Well its 3 am, and I am once again running my To-Do list through my head. That’s when it hits me……….maybe I have to re-evaluate my priorities, pare down my list of to-dos.  It was then I had a revelation, I’m in the midst of too much clutter. That’s my problem, too much STUFF in my life. Too much clutter in my home, too many people depending on me for something, too much mental chatter in my head. I’ve always envied those people who can throw or give away their belongings, and live simply. I’m also a big fan of TV shows such as Clean House, or Extreme Home Makeover. Wouldn’t it be great if someone came in to your home, cleared out the clutter, and then remodeled the inside of your home so it would appear new again? My only problem with that is, I so do not want my stuff, clutter, etc. put on display for a national audience. Its not that I’m ashamed of my home, but I’m a very private person and to know millions of viewers are staring at what’s in my fridge is a little bit disconcerting.

As a nation of consumers, I’m sure you all can relate to this……..instead of fixing something that is broken, such as a cell phone, computer, or a major appliance, we usually go out and buy another. Or if you are an avid reader like me, you already own more books than you can possibly read in a lifetime. Or maybe you have a hobby, or two, but lament the lack of time needed to enjoy them. You see where I am going, before long you simply have too much stuff in your house. And we haven’t even talked about the children’s clutter.  Maybe your spouse is the one who collects Mickey Mouse memorabilia and now is running out of storage room for such trinkets.  But all this adds up to clutter, and in time you may find it all becomes unbearable.

Then there is the mental noise, or clutter, we all carry around in our heads. It’s either the voice of your conscience telling you to please put that donut down, and save your diet, or maybe it’s a small voice from your childhood. This one I think we all hear at some point in our lives, the one telling us we aren’t pretty enough, smart enough, or maybe even just saying, Why Me? Or maybe you hear the voice of a parent, always nagging in the back of your mind, like a broken record.  Then there is that To-Do list mentioned earlier, the one that seems to be keeping me up way past my bedtime. What’s sad, is most of the items on my mental list are tasks that I really don’t have to do, but feel I should. Some days my life is filled with more should do’s, instead of want to’s. I imagine your days mirror my own in this respect.

I sometimes wish I could escape all this mental and physical clutter. Just shuck it all and live possibly as I imagine a monk does, cloistered in a monastery.  But I know for me it’s not an option, but maybe possibly an idea for a spiritual retreat. I would miss some of my busy, cluttered life, but definitely not all of it. And then there is the actual noise of living in a city that seems to contribute to my sense of overwhelming clutter.

You ask……where is all this leading? Well in my own meandering way, I am trying to confess something here. And maybe this isn’t the place, and since God is all-knowing, and hears my pleas, He already knows this, but I feel we all in some way can relate to my dilemma. As I am reviewing my mental list, I realize that here recently I’ve let the busyness of life, the plethora of a cluttered home, and nonsensical mental chatter, to slowly intrude in my personal relationship with my Father. Yes, I know as the loving Father he is, I am forgiven, but still I realize this is not a good thing.  In Psalm 46:10 we are told, “He says, “Be still, and know that I am God”. Well, I have been far from still, and yes I can come up with many reasons why I get caught up in life, but that really is no excuse.

Then as I glance around my home, it comes to me that not only should I clear out some of the mental clutter, but maybe its time to do my own version of Clean House.  See, I’m not the most organized person, so all my precious books are helter skelter, and being a bibliophile, I have a ton of books. More that can be read in a lifetime, and yet the stress of not being able to enjoy them as much as I would like, adds to my sense of unease. I feel, for me, that all this STUFF, has gotten in the way of living a life of intent and purpose. I’m a huge fan of, shall I say it, How-To books on living simply, or de-cluttering your home.  But as stated in Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Isn’t this exactly what it means to live simply? To cut the physical and mental clutter, to not be “conformed to this world”?

How can we focus on God and his purpose for our life, when we are constantly distracted by things in this world? So where to begin……..we all know about de-cluttering our home, but what about the mental chatter? Maybe the first step is praying to our Father, beseeching His help, and then we can begin to clear the cobwebs from our overloaded lives, and focus on what’s really important. Knowing God, learning all we can about His grace and salvation, discerning His will for our lives, and in the process, becoming a true child of Christ. As I learn, pray, and talk with others on this same rocky path, I know I am not alone, and help is only a prayer, or phone call away.

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” Mark.1:9-15

Like Jesus we are often taken into the wilderness, although in a more superficial way. We are tempted by the pressures of society to “keep up with the Jones’.” We value ourselves only when we compare what others have that we don’t. We strive to be better than our neighbors, and to show that we can outdo them: My car is better than theirs. My house in larger than theirs. Our financial restraints are tested daily if our neighbor acquires self-recognition through their possessions, and we soon find ourselves pursuing the same task, regardless of the cost.

