Ad Jesum per Mariam

Christians Walk With One Step on Earth and the Other Touched by Heaven

Christians Walk With One Step on Earth and the Other Touched by Heaven There is a marvelous oddness in the way God speaks to us today through the readings! On one hand God speaks to us in a way that stirs our heart with expectations. Even as that happens, the Lord will defeat those expectations that rise within us! It is not to disappoint us. It’s to bring us beyond our expectations! We see this dynamic from the reading of the Prophet Isaiah. We hear about one who hears the Word of the Lord, hears His voice completely, and moves with specific expectations. He moves knowing there are difficulties waiting in front of him. He doesn’t know yet what they are, but he knows they are in front of him. The one is not expecting difficulty. He knows difficulties await him! The Lord will send him somewhere. He is not expecting where the Lord sends him but knows He will. In the reading we hear he will not be put to shame regardless of what happens. He does not worry about the details. Hear more in the Homily. I Will Walk Before the Lord in the Land of the Living In the Psalms we hear I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. We may have expectations when we hear or read these words. We may think it’s in the future and someplace else. Yet that is not how Christians should think! You are walking before the Lord in the land of the living . . . right now! When we enter into a Church, you are walking in the land of the living and participating in heaven within the Church right now! Heaven is not some place for later. Christians walk with one step on earth and the other touched by Heaven. Listen to this Meditation Media. Listen to: Christians Walk With One Step on Earth and the Other Touched by Heaven. -------------------------- Image: Gates of Heaven: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Platform: Generative AI Image by Queen of All Hearts What is Generative AI? Generative AI refers to a recent approach in artificial intelligence that involves the creation of AI-generated art. This innovative technique utilizes a potent AI computer to generate images based on textual prompts or instructions. The resulting output is an AI-generated image, representing one interpretation of a given concept, such as the Gates of Heaven in this particular instance. -------------------------- Gospel Reading: Mark: 8: 27-35 First Reading: IS 50:5-9

