Ready for Healing

This Sunday we watch as Jesus does something truly amazing. A man who was blind from birth is healed by Jesus so that he can suddenly see like everyone else! In later verses in John chapter nine, the blind man states to the Jewish leaders interrogating him "that no one in the history of the world had done such a thing". Some claim to have this same power today (and there may be a miracle out there of this magnitude that I have not heard of), but suffice it to say, it would be an amazing healing if we witnessed it as well.

However, this healing work of Jesus brought many in our story consternation and frustration. The disciples were shown that their Jewish Theology (supposedly based on Holy Scripture) was wrong. As we know from all of the Gospels, Jesus constantly challenged their poor thinking and theology on a regular basis. When the Jewish leaders discovered the healing, Jesus breaking yet another one of their hollowed traditions, they are outraged. In turn they look to put pressure on the family of the man (who were members of a Jewish Synagogue) to answer for this heinous crime!

Are you maturing in your Christian journey? Are you humble and teachable in your readiness to change your beliefs or their application when Christ's teachings are clearly in conflict? If you answer is "yes" then let me ask you a few questions:

· Was (and is) this a painful and difficult action involving a lot of courage and perseverance?

· Or was changing your thinking easy, painless, and comfortable?

The disciples of Jesus had a lot to lose and went through a lot of discomfort and pain to "lose their beliefs and applications" in submission to Jesus as their Lord. Holy Scripture makes it clear that to grow and mature in your Christian faith, one's beliefs, priorities, and actions will continue to change and readjust to him and his definitions of eternal life.

If your answer to the above question regarding maturity is "no" as a baptized follower of Jesus, then what does that indicate about you as his follower and his place in your life? What does that indicate in your approach to "Seek first the Kingdom of God"? Or is that just another one of those "suggestions" or "ideals" that we might consider?

If it was easy to mature in Christ, then everyone would do it. Like in ANY endeavor, if we aren't honest with our needs and refuse to put in the work, we will not be effective in anything we attempt or pursue. Do we want to be continually “conformed to the image of the Son”? The let’s expect it to be unsettling, challenging, and needing of courage. This in turn, opens us up to let go of needless anxiety and to know true peace.

The Blind Man in John 9:1-12 shows himself "ready to be healed" as a disciple of Jesus, and if you would like to know what that means, then I will see you on Sunday! (or Fr. Tom Youtube Channel - "Belief Readjusted"). Jesus heals and wants us to bring healing to the world around us. What joy awaits us when we trust him and his ways.

Towards Christ and His Kingdom,


Fr. Tom

Feast of St. Gregory the Great

Only two Popes, Leo the First and Gregory the First, have been given the popular title of “the Great.” Both served in the difficult times of the barbarian invasions of Italy. Gregory also knew the horrors of “plague, pestilence, and famine.” He was born of a patrician family about 540, and became Prefect of Rome in 573. Shortly thereafter he retired to a monastic life in a community which he founded in his ancestral home on the Coelian Hill. Pope Pelagius the Second made him Ambassador to Constantinople in 579, where he learned much about the larger affairs of the Church. Not long after his return home, Pope Pelagius died of the plague, and in 590 Gregory was elected as his successor.

Gregory’s pontificate was one of strenuous activity. He organized the defense of Rome against the attacks of the Lombards, and fed its populace from papal granaries in Sicily. In this as in other matters, he administered “the patrimony of St. Peter” with energy and efficiency. His ordering of the Church’s liturgy and chant has molded the spirituality of the Western Church until the present day. Though unoriginal in theology, his writings provided succeeding generations with basic texts, especially the Pastoral Care, a classic on the work of the ministry.

In the midst of all his cares and duties, Gregory prepared and fostered the evangelizing mission to the Anglo-Saxons under Augustine and other monks from his own monastery. The Venerable Bede justly called Gregory the Apostle of the English.

Gregory died on March 12, 604, and was buried in St. Peter’s basilica. His life was a true witness to the title he assumed for his office: “Servant of the servants of God.”

Almighty and merciful God, you raised up Gregory of Rome to be a servant of the servants of God, and inspired him to send missionaries to preach the Gospel to the English people: Preserve in your Church the catholic and apostolic faith they taught, that your people, being fruitful in every good work, may receive the crown of glory that never fades away; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Psalm 57:6–11 

Lessons:
1 Chronicles 25:1a,6–8 or 33:1–5,20–21 

Mark 10:42–45

(Lesser Feasts and Fasts, 2006, pgs. 192-193)

Authentic or Contrived?

