A CENTERED IDENTITY

Have you ever sat in the pew and felt like an outsider?  Wondering about your relationship with Christ.  We want a personal relationship with Christ and envy those who seem to have it.  Spiritual people are different.  They are the saints who don’t get their hands dirty with everyday life.  Or are they?  Do they have bills to pay and a family to raise?  We may consider life’s burdens an obstacle to having a close relationship with Jesus.

When we consider the nation of Israel’s history as it ebbed and flowed through the many peaks and valleys in their relationship with God.  The prophet Micah, in today’s reading, offers a prayer reminding God of his promises to the people and urging Him to act as He has always done, with mercy and compassion.  Israel’s prayers always appeal to the exodus. Whether asking for forgiveness, seeking assurance, or promising amendment, Israel recognizes that her very identity is bound up in the covenant executed by God’s rescuing the people from slavery and bringing them to the land of promise.

In the Gospel we find Jesus’ family described as “standing outside” the circle of the crowds, with Jesus’ disciples in the center.   In the Gospel of Matthew, Mary is not a significant character as evidenced by the infancy narratives. So, halfway through this Gospel, Jesus’ family remains undecided about his identity.

Addressing the relatively open statement of a bystander, Jesus asks rhetorically “Who are my mother and brothers?” (Mt 12:48) He then answers that his redefined family are those who do his Father’s will.  Stretching out his hand to his disciples, Jesus adopts them as his family and challenges them to exemplify the Church in carrying out God’s will.

We are the adopted children of Christ.  To think of we are as anything less is like deciding to be “standing outside,” cut off from, the amazing grace of knowing Christ.

Now we know there’s been some bumps in the road and dark valleys in our own lives.  We also know that Jesus lived in the middle of all the action.  He embraced life surrounded by ordinary people living ordinary lives.  He laughed with his friends and cried at funerals.  He talked about fishing, planting seeds, and going to parties.  He lifted his disciples up when they felt low, rebuked their wrongs, and forgave their disbelief.  

Jesus was a regular guy who was also extraordinary.  He shows us the way to have a relationship with God.  Being a spiritual person is simply living the life we have been given.  We gather around the Eucharistic table regularly to pray the exodus prayers of acknowledging our own faults and reminding God of His great compassion and mercy so we can be counted in the center of the crowd around Jesus.  This is how we know that our identity, as ordinary a life as we may have, is in the center, to be a member of his family.  “For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother." (Mt 13:50)

IT’S AS GOOD AS DONE

Maybe you’ve heard this saying, “It’s as good as done.”  I have a friend who God has gifted many material blessings, who often says, “It’s as good as done.”  He had such wealth and connections that he was sure of the ability to accomplish what was needed in the life of the person in need.  He would just declare it “done.”  Once he made that statement, the only thing left was to work out the details and accomplish the task.  His words secured it in my mind and in the mind of the person in need.  Anxiety disappeared and hope swelled in the heart of the person who heard my friend’s “It’s as good as done.”[1]

As the Lord sends Isaiah to meet Ahaz He encourages him to remain tranquil and not to fear as he engages the warring camps.  Telling him that, “Unless your faith is firm you shall not be firm!” (Is 7:9)  This passage attests to the presence of the Divine in the amidst of human history and highlights the importance of faith and trust in God as foundational virtues linked to personal security amid life’s uncertainties and unexpected struggles.[2]  God is saying, Trust Me Isaiah!

Jesus, in the Gospel, echoes a similar sentiment, as he decries the lack of attentiveness among the people of three cities where he had lived, taught, preached, healed, and worked other miracles. The inhabitants of these three Jewish cities have their Scriptures and Jesus, who is the living Word of God, yet they cannot accept him.[3]  It’s a reminder of Sunday’s Gospel message (the parable of the sower (Mt 13:1-23)) and Isaiah’s prophesy, “You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but not see.  Gross is the heart of this people.” (Mt 13:14-15) It is as if Jesus is asking, why don’t you trust me?

The Church memorializes holy people whose faith and trust in God surpasses the human norm.  Today is the memorial of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, who, perhaps, could have been invoked during the COVID-19 crisis.  At the age four, she survived the great “pandemic” of her time, smallpox, only to suffer loss, isolation, persecution, and servitude, especially after her Baptism at age 19. She died at age 24; yet her short life was marked by living constantly attuned to and trusting in Christ.

“Be attentive!” and Hopefully, our own time in exile for the good of others (social distancing) has helped us pay attention to the will and Word of God.  When we face a fearful circumstance, let your faith be firm.  Trusting in the Lord and acting in faith we will see the salvation of God become a reality.  What God commands He completes. 

“If today you hear [God’s] voice ...” (Ps 95:8) be firm in faith and trust that, “It’s as good as done!”

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[1] For Every Fear A Promise: A Plan to Prevail Over Fear by Dr. Brad Hicks © 2013.

[2] Weekday HomilyHelps Exegesis of the First Reading by Dr. Carol Dempsey, OP.

[3] Ibid. Homily Suggestion by Leota Roesch.

WALKING ON A TIGHTROPE

You are on a rooftop, looking across empty air 1,350 feet above the ground. Your foot dangles over the ledge and touches a steel cable just centimeters wide. As you shift your body forward, hands gripped tight around a balancing pole, you find yourself suspended over a gut-wrenching void. Now what?

Acrōphōbics would surely hope to wake from this nightmare in a cold sweat. But for seasoned tightrope walkers, the dizzying feat can be accomplished if you understand the physics of the human body. “Posture is the absolute most important thing,” says a tightrope instructor. The key to balancing on a tightrope is to lower the body’s center of gravity toward the wire. Just as it's harder to topple a stout vase than a tall slim one, a human is less likely to fall if the bulk of their mass is closer to the ground, or in the case of walking on a tightrope, closer to the wire.

Amateurs often try to accomplish this shift by leaning forward. This does lower their overall mass, but it also interferes with your sense of location in space. Then, it's hello pavement.[1]

Hosea tells the people of the Northern Kingdom, straight up, they have lost their sense of location in space. They have made an amateur mistake and leaned forward seceding not only from Judah, but also from God. They’ve set up their own kingdom, created their own gods, and codified laws of their own making. Thus Hosea tells them, they are destined to fall.

Now, experienced tightrope walkers, will instead stand up straight and lower their hips by bending their knees. This brings a person's center of gravity closer to the wire while allowing them to keep their bearings.

In our Gospel reading, Jesus is undeterred by the rejection of the Pharisees. Standing up straight and keeping his bearings, he continues his Gospel tour, despite the murmurings, working miracles that verify both the origin of his message and the compassion he feels for people. From the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 7:27) through today’s reading, Matthew has been highlighting Jesus’ power and compassion: power over illnesses, storms, and evil spirits, and compassion for outcast lepers, sinners, and demoniacs.[2] Compassionate love is Jesus’ lower center of gravity. He will not be toppled.

God is a decisive judge bringing a just sentence against sinners; Jesus is a sympathetic healer whose heart is moved by divine mercy. It’s a narrow line God walks with us, a narrow line the Church must also travel. The Christian life is a tightrope, a balance of justice and mercy. How’s our posture for the walk?

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[1] Smithsonian Magazine. “What Happens to Your Body When You Walk on a Tightrope?” by Katie Nodjimbadem, 10/13/2015.

[2] Weekday HomilyHelps.  Homily Suggestion by Norman Langenbrunner.