Author Archives: thoughtadventure

Our Thinking and God’s Thinking

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Dear Folks,

The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) all relate Jesus giving three predictions of His passion. Today we read in Mark Jesus giving the second prediction of the passion,

and the apostles are clueless. After the first prediction and Peter’s pushback, Jesus says “You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do (Mark 8:33c).”

After the second prediction, the next concern of the Twelve is which one of them is the greatest. Jesus says, “whoever wishes to be first must be the last of all and the servant of all.” Jesus puts His arms around a child and says, “Whoever receives one such child in

my name receives me; and whoever receives me receives not me but the one who sent me (see Mark 10:35-37).”

After the third prediction, James and John start lobbying for the best spots in the kingdom. Jesus teaches that “whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant and whoever wishes to be first among you must be the servant of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:43b-45).

We notice that all the apostles are seen not to understand, but Peter, James, and John are especially highlighted. They were in inner circle, the ones who got to witness the extra special things. They witness the little girl getting raised (Mark 5:47), the Transfiguration (Mark 9:2), and the agony in the garden (Mark 14:33). St. Paul said they were considered “pillars” of the faith community (Galatian 2:9). It appears the closer one gets to Jesus and the higher one gets in the Church the more one gets humbled.

Consider the contrast between God’s way of thinking and human ways of thinking. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways—oracle of the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, my

thoughts higher than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).”

I would connect this to living according to the Spirit and living according to the flesh. “It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life (John 6:63).” See Romans 8 and Galatians 5 for some expanded treatment. We see that the way of the world is seeking one’s own advantage and centering one’s life on power, pleasure wealth and honor. The way of God is focused on giving oneself in love. A leader is a servant leader. The one’s who should get our greatest concern are the powerless and most helpless. Those trapped in poverty, the disabled, those incapacitated by age and infirmity, children, especially unborn children (whose rights and dignity are

currently under attack), and others like them must never be forgotten.

But what we are talking about is not just a collection of activities, but a completely different way of thinking. As we reflect on these teachings, how do they challenge how we approach life?

Blessings

Fr Jim

Warning: a Cross

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Dear Folks,
Saturday, we celebrate the Exaltation of The Cross, and Sunday, we read of Jesus predicting His passion. This section of Mark (8:22-10) is all about the cross, about Jesus preparing to carry it and teaching that His followers will have to follow with a cross as well. People are very slow to get it. Three times He will explain that He will be rejected and put to death, and Mark emphasizes that immediately afterward, the apostles show they don’t get it. We are accustomed to talking about the cross in theory, but it is harder to accept in practice. Jesus had just cured a blind man, but it took two tries. After the first try, the blind man could see, but not clearly (people looked like walking trees). After the second try, he could see clearly. Those who thought Jesus was just a teacher and wonder worker are people who can see, but not clearly. I’ve found some who seem to see themselves as customers in the Church rather than coworkers in mission, and they cooperate (maybe) if they get things the way they want them. They can see, but not clearly. I’ve asked practicing Catholics, “why is it a good thing to be a practicing Catholic Christian?” and would get some answers like, “I get a good feeling on Sunday morning,” or “It is good to get together with the people,” or “it gives moral guidance.” These are people who see, but not clearly.
In 1776, Thomas Paine wrote an essay called “The Crisis.” It began, “THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.”
Given what is happening in the world and what is happening in the Church, I think it is a safe bet that being Church is not going to get easier any time soon. It fact, it will likely get less convenient, more challenging, and require more people to step up beyond what they are accustomed to. Those whose faith is shallow shall very possibly wander away, as have so many before. Those who remain, however, will be more prepared than ever to rise to the level of heroism to which God calls His saints. I see my job as preparing people so that more will endure, and then they will be more prepared for the rebuild.
If following Jesus becomes harder, will you still follow? If it becomes a lot harder?
If being Church becomes harder, will you still do it? If it becomes much harder?
God is calling us to greatness.
Blessings,
Fr. Jim

It Begins With Listening

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Dear Folks,

The New Testament teaches us a few Aramaic words, including “Ephphatha,” meaning “be opened.” Jesus heals a deaf man with a speech impediment (Mark 7:31-37). When Jesus does a miracle, we first rejoice, and then we ask, “what is He trying to teach us?

