bagheera82

[bagheera82]

Faith or works?

“You can’t earn your way into heaven.”

On my way into the Catholic Church (I’m a convert), this was one of the objections my Protestant friends raised.

It’s grounded in the classic (misguided) idea that for Catholics your relationship with God is all about doing things (works of mercy, certain prayers, etc.) with little or no actual personal connection or faith.

It’s usually followed up by an assertion that salvation is a gift from God (that part is true).

The point being that (as they saw it) the supposed hyperfocus on “works” in the Catholic Church was unnecessary at best. At worst, it was a distraction or even an obstacle to faith.

Were my friends right? That there’s a conflict between faith and works, and in that conflict the Catholic Church has it wrong?

Actually, the Catholic Church isn’t focused on works to the detriment of faith. More importantly, there is no conflict between faith and works.

Sadly, this is one of the classic ways that Christians mess things up. And end up turning Christianity into something it was never meant to be. Here’s what I mean:

With the best of intentions, people try to make the Faith simpler and easier – by taking one positive good (like faith) and putting it above all other positive goods. With the idea that if they do this one thing well, then everything else will work itself out.

It’s a very understandable impulse, because the Faith is complex and nuanced (just like life, just like people). But in the long run, hyper-focusing on one positive good almost always ends up putting it in conflict with other positive goods (like works).

BTW, this same sort of thinking is the source of the (very not Catholic) manufactured conflict between faith and reason.

Back to faith and works. Against the “faith alone” perspective, St. James pushes back hard in today’s first reading when he says, “faith without works is dead.”

If that’s true, then what is the relationship of faith and works?

Pope Leo the Great put it simply, “while faith provides the basis for the works, the strength of faith comes out only in works.”

Faith alone is not enough.

Not because you or I have to earn God’s love (hint – we can’t earn it, it’s freely given by God). But because works are the unavoidable result of a living faith. Here’s what I mean.

My mother owns some woods that have a small creek running through them. One day, I decided to walk up the creek to find its source. I eventually found the place where it comes up out of the ground.

I put my foot over the spot, and for a moment the water stopped flowing. With no new water coming in, I could see the bottom of the creek start to emerge as the water drained away. And then it started to fill back up.

I looked back and saw water welling up around my foot and starting to flow again. The living spring that fed the creek was more than a match for my feeble attempt to disrupt it.

That is the relationship between faith and works that Leo the Great is talking about.

That is, if you have a living faith, works will well up out of you. Like me trying to block the flow of the spring, you will not be able to prevent yourself from living out your faith through corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

Just as the water in the creek points to the living spring, our works point to the living faith in us.

It’s not faith or works. It’s faith and works.

May God bless you richly with both.

Today’s Readings

[bagheera82]

“Who do you say…”

(for someone who doesn’t realize he’s doing this)

“Who do you say that I am?”

Jesus asks this question in today’s Gospel. And gets a range of answers. It can seem surprising. Since He’s asking the Apostles, the people who should know Him the best.

But it really shouldn’t be a surprise. Because if Jesus asked you and me “Who do you say that I am?” We would give Him a range of answers as well.

This has been an issue for us as human beings from the very beginning. Literally. From almost the moment of creation, human beings have been answering this question in all kinds of ways.

Because there’s something in us that is desperate to remake God.

Whether we’re doing it so we can reject God. Or doing it so that we can control God. Or to get what we want. Or to avoid something.

Especially this last one.

No matter what else is going on, you and I are desperate to remake God. Because we can’t handle the alternative. We want to avoid God truly being God.

Because if God truly is God, then there’s no room for us to be God. For us to be the center of our own petty little universe, where everything orbits around us.

If you and I are honest, we know that we’re not fooling anyone but ourselves. That everything doesn’t revolve around us. And that we’re just setting ourselves up for a fall when we pretend otherwise.

The other problem with remaking God? Our inadequate version of God will prevent us from having an actual, healthy relationship with God.

