Tag: <span>Sovereignty</span>

May 16, 2021May 5, 2021

Good from Evil

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

The betrayal of Judas is a theme for today’s readings. But both of them address it in a positive way.

How? How is this even possible–to put a positive spin on the most heinous betrayal in human history? Such a take must be superficial, gratuitous sugarcoating. There is nothing good to say about how Judas sold the Savior of the World for thirty silver pieces and then, when overcome with self-loathing for the act, he took his own life rather than seeking redemption.

Let’s look at these positive spins. In today’s gospel, Jesus is in prayer with His Father. He is praying for His beloved apostles. He praises His Father, because none have been lost, except the one destined to be lost. Although God is not the direct cause of any evil act, the betrayal of Judas is a foreseen event that fits like a puzzle piece perfectly into the plan of the Father for the salvation of humankind.

Then, in the first reading, we contemplate the gaping hole left by Judas in the company of the twelve apostles. Jesus had called twelve. Now there are eleven. That gaping hole needs to be filled. We see the apostles give the matter careful consideration, looking only at individuals who have been in the company of Jesus from the very beginning. Then, with the casting of lots, a man’s life is gloriously transformed forever, and the Church gives us St. Matthias.

Now, let us look through the apostle John’s eyes at the moment of Judas’ betrayal. The kiss. How could he do this? We had trusted him, relied on him, laughed and joked with him, considered him a brother. And now he leads the guards to our Master? He has brought utter disaster!

As heinous as Judas’ crime was, today’s readings remind us that God had the matter well in hand. Effortlessly in hand, it would seem. He brought about the salvation of the world through Judas’ crime, and ultimately, didn’t even leave his place unfilled.

Bitter discouragement comes directly from Satan, like few other works that he can call truly his own. Why does it tempt us so sweetly, when it is so bitter? Let us reject its whisperings without hesitation, and offer the suffering they bring in union with the cross of our beloved Nazorean.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to grant you the grace always, always to place your most heartfelt sorrows and disappointments in His hands, certain that He will bring from them glorious outcomes.

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March 31, 2021March 11, 2021

Destructive Chaos

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

The world crumbles in chaos. It is World War II, and whole towns are ravaged by bomb and mortar; nations succumb to conquest and tyranny. Bodies of countless young men in the very prime of their lives are ripped asunder by machine gun fire.

Elsewhere, after World War II, innumerable religious and political exiles, who have done nothing wrong besides hold to their convictions, freeze to death in Siberian work camps.

What are the signs of evil and chaos in your time?

Whatever they are, however great and broad, they are inferior in magnitude to the betrayal of God Himself to torture, for the price of thirty pieces of silver. For what the good thief said of Jesus, all of us who suffer on this planet may well repeat: “And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” This man, who is God Himself.

And so, if in smaller catastrophes, even though we believe in God’s Providence, we feel helpless against the overwhelming power of destructive chaos, how are we to blame the apostles for feeling that the Jesus they loved had lost control of the situation?

And yet, in control this sovereign Lord was. So serenely was He in control, even in His greatest agony, that the clues may slip by us, as they did the apostles.

But today’s gospel is full of those clues. Jesus obtains the designated room for the Passover with a mere word. He predicts His betrayal. His restraint in the face of the knowledge of His betrayer bespeaks His will to allow it, and more broadly, His sovereignty over the situation.

And more broadly still, the first reading eloquently shows that this drama was planned from all time, and foretold.

What are the signs of evil and chaos in your time? In your life? Having seen Christ’s sovereignty through His Passion, death, and Resurrection, do you still not see that He has your life and history itself in hand?

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Consider the travesty that was the torturous execution of God, and then consider the clues that Jesus was the Master of that moment: His predictions at each step, His “I am He” causing the soldiers to faint in the Garden of Gethsemane, His mitigation of Pilate’s blame and stubborn refusal to defend Himself even at the hour of His condemnation, etc. Then, consider the frightening and anxiety-causing elements of your own life. Ask Him, dare to ask Him, if He has those in hand as He did His own hour. And tell Him that you trust Him.