When most people could not read or write, being unable to hear or speak would severely isolate people. Hearing and speaking connect us to the world beyond ourselves. Sin also isolates people from one another and tends to close us in on ourselves. Big Question: Is the focus of attention on ourselves or beyond ourselves?

Most of us don’t listen as well as we think we do. If I’m focused on myself, I’m filled with: How does this affect me? What does it make me feel? How do I respond to it?

In Ann Garrido’s book “Redeeming Conflict” we find habit #2 is “be curious” and habit #3 is “Listen to understand.” We have a tendency to listen to find the flaws and respond. But in the other person’s head, what they are thinking makes sense to them. The challenge is to figure out how it makes sense, how do their ideas fit together, and why do they find them compelling? What are the concerns and motivations that drive them? This allows us to speak to their concerns. I know some people have said some things that were true, but did not speak to my premises and concerns, so I found them completely unpersuasive. I found, for example, that since I think there are some problems with the way liturgy has often been celebrated after Vatican II, they assume that I idealize the time before Vatican II, and so they give me a lecture on all the problems of that time. Since they are arguing with a position that I do not believe, it doesn’t matter if what they say is true, it accomplishes nothing except get on my nerves and waste my time.

Sometimes I have found myself, to my regret, doing that to someone else. A response bursts out of me before I even think about it instead of hearing them out and maybe asking

some questions to draw their thoughts out. This suggests that I was focused more on myself than the other person, and that my need to tell my story had become desperate. It also makes it unlikely that what I say is going to be effective. To become a better listener, I try

to quiet myself and focus carefully on the other person. I also work on telling my story. If I don’t have another venue, it helps to write, even if I don’t share it with anyone. That helps me tell my story in a more controlled manner.

Redeeming conflict habit #5 is welcome emotion, and #6 is tell your story. Once I have listened to the other person, seeking to understand deeply why they think they way they do, I can look at myself and see what I have to tell of what I’m thinking and feeling. I’m more likely to be able to speak in a way that connects. Being a better listener increases my power of speech. I don’t claim to be great at it, but I know I’m better than I used to be, and I’ve connected better with others. I ask Jesus to continue to do for me what He did for the man in the Gospel.

Blessings,

Fr. Jim

Tradition of the Faith

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ear Folks,

Our Gospel for today from Mark 7 tells of Jesus clashing with the Pharisees about God’s teach- ing and their traditions (See vv. 1-23 for the whole story). We see, “In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts… You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition (see Mark 7:7-8).”

The Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum) says: “[T]here exists a close connection and communication between sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture. For both of them, flowing from the same divine wellspring, in a certain way merge into a unity and tend toward the same end. … Consequently, it is not from Sacred Scripture alone that the Church draws her certainty about everything which has been revealed. Therefore, both sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture are to be accepted and venerated with the same sense of loyalty and reverence. … Sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture form one sacred deposit of the word of God, committed to the Church (DV 9,10).”

Some have claimed that the Catholic Church is doing what the Pharisees were doing with re- gard to tradition. We want to look deeper into the issue. Both Catholics and Protestants have the tradition of calling the Bible “The Word of God” but the Bible tells us the first meaning of the term is Jesus Himself (John 1:1). Jesus is condemning corrupt tradition, and the word “tradition” means “something handed down (Greek paradosis, verb form paradidomi).” We see, for example St. Paul tells people to hold to the traditions they received (1 Corinthians 11:2; 2 Thess 2:15; verb form 1 Corinthians 15:3).