If we’re focused on our inadequate version of God, then we’re going to be relating to, interacting with, or even avoiding/denying something that doesn’t exist. Again, setting ourselves up for a fall when reality eventually comes crashing in.

Trying to remake someone else to meet our needs is a recipe for ruining a relationship. Or not having one at all. We’ve all seen how it plays out when we do it to other human beings. It never ends well.

Why should it be any different with God?

Today, make sure that your relationship with God is grounded in reality. Be honest with yourself about the baggage that you’re loading God up with. Stop trying to remake Him.

Instead, set yourself up to have an actual relationship with God.

Try letting God be God.

Today’s Readings

[bagheera82]

Ready. Fire. Aim.

Ready. Fire. Aim.

When someone says something, the quicker I can respond, the better. Preferably from my frame of reference. Without regard to context. Much less the person saying it.

If you’re looking to alienate someone, to ensure that they want nothing to do with you? This timeless method will serve you well.

And you’re thinking, “No one does that. Not intentionally.”

Read the comments section of just about anything online. With the way that people almost seem to be setting out to offend and be offended – it makes me wonder about that.

But whether anyone means to do that or not, for a lot of us – Ready. Fire. Aim – is our default approach.

And when we do that, we close the door to seeing other people as anything more than things. Let alone seeing other people for who they really are, made in the likeness and image of God.

Which is the point of today’s first reading. Where St. James tells us to “be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger - for anger does not accomplish the righteousness of God.”

If you and I want to bridge the gap between ourselves and others, this is where it begins. “Be quick to hear, slow to speak.”

That is, don’t just listen to the words. Don’t just wait for them to set us up to spout off our favorite talking points. Listen to the person behind the words.

What does what they’re saying tell us about them? Not so we can give them a label or two, dump them into a predetermined group, and move on.

But so we can learn what matters to them. Their hopes, their dreams, their fears, their needs.

Not to find out what they are. But to find out who they are.

And if they say something that offends us? Something that sounds stupid? Or they just see things differently, then “be slow to anger.”

Ask yourself – what’s behind that? What could have happened to them that would make them see it that way?

And remember this, no matter who we’re talking with, no matter how little you or I might think of them, God looked at the world, said “I know what this place needs.” And then created them.

They are God’s beloved. And everything that you and I do to them and say to them?

Either it “accomplishes the righteousness of God” or makes a mockery of our Faith.

Today’s Readings

[bagheera82]

Figure it out

There’s a certain satisfaction that we get when we figure something out.

But there’s something else. The things we figure out on our own stick with us. Those explanations really sink it, they have staying power. More so than if someone just told us the answer.

It’s more work for the one doing the explaining. But in the long run it’s worth the extra effort. Because the person you are explaining it to will get a lot more out of it.

This is one of the reasons why Jesus so often uses parables, analogies, and metaphors to get through to the Apostles. And to us.

Like today’s Gospel, where Jesus warns about the yeast of the Pharisees.

The Apostles don’t understand. Not that they don’t understand the point of the metaphor. They don’t even understand that what Jesus is saying is a metaphor.

Which is why they get it wrong.

But what I like better than the metaphor? Jesus’ response when His chosen Apostles get it wrong.

Jesus doesn’t dump them. Jesus doesn’t start over, this time with a brighter group of people as Apostles 2.0.

Jesus doesn’t let them off the hook, by just telling them the answer. But He doesn’t leave them to founder either. Or waste His time marveling at their stupidity. By way of a miracle, Jesus takes their wrong answer off the table.

Then pushes them to try again.

The best part of this? Even when they get it wrong, Jesus doesn’t give up on them. Jesus keeps working with them. Helping them to deal with the setbacks and get back on track. Pushing them forward.

It’s classic Jesus. And exactly how He handles each one us, no matter how you and I get it wrong. 

