Speaking Truth to Power

Speaking
Truth to Power

        It is the role of the prophet to speak truth to power.  Jesus told Pontius Pilate “I have come to give testimony to the
truth.  Those who seek the truth hear my voice.”Pilate replied to Jesus “Truth? What is truth?”  Jesus told his disciples “If you live according to my
word and obey my teachings, you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”  (Jn

In today’s Gospel (Mk 6.1-6) Jesus returns home to Nazareth.  When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.”  So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people. He was amazed at their lack of faith.”  The people of Nazareth assumed they knew Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph. They were curious about him, but did not believe in him and were actually envious of him and his reputation, power and wisdom.  Jesus was very popular outside Nazareth, but soon, the whole nation Israel would turn against
him.  The prophet will always face opposition.  Truth will always face opposition.

Paul faced opposition in Corinth, in the very church he founded.  “Super Apostles” were telling the Gentile converts that they had to become circumcised and practice the Jewish Laws.  By the time of this letter, Paul is furious and wonders why the people listen to his opponents more than to him.  Paul defends his authority as an apostle and compares himself to the “super apostles”.   Paul wrote to them:

        “Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. For you gladly put up with fools, since you are wise yourselves.  For you put up with it if someone enslaves you, or devours you, or gets the better of you, or puts on airs, or slaps you in the face. But what anyone dares to boast of,  I also dare.  Are they Israelites? So am I.  Are they ministers of Christ?  I am still more, with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, far worse beatings, and numerous brushes with death.  Five times at the hands of the Jews I received forty lashes minus one.  Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I passed a night and a day on the deep on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers;” ( 2 Cor 11.23-30)

            “If I must boast;… but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.  I know someone in Christ who, fourteen years ago (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows), was caught up to the third heaven.  And I know that this person was caught up into Paradise and heard ineffable things, which no one may utter. ..because of the abundance of the revelations. Therefore, that I might not become too elated a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me.  Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but 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, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12.1-10)

Paul suffered great opposition, yet God simply answered him:  “my grace is enough for you.  Power is perfected in weakness.”   Paul felt his sufferings were signs of his weakness, yet we can see God’s grace and power that delivered Paul from death time and time again.  It is the lot of the prophet, like Ezekiel, to face opposition.   God told him the people would be rebellious and hard of heart, but he would speak God’s word and the people would know that a prophet was among them.  The Catholic Church today plays the role of the prophet in the world. We speak the truth to the powers that be in the world.  The truth subsists in the Catholic Church.  The three pillars of Sacred Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium keeps the Church from error, for example:  The Church teaches that abortion is an intrinsically evil act, that contraceptives and sterilization are wrong.

Cardinal-Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), sharply criticized the decision by the Obama administration in which it “ordered almost every employer and insurer in the country to provide sterilization and contraceptives, including some
abortion-inducing drugs, in their health plans.” “Never before has the federal government forced individuals and organizations to go out into the marketplace and buy a product that violates their conscience. This shouldn’t happen in a land where free exercise of religion ranks first in the Bill of Rights,”(UCCB Jan. 20, 2012)  Our Declaration of Independence clearly states:“We hold these truths to be self evident.  That all men are created equal and are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”   Ezekiel was a prophet.  Paul was a prophet.  Jesus is a prophet.  The Body of Christ lives out the ministry of Christ Jesus the prophet.  You are I are to speak the truth to the powers that be in this country and around the world.  We are to speak God’s truth to anyone who needs to hear it.  We are the voice of Jesus that so many need to hear today.  Do not be afraid, for God’s grace is enough for us.  God’s divine life is in us.  When we are weak, God is strong.  “The Lord is my light and my salvation.  Of whom should I be afraid?”  (Ps 27.1)

