September 15, 2015

Our Lady of Sorrows ~ Br. Chip Noon, Novice

Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.

This familiar passage from Lamentations is so appropriate for today, isn’t it? Today is the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows. Mater Dolorosa. What a whirlwind of feelings she must have embodied! First, the loss of a child, one of the most heart-wrenching things that can happen to a parent…a child of any age.

Second, what, at the foot of the Cross, looked to be the contradiction of all that had gone before with such promise.

Third, the desertion by most of the Apostles while she and John and the women were left alone.

Our Lady of Sorrows.

But wasn’t she prepared for this? Wasn’t she told by Rabbi Simeon, as we hear in today’s Gospel,

“Behold, this child is destined

for the fall and rise of many in Israel,

and to be a sign that will be contradicted

and you yourself a sword will pierce

so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

Artists through the ages have depicted Mary in her sorrow, some even with seven swords embedded in her representing her Seven Sorrows. And many musicians have set the sorrows to music, especially the Marian hymn:

Stabat mater dolorosa
juxta Crucem lacrimosa,
dum pendebat Filius.

At the Cross her station keeping,
stood the mournful Mother weeping,
close to her Son to the last.

Isn’t this heartbreaking?

What are we to make of this devotion to a sorrowing mother? We Christians who are invited to incomparable joy with our Lord, how are we to fall to weeping with Mary? Isn’t this its own contradiction for us?

But are we not human? Are we not allowed at times to fall into self-pity, sorrow, despair?

Then maybe that’s the value of the phenomenon of Our Lady of Sorrows. Here is a way to experience these feelings that will not bring us down into the pit, she is a safe haven for us to mourn, and to experience the catharsis of deep, deep sorrow.

We have only to read our Bible to find many cues to us that it is time to mourn: over the death of Absalom, over the Holy Innocents, over the martyrdom of John the Baptist. And we can mourn the losses in our own lives: our friends, our parents, and so sadly, yes, our child. And especially we can mourn with Mary over the torture and death of her son, our Lord.

And sorrowing with Mary, we can feel the pain in her heart and her hands and her feet and her brow as she contemplates the wounds inflicted on her son. We can let ourselves go and weep along with her, and for her, and for us and our own many sorrows.

The sorrows of everyday life that we all experience.

We can cry until our throats hurt and our body is wracked with despair.

With Mary.

And then, as we are in the midst of our lamentations, we can feel the hand of Mary. We can imagine the comfort that she can bring us. And we can see her as she intercedes for us with her son. She is our Blessed Mother and we can surrender ourselves to her comfort just as we used to with our own mothers.

Because that is the message we were given, and that we hope to give to others. As George Fox heard, “There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition.” And as John says in his Gospel, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Wasn’t Mary joyful as she heard these words from her risen son? Didn’t all her sorrow come to fruition with the Resurrection and Ascension?

So it can be with us, today and all our days. We can remember Mary’s sorrow and we can rest comforted. We can remember our own sorrow and we can go out and comfort others. Because we have Jesus and Mary as pure examples of how sorrow can and will turn to joy when we open our hearts to God and his promises.

Father, as you comforted Mary and your Son, comfort us as we go through the world. Help us to sustain others in their sorrow and help us to bring the light of gladness to all we meet today and into the future. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

September 14, 2015

The Triumph of the Cross ~ The Rev. Deacon Joshua Hatten, OPI

Today the celebrates the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross. Now, some of you may be asking what in the world is triumphant about an instrument of torture and death and WHY are we celebrating it?

What we celebrate today is the triumph of eternal life over death, infinite love over overwhelming evil. The VICTORY of our Lord, through humility, over the arrogance of Satan.

It seems so easy for us to make small sacrifices in small areas of our lives. We give up that candy bar, coffee, or profanity for the 40 days of Lent. We need to drop five pounds, so we don’t “biggie size” our burger and fries for a few weeks. We really want to see that particular movie next weekend, so we save up this week. But what about the bigger picture??

We do seem to have trouble, usually, of making, in the much more important and far greater purpose of our earthly existence… which is where we wind up AFTER it ends. The answer to WHERE we wind up AFTER starts in our here and now – in our daily life – in how we fight or give in to those daily spiritual battles. What our response, here and now, to the occasions of sin, innumerable temptations and other potential woes that are laid before us OFTEN, daily.

