March 24

I would like to share some more words from St. Paul:
“What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him? Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who acquits us. Who will condemn? It is Christ Jesus who died, rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? As it is written: “For your sake we are being slain all the day; we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, no depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God In Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:31-39).”
“My eager expectation and hope is that I shall not be put to shame in any way, but that with all boldness, now as always, Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me life is Christ, and death is gain. If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. And I do not know which I shall choose. I am caught between the two. I long to depart from this life and be with Christ, for that is far better. Yet that I remain in the flesh is more necessary for your benefit. And this I know with confidence, that I shall remain and continue in the service of all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that your boasting in Christ Jesus may abound on account of me when I come to you again (Philippians 1:20-26).”
St. Paul moved forward boldly in an uncertain and dangerous world. He was relentless. He did have some advantages. One, he was very smart, very, very smart. Two, he was a Roman citizen, and that gave him some advantages in the empire (we see this described in Acts of the Apostles). Many people had a lot more than that going for them, and didn’t do nearly as much. He had a confidence that was not based on himself. We see that he gets through a lot of really tense situations and survives with God’s protection. Of, course, he is eventually executed. It isn’t about how long our earthly life lasts, but how we serve the Kingdom while we are here.
We don’t have a lot of hard data on what it’s like in heaven, but I’m pretty sure there’s no one there saying, “OOOOOOOOOOH, I wish I’d lived longer on earth! I wish I’d been able to get to Disneyland!” I think whatever happened or did not happen here, we’ll be perfectly happy. We were made to love life, to seek to revere life, and to try to preserve life, but love the Kingdom more.
We read in the Book of Revelation “Now have salvation and power come, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Anointed. For the accuser of our brothers is cast out, who accuses them before our God day and night. They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; love for life did not deter them from death. Therefore, rejoice, you heavens, and you who dwell in them Rev 12: 10-12).”
This requires focusing on what is truly important. Again we see St. Paul: “Therefore we are not discouraged, rather, although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal (2 Corinthians 16-18).”
And also: “[B]ut he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me. Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardship, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12: 9-10).”
The more we grow in faith, the more we are focused on that which is eternal, and can appreciate and deal with the things of this world in their proper perspective. It is not that we are indifferent, in fact, we become more involved because we see the eternal significance of what we do in the moment. Our faith is imperfect, but the stronger it grows, the more powerful we become. We still get frustrated and upset, but we cannot be stopped. Our superpower is our relationship with Jesus Christ. We cannot be destroyed because we give our lives as gift. We do not have X-ray vision, but we look to that which is invisible and eternal.

March 22

Dear Folks,

This Sunday’s readings (1Sam 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41) talk about light and darkness, seeing and not seeing, appearances and reality. We know that things are not always as they seem, but sometimes we have trouble considering what is beyond our sight. Louis Pasteur had a terrible hard time convincing people that there were tiny animals that they couldn’t see that were making them sick. There was a terrible struggle to get some surgeons to wash their hands before doing surgery. Now, a virus that we cannot see, and that only a tiny percentage of people have experienced, has turned our world upside down. Three weeks ago we did not see it coming.

This helps us look at things from a different angle. How many things do we not usually see because they are so easy to take for granted? One thing is how interdependent we are. Obviously, we depend on those who work in the healthcare profession, and we would be in bad shape without them. This has been a special hardship for them, and a hazard. This is a good time to remember how important they are. When many people are staying home, people who work in grocery stores are working harder than ever, cleaning the site and restocking shelves as fast as merchandise comes in. They can’t control who comes in, how clean patrons are, and often can’t prevent customers from violating their personal space. Someone said, “if grocery stores shut down, we will have to hunt for our own food. I don’t even know where Doritos live.” Speaking of merchandise coming in, we get a reminder how important truck drivers are. Anything that doesn’t grow right here has to be shipped in, and most of that is by truck. What would our lives be like if that stopped? Then there are those who make sure that water comes into our homes and sewage comes out, those who pick up the garbage. Those who clean places we expect to be clean. What extra challenges do law enforcement personnel have now? We can also think of those who are laid off and do not get a paycheck. We can also think of those who still have to go to work and have to deal with co-workers and others who do not take precautions seriously.

This is also a time in which we can reflect on how our actions affect others. Both of my parents worked in surgery, so I was raised with strong feelings about washing my hands and sanitation in general. I have found that many people have not been taking it seriously. Someone said that if we get good at taking proper precautions, we can have fewer people die during the flu season every year (the power of stewardship of our hands).

As we are unable to gather as a community, this calls us to greater focus on prayer as individuals and as families. When all this is over, I think it would be a great thing to get groups to be learning the Liturgy of the Hours. That is a good way for the Church to pray together even when we are apart.

If we get through this with a deeper prayer life and more attentiveness to each other, good things can come of this. There will be challenges to face, the results of what is happening now. There will be a need for some economic rebuilding for those whose income was interrupted but whose bills were not. We should remember that the church must continue to pay bills, and as we value the work that the church does, we want to consider what it takes to keep it going.

We remember that God is still in charge, and whatever happens, He is here, He is at work, and He loves to bring good things out of bad situations.

Blessings,

Fr. Jim