To understand the Catholic Church’s thoughts about tradition, consider: it doesn’t make sense to us that God would reveal the fullness of truth and then let it get lost. It doesn’t make sense to us that God would protect and preserve the truth in the Church up to a certain point in history and then stop. Hence, we have trouble with the notion that after the Bible was written, the Church as a whole misunderstood it for centuries and centuries until fifteen hundred years later someone got it right. What the Church has taught, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, for many generations carries great weight. We must be aware that we can be manipulated by the world around us, and the testimony of generations of Christians is a vital counterweight.

Some people claim all they need is the Bible, however, many groups who make that claim teach contradictory things, and I don’t see any limit to those contradictions. When I was in col- lege, I met a group called Students for New Testament Restoration. They held that God has given us the Bible to teach us the truth, so we should be able to read the Bible and reliably find and know the truth, otherwise we are saying that God did a poor job writing it. Therefore, after they read the Bible and understood what it meant, everyone who disagreed with them was just being dishonest. They didn’t make a lot of friends, but I admired the consistency of their logic.

God clearly allows messy disagreements, but when it threatens to tear the Church apart and have the Gospel get lost the leaders of the Church, appointed by Christ, or their successors, resolve it (see Acts 15).

It is a constant task to stay faithful to the Gospel revealed in Jesus, passed down in the Church under the protection of the Holy Spirit. As usual, God’s grace does not make it easy but makes it possible.

Blessings, Fr.Jim

We Are Being Tested

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Dear Folks,This Sunday we finish chapter 6 of the Gospel of John, and we see many of Jesus’ followers leaving Him and going back to their former ways of life. Imagine Jesus’ heartbreak watching them go. Imagine what He is feeling as He asks the twelve if they want to leave also. Peter gives a less than enthusiastic response, but they stay. They probably had as much trouble with what He had said as the others did and had as much reason to leave, but their reason to stay was stronger. We have been reading, and hearing, and talking for many years about people leaving the practice of the Catholic faith. Many people immediately talk about bad experiences that spark their leaving. I think this is the wrong focus. There have always been bad experiences of Church, and while we want to try to minimize them, they will always be a part of life in any community. The Church is full of sinners. It has been from the beginning. When He called the first disciples, He knew they were flawed. He warned us that it would be an issue until the end of time (See the parable of the wheat and the weeds Matthew 13:24-30).I suggest so many have been leaving because they haven’t been taught enough about the faith to give them enough reason to stay, so it doesn’t take much to get them to leave. I have talked to lots (and lots) of Catholics, and a great many of them were taught a very feeble understanding about the Catholic faith. I’ve thought many times, “If that’s what I thought the faith was, I would have left too.” Some believed that it’s basically a general encouragement to be a nice person. I’ve asked people, “Why is it a good thing to be a practicing Catholic Christian?” and some have no answer. Some say they get a good feeling on Sunday morning. Some people were actually taught they didn’t need to go to church, and if they felt closer to God in the woods, that’s where they should go instead (as if closeness to God were a feeling. Where did that idea come from?).I have witnessed and experienced many kinds of toxic church. I’m still here because I believe that the Catholic faith is the truth, and that living that faith is the core purpose of life. As long as I believe that, you folks are stuck with me. This is why I’m such a fanatic about people continuing to learn about the faith. I have calmed down enough not to be as obnoxious about it as I used to be, but I’m still just as determined. Our Church is being tested and will be tested further (Can anyone look at what is happening in the world and what is happening in the Church and not believe that?).I suggest we shall have many occasions to say, “this is a hard saying,” and “this is a hard situation,” and feel tempted to leave. If God is testing us, are we prepared? Is our faith deep enough, wide enough and strong enough to endure? I propose two things: First, spend time with God (always a good thing). Second, explore more about the great treasure of our faith. The more I learn the more amazing I find it.God will give us what we need if we are willing to receive it. Blessings,