Do we value the things of the world over the values of God’s Kingdom? What aspects and pieces of our lives are we willing to nail to the cross, as often as is necessary, and let die so that we may live with victory? Are we willing to put on the humility, as our Lord did, to make us capable of bearing, overcoming and triumphing over these earthly parts of our lives to bring ourselves, through our faith in Christ Jesus, to life everlasting?

It all begins with the first step of KNOWING that we cannot do it of our own accord. WE MUST HUMBLE OURSELVES before ALMIGHTY GOD, assured that alone we are doomed to failure, and ask for his saving grace and guidance and Fatherly Love. It is only after taking this step, WITH FAITH, that we can even find ourselves on the beginning of the right path. It is a choice, and I encourage all of us to begin TODAY, EVERYDAY, AS OFTEN AS IS NECESSARY, to examine our spiritual states and take the hammer and nails to anything separating us from living life as a true disciple of Christ.

Is it easy? NO!! Is it worth it?? YES; the rewards are far beyond what we can begin to comprehend. We must be humble enough to trust God to be God and KNOW that His promises and assurances of recompense for living for him will not and cannot return void.

Let’s face it… none of us are getting out of this earth alive. Our days will end will a last breath or the return of our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ. Either way, shall we be judged and rewarded as victors and receive a crown of eternal glory, or will we continue to live our here and now, falling into Satan’s snares, and have our days in this world end with eternal separation from God Almighty??

CHOOSE, HERE and NOW… take up your crosses and CARRY THEM TO VICTORY, to a TRIUMPHANT FINISH, through a humble way of living for and in GOD. Only this, through faith in our Blessed Lord, can we turn our woes into WOWS and our death into an eternal existence of heavenly happiness.

September 13, 2015

Food…Not Only for the Soul… ~ The Rev. Deacon Scott Brown, OPI

From the Epistle of St. James, 2:14-17

14 How does it help, my brothers, when someone who has never done a single good act claims to have faith? Will that faith bring salvation?

15 If one of the brothers or one of the sisters is in need of clothes and has not enough food to live on,

16 and one of you says to them, ‘I wish you well; keep yourself warm and eat plenty,’

without giving them these bare necessities of life, then what good is that?

17 In the same way faith, if good deeds do not go with it, is quite dead.

Our jobs as Christians is to give those without faith, those who are doubting their faith, and those who have lost their faith, the spiritual necessities to regain that faith they once had by our actions and deeds. Pray with and for those who doubt their faith or have lost their faith. Feed the hungry, both nutritionally and spiritually. Clothe the naked, both physically and spiritually. Comfort the sick and dying, both physically and spiritually. And last but not least, open your homes to the homeless, both spiritually and physically.

Matthew 25:31-40 says:

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.

32Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

33And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.

34Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

35For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

36I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.

’ 37Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?

38And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?

39And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

40And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.

The instructions are pretty clear here: we are our brothers’ keepers. Jesus has instructed us to take care of each other both physically and spiritually. It is up to each of us to fulfill Jesus’s instruction in order to inherit the kingdom of Heaven.

If we don’t follow the above instructions then we can expect the following as stated in Matthew 25:41-46

41Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

42For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,

43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’

44Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’

45Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’

46And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

The instructions seem clear and the rewards are truly wonderful. Just as the consequences of not following the teachings of the Lord are quite clear and not nearly as wonderful.

Step back and take a look at your Christian life and evaluate yourself. Have you followed the teachings, have you clothed, fed, prayed, or visited? Or do you shun and ignore the people who need your spiritual help and guidance. Today would be a good time to start looking a little closer at those who most of us feel are “beneath us” or “unreachable”. Even the smallest act of kindness and true love might be just enough to touch the hearts of those in need.

September 8, 2015

The Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary~The Rev. Lady Sherwood, OPI

Today we celebrate the birth of the mother of our Lord and Saviour, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The earliest known account of Mary’s birth is to be found in the protoevangelium of James (5:2), an apocryphal text from the late second century, with her parents Saint Anne and Saint Joachim.

Usually in the case of saints, the church commemorates their date of death, but both the births of saint John the Baptist and the feast of the blessed virgin Mary’s birth which we celebrate today, are traditionally celebrated because besides the prophet Jeremiah, (Jer 1:5), these alone were holy in their very birth.

The feast of the birth of Mary, as with the feast of her Assumption, originated in Jerusalem. It actually first began as the feast of the Basilica sancte Maria ubi nata est, which is now named the Basilica of Saint Anne.