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March 27, 2021March 9, 2021

The Long Game

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

The gospel tells us the purpose of Jesus’ approaching death. He will be dying for the nation, but not only for the nation; also, to gather into one all the dispersed children of God.

This glorious plan is described even in the midst of the narrative of the evil jealousy of the Pharisees, who want to do away with Jesus, not in spite of His miracles such as the resurrection of Lazarus, but because of them. We must remember that the Pharisees are truly, intensely fearful of the popularity of Jesus–not because of the power of the Romans, who prove rather sleepy relative to the Jews’ internal religious squabbles, but because of what they stand to lose. Not only their status, but likewise their wealth depends, not on some official position that they have in the community (they are not rulers), but on the religious stranglehold they exert. They have a tenuous respect among the Jewish people as experts who hold the keys to understanding God’s Law, the Law on which Israel’s welfare on as a nation depends.

Jesus constitutes a massive threat against this stranglehold, as He preaches liberating mercy through God’s gratuitous gift of salvation. The more He proves the power of His message through miracles, the more the Pharisees want to do away with Him. They do not care about exploring where the truth lives. They only care about sustaining the wealth and status that is theirs, which hangs in a delicate balance.

The irony is that the division that the Pharisees cause is precisely the one that Jesus will be healing by submitting to the death that they are planning for Him. As prophesied by Simeon, He is the “light of revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for His people Israel.” (cf. Lk. 2:32) He has come to gather into one the dispersed children of God.

God is the Lord of history, and His omnipotence is such that He carries out His glorious plan not in spite of the evil hearts of His enemies but through them, incorporating their plots impossibly but truly as a fruitful ingredient into the gift He plans for His people.

And so, the prophecy of the first reading comes to pass through Jesus life, death, and Resurrection:

I will make them one nation upon the land,
   in the mountains of Israel,
   and there shall be one prince for them all.
Never again shall they be two nations,
   and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms.

Today, we see great divisions in our own society. Like the Pharisees, there are many who wish to expel God from their midst in order to attain or retain worldly power, at the cost of others. It is hard for us to see this prophecy coming true in our midst, because the chaff is growing right alongside the wheat (cf. Mt. 13:24-30). But we may trust confidently that God’s plan is unfolding with an eye to eternity; it is in Heaven where we will see the fullness of His plan come gloriously to bear. Even here, amid holy souls, we can see its first blossoms.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Talk to Jesus about His coming to gather the dispersed children of God. Beg of Him to grant unity to the Christian Church by the great power of His saving act, unity that will be a sign to all nations that points to eternal destiny. Praise Him for using even the evil hearts of His enemies for salvation; ask this all-powerful savior to use your life for the salvation of others as well.

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March 26, 2021March 8, 2021

Stoned?

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

Close as we are to Holy Week, today’s readings are a clear foreshadowing of those days.

The first reading speaks of those once favorable to the prophet, who now seek to trap him from every side.

The passage in the first reading prefigures the events of today’s gospel, wherein the Pharisees are ready to kill Jesus, to stone Him. If the gospel had gone differently, there would have been no Calvary, no crucifixion, and Jesus would have died here.

But it was not to be. Scriptures had foretold the manner of Jesus’ death; the events in the desert had foreshadowed it, where the seraph serpent was lifted up for the curing of the Israelites.

The Son of Man had to be lifted up, lifted up on the Cross. This was not the Pharisees’ show. The Passion was to be a very specific hour foreordained by Divine Providence. It is God’s world; His enemies are just living in it. Living in it, and against their own desires, fulfilling God’s will by perpetrating an event that is destined to spread merciful grace across the entire world.

Jesus was marching firmly toward His hour, acutely aware that His Father was completely in charge.

Do we do the same with our life’s crosses? Or do we lose hope and trust when they come? Or are we certain, as Jesus was, that they fall within the ambit of Divine Providence, and that He will never take us where He cannot protect us in His grace?