Fr. Jim

God Made Us Incarnate

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Dear Folks,
The history of the Church is full of drama, and a lot of it is the challenge of those who would try to change or falsify the Catholic faith. There is room for some legitimate disagreement within the boundaries of the faith, but when one steps out of those boundaries, that is heresy and does great harm.
There was a group called the Gnostics, who believed that we are spirits trapped in bodies, and the bodies were evil, or at best of no importance. The name comes from the Greek word for knowledge, and they claimed that salvation centers around having secret knowledge (that they claimed to possess) and if you had it, your behavior didn’t matter.
Some scholars believe the letters of John were written to fight the errors that would later develop into Gnosticism.
There was another group called the Manicheans, following a guy named Mani. They also believed that the body was evil and to be escaped. St. Augustine became one of them for a while trying to solve the problem of evil (If God created everything where did evil come from?) He later would learn better answers and became a mighty force opposing them. The Catholic faith believes very strongly that we are incarnate beings. We are both body and soul, and Jesus became fully incarnate, fully human. The Gospel of John is considered the most theologically developed, most philosophically elevated of the Gospels, but there are points where it gets especially earthy. Only in John do we see Jesus spitting and putting His fingers in the mud (John 9:6). Only in John does it show Jesus apparently cooking (John 21:9). When Jesus speaks of eating His flesh and drinking His blood, the word for “eat” is “trogo,” the more primal word used for eating like an animal more than for fine
dining. Christianity does not shy away from the fullness of implications of Jesus’ incarnate nature, or ours.
Our service to God naturally involves our bodies. Our faith has always held it honorable to sweat and get callouses doing God’s work. Our worship is also meant to involve the body. We are called to say and sing the words and do the actions, gestures and postures that pertain to our roles. This engages our whole self.
Being physically present is also a part of it. If all one can do is watch the Mass on television, then we remember we are not called to the impossible. However, something precious was lost. During Covid, many people decided they liked watching Mass on tv better. Some people blame the decision to close the churches for this trend. We can argue about what the bishops should have done during the crisis (I prefer to use my time more productively), but I would say that many people’s sense of the power of the Mass was pretty thin to begin with, and this was an excuse. Mass attendance had been declining for decades before, and this just accelerated it. The task now is for us to rebuild.
The first part of transforming the world is always for us to fall more deeply in love with Jesus. I would leave you with one question: how do you bring your whole self to Jesus?
Blessings
Fr Jim

Bread of Life: What is God Doing?

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Dear Folks,Every three years our lectionary takes us through the Bread of Life discourse in the Gospel of John. Having just finished the Eucharistic Congress, continuing the Eucharistic revival, we are presented with five weeks of following John chapter 6.I’m going to challenge everyone to take advantage of this time.1. Present yourself to God to be changed by this journey. You can imagine that the disciples were changed by this day. In the Eucharistic prayer, I pray for the Holy Spirit to transform the bread and wine, then I pray that the Holy Spirit will transform us.2. Reflect on the Gospel story throughout the week. All four Gospels relate the feeding of 5000 families with five loaves and two fish. Matthew and Mark also tell the story of feeding 4000 with seven loaves and a few fish. We are really familiar with thisstory. What would it be like for the disciples, who had no idea what was about to happen? The Gospels reveal special treasures when we look at them more closely, and this is especially true of the Gospel of John. I suggest that each sentence is importantand has a purpose. What might it be?3. Try to do some extra learning. If you have not yet read Brant Pitre’s book “Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist,” Bishop Robert Barron’s “This is my Body,” Scott Hahn’s “The Fourth Cup” or “The Lamb’s Supper,” or any of Timothy O’Malley’s books, this might be an opportunity. On Formed.org there is great stuff.4. The talks from the Eucharistic congress are available on YouTube. There is so much that can be done so easily. Those of us who weren’t able to make it in person can participate to that extent. What if you and a group of friends watch a talk and then discuss it afterward?5. We remember that the Eucharist is about gift of self. The Lord gives Himself to us completely in this intimate encounter, and we are learning to give ourselves. What if we asked the question, “If Jesus could get whatever He wanted of me today, what might it be?” What if we let that question percolate in our minds for a while?6. What if we spent some extra time in front of the tabernacle or the monstrance. We remember that the Eucharist is not a thing but a person, the person of Jesus. As we focus on His presence, He is ever aware of our presence. He is watching you. Now. Yes, now.7. After we receive communion, let us go forth from Mass remembering that Jesus is within us. How does that awareness change how we act?I challenge you to do something different. Something. Anything. How can we open a new door in our minds and hearts to let Jesus in more deeply?