The original church which was built in the fifth century, was a Marian basilica erected on a spot that was known as the Shepherd’s pool and this is believed to have been the home of Mary’s parents.

The feast began to be celebrated in Rome towards the latter end of the seventh century and it was first established their when brought there by Eastern monks.

The wine growers in France called this feast “Our Lady of the Grape Harvest”. This is because the best grapes would be brought to the local church, they would be blessed and some of the bunches of these grapes would be attached to the hands of the statue of Mary.

A festival meal which includes these grapes is part of the tradition for this day.

September 6, 2015

Blessed Bertrand of Garrique

Bertrand was a secular priest under the Cistercians, missioner, and ardent opponent of Albigensianism when he first met Saint Dominic in the party of Bishop Diego. Bertrand may have been the one to recruit Dominic in the battle against the French heretics because they worked closely together in this mission for the rest of their lives.

Bertrand joined the first Dominican friars by receiving the habit at Toulouse in 1216. Dominic left him in charge of the community when he traveled to Rome to seek papal approval of the order. Bertrand’s zeal and experience played an important role in the founding of the Friar Preachers. When the brothers were sent out in little groups on missions, Bertrand was left in Paris with Matthew of France, where he helped to form the Dominican tradition of learning and governed the first foundation at Paris.

While Bertrand’s advice and prayers helped to establish the order, he is best remembered as the closest friend and traveling companion of Saint Dominic, until he was appointed as provincial of Provence. He witnessed the miracles and heavenly favors bestowed upon his friend and provided us with insightful testimony about the heart and mind of the founder.

Bertrand himself was credited with many miracles, both during his life and after his death. Others considered him a “second Dominic” in austerity and holiness, but he humbly overlooked his own claims to sanctity in his loving insistence on those of his friend.

Bertrand was preaching a mission to the Cistercian sisters of Saint Mary of the Woods near Garrigue, when he fell sick and died. He was buried in the sisters’ cemetery until the frequency of miracles suggested that he should be given a more suitable shrine. His relics were lost and shrine destroyed during the religious wars, but pilgrimages were still made to “Saint Bertrand’s Cemetery” until the time of the French Revolution.

Born: at Garrigue, diocese of Nîmes, France, c. 1195

Died: In 1230 he died in Le Bouchet

Beatified: cultus confirmed by Pope Leo XIII in 1881

September 6, 2015

Angels Unaware….Are You One? ~ The Rev. Deacon Dollie Wilkinson, OPI

There is an elderly gentleman in my neighborhood, who lives alone, and seems to spend most of his days hitting plastic golf balls in his yard, or feeding stray cats who appear every evening on his front porch. When we moved in to our new home a few years ago, he at first appeared distant, not very friendly. Since then, I have learned that this is just his way. He had a severe brain injury many years ago, so he doesn’t relate to others like you and I would. But, he has a big heart, and is very generous. See, most of my neighbors are elderly, and thus on a fixed income. So money is usually tight for these folks, as it is for most of us. This kind gentleman has a daughter who brings him boxes of produce and bread every week. And, he gladly shares these with every one, including myself. He could be selfish, and keep this bounty all to himself, but he doesn’t. We are blessed by his generosity, but I believe he is likewise favored in the eyes of the Lord, as described in Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23:

“A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold. The rich and the poor have this in common: the LORD is the maker of them all. Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of anger will fail. Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor. Do not rob the poor because they are poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate; for the LORD pleads their cause and despoils of life those who despoil them.”

This generous neighbor could turn around and try to sell the produce, or pick and choose who he gives it to, but instead he freely shares with whomever needs it. I know many of you may donate to a worthy cause, such as an orphanage, or maybe you buy gifts for a Secret Santa child during the holidays. Yet, when a scruffy bum approaches you on the street as you rush through your day, do you speak harsh words to him, or her……do you even politely say “No” when they ask for spare change……or do you just rush past, having already passed judgment on someone you really do not know? But, then you see a group of school children collecting money for a field trip, and decide to donate, considering them a better use of your time and money? I’m not saying we should not support our children in their endeavors, but I just want to caution you to heed the message in James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17:

“My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you? You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For the one who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment. What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”

Please do support our children, or those in orphanages, or Secret Santa, but also do not ignore your next door neighbor, or the dearheart who comes up to you on the street. Just as my neighbor exemplified in his generosity, to pick and chose who receives our money, time, or gifts, is to serve in judgment over others. As we all know, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” is not only commanded by God, but should serve as a basis for all we say and do in our daily lives. Because what good is it to say we have faith, we believe in our heavenly Father, if we do nothing else but spend our days worrying about just ourselves? “So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” So, what works, or actions, have you committed to doing here lately to help others?