Today’s Readings

[bagheera82]

Subtext

Have you ever wanted to ruin a relationship or a friendship?

Of course not. No one does that intentionally. And yet, at one time or another, all of us do.

Usually by throwing in something we’re barely even aware of right where it doesn’t belong.

I’m thinking about subtext.

If you’ve been in a toxic, manipulative relationship. If you grew up with manipulative parents. Then you know how hard it is to not see a subtext, a hidden ulterior meaning, in what people say and do.

After all, you spent so much time dealing with the fallout from subtext. Digging yourself out of that emotional, psychological, and spiritual hole.

One of the tools you used to dig out? Being aware of subtext, so that you respond in way that protected you.

The downside? Once you’ve invested that kind of time and effort being vigilant for subtext, it’s kind of hard to turn it off. And you can end up overcompensating, seeing subtext where there isn’t any.

Which can ruin your relationships with people who aren’t manipulating you (don’t ask me why I know all this).

Here’s why I bring this up. I took a course last year on the Gospel of Mark. When we discussed today’s Gospel, one of the people my class was hearing a subtext.

I today’s Gospel Jesus is trying to explain something to the Apostles. They don’t get it. He tries again. They still don’t get it.

Each time they don’t get it, Jesus asks, “do you still not understand?”

The subtext my classmate was hearing? Demeaning. How-dumb-are-you? Disappointment. Not-good-enough. 

It’s a subtext that makes Jesus into someone He isn’t. Into a sort of divine manipulative parent. An implacable perfectionist. Where anyone trying to make Him happy is stuck on a treadmill of expectations that you can never meet.

I followed up with the instructor after class. I asked if that subtext was really there.

He said no. That the original Greek reflected the neutral questions of a teacher making sure that a student understood.

The point of all this? God doesn’t have a subtext. If God is upset with you, you’ll know about it.

The unhappy and unhealthy ideas that many people have about God aren’t really about God at all. It’s just baggage that they have (intentionally or unintentionally) dragged into the conversation.

It’s not that they’re bad people. It just means they’ve been hurt, and they’re not done healing.

Be gentle with them. Help them heal if you can.

But don’t let their baggage poison your relationships. Especially your relationship with God.

You can take God at face value. God doesn’t have a subtext.

Today’s Readings

[bagheera82]

Subtext

Have you ever wanted to ruin a relationship or a friendship?

Of course not. No one does that intentionally. And yet, at one time or another, all of us do.

Usually by throwing in something we’re barely even aware of right where it doesn’t belong.

I’m thinking about subtext.

If you’ve been in a toxic, manipulative relationship. If you grew up with manipulative parents. Then you know how hard it is to not see a subtext, a hidden ulterior meaning, in what people say and do.

After all, you spent so much time dealing with the fallout from subtext. Digging yourself out of that emotional, psychological, and spiritual hole.

One of the tools you used to dig out? Being aware of subtext, so that you respond in way that protected you.

The downside? Once you’ve invested that kind of time and effort being vigilant for subtext, it’s kind of hard to turn it off. And you can end up overcompensating, seeing subtext where there isn’t any.

Which can ruin your relationships with people who aren’t manipulating you (don’t ask me why I know all this).

Here’s why I bring this up. I took a course last year on the Gospel of Mark. When we discussed today’s Gospel, one of the people my class was hearing a subtext.

I today’s Gospel Jesus is trying to explain something to the Apostles. They don’t get it. He tries again. They still don’t get it.

Each time they don’t get it, Jesus asks, “do you still not understand?”

The subtext my classmate was hearing? Demeaning. How-dumb-are-you? Disappointment. Not-good-enough. 

It’s a subtext that makes Jesus into someone He isn’t. Into a sort of divine manipulative parent. An implacable perfectionist. Where anyone trying to make Him happy is stuck on a treadmill of expectations that you can never meet.

I followed up with the instructor after class. I asked if that subtext was really there.

He said no. That the original Greek reflected the neutral questions of a teacher making sure that a student understood.