God is Love

Today, the readings are clear: God is Love and we are to love as God loves.
Many moons ago, before there was even a moon, God is…Before there was anything else: God is…The Father has been loving the Son for all eternity. The Son has been loving the Father for all eternity…This love…Father – Son…Son – Father …is the Holy Spirit. Before there were angels…before the stars and the sun and moon and the earth…it was only God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit..The Father is the thought, the Son is the Word, the Spirit is the breath that speaks the Word. This Love: Father, Son, Holy Spirit, This God…is the source of all power. Love made everything we can see and everything we cannot see. The blue sky is made of love. The ocean is full of the love of God. The little doodle bug is made by love. The soaring eagle, the great blue whale, human beings, male and female: everything was made by love for love, made by God for God, for God IS LOVE!
Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. (Jn 15.9-10) With love comes obedience. The Son of God, God from God and light from light: Jesus Christ obeys the Father. Even when the Father asked him to come to earth as a human being and die, Jesus obeyed him. Jesus said: No one has greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. ( Jn 15.13-14)
In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world
so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as payment for our sins. Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. (1 Jn 4.7-10)
Jesus says: I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, This I command you: love one another (Jn 15.9-17)
So, the Father loves Jesus and Jesus loves us with this same love. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive the Love of God. Can God give us any more than himself? Can the Father give any more than his Son Jesus? Can Jesus give us any more than his body, blood, soul and divinity in holy communion? If God gives us God, what more can God give? Can God love us any more than he loves us? God became a human being, he suffered, he agonized and died for us. Jesus emptied himself of his divinity, then he emptied himself of his humanity. God tasted death for us. Then Jesus rose from the dead and promises us life in heaven with him.
Jesus wants us to love as he loves, I can’t do it. I can’t love like that. I want to love like that, but I am a sinner with a heart of stone. I know one thing that I CAN do, I can care for people. I can want the same things for you that I want for myself. I can live the golden rule: I can treat others the way I want to be treated. Can you treat others the way you want to be treated? If you want people to respect you, you be the first to show respect to others. You want people to be kind to you, you be the first to be kind to others. You want people to like you, you be the first to like them. You don’t want other people judging you, then you don’t judge other people. You need food, shelter and clothing, then you should want others to have food, shelter and clothing. This is simple, I can care about others as much as I care about myself. Then, perhaps, God’s love, God’s Holy Spirit can flow through me. I can be like a pipeline that carries God’s grace, God’s life, God’s love to others. Perhaps when people ask “Where is God?” I can answer: “He’s right in front of you, he’s in my heart loving you right now.”
The Father loves Jesus and Jesus loves the Father and obeys him at all times. Do you love you mothers? Young ones, do you obey your mothers at all times? Jesus realized that he had life because of the Father, so Jesus has spent his eternity thanking the Father for thinking about him and loving him. What can you give to your mother in exchange for your life? You have the possibility of going to heaven and being happy for all eternity, because of your mother, who gave you life. Ask your mom how many times she changed your diapers, or fed you, or took you to school… I saw a middle aged woman, very sick in the hospital. Her son leaned over her bed, touched his head next to hers and said “I love you mom, forgive me.” A powerful moment of truth. Let us love our mothers and be reconciled with them.
Love begins with God. Let us contemplate God’s love. The Father loves Jesus, Jesus loves the Father, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Love. Jesus is the Face of God, the face of Love.
God has shown us what love is: joyful life, goodness, self-sacrifice, giving, forgiving, merciful, kind. Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; and where there is love there is God.

Existence

For us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things are and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are and through whom we exist
(1 Cor 8.6)
In union with the Holy Spirit, by who’s power all things are and by whom we exist. (egw)

All things good come from the Father.
We come from the Father,
From God the Father, Creator of all things,
Creator created me, created you
For himself, for himself.
I am created for God.
You are created for God.

The Father said,
Let there be human beings, male and female,
Made in my image, made free and full of eternity.
And the Word he pronounced became reality.
Through the Word of God we came into being,
You and me.
From the mind of God and the Word of God all things are created
And the Word continues into eternity
And you and I will continue into eternity.
Through Jesus, with Jesus and in Jesus,
We exist.

And when the Father spoke his Word, he breathed out the Breath of God.
The Word proclaims the power of God with every breath.
The Holy Spirit is the Breath and Power and Love of God!
Uniting all things
By whom all things are,
Uniting you and me,
We exist.

Existence.
This is the meaning of your existence.
Your existence comes from God for God.
You came into existence through the Word, Jesus Christ,
And you continue to live through the power of this Word.
You breathe the Breath of God
You live by the power of God
By the Holy Spirit of God you live and move and have your being.
In union with all that exists, everything
For the Glory of God the Father.