Blessings,

Fr. Jim

Out on Mission

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Persecution of the Christians at Rome by Nero. Illustration for The Pathway of Life by T Dewitt Talmage (Johnson, 1890).

Dear Folks,
Jesus sends the disciples out on mission, and they are minimally equipped. Sandwiched into the story of the mission of the twelve, between their being sent out (Mark 6:6-16) and
the return (Mark 6:30-33), is the death of John the Baptist. As with the two healings a couple weeks ago (Mark 5:21-43), when one story is sandwiched into another, it is a hint to look at them together.
The mission of the disciples: depending on whatever people would give them, they would heal the sick and drive out demons. That is a pretty challenging assignment, but one that would not make them enemies (except for the demons). However, they would later be sent out when they would encounter persecution of all kinds, even though they were only doing good. The death of John the Baptist is a foreshadowing of what lies ahead.
John had been imprisoned for calling out Herod on his behavior, and Herod’s wife Herodias saw him as a threat, so she conspired to get him killed. Throughout Christian history, standing by the truth can get one in trouble. In the early Church, there were persecutions
in which Christians would be given a choice: either worship the emperor and be set free, or refuse and face horrible, agonizing death. Many faced death. Worshipping the emperor did not require anything elaborate, just putting a pinch of incense on hot coals and saying, “Caesar is Lord.” They didn’t have to mean it, and they could tell all their friends they didn’t mean it. Still, they refused. Why make such a fuss about such a little thing? First, it was witnessing to a lie. Witnessing to the truth is central to being a Christian. Second, and more sinister, it is a form of grooming. Tyrants and predators know that shifting people’s behaviors, their consciousness in tiny, incremental steps, can lead people to all sorts of terrible places before they realize what is happening. We remember the enemy is very clever (Gen 3:1).
These days, if someone refuses to participate in same sex union ceremonies, or uses the pronouns that we were taught in school, there will be people who will try to destroy him. Some say that not going along with certain theories about marriage and gender does great harm to some people. I say, let’s have that conversation. Let’s talk about what the truth really is, and how we can best help people. Many are not willing. Many would shout you down, assault or harass you, destroy your livelihood, in general try to destroy you instead.
I recommend Matt Walsh’s documentary, “What is a Woman.” It shows people acting like the question itself is out of bounds, inappropriate, somehow mean. People cut off the conversation when he pushes the question. When I got my rudimentary studies in science, math, and philosophy in preparation to study theology, I learned the importance of rigorously define key terms. If we are going to help people, it sure would be good to know what
we are talking about.
Jesus sends us forth to be healers, not usually with miraculous powers, but with “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22). We must remember that we are being “sent forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be as clever as serpents and innocent as doves (Mat 10:16).
Blessings,
Fr. Jim 

Do We Really Know?