The point of all this? God doesn’t have a subtext. If God is upset with you, you’ll know about it.

The unhappy and unhealthy ideas that many people have about God aren’t really about God at all. It’s just baggage that they have (intentionally or unintentionally) dragged into the conversation.

It’s not that they’re bad people. It just means they’ve been hurt, and they’re not done healing.

Be gentle with them. Help them heal if you can.

But don’t let their baggage poison your relationships. Especially your relationship with God.

You can take God at face value. God doesn’t have a subtext.

Today’s Readings

[bagheera82]

Will you be my…

Valentine’s Day can be intimidating.

If you’re in a relationship, there are so many expectations. What did I do for my significant other? Is it too cliché? Is it enough? Will they love me?

If you’re not in a relationship, there are so many expectations. Why aren’t I in a relationship? What’s wrong with me? Will I ever be in a relationship? Will I ever be loved?

Because of the pressure of expectations, it’s easy to respond in unhealthy ways.

Maybe we over-do it, with pointless extravagance. Spending money we don’t have. Creating public spectacles that are often embarrassing for their intended target.

Maybe we latch on to someone, desperate to not be alone. Trying to fit them into our relationship hole. Even though the interest isn’t mutual.

Maybe we despair, giving up on ever having a relationship. Blaming others, blaming ourselves. Seeing ourselves as failures.

Valentine’s Day can feel like a lose-lose. No matter what your relationship status is.

All because – on a very deep, intimate level – we’re insecure.

This Valentine’s Day, try something different. Before you let expectations get the better of you. Before you do anything on the relationship front.

Set yourself up to be secure. To have a healthy approach to relationships, and even to the lack of relationships.

Focus first on your foundational relationship. Your relationship with God.

Before you worry about whether someone (or anyone) loves you, draw close to the One who has always loved you.

Let yourself be loved by God. Take the time to learn, to live what it truly means to be unconditionally loved.

Before you bother with other relationships, ground yourself in God’s love.

The love that made you.

The love that makes all other loves possible.

Today’s Readings

[bagheera82]

Failure

(for someone who’s struggling with the difference)

Some things in life hit us harder than others.

What makes something hit harder? When it’s personal.

When it’s not just something that happened. But something that happened to us. Because of us. Because we put ourselves out there. Because we took a risk.

Because we tried.

The most common way that hits us? Rejection. The form of failure that hits the hardest.

Rejection hits the hardest, because we are what’s being rejected. It’s the most intimate form of failure.

Because rejection hits the hardest, all of us struggle with rejection. Especially with how to come back from it, with how to respond.

Which is why we are so impressed whenever someone responds well. Like the Syrophoenician woman in today’s Gospel.

We want to be her. We want to have her character, her presence of mind – in the moment – to give that perfect response.

Not just a witty comeback. But a response so perfect that it turns failure into success.

Truth be told, this is what we all want – to be able to respond that powerfully to every form of failure.

As Rick Warren puts it, “Failure isn’t a character quality. It’s just an event. How you respond to failure is your character.”

The thing is, God is waiting to give us that strength of character. If we’ll only be wise enough to ask Him for it.

The only way that can happen?

If we focus on God, instead of focusing on the failure.

Today’s Readings

[bagheera82]

Nonsense

Things happen.

Not necessarily for a reason. Sometimes things just happen.

One of the great mistakes of our age is assuming causation. That good things happen because we’re good. And that bad things happen because we’re bad.

A moment’s thought reveals this as nonsense.

In all of our lives, right now some of the most kind, loving, and godly people we know are dealing with life’s hardest problems.

Watching the ones in my life, seeing the holy way that they’re responding to what they’re dealing with? The way that they hold all the more tightly to God and to each other through it all. The character that shines forth in their response is one of the most powerful witnesses to the Faith that I’ve ever seen.

