Category Archives: hope

We do What we Can, but it is Jesus Who Feeds

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Dear Folks,

Our Gospel today is the multiplication of the loaves and fish, the feeding of five thousand with five loaves and two fish. This story is familiar. After all, it is the only miracle mentioned in all four Gospels (Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:35-44; Luke 9:10-17 and John 6), and Matthew and Mark also have the feeding of he four thousand with seven loaves and a few fish (Matthew 15-32-39 and Mark 8:1-10). If you only listen the Sunday readings, you would never know that. This year we get Matthew’s account. Next year, we will interrupt Mark to do the feeding and the bread of life discourse from the Gospel of John (July 25th to August 6th). If you read through the Gospels (which I highly recommend) we Clearly, this story is important to the early Church.

Consider the poor disciples. They watched Jesus propose that they feed all those families. They would have known the Hebrew scriptures and the story of Elijah feeding 100 men with twenty barley loaves and having some left over (2 Kings 4:2-44). This is much bigger.  I could imagine them saying, “No, boss, no! Look at this crowd. If we promise them food and don’t give them food they will tear us apart!”  All the tellings of the stories involve starting with what He is given. Surely it would be in His power to go Poof! Everyone has bread and fish. It would be in His power to go Poof! Everyone has filet mignon. However, He calls them to give what they have, even though it is horribly, laughably inadequate. Then he feeds everyone, and there is not just some left over.  The feeding of the five thousand families had twelve baskets left over, symbolizing the twelve tribes of Israel. The feeding of the four thousand took place in Gentile territory, and has seven baskets left over, symbolizing the seven tribes of Gentiles (see Joshua 3:10).

There is an echo of this in John 21, when Jesus tells the disciples to cast out their nets and they bring in a huge number of fish (which echoes Luke 5:3-7)   Jesus says to bring some of the fish they caught, while He already had some bread and fish being cooked for breakfast. More astute students of the Bible would be asking why He wanted them to bring some fish when He already was cooking the bread and fish for breakfast. I would suggest that He always asks us to bring what we have, while it is He who feeds. 

When we come to worship God, our worship is imperfect, so much short of what God deserves. We bring what we have, and Jesus works though us in the liturgy, and wonderful things happen. When we serve God in the world, our ability is horribly inadequate for the mess the world is in. We bring what we have, and it is Jesus who makes wonderful things happen. Sometimes (as in usually) it takes longer than we think it should. However, much patience I think I have learned, God seems to think I need to learn more. God is at work and doing things we do not yet understand. He calls us to participate. How will we respond?

Blessings,

Fr. Jim

Wheat and Weeds: No Escape

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Dear Folks,

We continue on Matthew 13 and have more parables. We have the parable of the wheat and the weeds, then a pair of parables (the mustard seed and the woman who mixes yeast with dough). 

The parable of the wheat and weeds warns us that the Church is going to be messy. The particular kind of weeds they are mentioned here are called “tares” and young tares can easily be mistaken for young wheat. We continue to be surprised that we see bad behavior in church, and some people leave because of it. But Jesus warned us in the beginning that it would happen. We keep being surprised that Jesus was right. We don’t get to say that this person is not worthy to be in the Church. This, by the way, includes us. We don’t get to say, “I am too bad a person; I’m not worthy to go to church.”  We might not be ready to receive communion, but if we are feeling weedy, we need God and Church more that ever. 

Unlike with literal weeds, in Church a weed can become a stalk of wheat, and a stalk of wheat can become a weed. I think one of God’s favorite things to do is take great sinners and make them great saints. You never know when this is going to happen, including to you.

Does this mean we should do nothing about all the bad in the Church? Just accept it and hold on to things getting fixed in the end?

No. Not at all. In fact, the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the yeast take away our biggest excuse. We don’t get to say that we have no power so it’s someone else’s problem. The parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the yeast tell us that little things matter. The smallest act can make a huge difference in the Kingdom. The smallest act of kindness, the smallest act of faithfulness, the smallest act of respect might make all the difference in someone’s life, and we won’t know until the last day what all difference it made. We might get some feedback that will help keep us going, but we know that much more is happening than we can see. A tiny mustard seed can make a huge plant. A small amount of yeast can transform a great quantity of dough. (Those who know me know I don’t like mustard, so this is not one of my favorite parables. However, I understand why Jesus did not use ketchup seeds.)

