The Friar Podcasts - preaching prayer and spiritual reflections

Sometimes when a person thinks about faith, they can say, "I'm a nice person", as if this sets them apart from the not so nice people that do not believe. But Christianity is about "requiring more". The goal: a relationship with God, not just being nice.

Can you imagine having seven sons and watching them die all on the same day? Such was the case of the mother and her seven sons we hear about in the first reading. The reason they died is because they would not become like everyone else and obey the kings command to abandon their faith. But the mother and the sons know why the resurrection matters. And also for us, only by God's generosity and the grace he gives to make us faithful can the same be true for us.

In today's first reading, Saint Paul starts with an interesting statement. He says, "We are the circumcision." What exactly is that supposed to mean? While it may seem to us like an odd statement, in the context of what Saint Paul seeks to contrast in his writings, namely, Jesus and the Law, it can make perfect sense.

The Law, in requiring circumcision, was requiring a physical sign for those who were Jewish. Paul's statement today means that the way we live our lives, that is the outward sign of our belief, and so is the witness to the depth of our faith. In Paul's view, only leads to sin, since its demands are great and we are bound to fail.

Jesus' demands are great too, but given that he died for our sins, he is able to extend mercy to us. Jesus is both the standard and the means to attain the standard. So when Paul says, We are the circumcision, he means that people will know that we are Christians or not is by the way we live our lives.

In so many areas of our lives, how we do what we do matters a great deal. Proper technique for playing a sport, a musical instrument, swinging a golf club or other areas seems to make sense to us. But when it comes to faith, we do not always how to answer the question, "Why does it matter?"

There can be a tendency to think of God as a teddy bear, never really demanding much from us, and never really asking us to do what we do not want to do. It is only the case that we see this God making us feel better. After all, God is love. There can also be a tendency to see God as so tough and demanding that we can never be forgiven. But neither is correct.

This has been a rough week for Saint Louis. The school shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School has been unsettling. However, what has increased the discomfort is that on all levels, is that from school preparation, to the response of law enforcement, to the family of the shooter's actions all seemed to be perfect. And yet it was not enough.

The truth of living the life of the gospel is that human efforts alone are not enough. Saint Paul reminds us that God's grace is necessary. And that God is strong and active, even in those moments that do not appear to have any activity from God.

Many priests I know never talk about the first reading from Paul, at least in its entirety. This is unfortunate, if for no other reason than the way in which, on the surface, this seems to suggest that wives should automatically "do whatever their husbands want". And by avoiding it, it could suggest that this difficult passage from Saint Paul is not really the word of God, if taken to an extreme. We could think that in our current circumstance, this may have been right for ages ago, but not for us today.

But Paul himself clarifies that when he discusses "subordinate" wives, he is addressing primarily not the husband and wife, but Christ and the Church. "This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church." Without seeing the first reading through this lens, it can be the case we misunderstand completely, and could abuse this passage.

This is not about power and control, about being subordinate or submissive, but rather about sacrifice and self-gift. Paul is foreshadowing the lesson of Vatican II in seeing the family as a domestic Church. And so being subordinate might better be expressed in the language of sacrifice. Christ gave his life for the Church, and so husbands imitate this by giving their lives for their wives, and wives sacrifice themselves because of their love for husband and family.

There is one more thing. "Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ." This suggests that our attitude to others is also one of sacrifice. Can Saint Paul really be suggesting that we should all be submissive to each other? Or rather, is Saint Paul suggesting that we must recognize the high and deep dignity of persons made in the image and likeness of God. And so, if we are subordinate to anyone, it is the person of Jesus Christ.

Who are you? How often we seek to answer this question by comparing ourselves to others. The tax collector goes home justified because he knows who he is and he knows who Jesus is. https://thefriar.org/2022/10/23/who-are-you-your-only-answer-is-in-jesus/ #thefriar #havemercyonmeasinner #Catholic #homily #whoareyou #whodoyouwanttobe #identity

Division? Fight? Fire? Isn't Jesus all about peace? Love? Joy? Today's gospel reading might rub us the wrong way a little bit. Jesus talks about causing division between family members who should love one another. This can seem to be completely counter to popular conceptions of Jesus. In fact, I remember a time when I was discussing tuition payments with a family that had the means to pay tuition. They responded by saying to me, "I thought Jesus was about love." I responded that Jesus was also about people getting paid for the work they do as well.

In fact, sometimes when we want to do something that we simply want to do, and not inspired by authentic faith in Jesus, we can find ourselves resorting to the loving Jesus. But today's gospel is a reminder that sometimes following Jesus means having the commitment to stand up for what we believe in, even if it comes at great cost to us.

Martyrs do this. People of great principle and character do this too. What about you? Are you willing to stand up for Jesus even at the risk of causing difficulty? To be sure, this is not about causing difficulty for the sake of causing difficulty. That is not a witness to the gospel, but just being obnoxious. It is picking a fight for the sake of picking a fight. This is not the way Jesus expects us to live at all.

What we are called to remember is that for anything worthwhile, it takes effort and discipline on our part. We must make a choice. That is the blaze that Jesus is hoping to start and start soon. Jesus is hoping people will follow Him even if it means that we will be separated from others. Parents realize this when they say "no" to their children when their children want to do something harmful to themselves or to others. People do this when they set appropriate limits and boundaries in relationships. And Jesus wants us to do this in following Him.

We need spiritual friends. That is, we need others who help us to recognize God in our lives, who encourage us to be better people, and help us to see what it is that God wants us to do. Spiritual Friends. In the first reading, Paul discusses his spiritual friends. In the gospel Jesus sends his disciples out two by two. Who are the spiritual friends in your life?