And yet, you and I keep coming back to that broken old assumption. That good things happen because we’re good. And that bad things happen because we’re bad.

This is exactly what Jesus is pushing back against in today’s Gospel. Because it turns out that our great mistake is nothing new. People have been coming back to that broken old assumption for millennia.

But nothing about it has changed. It wasn’t true in the first century. And still isn’t.

Here’s the truth – bad things don’t happen because we’re bad. Bad things happen.

When bad things happen, we get to respond. The choice of how to respond is ours.

The point Jesus is making is that how we respond to bad things determines whether they harm us beyond any physical loss or damage.

The opposite is also true. How we respond to bad things determines whether they become occasions of grace.

The choice is ours. But no matter how we respond, one thing is true.

How we respond shows who we really believe in.

Today’s Readings

[bagheera82]

Greenhouse

A friend of mine has what he calls his “greenhouse.”

It’s not much to speak of. Really, it’s just a raised bed in his backyard. With a simple wooden frame top.

It’s got plastic sheeting stapled to it, to let in the sun and stop the wind. He uses it to protect the bed, so that his tomatoes can get an early start. And it works.

The pile of tomatoes that he gives away every year says that it’s a successful greenhouse. Even if it’s not much to look at.

It’s a stark contrast from the professionally built greenhouse that came with the house a mutual acquaintance of ours bought a few years ago.

Knee-high fieldstone walls, with gleaming metal and glass above. It’s got an automatic watering system, grow lights for the winter, and heated floors. Everything you could ask for in a greenhouse.

Except plants. The new owner isn’t interested in growing anything it.

Which makes it not much of a greenhouse. More of a nice-looking room, with a lot of dirt.

The difference between the two greenhouses? Only one of them is really a greenhouse. Because only one of them is being used for what it was meant for.

It’s like what we see in today’s Gospel. Where Jesus calls out the Pharisees, for how they fill the hole. For doing all of the right things. For none of the right reasons.

At the heart of everything that we do is a hole. Waiting to be filled with meaning, with purpose.

How we fill that hole determines whether we’re really doing the good that we could be doing – for others, for ourselves. Or just going through the motions.

If we fill that hole with anything but God, eventually even the best of things will become hollow at best. Maybe even the means to abuse ourselves and others.

Why? Because the hole at the heart of everything we do is made to be filled with only one thing. God.

When we do fill that hole with God, we will find that even the seemingly least important things in life will become a means of grace. And a path to home.

Today’s Readings

[bagheera82]

Big Bang

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

That’s how the Bible, the first chapter of Genesis (and today’s first reading), starts. With the account of Creation.

For many people, this is a reason to doubt or discard the Faith right out of the gate. Because of science. Specifically, the Big Bang Theory.

Which, as Catholic clergy, I find hilarious.

Because that whole line of thinking is based on the assumption that the Biblical account of Creation is a literal account of how it all happened.

It’s not.

The signals telling us that it’s not a literal account? They’re right there in the book of Genesis.

One clue? The sweeping, poetic language of the first account of Creation. It’s radically different from the parts of Genesis (and the rest of the Bible) that clearly are literal accounts.

The more obvious clue? The appearance of a second, very different account of Creation in the very next chapter.

Which means? Understanding it as a literal account of Creation requires a very badly informed reading of the Bible.

But what about the Big Bang Theory?

The Big Bang Theory was developed in 1931 by Georges Lemaitre, a theoretical physicist (PhD from MIT). An astronomer. And a Catholic priest.

Fr. Lemaitre posited the Big Bang Theory as an explanation of the observable mechanics of the universe. And nothing more.

When Pope Pius XII wanted to call it “scientific validation of the Catholic faith” because it pointed to a moment of Creation, Fr. Lemaitre said (in physicist language) please don’t, the Big Bang Theory doesn’t speak to first causes.

Before the Big Bang Theory was misrepresented by the Internet it was misrepresented by a Pope.