The cost of this is often is our spiritual guidance and our spiritual lives. No longer do we think of the message of God. In reality our material satisfaction overshadows who we are within our souls. We do not acknowledge the simple things in life. We fail to love ourselves and others in the name of greed. We must learn to be content with who we are and look at how we can share with others the Good News that represents the message of Jesus. Our failure to accept what we have, true friends and a loving family, divides us as God’s children. We soon find ourselves trapped in the constant upheaval of modern society. We lose our ability to relate to others the way Jesus does.

We must look at our neighbors as people we can turn to in a time of real need, and to look at ourselves as people to whom they can turn. Who cares how big their house is, or how new their car is? Jesus doesn’t care! He simply wants us to love and respect one another.

Some day we might need to open our doors to our neighbors and should expect the same in return. We must ask ourselves why we live the way we do. When will we change? Who is looking out for us? There are times in every one’s lives when we discover that we are lost. Take me for instance. When I was in high school, I found myself following others as a way to fit in. I had few friends but when someone approached me as a potential friend, I quickly attempted to give answers on various issues that I thought they would like to hear, such as “Do you think so and so is pretty?” or “Have you tried this? or that?” Not to be ridiculed, I would respond with” no, not really” and “yes I have done this or that.” What was my purpose? Why did I need to lower my expectations? I never wanted to feel like an outcast, but to be seen be part of the group, I went along with them, so I could fit it. It took me time to realize that my lack of spiritual guidance, created an emotional scar on who I was as a person.

So, I took the time to re-evaluate what was important to me. In my effort to “fit in” with God’s plan I had to look deep inside myself and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit and my select friends, I was able to build a life for myself. Embracing others allowed me to see my true friends and how, in their strength, they would accept me as I was. I no longer used my opinions to harm others, but used the common sense of a good Christian to learn and to share in the goodness of others. To this day my true friends are my equals and we care not for who has what, or who knows whom and so forth. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit, that all of our friends and family create a lasting foundation on which to build a purposeful life.

Over time I was able to repent from my judgmental ways, knowing that God will be there for me. The good news that Jesus shared with his disciples will always live. It is for us to take this news and grow from it. Our hearts and minds will open up to their fullest and in essence we will love ourselves and others unconditionally just as Jesus does. Remember, it is not our material items that make us, but our ability to live and share the good news.

I challenge you, as we strive to become more Christ-like during this Lenten season, to concentrate not on the material things in life, but on the spiritual, so that you, too, may hear the words, “This is my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Amen.

2 Kings 5:14 (Catholic Public Domain Version):

1 Naaman, the leader of the military of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man with his lord.  For through him the Lord gave salvation to Syria. And he was a strong and rich man, but a leper. 2 Now robbers had gone out from Syria, and they had led away captive, from the land of Israel, a little girl. And she was in the service of the wife of Naaman. 3 And she said to her lady: “I wish that my lord had been with the prophet who is in Samaria. Certainly, he would have cured him of the leprosy that he has.” 4 And so, Naaman entered to his lord, and he reported to him, saying: “The girl from the land of Israel spoke in such a manner.” 5 And the king of Syria said to him, “Go, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” And when he had set out, he had taken with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand gold coins, and ten changes of fine clothing. 6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, in these words: “When you will receive this letter, know that I have sent to you my servant, Naaman, so that you may heal him of his leprosy.” 7 And when the king of Israel had read the letter, he tore his garments, and he said: “Am I God, so that I could take or give life, or so that this man would send to me to cure a man from his leprosy? Take notice and see that he is seeking occasions against me.” 8 And when Elisha, the man of God, had heard this, specifically, that the king of Israel had torn his garments, he sent to him, saying: “Why have you torn your garments? Let him come to me, and let him know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 Therefore, Naaman arrived with his horses and chariots, and he stood at the door of the house of Elisha. 10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will receive health, and you will be clean.” 11 And becoming angry, Naaman went away, saying: “I thought that he would have come out to me, and, standing, would have invoked the name of the Lord, his God, and that he would have touched the place of the leprosy with his hand, and so have healed me. 12 Are not the Abana and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel, so that I might wash in them and be cleansed?” But then, after he had turned himself away and was leaving with indignation, 13 his servants approached him, and they said to him: “If the prophet had told you, father, to do something great, certainly you ought to have done it. How much more so, now that he has said to you: “Wash, and you will be clean?” ” 14 So he descended and washed in the Jordan seven times, in accord with the word of the man of God. And his flesh was restored, like the flesh of a little child. And he was made clean.

I am focusing in on this passage because this is the first Bible passage I can remember being read in a Christian church. I was fourteen at the time, but the lesson I have to share today was very much lost on the Mormon teenager I was back then. I’ll get back to the Naaman the Syrian in a minute.

