A Midsummer Night's Post: Work, Poker, and Choices

     Tomorrow morning, I start my summer job as a teacher aide in a summer school program for kids with autism and behavioral issues. I did it last summer and found it to be extremely rewarding; I can't wait to get started! The program's start is a bit bittersweet, however, because it marks the end of the majority of my free time during the week. The time for lazy summer mornings has past and my circadian rhythm will no doubt take some time to adjust to the 6:30 alarm. But God has made us to work, and it'll be nice to have some influx of revenue into my bank account.

     This transition has had me reflecting on the topic of choices. God did not create humans to be his slaves but his children, with independent minds and the freedom to choose between a myriad of alternatives. In my case, I could have chose not to work at all this summer. To do so, however, I would have had to reduce the money I spent going out with friends. In short, I could not maintain my current lifestyle without somehow financing it. The catch is, in order to do the responsible or "right" thing and work, I have to forego some of my free time. That is to say, I have to make a sacrifice.

     Just as we seek a certain amount of money to live comfortably, we seek a particular degree of contentedness in our lives. And just as money allows us to live how we want, serenity permits us to be who God wants: ideally, people full of joy. One cannot purchase true joy, as it is a gift from the Lord. I felt this most profoundly a couple evenings ago on a trip up to a Canadian casino with a friend. In my free time, my friends and I like to get together and spend an evening playing poker. Through playing with my friends. I've gotten pretty good at the game the last couple years, and one of my dreams has been to win a big pot in an actual casino. The other night, that wish was realized in a huge way. On a single hand I tripled what had been my best night beforehand. Immediately afterwords, I was filled with excitement. But as the initial adrenaline died down and the congratulations subsided, I realized that little had changed. The money I had won would be spent within a month or so, the next hand I would be dealt could very well be a loser, and the only lasting legacy of my dream fulfilled would be a nice story to tell the guys around the table. The big win changed nothing about me: who I am, what I do, or most importantly, my relationship with God. I imagine my experience is a small insight into the kind of life built on "sand" that Jesus warns again in today's Gospel (Mt 7:21-29). When the winds of fortune blow against you and the rains of trial pour down, what will remain in our lives? Have we built our "house", our peace and joy, on the rock of faith in God our Heavenly Father? Or is who we are inextricably tied up in what fleeting possessions we rely on?

     Have we chosen the One who was, is, and will be, or will we cast our lot with the world?
   
     The devil, knowing his offerings can never compete with God's, tries to get us on his side by offering with immediacy what he lacks for in quality. He knows we are suckers for the quick fix and the easy way.  He's the reason we chose to disown rather than to forgive, to hurt another instead of teach another, to cast judgement on our neighbor rather than our own soul. Furthermore, his greatest tool to lure us to destruction is to present us with a feeling of control and power. Since the days of Adam and Eve in the Garden, Satan has been telling humans, you can be like God. (Gn 3:5) We have all fallen prey to this temptation to control what God alone controls. The temptation echoes in all of humanity's vices, be it abortion, pornography, abuse of elected office, etc.

     It's important to remember that nothing this world offers- be it fame, fortune, or friendship- is so valuable that it should strain our relationship with the Lord. Cemeteries are full of numberless bodies that once housed souls who boasted they had all the answers, who thought themselves to be indispensable, who others believed the world could not do without. Yet there sits their remains, indistinguishable from the poor man except perhaps by way of a bigger tombstone.  Therein lies the beauty and wonder of God's creation. We are judged not on what we had in this world, but who we were. If you had money, were you charitable? If you had time, did you spend it serving others? If you suffered, did you offer it up?

     May Jesus' words be always on our minds as we exercise our free will: Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those that find it are few. (Mt 7:13-14)

Christian Justice

     In today's Gospel (Mt 5:38-42), Christ tells us do not resist one who is evil. While it is easy enough to agree with Jesus in theory, it is extremely difficult for us to actually practice what the Lord has preached. I thought I'd share three brief examples I've heard of Christians who were able to stifle the desire to return evil with evil, instead choosing to teach their opponents an even stronger lesson.