Inserting first causes of any kind (pro-God or anti-God) into the Big Bang Theory requires a very badly informed reading of the Theory.

Why is arguing the Big Bang Theory against the Faith is hilarious? Because you’re telling people that you don’t read things for yourself without saying that you don’t read things for yourself.

Well, if it isn’t a literal account of Creation, then what’s the point? Why is it the very first thing in the Bible?

The accounts of Creation (both of them) are meant to be read together. That’s why both of them are there. To give us a clear picture of who God is. And who we are.

The “why” of the cosmic sweep of the first account of Creation is answered in the intimacy of God walking in the Garden with the first people in the second account.

Revealing the heart of God. And this central truth.

Our lives find their ground – and their fullest expression – in our relationship with God.

Today’s Readings

[bagheera82]

02/06/2025

I've got a [great] feeling about this!

___

JOKE-OGRAPHY: 1. In this Bible story, Jesus performs a miracle by telling some professional fishers -- tired from failing at fishing all day -- to try casting their nets one more time, and when they do, it comes up so full that it starts to tear. The fishers thank Jesus but beg that He leave them, for they are sinners unworthy of His presence, but He offers the sinful fishers to follow Him and become fishers of men, casting the net of God's Word to catch the lost and weary nations. 2. The "fishers of men" quote has many translations. The one used in this cartoon is "catchers of men," which sounds like Jesus is commissioning a team of renegades to hunt down humans, rather than a group of men to lead His new Church. Thus, in the final panel, Peter and John imagine themselves as rogues both dashing and daring.

[bagheera82]

02/06/2025

I've got a [great] feeling about this!

___

JOKE-OGRAPHY: 1. In this Bible story, Jesus performs a miracle by telling some professional fishers -- tired from failing at fishing all day -- to try casting their nets one more time, and when they do, it comes up so full that it starts to tear. The fishers thank Jesus but beg that He leave them, for they are sinners unworthy of His presence, but He offers the sinful fishers to follow Him and become fishers of men, casting the net of God's Word to catch the lost and weary nations. 2. The "fishers of men" quote has many translations. The one used in this cartoon is "catchers of men," which sounds like Jesus is commissioning a team of renegades to hunt down humans, rather than a group of men to lead His new Church. Thus, in the final panel, Peter and John imagine themselves as rogues both dashing and daring.

[bagheera82]

Five

(for someone whose five isn’t helping)

Groupthink. Herd mentality. Peer pressure.

Whatever label we use, however we articulate it, we can’t ignore the impact that other people have on us.

To make it specific, even personal, you can’t do better than Jim Rohn’s practical summary,

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

Your five are the group that shapes you. The ones that have the greatest influence on you. Theirs are the attitudes and behaviors that you are regularly exposed to.

Without even trying, you will start to think and behave like your five. Eventually, you won’t be able to do anything that clashes with how they do things.

Need proof? Today’s Gospel. With a horrifying display of the power that the five people we spend the most time with have over us.

King Herod had imprisoned John the Baptist for speaking out against him.

John was his prisoner, but Herod knew John was a holy man. And Herod wasn’t a lost cause – because even though he had John locked up, he still wanted to hear what John had to say.

But Herod made a stupid promise. Even though Herod knew it was wrong, and was deeply distressed by it. To keep from embarrassing himself in front of his five, Herod had John executed.

Think about that. To avoid conflict with his five, Herod violated his own conscience. And killed an innocent man.

While most of us won’t end up killing a prophet because of our five. All of us are just as easily driven to avoid conflict with our five.

Today, take a hard look at your five. At where they’re leading you. At how they’re shaping you.

If it’s not closer to God. If it’s not into who God made you to be.

Then you need a new five.

Today’s Readings

[bagheera82]

Need

There are wants. And then there are needs.

What we think we need. And what we actually need.

The fact that we talk about our wants in the language of need? It doesn’t do us any favors. Truth be told, it gets us into a habit of thinking about our wants in the language of need.