© 2005 Evan G. Wittig

Hard Land, Hard Hearts

The Pope, Billy Graham, and Oral Roberts were in a three-way plane crash over the Pacific Ocean. They all died and went to heaven together.
“Oh, this is terrible,” exclaims St. Peter. “I know you guys think we summoned you here, but this is just one of those coincidences that happen. Since we weren’t expecting you, your quarters just aren’t ready… We can’t take you in and we can’t send you back….”
Then he got an idea. He picked up the phone, “Lucifer, this is St. Peter. Hey, I got these three guys up here. They’re ours, but we weren’t expecting them, and we have to fix the place up for them. I was hoping you could put them up for a while. It’ll only be a few of days. What do you say?”  Reluctantly, the Devil agreed.
However, two days later… St. Peter received a phone call.
“Pete, this is Lucifer. Hey, you have to come get these guys. This Pope fellow is forgiving everybody, the Graham guy is saving everybody, and Oral Roberts has raised enough money to buy air conditioning!”
Boy, is it hot or what?   Do you think we could use some rain?  Do you think this hard, dry soil can use some rain?
“Thus says the Lord:  Just as from the heavens the rain and snow comes and does not return until they have watered the earth…so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.”  Isa 55.10-11
Today we have the familiar parable of the sower and the seed.  (Mt 13.11-23)
We know that the seed sown by the sower is the Word of God, right?   There seems to be a problem with the soil.  The word that is sown on the path is stolen by the devil.  The word that is sown in shallow soil only lasts for a short while and bears no fruit when trials and tribulation comes.  The word sown in the thorny soil is choked by worldly anxieties and desires for riches.  But the word sown in rich, good soil yields a rich harvest.
So, how is your soil?   Is it hard? Dry? Rocky? full of thorns? Shallow? or deep and soft?
Pride makes our hearts hard.  Lust makes our hearts hard.  Selfishness and unforgiveness makes our hearts hard.  Not caring for other people makes our hearts hard.  Getting our values from this world and not from the word of God makes our hearts hard.  Do you mind if I soften up your hearts a few minutes?
(hold up the rosary)
When Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane, he said to his disciples, “My heart is sorrowful unto death, watch and pray with me.  Jesus prayed “Father, if it be possible, take this cup away from me, but not my will but thine be done.”  Do we understand the sorrow in Jesus’ heart?  Have we entered into HIS pain?  They stripped Jesus and scourged him and tore his skin off of his back, yet he was scourged for our iniquities, punished for our sins, by his stripes we are healed.  They crowned Jesus with thorns and mocked him.  We mock Jesus when we call him Lord and then go about living our lives our way and disobey our God and King.
The cross that Jesus carried crushed him into the ground and ground him like grain and crushed him like grapes.  Sometimes we should consider helping Jesus with his cross by carrying our cross.  Our cross and his cross is the same cross.  Jesus the Son of God did not deem equality with God as something to grasp, so he emptied himself of his divinity and became a human being.  On the cross, he emptied himself of his humanity and poured out all his blood, he couldn’t give any more than he gave.  He gave himself totally for us.  He poured out his blood and poured out his love.
How do we respond to this kind of selfless love that comes from God above?  How do we respond to a God who suffers for us?  How do we respond to the suffering of others?  We sow in tears, the word of God is sown in tears, yet we reap in joy.
How does it feel to know that the unknowable, unsearchable, transcendent and totally other God loves you so much?   God give us joy to balance our affliction. If we enter into life with God, then we will discover the joy of life.  Jesus was a man of joy!  A man full of life and love!  He spent three years training his disciples and from this band of brothers and sisters came the power of human beings to change the world!  God’s word was made flesh and dwelt among us and it accomplished the will of the Father.   God’s word has been accomplishing his will ever since.
I met a man who, at age 74, lost half of his leg to amputation.  I asked him “Are you upset that you lost your leg?”  He answered “God gave me that leg for 74 years, no, I’m not upset.”   I met a woman who was battling cancer.  She cried “God has give me too much on my plate!”  Yet, a few minutes later she said “I’ve learned to accept each day as a gift from God.” Her soul was a beautiful shiny, gleaming soul.   Are you listening?   Do you understand?
Creation groans for God’s word.  Our hearts groan for God to complete his work in us.  We long for God, like the dear longs for streams of living water, like the dry land longs for rain.  Our trials and tribulations are nothing compared to what God has prepared for those who love him. We need to love God and our neighbor; anything less than this is vanity and chasing after wind.   Blessed are you if you hear God’s word and keep it.  Amen.