil over it to keep it from becoming an ongoing distraction. Moses is ennobled by that to which he chooses to give his heart: by God Himself.

Giving the focus of our hearts to God through prayer, the sacraments, and the way we live our lives takes discipline, and it can prove difficult and even discouraging, as it did for Moses. But it also raises us above ourselves, and ultimately fills us with a joy that is greater than what anything merely natural can produce.

In today’s gospel, Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God as the treasure for which it is worthwhile to sell everything. Our relationship with the Lord, which makes our soul blindingly radiant and raises and ennobles all that we are, is that treasure.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to fill your whole being with the radiance enjoyed by Moses: The glory of being close to Him. Tell Him that He is your pearl of great price, for which you happily give all other treasures in your life.

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March 29, 2021March 10, 2021

Smart Phones Don’t Bring Happiness

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

Today’s psalm: “The Lord is my light and my salvation.”

When we think of what makes our lives better, our minds might tend toward reality, or tend toward fantasy. If they tend toward reality, we might speak of health care, or convenience technology such as smart phones, which put control over many things in our lives right at our fingertips.

If our minds tend toward fantasy, we might consider the stuff of movies: If only I could find a fountain of youth, win the lottery, wield magic, etc., then my life would be utterly transformed into happiness.

When, in the day to day, we think of what makes our lives better, the first thought that comes to mind might not be Jesus.

His coming, His passion, death, and Resurrection–it was not like a lottery win. From one day to the next, for example, all the apostles’ worries were not over. Even having met Jesus, even having experienced His Resurrection, as wondrous as that was, they still had a difficult walk ahead of them to walk, one that would for most lead to martyrdom.

Nor did Jesus make their lives more convenient, like technology does for us. Quite the opposite. They went from the relatively convenient and familiar life of fishing to one of spending themselves tirelessly for others, in many cases in foreign lands.

And yet, “The Lord is my light and my salvation.” Mary of Bethany, who poured perfume over Jesus’ feet in love and gratitude in today’s gospel, understood this.

Jesus does not transform our external realities. Well, correction: He does help us with those as well. After all, Lazarus of today’s gospel had just risen from the dead at Jesus’ command. Jesus’ life was full of miracles of healing. Also, by God’s grace, Christians in all ages have made the world a better place, inventing the very notion of hospital care and universities, and striving to insert more justice and respect for the human person into the imperfect institutions of government.

But transformation of the exterior world is not the focus of Jesus’ mission. Rather, “The Lord is my light and my salvation.” Jesus brings light and salvation back into our souls. We find in our relationship with Him a permanent, overflowing joy that transcends and permeates all the imperfect, passing realities of our exterior world. As the first reading says of Jesus:

I formed you, and set you
   as a covenant of the people,
   a light for the nations,
To open the eyes of the blind,
   to bring out prisoners from confinement,
   and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.

When it comes to truly making our lives better, no fantasy, no reality comes close to the experience of an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ in our hearts.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus in this Holy Week to bring your heart back from distraction with the fretful external realities of this world, to the true light and joy of your life, which is His grace and friendship. Tell Him how grateful you are, like Mary of Bethany, for His gift of self for you, even if the world doesn’t seem particularly impressed by it. Ask Him for the grace to center your life on that which really brings happiness.

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