Lack of trust is a self-fulfilling prophecy, as is trust in God. When we do not trust, we truncate God’s ability to care for us, for He plays by His own rules in respecting our free choice to distance ourselves from Him with doubt; but when we do trust, we open the doors wide for Him to enter into our hearts with the gift of His salvation and sanctification.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to give you sufficient faith in His Divine love and Providence, to recognize His invitation to be purified and to help Him save through the crosses He allows into your life. Ask Him, not to reduce your suffering, but to grant you the same firm resolve of faithfulness to Him that He gave to Jesus.

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February 23, 2021February 8, 2021

On Target

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

One of the most powerful statements in the Old Testament, found in today’s reading, is not often quoted as such: “So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.”

God is not a pathetic god, sending futile groans and lamentations out into the ether, decrying all those things are not as He would like.

No, in spite of the evidence of the reign of sin, God Himself is absolute ruler, and evil only exists to the extent that God made space for freedom–including that ability for freedom to turn away from Him. Evil, as evil as it is, and as good as God is, fits into His good plan.

Thus, He is not a pathetic, sad, lamenting god in need of our help, but the absolute Lord of the universe.

This quote from the first reading tells us that when God intends something, it happens, pure and simple. He does not set a process in motion only to watch it run aimlessly and fruitlessly. The image used to illustrate this is a beautiful one. It is the image of the process that He Himself set in motion for nature: That water falls from the sky, and it serves its purpose on earth of irrigating and giving life perfectly before it returns to the sky. (It is as if the ancients understood the process of evaporation…)

So, when we are moved by the Holy Spirit, it is not in a whimsical or aimless way, but to accomplish that which He has determined is to be accomplished. That push of the Holy Spirit is not to return to God void, but is to achieve the end for which it was intended.

But in the end, what is it that God wills–that Jesus Christ, His eternal Word, has descended like rain to accomplish, before ascending again to the skies?

It just so happens that the answer jumps out at us from today’s gospel, where it is clearly written in black and white. “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” Jesus has come to save His chosen ones, those ready to use their freedom to follow Him. This is the coming of the Father’s Kingdom; this is the fulfillment of His will.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to make you, like Him, the effective instrument of the Father, the efficient catalyst of His glorious, eternal, saving plan for humanity. Ask Him to make you a word that does not return to Him void, but does His will, achieving the end for which He sent it.

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October 29, 2020October 10, 2020

The Armor of God

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

Divine Providence, and God’s role as sovereign of human history, is a curious thing in its interplay with human freedom.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus laments Jerusalem’s rejection of Him, and the fact that it will become an abandoned place as a consequence. His lamentation is full of love–He laments, not an inability to rule over Jerusalem, but to “gather its children.”

But at the same time, He tells those worried for His safety in the outlying country not to be concerned, because the place of His death is destined to be the Holy City.

The very thing He is lamenting, He has accepted as the destiny preordained by God’s plan.

God’s plan takes into account foreseen human decisions for evil and so channels them for His purposes of salvation, that it almost appears that He Himself is their cause.

It is easier to see this in Jesus’ life than our own, both because of His own foreknowledge, and because of the insight of hindsight. But through faith, we know that the same dynamic is happening for us as long as we give our lives to Him. Nor is it a delicate dynamic, subject to shattering at any moment that we may display weakness; the dynamic of God channeling evil for good is backed by His strength, not ours. As St. Paul says, “We know that all things work for good for those who love God.” (Rm. 8:28)

Speaking of St. Paul, all we need to do to tap into this dynamic, as He says in the first reading, is put on the armor of God: Righteousness, faith, the Spirit. If we stay close to Him in prayer and the sacraments, our life will in fact become a breathless love story of salvation, union with God, and happiness.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Think of some things in your life that are troubling you. Ask Jesus how those fit into His plan for you, as His death in Jerusalem fit into the great plan of salvation. For those pieces that you don’t understand, ask Him to help you trust in His knowledge of where they fit and His guidance of you accordingly.

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October 18, 2020September 25, 2020

Chess Master

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

In today’s second reading from the book of Thessalonians, Paul speaks of “endurance in hope.”