Performance and production can be manufactured; a growing, humble, and teachable heart is given only to those who seek it.

Came upon these verses today while planning services for the Season of Epiphany:

Micah 6:
6 “With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

Humility and ceremonial precision can be faked; a character being shaped through the power of the Spirit, cannot. Remember what is most important to God as we seek to be spiritually disciplined and obedient to him. The Church of Jesus Christ does not need more moralists and religious sycophants who fit the Kingdom of God into their lives as it is convenient. God calls us to be humble and courageous followers of Jesus, no matter what the risks to our insecurities and need to find our worth using the values of the world.

A False Community

 

"In a false community everyone protects himself against everyone else. Everyone tries not to be known, except in ways he or she chooses. Everyone tries to work out ways in which all relationships will be smooth. This is not community.

There is a vision in the writings of Saint Hermas, one of the seventy disciples of Christ, a vision: he sees the angels of God building the city of God, the new Jerusalem, and he sees that they choose square stones with sharp edges and place them next to one another, cementing them together. And then there are stones that seem so beautiful in their material, so smooth in their shape -- round, oval -- and they are rejected. Because it is only those stones that can be fitted together and cemented together that can be used for the building of these walls of the Heavenly Jerusalem. And when we try to create a society in which every one of us is safe from the other, are we not creating a society of people who are like smooth, rounded stones that can in no way be fitted together with others? What is needed then is a hammer that will break the smoothness and reshape them."

- Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, "Churchianity vs Christianity," pp. 114-115

Towards Discipleship

 

Last week (July 22nd - Ordinary Time) in the Gospel of Luke chapter eight, we looked at the story of the demon-possessed man who was self-destructing, and the townspeople that were terrified when Jesus transformed him. We reflected on how much these people had to lose (in their way of thinking) if they "lost themselves in Christ". And yet, by sending Jesus and his disciples away, they likely sealed their own self-destruction and a continued life of chaos.

This Sunday, we follow the journey of Jesus in Luke as we look at chapter nine. Jesus is coming into what we could call the "final stretch" of his ministry (that had lasted roughly three years) which culminates in his death and resurrection. He is rejected in Luke 4 by his hometown and many who know him well. He is then vehemently hated and despised for confronting the Synagogue in Nazareth with truth about God's gracious saving actions for the Gentiles. This was truth that had “gone too far”, and they absolutely would not consider, nor could they believe that Jesus would suggest such an idea.

 In our chapter Sunday, Jesus in his journeys is again rejected, this time by a village of Samaritans, when he inquires if he may lodge with them for a while (of course, this lodging would include his teaching). Luke tells us that this Samaritan rejection was a precursor to the continual and final rejection of Jesus by the Jewish leaders and people in Jerusalem.

 As the chapter progresses, Jesus is then approached by multiple people who say that they want to follow him, but Jesus makes it hard on them by testing them. Each person makes a culturally acceptable excuse to communicate that NOW was not the right time for them to fully commit to Jesus as their Lord. In our Old Testament reading, Elisha gives a similar excuse to the prophet Elijah, and both Jesus and Elijah respond to those hedging in their commitment: "I don't believe you."

This Fall we will have several people claiming and recommitting themselves to their baptismal vows and pledging to serve with us as covenant family members in our redemption together. Here are a few parts of the baptismal ceremony that will be revisited by each person to be confirmed or received:

 Question:      Do you put your whole trust in his grace and love?

 Answer:         I do.

 Question:      Do you promise to follow and obey him as your Lord?

 Answer:         I do.

 Celebrant:     Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and

                        fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the

                        prayers?

 People:          I will, with God’s help.

 Celebrant:     Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever

                        you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?

 People:            I will, with God’s help.

 Celebrant:     Will you proclaim by word and example the Good

                        News of God in Christ?

 People:         I will, with God’s help.

 Celebrant:    Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving

                      your neighbor as yourself?

 People:         I will, with God’s help.

 

These are promises that are to become a part of our change in character, intent, and action. It means looking at all of life through the lenses of Jesus Christ and his callings without excuses. Our Baptismal promises are not to be motivated to placate or perform for clergy or fellow Christians but are about a genuine commitment to serving Christ and others - because we agree with Jesus that this is the way that leads to life and salvation. Our Lord knows if we are making excuses or if we are truly committed to honoring and obeying him.

This is why he challenges us to "take up our cross and follow him”. He leads the way, that we might follow. May we ask for his power and courage to seek him with all of our hearts, souls, and minds. Life and light await us. Amen.