September 4, 2015

Blessed Catherine of Racconigi

Catherine was born into poverty and hunger following the devastation of war. Her father, an unemployed locksmith, became despondent and quarrelsome as so many do when they lose their livelihood. Her mother supported the family by weaving coarse cloth at home. Catherine and her brother grew up in an atmosphere that was absent the peace of Christ.

Surprisingly, God reached the heart of little Catherine when she was only five. It was then that her mystical experiences began. Our Lady appeared to her while the tiny child was praying alone in her tiny room and told Catherine that Jesus wished to make her His spouse. Then as a child her own age, Jesus himself appeared, accompanied by many other saints including Catherine of Siena and Peter Martyr, and the Blessed Mother place the ring of espousal on her finger. Like the ring of Saint Catherine of Siena, it was visible to today’s saint but could not be seen by others.

Thereafter Catherine had frequent ecstasies and visions. Jesus always appeared to her as a man her own age. He talked with her, taught her how to pray, and several times took her heart away to cleanse it. When He appeared with His Cross, he offered to help Him. He let it rest on her should a moment, and it left a wound for the rest of her life. She also received the stigmata, though it too remained invisible to others and, at her request, it was only revealed by her confessor after her death.

And, of course, Jesus worked many miracles on behalf of His friend: made a broken dish whole again, and provided money and food when the family’s poverty was extreme. In times of trial, the heavenly hosts came to comfort the girl who received great consolation from the aspiration, “Jesus, my hope!”

Because her family opposed her becoming a Dominican, she took the habit of a tertiary. Her mystical experiences roused a storm of gossip among her neighbors, who were terrified at the lights and sounds that came from her home. The devil stirred up more trouble to mitigate her influence over other souls. Even the Dominican fathers ostracized her and eventually she was forced out of town and settled in Racconigi.

There rich and poor sought out Catherine for her wise counsel, prayers, and material assistance. She was almost continually in ecstasy. The particular object of Catherine’s prayers was the salvation of soldiers dying in battle. Numerous miracles occurred before and after her death, and a cult arose at her tomb almost immediately. Even her persecutors were aware of her sanctity and retracted their bitter words.

Born: in the diocese of Cuneo in the Piedmont, Italy, 1487

Died: 1574

Beatified: Pope Pius VII confirmed her holiness and cult in 1810

September 3, 2015

Blessed Guala

Guala was one of the first disciples of Saint Dominic, attracted by the Dominican ideal in 1219, when he heard the founder preach. He received the habit from Dominic at the time the friary opened in Bergamo. After a short novitiate, he was appointed prior there.

Guala proved to be an able superior and a practical administrator and builder. He was on the committee that planed the convent of Saint Agnes in Bologna. During a delay in the construction of the convent because of the opposition of the family of Blessed Diana d’Andalò, who was financing the project, Guala was sent to Brescia to assume the position of its first prior.

During this period Guala had the revelation of Saint Dominic’s greatness that became the subject of many early legends. Although they were good friends, Guala did not know that Dominic was dying on their return from a chapter. Guala had fallen asleep with his head leaning against the belltower of the conventual church at Brescia when he had a vision of two ladders coming down from heaven. Our Lord was visible at the top of one ladder, and Our Lady at the top of the other. Angels were ascending and descending on them. As Guala watched, a friar, who sat at the foot of one ladder with his face covered was drawn up to heaven and great glory surrounded him. Guala awoke, deeply affected by the vision, and went immediately to Bologna, where he found that Saint Dominic had died at the time of his vision.

In 1226, Guala was named the prior of Bologna’s Saint Nicholas abbey, famous for its regularity and fervor. While there, Pope Honorius III appointed him arbiter between Bologna and Modena. Guala worked hard to forge a treaty that lasted 10 years. The following year Pope Gregory IX asked him to negotiate between Emperor Frederick II and the Lombard confederacy–an even more daunting diplomatic task. Guala was also commissioned to convince Frederick to keep his vow to lead a crusade. He was unable to resolve matters between the parties, but at least they maintained the status quo of an uneasy peace.