As a Mormon, if you are in church even as little as once a month, you are heavily indoctrinated. There is no searching of the Scriptures to “see if these things are true.” Mormons are, if they know their faith at all, first rate proof texters and eisogetes. And they beat into your head every major point of their distinctives at every turn. Without giving a lesson in counter-cult apologetics here, there is a lot of pride in being one of the ‘chosen few’ who get to go through the secret temple ceremonies, or to be eleveated to the higher ranks of Mormonism’s priesthoods. There is a lot of ceremony and public acknowledgment.

This is how religion in the ancient Near/Middle East was: full of pomp and ceremony and a great deal of public acknowledgment for the one undergoing or commissioning the rite. We see brick on temples in Gilgamesh’s kingdom with the names of sponsors preserved even to today. It is a tradition that has persisted into our time. I have been in Protestant and Catholic Churches alike have stained glass windows or pews with the names of donors emblazoned on them. Mankind cannot resist making pomp for ourselves out of even simple things. We all want recognition. But what does this passage say to us? I posit that this is a decidedly different message that we will extract from this passage.

Naaman is a general, a man who flies in the orbit of the king himself. He has power and is comfortable with it. He is also required to participate in the rites of state, which bring a lot of additional attention to him whether he wants it or not. But even the greatest of us are cursed with mere mortality. We must confront our mortality daily whether we want to or not. Naaman is no different. God has struck him with leprosy. Now we don’t know whether he had Hansen’s Disease or some other skin condition, but in those days any such condition was leprosy and it was believed to be potentially fatal.

What happens? God uses the lowliest. He uses those who will not get in His spotlight, claim any of His glory for themselves. He uses a slave girl who serves Naaman’s wife. Women were very low on the rank structure of most ancient world already, but this slave maiden was the lowest of the low. And she was God’s choice of mouthpiece because no one would give her any credit in the events to follow except for having opened her mouth. “I wish that my lord had been with the prophet who is in Samaria. Certainly, he would have cured him of the leprosy that he has.”

Now in these times, miracles are readily believed in. The peoples of the pagan nations readily and unashamedly paid good money to acquire them. Naaman goes to the king of Assyria and gets permission to go to Samaria to seek the cure he surely wants very badly.

The king not only agrees (who wants to lose friends and valued and talented generals?), but gives out of his own treasury gifts for Naaman to give to his curer: gold, silver, fine clothes – in short everything the fashion conscious and well employed prophet might want or at least enough money to buy copious amounts of whatever he likes. The king wants a piece of this glory, too. It always helps to look like a benefactor to one’s people, after all. Then he gives him a letter to the king of Israel. But when Naaman arrives in Israel, the king rents his clothes and believes himself to be in danger of death!

Now the grapevine might have been a little slower back then, but it was no less healthy. Political news, then as now, was the greatest form of national gossip. The news reached Elisha of what had happened and he sends a letter inviting Naaman to his house. “Let him know that there is a prophet in Israel.” But wait! Isn’t this the same kind of pomp we were just discoursing against? No, Elisha here is humble, too. He does not promote himself, but rather he is promoting his office of prophet as something given by God and that only YHVH of the Hebrews can grant it. It is in Israel, not Assyria, that there is a prophet. He is, in effect giving God the glory.

Naaman comes. No doubt he has figured out that this is the prophet his wife’s slave has spoken of, or at least he has found a prophet who will give him an audience. He arrives and Elisha, who went to the trouble to invite such a dignitary won’t even let him in! How audacious! What a violation of hospitality! Then, not only does he say to stay out, but he tells the leper general to go bathe in the Jordan River seven times to be clean.

What about the sacrifices? What about the gifts? After all, it seems as if Elisha is thinking himself too good for one above his station! Who does this? He is not only deeply insulted, his nationalistic pride has been bruised. Are not the rivers of Assyria better, cleaner, bigger rivers with the gods of his own people living in them? All this effort and dusty travel just to take a bath? What an insult this whole thing must have seemed to Naaman. He was probably thinking of ways to torture and kill that foul little slave girl.

He turns and leaves in disgust. But once again, it was the voice of the lowliest that God used. Naaman’s own slave approached him and asked him what he was thinking. Would not Naaman have done the hardest thing without question had it been commanded? Would he not have bought and slaughtered a thousand bullocks and sheep? Given any amount he could? Crawled on his knees up some mountain to pray? Then why not go take a bath in a nearby river? Why not do the simple thing? After all, what is the worst that could happen? You lose the dust off your skin?

But what did happen? Well we know that his leprosy was cured and he went home clean. But what else happened? Naaman was converted to the Faith. Naaman gave in and set himself, his office, his pomp, his power, his wealth, and his influence aside. He did something very humble. And he obeyed the voice of God.