Perhaps we don’t always hope as we should.

The world, shattered as it is by the original rebellion of man against God, and the ongoing chaos cause by the sins of pride and sensuality, appears to be spiraling downards.

There is something that should give us, we may say, an extra dose of hope, of which we perhaps do not often think. On the one hand, for the core of our hope, it is well to remember that this life with all its chaos is passing, we are pilgrims, and that we will find true joy in our eternal home in Heaven. But there is another beautiful reality that should also support our hope.

That reality is that God is the Lord of history, and even though humanity is sometimes ruled by evil people, God Himself is arranging all circumstances, evil ones caused by those who are evil and good ones cause by Himself and those who are good, into precisely the right order to favor the salvation of as many persons as possible. And, in precisely the best order for our lives, in which we are called to imitate His Son Jesus Christ, to love in joy and sacrifice.

Cyrus, the leader of the Persians mentioned in the first reading, was a pagan. Although he did not know God, God called upon him to free the Israelites at the time when, in His wisdom, He wanted to bring their punishment of exile in Babylon to an end.

Cyrus did not know God. But still, he formed a key part of God’s plan, and God led him.

In the Gospel passage, Jesus teaches that we must obey civil authorities, even when they are godless, as long as they do not lead us into sin–paying taxes, for example. And indeed, the Lord of history ordained the rule of Caesar in Jerusalem at the time when the brutal Romans were a needed factor for the violent sacrifice of His Son.

Think also of Constantine, the Cyrus, if you will, of the Christian era. In the early fourth century, God intervened directly with him, a pagan emperor, when He ordained that the years of Christian martyrdom and persecution in the Roman Empire were to come to an end.

Jesus Christ is Universal King, King of the Universe, King of all that happens in time. He does give full and ample space to human freedom, and allows the terrible consequences of our free choice of sin. In the end, though, it is He–the omnipotent Chess Master, we may say–who arranges history for the eternal benefit of the Church and His faithful ones.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Think of the political realities and world events that most concern you. Consider where Christians are suffering, and where evil persons or principles rule. Ask Jesus if He has these circumstances well in hand. Ask Him why He allows evil in the world, from the perspective of eternal salvation. And ask Him, the Lord of history, for mercy upon our fallen world, to guide events to a happy outcome and above all, to the eternal salvation of as many as possible.

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October 2, 2020September 14, 2020

God is Big, We are Little

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

Now, perhaps, we can challenge God, even though Job had no right to do so. Where is the home of the light? In the sun, we say, and we can say with some precision how far off it is. The abode of darkness? Outer space, where unlit by a burning ball of gas. Etc.

Perhaps we now have every right to challenge Him, for we know so much, and we are able to manipulate matter and energy as suits us.

To the contrary, on two counts:

1. Imagine living in a world like Job’s where the cause of everything is unknown and virtually unexplored. With all the evil and chaos in the natural world and the human world, an almost inescapable conclusion is that evil powers are as strongly at work as good in the course of the cosmos. And indeed, such was the rational conclusion of many primitive peoples. It took immense faith to believe in a good, providential, loving God as sole sovereign of the universe. Or rather, it took revelation–God’s personal revelation of Himself to humans–and then the faith of others in the word of those receivers of revelation.

Today, even though chaos remains very present to our perception, we have plumbed the depths of biological, geological, physical reality. We see the intricate and awe-inspiring interplay down to the cellular and molecular level of balanced, complementary forces that constitute a universe of order and design. We see the very fingerprints of God.

All the more, then, should we humble ourselves before Him as Job did, and place our destiny with all our hearts in the hands of this good God, who ordered creation so majestically, and who continues providing despite our sin.

2. The more honest scientists discover about reality, the more they realize they don’t know. The more honest engineers manipulate matter and energy, the more they realize how powerless they are before it, and how mysterious and mighty these natural forces are. The more doctors are able to heal, the more they realize that they are not the masters of life and death. God could well challenge us as He challenged Job: Have you ever traversed the sun, or traveled the expanse of the universe? Do you know what drives the smallest of material particles? Can you cure every disease or stop the advent of new maladies? Tiny man on earth, are you master of the vast universe?