     Blessed Mother Teresa once went with a small child to a local baker in Calcutta and begged for bread for the child. The baker spat in her face. Undaunted, she calmly replied: “Thank you for that gift to me. Do you have anything for the child?”

    Archbishop Desmond Tutu once was walking on the pavement in apartheid Johannesburg. He was met by a white man coming along the other way, who said to him: “Get off the pavement; I don’t make way for gorillas”. Tutu stepped aside, gestured broadly, and said “I do”. 

     

If you watch closely at Texas Rangers Outfielder Josh Hamilton as he waits for his pitcher to throw during an away game, you'll likely see his mouth moving. He's praying for the fans of the opposing team that have paid money for a ticket and an opportunity to verbally abuse the former drug addict and recovering alcoholic whose personal demons nearly cost him his baseball career and his life. Rather than responding with obscene gestures and vulgar language, like many sports stars have done to obnoxious fans in the past, Hamilton, a born-again Christian, chooses to pray to his God that these people have a conversion of spirit. 

      Let us remember always that our actions are the greatest tool we possess for preaching the Gospel of Jesus. If we return evil with good, perhaps we will leave an unforgettable mark of Christian forgiveness and charity on the soul of the other person. At the very least, your kindness in the face of hate and scorn will drive your enemies crazy with envy for the peace that they lack.

 

You Fool!

     When I am with friends, I enjoy engaging in banter back and forth. In so doing, the occasional insult is flung back and forth. Most times, the exchange is understood to be purely in jest and nobody's feeling are hurt. Once in a while though, the insults are intentional and serious.
     In such cases, today's Gospel is a good reminder of just how important a matter our speech is to God. Jesus tells us that those that hurl insults at their brothers shall be liable to the hell of fire. (Mt 5:22) We often treat matters of speech as something less than our actions. Yet Jesus explicitly condemns the unrepentant insulter to hell. Why is this so?
     First and foremost, we often ignore or fail to realize that when we insult someone we are really casting judgement, not just on the person's action but on the person themselves. We don't often say to our brother or our friend, "your action is idiotic." We feel more comfortable calling the person an idiot. By insulting the person rather than the person's behavior, we make ourselves out to be superior. This gets to the heart of the reason why we insult each other: because we are insecure. The secure person has no need for insults. When we insult another, we hope to draw the crowds attention away from our own faults. We hope that by beating others down, we may appear to rise in reputation, without actually working to improve ourselves.
     Insulting others is laziness incarnate. It is a refusal to deal with our own problems. Jesus stopped the elders from stoning a woman once by imploring the one who was without fault to cast the first stone. As the crowd dispersed, Jesus, the true One without fault, says that as the others have no right to condemn her, He has no will to condemn her. (Jn 8:3-11) Thus, we should have no will to cast insults on others until all our faults are perfected. This can only occur in Heaven, once we are in the full possession of our God. Until then, I will continue to try to curtail my use of insults and attacks on others. One of the best suggestions I've heard is that when you feel like insulting somebody, use some self-deprcating humor instead. If we learn to be more critical of ourselves, we will be less inclined to want to judge others so harshly.

Corpus Christi: The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

     Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, also known as Corpus Christi. We are called to reflect on what is really the center of our faith and what should be the essence of our existence: that God, in the form of a human in Christ Jesus, offered himself as a sacrifice for our salvation from our sins.

     As a Catholic, I believe that the Eucharist consecrated on the altar at every Mass is really Jesus, no less so today than he was in the midst of the Apostles 2,000 years ago. In a way, we are closer to Christ in the Eucharist than his disciples ever were when he was among them as a human. The French poet Paul Claudel captured this sentiment in his writing:

The Eucharistic Christ is precisely the same who conversed with the APostles, but they saw him from without to within, and we entertain him, so to speak, from within to without...Entirely shall you put it away within. No longer for your eyes but for your nourishment, no longer for your curiosity but for your edification, no longer for your consideration but for your Faith: no longer for your instruction but for your construction.