In 1228, Guala was consecrated bishop of Brescia. As such, he negotiated a number of treaties between warring cities. Frederick broke all the promises he had made and attacked the cities that had remained loyal to the pope. In 1238, Frederick’s army besieged Brescia, but the attackers had to withdraw within three months, which is credited to Guala.

Guala’s contemporaries described him as “a man of great prudence, well acquainted with the world, and of accomplished manners,” and said that “he governed the diocese entrusted to his care with such holiness that, both during his life and after his death, he wrought many wonders through God.”

The years of labor and civil strife wore him down. He resigned his see in 1242 in order to enter complete seclusion and pray without interruption in preparation for death. Therefore, he retired to the Vallumbrosan monastery of San Sepolcro d’Astino, where he lived as a hermit until his death. He was buried in the Benedictine church, and after many miracles at his tomb, his cause was promoted.

Born: in Bergamo, Italy

Died: in San Sepolcro d’Astino, Italy, in 1244

Beatified: cultus approved in 1868 by Pope Pius IX.

August 30, 2015

Saint Rose of Lima

At her confirmation in 1597, she took the name of Rose, because, when an infant, her face had been seen transformed by a mystical rose. As a child she was remarkable for a great reverence, and pronounced love, for all things relating to God. This so took possession of her that thenceforth her life was given up to prayer and mortification. She had an intense devotion to the Infant Jesus and His Blessed Mother, before whose altar she spent hours. She was scrupulously obedient and of untiring industry, making rapid progress by earnest attention to her parents’ instruction, to her studies, and to her domestic work, especially with her needle.

After reading of St. Catherine she determined to take that saint as her model. She began by fasting three times a week, adding secret severe penances, and when her vanity was assailed, cutting off her beautiful hair, wearing coarse clothing, and roughening her hands with toil. All this time she had to struggle against the objections of her friends, the ridicule of her family, and the censure of her parents. Many hours were spent before the Blessed Sacrament, which she received daily.

Finally she determined to take a vow of virginity, and inspired by supernatural love, adopted extraordinary means to fulfill it. At the outset she had to combat the opposition of her parents, who wished her to marry. For ten years the struggle continued before she won, by patience and prayer, their consent to continue her mission.

At the same time great temptations assailed her purity, faith, and constance, causing her excruciating agony of mind and desolation of spirit, urging her to more frequent mortifications; but daily, also, Our Lord manifested Himself, fortifying her with the knowledge of His presence and consoling her mind with evidence of His Divine love. Fasting daily was soon followed by perpetual abstinence from meat, and that, in turn, by use of only the coarsest food and just sufficient to support life.

Her days were filled with acts of charity and industry, her exquisite lace and embroidery helping to support her home, while her nights were devoted to prayer and penance. When her work permitted, she retired to a little grotto which she had built, with her brother’s aid, in their small garden, and there passed her nights in solitude and prayer. Overcoming the opposition of her parents, and with the consent of her confessor, she was allowed later to become practically a recluse in this cell, save for her visits to the Blessed Sacrament.

In her twentieth year she received the habit of St. Dominic. Thereafter she redoubled the severity and variety of her penances to a heroic degree, wearing constantly a metal spiked crown, concealed by roses, and an iron chain about her waist. Days passed without food, save a draught of gall mixed with bitter herbs. When she could no longer stand, she sought repose on a bed constructed by herself, of broken glass, stone, potsherds, and thorns. She admitted that the thought of lying down on it made her tremble with dread. Fourteen years this martyrdom of her body continued without relaxation, but not without consolation. Our Lord revealed Himself to her frequently, flooding her soul with such inexpressible peace and joy as to leave her in ecstasy four hours. At these times she offered to Him all her mortifications and penances in expiation for offences against His Divine Majesty, for the idolatry of her country, for the conversion of sinners, and for the souls in Purgatory.

Many miracles followed her death. She was beatified by Clement IX, in 1667, and canonized in 1671 by Clement X, the first American to be so honored. Her feast is celebrated 30 August. She is represented wearing a crown of roses.