And we would need to respond, like Job: “Behold, I am of little account; what can I answer you? I put my hand over my mouth. Though I have spoken once, I will not do so again; though twice, I will do so no more.”

Today is the memorial of the Guardian Angels. In today’s gospel, Jesus makes an argument for the need to hold children in high regard: “Their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.” Perhaps a child seems of little importance, but each has been assigned one of the noblest creatures, an angel, to look after his/her every step. We must be humble before the Almighty. But it is comforting to know what Job knew: As tiny and insignificant as we are, God places all the focus of His loving Providence upon us, and we can rest in the palm of His hand.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Dialogue with Jesus about the awesomeness of creation, and how little we humans really have our heads wrapped around it. Ask Him why we earthlings are of such account to God–consider with Him our beautiful biology, and our unique attribute as free, intelligent beings. Ask Him why He Himself became man, and why He died for us. Pledge again your trust in Him; abandon your life into His hands. For despite our technology, when we take a step back, we realize we were never meant to solve the puzzle of our welfare and destiny on our own.

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September 4, 2020August 23, 2020

I Don’t Know My Judgement, but I Do Know My Judge

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

Today’s readings are overflowing with abandonment to the loving sovereignty of God.

In the first reading, St. Paul takes nothing for granted. He does not consider himself acquitted–for he has yet to undergo the judgement of God. But we do not find him afraid, either. He certainly is afraid of no human tribunal. We find this borne out amply in his life; as promised, the Holy Spirit inspires in him what to say before the courts of men (cf. Lk. 12:12, Acts 23), and in the end, Paul goes to his martyrdom without fear.

But Paul, while considering himself not acquitted, also does not fear the judgement of God. He calmly and serenely submits to the fact that God will judge him. That he does not fear that judgement, even though he knows not the outcome beforehand, teaches us a great lesson.

Elsewhere, Paul tells us, “I know him in whom I have believed.” (2 Tim. 1:12) This is the key to the apparent paradox whereby Paul knows not the outcome of his own eventual judgement, and yet is not afraid. He knows Christ’s love for him so intimately, and leans on that love so completely, that “outcomes” are secondary to him. Judgement is not his main concern. His main concern is the love of Jesus Christ, for his life “is hidden with Christ in God.” (cf. Col.. 3:3)

The interesting thing is that Paul is not utterly “selfless” in this regard, that is, devoid of a healthy concern for his own welfare. Rather, what he ultimately relies on for his own welfare and happiness is not how virtuous he will be seen to be, but rather the love of Christ that he has experienced.

How beautifully his sentiment is echoed by today’s psalm: “The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.”

In the Gospel today, we find different times and circumstances calling for different behavior. When the bridegroom is present, no fasting occurs; when not, then comes the fast. We are not to remedy problems of today with the solutions tailored to yesterday. For those who treat Christianity as a rule book, this “inconsistency” can prove befuddling. Indeed, as times change and solutions evolve, those seeking absolute consistency in all things within Christianity can even come to despair of it.

Not so, those who adopt St. Paul’s attitude. Because the beauty of Christianity, the thing that intoxicates us, the pearl of great price for which we gladly sell everything else that we have, is the love of Christ. And when we understand that, we allow the personification of that Love–the Holy Spirit–to guide us day by day, through every changing time and circumstance, adjusting solutions on the fly. We have experienced the love of Christ, we have experienced the Holy Spirit, and we know that, even though “thousands fall around us” (cf. Ps. 91:7), He will not let us down.

Because we know Him in whom we have believed.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to help you to be faithful to your daily prayer commitment. Ask Him to build the relationship with Him that you long to have: A relationship of complete and total intimacy and trust, whereby your confidence in the Holy Spirit in your life is unfailing, solid as a rock. Ask Him to inundate you, until nothing–not even the outcome of your eternal judgement–is as important to you as leaning on His love.

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