This is perhaps one of the greatest illustrations in Scripture of the power of faith and humility working together. So powerful was the event that Naaman went back and consulted Elisha about his job, part of which was to help his king into and out of a pagan temple, whose god Naaman no longer worshiped. It is all about God and His power. It is all about being humble, not holding oneself above any other, but rather submitting to God in a way that holds one’s hands out and simply allowing God to put in and take out whatsoever He pleases. If you have an office, remember it is the office, not the person who is important. As a priest, I must remember that while I confect the Holy Eucharist, it is me acting in persona Christi, not me acting in my own person; I have no power in me to do any such thing. Elisha understood that God heals and he was a mere messenger. The slave girl of Naaman’s wife realized her place and while I suspect she would not have chosen it, she used it for God’s glory. In fact, it was the simple words of human concern of a slave girl so lowly as to be unnamed, that brought the conversion and healing of one of the greatest among her people’s enemies and overlords.

If we are humble we may, like we hear in the gospel, hear Jesus say to us, “I am willing. Be cleansed.”

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for it is they who will be recognized as sons of God.” – Matthew 5:9 (Weymouth New Testament)

On January the 25^th, the WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY began, and here we are as Christians, nearly 2,000 years after Christ gave the Beatitudes to His early followers in the Sermon on the Mount… and as I write this, I wonder:  If I were put on trial today for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict me?  Or you?  Would we be convicted not only by our words, but by our actions?  Are we making peace with our neighbors, with the world, with our fellow Christians?  Around 197 A.D., Tertullian, who has been billed by many as “The Founder of Western Theology”, wrote in his Apologeticus, his work defending Christianity and asking Emperor Septimius Severus to allow Christianity to be treated as a legal religion, just as any other sect that existed within the empire at that time.  The Emperor knew nothing of Christianity, except that he wanted it done away with, and so Tertullian took it upon himself to explain, that is to Apologize, Christianity to Septimius Severus and the other magistrates of Rome.  To me, the most fascinating and telling lines Tertullian wrote are:  “But it is mainly the deeds of a love so noble that lead many to put a brand upon us. See, they say, how they love one another… how they are ready even to die for one another, for they themselves will sooner put to death.”

Sadly, in today’s world, we live in a time when people outside the church are certainly not saying of Christians “See how they LOVE each other!”  Sadder still, and more apparent than our lack of love for one another in the Church, are our extreme divisions.  Of the Church today, we’re more likely to hear “Can’t they AGREE on ANYTHING?!” It is difficult enough to be a Christian in today’s times with the influence of so many anti-Christian “role-models”- companies, music, books, websites, ad infinitum, infecting and influencing the minds of so many to turn from God and to run toward what is considered “cool” by so many, that the fact that there are those who claim Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and who demonstrate such a lack of love and support for their brothers and sisters that it is truly disheartening.  And, sadder still, there are so many fractures and total breaks within the Body of Christ – His Church Universal – that many multi-denominational gatherings, Facebook pages, blogs, magazines and other media do their best to focus on all the differences between their denomination and the denominations of their brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.  Until recently, I was a member of a particular group on Facebook promoting unity between Catholics and Protestants – however, instead of anyone posting anything celebrating what we hold in common and trying to bring about that unity, nearly every post was an argument, Protestants saying “the problem with Catholics is…” or Catholics saying “the problem with Protestants is…”   WHERE IS THE UNITY?!  WHERE ARE THE PEACEMAKERS?!  Can we say, honestly, of ourselves and the Church as a whole, that we can be recognized as– instantly known to be – sons and daughters of God Almighty?

In John 17, verses 20-24 (NIV) “²⁰My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— ²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” – Christ Jesus prays that we be one.  This is God’s desire for his Body, of which Christ Jesus is the Head.  When the Lord looks down upon His people, His Church – he doesn’t want to see dissention, argument and down-right hatred amongst the sheep of His flock.  Can you imagine how sad this makes Our Savior?  He came to set the captives free; and now, many of us have put ourselves in chains of our own making with all of this quarrelling with our brethren.

It is time, not just during this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, but now and evermore for us to put aside our differences and focus on the fact that we all seek to serve the same GOD: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Yes, we may choose to serve and worship in varied and sometimes drastically different ways, but that should not prevent us from, asSaint Paulsays in Philippians 2:2, “…being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.”

Let us remember that our Savior told us “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” – John 13:34,35 (NIV) Let us notice that it is a COMMAND He gives us, not a suggestion or a wish… it is an order from our King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Let us also agree on this, that we are indeed, as Christians, children of the SAME GOD, who should be striving to the SAME purpose:  serving one another, out of love, to glorify the Lord… the rest are, for the most part, our ego-driven, however well meant, differences.  It’s time we lay aside the differences, at least in our minds and in our concerns with one another, and focus on the LOVE OF GOD dwelling within us and flowing THROUGH US, so perhaps, once again, we can be RECOGNIZED as God’s children by our LOVE and desire to MAKE PEACE.   Amen?  Amen!