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Dear Folks,
Today in our Gospel (Mark 6:1-6) we see people who don’t learn who Jesus is because they think they already know. They apparently figured that since He grew up there, they knew all there was to be known about Him, and so their minds were closed. I find one of the great obstacles to learning is the assumption that we already know. Have you ever started to talk, and before you were done, someone assumes (incorrectly) that they know what you are going to say and so starts responding to this imagined point of view? Isn’t it frustrating? Have you ever been caught doing that to someone else? Sometimes we can say what we wanted to say, but their voices are so loud in their heads that they hear what they expected and not what you said.
What some people say about what Christianity is shows a terrible lack of understanding, but they are sure they understand. Several have said that Christianity is just a matter of being good to others. I start to react, and they say, “That’s what it boils down to.” No, No,
No. I heard people say that Christianity and Hinduism teach essentially the same thing, just use different words, so they do both. In the words of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “No. A thousand gallons of ‘No.’” Christianity is a love relationship, a deep friendship, with a God who loves us deeply, tenderly, and faithfully, and has been willing to pay the ultimate price for us. There is not, nor could there ever be a love story equal to that.
Many people are walking around with the notion that what they learned about the faith as children is all they need to know. I think this has a lot to do with why the Church is having so much trouble now. Even if your faith formation as a child was super-excellent (and for many, many people it was not), what would your life be like if you stopped learning about things in general after eighth grade? Many have left the faith, and many remain in a superficial manner, but get their perspectives more from the world than from the faith. If they have adult questions and only a child’s answers, how could that not happen?
I think many were taught the faith in such a way they didn’t get the sense that it made much difference, so why learn more? I suggest there are several reasons:
1. It enriches our encounters with God. In any love relationship, learning about our beloved helps us connect.
2. It helps us understand how to please God.
3. It pushes us out of our comfort zone. No relationship develops if we are not willing to get out of our comfort zone.
4. It helps us function as members of the Church. Church will still be frustrating because it is so full of us sinful people, but how it works will make more sense.
5. It enables us to witness to the faith better, so more people will want to come and fewer will want to leave.
6. It is just so fascinating! The more I learn, the more amazing it seems and the hungrier I get to learn even more. A thousand lifetimes would not be enough.
7. I suggest our strength as a church in the future will depend a lot on how much people keep learning about the faith.
Blessings,
Fr. Jim

The Fullness of Life

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Dear Folks,
Our Scriptures today deal with the forces of life and the forces of death. “Because God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living (Wisdom 1:13; see also Ezekiel
1:23).”
In our Gospel, the story of the woman with the hemorrhage is sandwiched between two halves of the story of raising the daughter of Jairus. In Leviticus 17:11 we see that, “the life of the
flesh is in the blood.” For the Israelites, the blood was the life, so her life was draining away. She was ritually impure, so she could not enter the temple, and no one wanted to touch her because they would become ritually impure themselves. Imagine being isolated from life like that for 12 years. The little girl was 12 years old (another hint that the stories are connected). She had had so little chance to experience life, and now it seemed that she never would. The heartbreak of her family would be incalculable. Jesus brings hope when hope is gone.
Of course, there would be many sick and dying people at that time that did not get cured. Jesus of course, had great concern for all who suffered, but His primary task was not to increase people’s lifespan, but give us eternal life. When He does miracles, He is teaching us something.
In one sense, we are either alive or we are not. A human life is immeasurably sacred and precious, worthy of unique respect. It would be appalling for a society to say that the life of an adult was more sacred than the life of a teenager, that the life of a teenager was more sacred than the life of a toddler, or that the life of a toddler was more sacred than the life of a fetus.
In another sense, we can become more fully alive by how we exercise our humanity. To give in to the forces of chaos, to be enslaved to our primal desires, to think only of ourselves, to let life
happen to us is to be less alive. To give ourselves in love to others, to devote our energies to something greater than ourselves, to be intentional about growing and developing as a person is to be more fully alive.
Living things can grow, organize, often connect with others to form communities that are somewhat like a live organism (1 Corinthians 12). Dead things decompose, return to the earth, and their material disperses. W. C. Fields is quoted as saying, “Remember, a dead fish can float downstream, but it takes a live one to swim upstream.” Being alive enables us to resist the forces of chaos.
The great obstacle to being fully alive is sin. Remember that “The devil was a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44).” And in Romans 6:23, “the wages of sin is death but the gift of God
is eternal life.” Jesus came that we “might have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10).”
If we are to spread the Gospel, it is for us to show that we are leading an abundant life, one that, while challenging, is joyful, even in difficult times. How do you see your life as more abundant because it belongs to Jesus?
Blessings,
Fr. Jim