Until we can’t tell the difference between our wants and our needs.

The downside to that? On the less harmful end of the scale, we end up convincing ourselves that we “need” the latest whatever. When the one that we have works just fine. And it’s barely a year old.

It only gets worse from there. Especially when our inability to tell the difference between our wants and our needs seeps into our personal relationships.

Today’s Gospel is a pushback against that lack of clarity. Where Jesus sends out the Twelve. And makes a big deal out of what they take with them.

It’s a trust moment, to be sure. But it’s also moment to be clear on the difference between needs and wants.

Jesus goes right to the heart of the difference. He doesn’t separate luxuries from needful things. Jesus draws the line closer to home. Separating things that make sense, things that any prudent planner would be glad to have, from things you actually need.

As Jesus shows us, our needs – our actual needs – are a lot less than we think.

Getting that clarity. Understanding what we actually need.

Knowing that God has already provided for all of it – everything we actually need – is incredibly freeing.

In the words of Prudentius (the great hymn writer of the early Church),

“To wish for nothing more than need demands is rest supreme.”

Today’s Readings

[bagheera82]

Not able

Today’s Gospel is weird.

When we think about Jesus’ public ministry, there are certain things that pretty much always show up.

Classic prophet stuff, and more. Calling people back to God. Miracles. Healing. Reaching out to the marginalized. Teaching people about God.

It may be put together in different ways. But most, if not all, of it will be there.

Then there’s today’s Gospel. Which ends with this –

“So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.”

Let’s be clear, the Gospel is saying this – about God. As in “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” As in “All things came to be through Him, and without Him nothing came to be.” This the all-powerful Creator, in the midst of His creation.

So how is it that God can’t do something?

For the simple reason that God will never contradict His own nature. God can’t, because God won’t. That’s not who God is.

As Billy Graham put it, “God will not force Himself upon us against our will. If we want God’s love, we need to believe in Him. We need to make a definite, positive act of commitment and surrender to the love of God. No one can do it for us.”

That’s what we’re seeing here. This is the nature of God. And not just in the New Testament.

If you and I are wondering why we’re not seeing more of God in our lives? If we’re wondering where God is right now?

This is going to be a big part of it. Because this is the inescapable first step to receiving all that God wants to give us. To receiving God’s love.

To be clear, this is not a one and done. Our commitment and surrender to the love of God must be done daily. This is the first step to a living relationship with God.

In case you ever wondered why the Church is so big on starting the day with prayer.

Today’s Readings

[bagheera82]

Not able

Today’s Gospel is weird.

When we think about Jesus’ public ministry, there are certain things that pretty much always show up.

Classic prophet stuff, and more. Calling people back to God. Miracles. Healing. Reaching out to the marginalized. Teaching people about God.

It may be put together in different ways. But most, if not all, of it will be there.

Then there’s today’s Gospel. Which ends with this –

“So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.”

Let’s be clear, the Gospel is saying this – about God. As in “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” As in “All things came to be through Him, and without Him nothing came to be.” This the all-powerful Creator, in the midst of His creation.

So how is it that God can’t do something?

For the simple reason that God will never contradict His own nature. God can’t, because God won’t. That’s not who God is.

As Billy Graham put it, “God will not force Himself upon us against our will. If we want God’s love, we need to believe in Him. We need to make a definite, positive act of commitment and surrender to the love of God. No one can do it for us.”

That’s what we’re seeing here. This is the nature of God. And not just in the New Testament.

If you and I are wondering why we’re not seeing more of God in our lives? If we’re wondering where God is right now?

This is going to be a big part of it. Because this is the inescapable first step to receiving all that God wants to give us. To receiving God’s love.

To be clear, this is not a one and done. Our commitment and surrender to the love of God must be done daily. This is the first step to a living relationship with God.

In case you ever wondered why the Church is so big on starting the day with prayer.

Today’s Readings