Born:1586 at Lima, Peru as Isabel

Died: August 24, 1617 at Lima, Peru

Beatified: April 15, 1668 by Pope Clement IX

Canonized: April 2, 1671 by Pope Clement X

Representation: anchor; crown of flowers; crown of roses; Holy Infant; roses; Dominican tertiary holding roses; Dominican tertiary accompanied by the Holy Infant

Patronage: against vanity; Americas; Central America; embroiderers; florists; gardeners; India; Latin America; Lima, Peru; needle workers; New World; people ridiculed for their piety; Peru; Philippines; diocese of Santa Rosa, California; South America; vanity; Villareal Samar, Phillipines; West Indies

August 30, 2015

More than Lip Service ~ The Rev. Deacon Joshua Hatten, OPI

St. Mark 7:1-8,14-15, 21-23

When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. —For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders. And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds. — So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:
This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.
You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.” He summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;
but the things that come out from within are what defile. “From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile.”

In today’s Gospel we see Jesus calling out the Pharisees for their hypocrisy – the fact that they placed more importance on man made rules and regulations rather than purity of the mind and heart. I wonder how many of us Christ would find ourselves guilty of the very same hypocrisy today?

So often, too often, many Christians sew their wild oats Monday through Saturday and then find themselves praying for a crop failure on Sunday. Sure, we may wear our crucifixes or crosses, have all the right bumper stickers and even do volunteer work for this organization or another – all the outward show to identify ourselves as Christians – but is it in vain? Just for the show? Really meaning nothing because of the conditions of our hearts?

Do we harbor hatred in our minds? Lusts in our bellies? Unforgiveness? Addictions? Do we gossip or spread rumours? Do we murmur and complain? I think you get the gist; we know the list could go on and on.

While we know that, for us, perfection in this life is an impossibility, we ARE to strive for it. We are called to be in this world, but not of it. We are called to be holy as our God is holy. After all, we are made in the divine image! But, we will fall. We will fail.

So what is the point? It lies in this: that when we do falter, when we do fail – that we get back up, seek out forgiveness for our sins and shortcomings and get back in the race toward holiness. Keeping our focus on Jesus Christ, with the aide of the Holy Spirit, that is GOD within us, we can accomplish what is pleasing to the Almighty. What finds favour in His sight we can choose to do, but only with His help. We must seek out, with humility and singleness of heart and a hatred of what is unholy, to do what makes us truly the sons and daughters of God. Not merely putting on an outward show. But, truly, in our heart of hearts desiring that which is pleasing and good in the eyes of the Lord.

I spent nearly a decade as a raging alcoholic. During that time I never missed a church service, I always sang the loudest in the choir and I volunteered with many, many different organizations… but for what? It was all a song and dance – pure show. Internally, I was rotten. My life was as far off the tracks as it could be. And with all that show, I was only fooling myself. I wasn’t right with the Lord. I was not pleasing Him. I was a Pharisee. So long as other people could see the “great” works I was doing then I felt holy and most of the time holier-than-thou. It was all in vain. All for naught, nothing, nada, zip, zilch.

Once I turned my inner life around and stopped drinking and put God back where He belonged, as the most important part of my life, then everything changed. I wasn’t any longer concerned about putting on the “show” for others. No more did all the “lip service” matter. I had to take a long and painful and difficult look at my life. At the way not only did it affect me, but how it effected others. The show mattered, not in any good way. Not in any way that was gainful spiritually. It hurt me and those I loved and those I associated with – most of all, it hurt God. I was letting Him down. All the outward folderol was costing me a true relationship with the Almighty. It was making a mockery of the cross – of the work, the price that Christ had paid for me.

Now I ask each of us to take our finger of deep introspection and turn it toward ourselves. WE typically have no problem pointing out the faults and hypocrisies in others, but it is much harder to be honest with ourselves about our shortcomings. However, when we do get honest with ourselves about ourselves, then – and only then – can we take a moral inventory and see what was purely lip service, eliminate it and live our lives for Christ and in Christ and BY CHRIST, be victorious!

This is the lesson of today’s Gospel. This is what Christ is teaching us. Not simply to have a pretense of honoring him with a great outward show – what does it matter if your hands are dirty or clean when your mind and emotions, that is, YOUR SPIRIT, is filthy?? Take that first step of trust in Christ, and allow the divine guidance to lead our thoughts into line with the thoughts of God. To have our actions FOLLOW what we are internally. To truly love and serve the Lord with gladness and singleness of heart. By doing this, then we are really the children of God and please Him with our works. And then, we can be led onto His path of peace. Amen.