Yeast is somethings in the Bible a negative image (Matthew 16:5-12; Mark 8:14-21; Luke 12:1-3; 1 Corinthians 5:6-8). This reminds us that the Bible is not a code book and will use different images in different ways. We will not, in this life, say that we have figured it all out. Our understanding is tiny compared to the truth that is. And yet, we can make a difference. 

How are you dealing with weeds in your life? How are you feeling weedy yourself?  

Don’t worry, God is at work. 

Blessings,

Fr. Jim

Responding to God

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Dear Folks,

One of the things we see in Acts of the Apostles is the theme that being justified (in right relationship with God) comes though faithfulness to Jesus, not from works of the Law of Moses. This pivots around Acts 15 which describes the council of Jerusalem making that decision by the power of the Holy Spirit.  We can read more on that in the works of St. Paul, especially Romans and Galatians. Romans 4 argues that Abraham was justified before being circumcised, and so the uncircumcised can receive the gift too, and it is not dependent on following the precepts of the Law. 

There is some confusion here, and we must understand correctly. “By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son (Hebrews 11:17).” “By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, for she had received the spies in peace (Hebrews 11:31).” James 2:14-26, especially 23-25: “Thus, the words of Scripture were fulfilled that say, ‘Abraham believed in God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,’ and he is called the friend of God. You can see, then that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. Likewise, Rahab the prostitute, was she not also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them away by a different road?”

If you look at Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament you find a lot written on the Greek pisteuo which is generally translated “I have faith” in the Bible. It carries meanings like trust, hope, faithfulness, obedience, a personal relationship with Him, etc. (It’s a long section). 

I would suggest that what St. Paul and the author of Hebrews mean by “faith” James means by faith and works. The Jews thought more in terms of the whole person, while the Greeks thought in term of parts. We have been influenced by Greek thought. James was writing to the twelve tribes in the dispersion (v 1:1) and who would have been more Hellenized (Greek thinking) and so when they heard that righteousness comes with faith they would have thought “Great, all we have to do is believe.”  James corrects that. 

God offers us the gift of salvation. This is a free gift, all grace. Our acceptance of that gift is a total personal response to Him, choosing Him over the promises of the world. Even the ability to respond is only possible because of His grace. It does not depend on us accomplishing anything before He will accept us, but if we have the chance, we are called to use it in response to Him. God calls each of us. How will we respond?

Blessings,

Fr. Jim

Dare to Hope!

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Dear Folks,
Dare to hope!
opeSometimes, fear of disappointment may tempt us to give into despair, cynicism, and settling for the status quo. We then say, “That’s just the way it is.” We throw up our hands, tired of being hurt, and retreat into a protective shell. It can be hard to believe that God could bring good out of this situation. He’s brought good things out of many awful situations, but this one seems too tangled, too deep, too messy to have be an occasion of grace. This seems to be King Ahaz’s response in our first reading in Isaiah 7:10-14 .St. Joseph could have responded that way in our Gospel (Matthew 1:18-24), but he stepped out in faith, and great things happened after that. It was not going to be easy orwithout pain, but it would lead to glory. It will require patience and perseverance that we couldn’t understand in the beginning. I believe in lower expectations short term, higher expectations long term. God is more patient than we are.
We look at the number of people who were raised Catholic who have left the practice of the faith, and those who maintain a minimal connection to the faith. This is not how the
Church was founded to be. This is not being on track with the task of making disciples of all nations. Some people shrug their shoulders and say, “That’s just the way it is, and we just have to accept it.” Some have actually said, “We can’t expect any better because of the state of our society” which suggests that the Gospel message is not powerful enough to advance in a hostile culture. This, of course, can be comforting in that it absolves us from responsibility. But Jesus calls us to a bolder response. The early Church began with a handful of people, very few resources, and were surrounded by an extremely hostile culture. They grew like a grease fire. The mightiest empire the world had ever seen was helpless to stop them. If we truly believe that the Gospel message, the Catholic faith is true, then we believe that it is the most powerful transformative force in the universe.
For this to happen, we must be willing to go where God leads, as the disciples did (eventually) in the Scriptures. God often would lead people where they did not expect to go and would prefer not to go. That requires trust. Those who trusted would see great
things happen, greater than their own abilities could accomplish.
It all begins with taking some time to get to know God better, to fall more deeply in love with him. May that happen to all of us, that our Advent can be fruitful.
Blessings,
Fr. Jim