      Indeed, the Lord, through our reception of His precious Body and Blood, sustains and builds us into more perfect vessels through which God's will can be carried out in the world. We are built from the materials we ingest. By being faithful recipients of the Eucharist, we allow Christ into our lives and into our being. Let us strive to make ourselves- mind, body, and spirit- more respectable lodging for our God.

Fighting Comfort and Complacency

     Today's reading is from St. Paul's second letter to Timothy. He directs his protégé:

1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths. 5 As for you, always be steady, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry. 6 For I am already on the point of being sacrificed; the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. (2 Tm 4:1-8)

     It seems as though St. Paul could very well be describing modern society. More and more, the sound teaching of the Church is being disregarded or even attacked. In its place, people have chosen to follow other authorities that "suit their own likings." The danger in this is that by wandering away from the truth, we risk separating ourselves from the Lord's saving grace and protecting embrace.

     St. Paul stresses we must be diligent in practicing a constancy in our faith. We cannot rest on our laurels and be pleased with our current state. Too often, we find that temptation strikes at the moment when we are pleased with ourselves and let down our guard. For myself, the summer is a tough time to find motivation to do the extra that is necessary for me to continue to grow in my faith. I still have been regularly attending daily mass, but I have found myself being too exhausted most days to do the spiritual reading and meditation necessary to do the extra things such as producing quality posts for the blog. I realized just this morning that it had been almost a week since the last post!

     In this reading, we are implored to fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith. It is so easy to become distracted with the day-to-day chores, but we are called to do more than merely survive.  As Pope Benedict XVI has said, the world offers you comfort, but you were not made for comfort, you were made for greatness. So take the extra time today and read the bible for five minutes or pray for five minutes or sit in silence for five minutes, simply thanking God for the blessings you have been given today. Remember, no time sacrificed for God EVER goes to waste!
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Please keep in your prayers my brother, sister-in-law and her family as they mourn the death of her mother. May God grant her eternal rest and let perpetual light shine upon her forever.

The Trinity and Love

     Today, the Church celebrates one of its most confounding mysteries in the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. It is beyond the human mind to fully reconcile how God can be one in substance but revealed through three distinct yet related persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

     God has left traces of His Trinitarian nature throughout creation. H2O is one substance yet it exists in three distinct states: as vapor, as liquid and as solid. Each of these states serve a purpose that the other states could not fulfill as perfectly. Steam cannot cool a drink like ice can, while chunks of ice falling from the sky would not satisfy a plant's needs as well as water. The same is true of God. Each of the three revealed persons of God satisfies a different purpose. God the Father reveals the majesty of splendor of the Supreme Being. God the Son demonstrates the forgiveness afforded to us. God the Holy Spirit sanctifies us and fulfills what the Lord says in todays Gospel: and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age. (Mt 28:20)


     While each person of the one God reveals something unique, They all point to one fact: that God loves us. Not only does He love us, but He loved us first. This often overlooked insight has tremendous implications. First, it allows us to love ourselves for who we are. God's love is not conditional on us loving Him in return. Nor does God force us to love Him; instead he grants us free will to choose whether to enter into a relationship of love. Once we realize that God personally cares not only for us but about us, it is easier to love ourselves, despite our imperfections.


      God's love also allows us to love others. Once we accept that we are loved despite our faults, it enables us to forgive the faults in others. How hypocritical and selfish we are when we deny forgiveness to someone else! Imagine if God treated us as we treat each other. As the psalmist notes, if thou, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with thee. (Ps 130:3-4)


     The Trinity will never be fully understood until we arrive at full communion with God in Heaven. Until then, you and I will do well to grapple with what has been revealed to us; namely, that God is love, and He desires us to share that love with all we come in contact with, regardless of their disposition to receive it.