Broadcast on:: 17 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: other

The Lord be with you and with your spirit. He's reading from the Holy Gospel according to my glory to you, O Lord. Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea, Philip. Along the way, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" They said in reply, "John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets." And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter said to him in reply, "You are the Christ." Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him. He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed and rise after three days. He spoke this openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. At this, he turned around and looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, set him. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." He summoned the crowds with his disciples and said to them, "Whoever wishes to come after me, must deny himself. Take up his cross and follow me." For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake, and that of the gospel will save it. There is a marvelous oddness to the way that God communicates to us. And we see that in our readings today. On the one hand, the Lord speaks in a way that causes our hearts to stir with expectation. And yet even as that happens, the Lord will then defeat those very expectations that rise within us. And that's not to disappoint us, it's to bring us beyond where our expectations would stop us. And we see this dynamic playing out in the readings today. Our first reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah paints a challenging picture of this one who listens only to the Lord, who hears his voice completely, and who moves forward with a very particular expectation. Not the expectations we tend to have because we get very particular, don't we? When we begin to look forward to something, we imagine what it's going to be like, we imagine who's going to be there, and we begin thinking it's going to happen this way, this way, and this way. And we see this mysterious figure in the first reading who moves forward with a different expectation. It's the expectation that there will be difficulty waiting in front of me. But I'm not expecting difficulty, I know that's going to be there. The Lord is sending me, and I'm not expecting where he's sending me only that he is. His only expectation is I will not be put to shame regardless of what happens. Note how powerful that expectation is, how very particular, and yet you can't put a picture on it. Whatever happens, I'm not worried about the details. He will uphold me. This is the attitude that runs through our Psalm as well where we sing about walking before the Lord in the land of the living. And let's talk about that for a moment because we have expectations when we hear those words. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living, and what do we think? That some place down the road that I have to get to. Somewhere else on some other day, and that is not what is going on, because my friends, you are walking in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living right now. As you come into this sanctuary today and you walk and gather here, we are already mysteriously in some way walking in the land of the living and participating in heaven, in this place right now. Heaven isn't for later. It impinges on us every single time we gather here and celebrate this sacrament. The simple fact of the matter is a Christian always walks with one foot on this earth and another touched by heaven. It's a curious way of moving, but that is the very essence of Christian life is what makes it different. Our lives are touched and marked by heaven now. A little waiter at this mass around this altar, we are going to chant something right before Father begins the Eucharistic Prayer. We're going to say holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. But when we do that, when we do that, we are uniting our voices with the angels who are chanting that in heaven. It's not simply us, it is not simply our prayer. What we do here connects us with a greater, faster reality that goes well beyond this space. What we do here gets lifted up into heaven, is sustained by it, even as we're here and nothing seems to look any different. Note how remarkable that is. Note how absolutely remarkable that is and yet we live expecting heaven's going to be later. The fullness, yes, but the reality touches our lives even today. Otherwise it makes absolutely no sense to come forward and say we're receiving the body and blood of Jesus Christ here and now. Note how marvelous that is, heaven opens. The Lord is here with us and when we celebrate this sacrament we are very much walking in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living. And the land of the living is not someplace else. The land of the living is right here. It's the beautiful power of the liturgy to do this for us. And this is the issue at stake with regard to our gospel reading today. Because Jesus is the fulfillment of that mysterious figure from our first reading. That one who completely understands the will of God and who moves forward in it with one expectation and one expectation only. He will be with me. Whatever happens I will not be put to shame and I will go where I am sent and not look away from it. But as I go doing that I go as one who walks in the land of the living and my mission is to come and put others on that pathway too. And so he walks with his disciples and at one point he stops and again note that setting. He is on the move and his disciples are moving with him. We oftentimes oversimplify Christian life by talking about our walk with Jesus. But we never talk about where we're going and what that walk looks like. And so it is that as they're moving forward Jesus is going somewhere. And he pauses on that way to talk to his disciples about where we're going together. And this is where he turns and he begins to ask questions. And this is curious too. We usually think we're the ones who have questions for God, don't we? We have all these things we would like God to explain to us and make clear to us. Half the time we can spend most of our time at prayer asking questions. Why? What? When? How? We do that all the time. We never think God might have a question for us. And yet in sacred scripture the very first question that is ever asked is asked by God. It happens in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve fall. And they hide when they hear God coming. And God stands in the garden calling out to Adam and he asks the very first question in history. Where are you? That's not God saying I can't find you, I don't know what bush you're hiding behind. That's the Almighty saying to him, where are you with regard to me? Where are we? Where is your heart? Where have you put it? Jesus is asking that question with different words to his disciples. And he leads them into it by stages. But the real thrust of this question is that original question, where are you? And so he says to them, you hear things, your family speaks, your friends have opinions, you're buying things in the market, you hear things about me. What are you hearing? Who do people say that I am? And so the answers come, you're a prophet, you're a holy man, you're a teacher, you're John the Baptist, brought back from the dead, you're all kinds of things. And the Lord lets all of the answers come without comment. And that's important, because in asking this way, the first thing he is reminding his disciples is that the world doesn't know him. The world has many things to say. The world has many opinions, often very, very strong. But they are all misguided with regard to him. Knowledge of Jesus doesn't come from the world that doesn't know him. If we try to learn about Jesus from the world around us, from our culture, from everything else, we will always miss the point. And so he continues, you guys now, you guys, you've been with me for three years. You've heard me teach, you've traveled with me, we eat together. You've seen the miracles. You should know me better than anybody. Who do you say that I am? School in session, my young friend, do you like it when a teacher comes right up to you and says, "I need you to answer a question?" Depends on whether you know it. Okay, very good. And have you ever had that situation in school where the teacher asks a question that is pretty hard, and nobody says anything, and everybody waits for somebody else to speak first. And when that happens, everybody, if the answer is right, everybody nods their head and says, "That's what I was going to say." And if the answer is wrong, everybody says, "I'm not saying that." Very good. This is what's going on right now with the disciples. Jesus says, "Okay, speak for yourselves." That's a lot harder than repeating what somebody else says, isn't it? Because now you have to own what you think. Now you have to own who are we? No, where are we? It's that where are we now that Jesus is asking? And you can almost imagine the apostles gathered around him that are all waiting for somebody else to say something first. And so Peter comes out and says, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God." And everybody else first is thinking, "Oh, thank God for Peter." You know, and then they're also thinking, "Boy, if that's right, I am so going to repeat it." But note the dynamic here now. It is harder to speak for myself than it is to repeat what somebody else is saying. And so out of the many disciples, there's only emerges one answer from one voice, who at least is willing to say, "That is who you are. That is where we are." You are the Christ, I am on the road with you, that is where we are. Is he correct? Is Jesus the Christ? There was a week on that, yes, there. Yes and no, yes and no. And that's the beauty of what comes next. Peter speaks, "This is who you are to me." And then Jesus begins to speak. Because Peter has expectations. When Peter says, "You are the Christ," he's thinking about something very specific. And it's not that he has bad expectations. The Savior is supposed to be the one who is strong enough to overcome the evil in the world. He's supposed to be the one who brings justice and goodness. He's supposed to set the people free. The minute we start saying that, we begin getting a picture. He's got to be powerful. He's got to be strong. He's got to have considerable authority. And we begin looking for a certain kind of a man. One who will face down all that is wrong, put evil in its place and move everything forward. It's the image of a strong man. And so Jesus now is aware of that. Peter has the right words, but the wrong expectation. And so now Jesus is going to defeat Peter's expectation. And he does so by saying the son of man is going to suffer. He's going to be rejected. Nobody is happening now. Jesus is speaking for himself. Because knowledge of Jesus doesn't come from Peter either. He has to receive it from the source. To know Jesus, we have to let Jesus teach us who he is. The world has said this is who he is. Peter has said this is who you are. And now Jesus says, now let's be clear. This is exactly who I am. I am that one who is going to be rejected. I am that one who is going to suffer. I am that one who is going to be condemned. I am that one who is going to be put to death. That is who I am. And that is where I am going. You can almost imagine how nervous everybody gets when they hear that. And my expectation is I will rise. But I will move through that. I will move through the shadow of death because I walk already in the land of the living. That is who I am. And you can understandably see why Peter reacts the way he does. That is crazy. That is not what I am expecting. That is not how things work. How can you save the world by getting killed? How can you set the people free by being rejected and you are my friend? I don't want that happening to you. And so he pulls the Lord aside. And basically says, you know Jesus, you are saying this out loud. Someone is going to think you mean it. Someone is going to take you seriously if you talk like that. I know when you are exaggerating. Nobody else, these other people don't. So why don't we rethink this? Because as plans go, this isn't a really good one. And note, it begins as a certain kind of concern. But underneath it is the inability and the unwillingness to accept Jesus Christ as he actually is. And this is why Jesus turns to him and gives him that stinging rebuke. He says, get behind me Satan. And note what he says, you are not thinking as God does, but as men do. In other words, you think like that world that doesn't know me. You say the right words with your mouth, but the attitude and the spirit of that world that doesn't know me is alive inside of you. And it's stopping you from seeing me clearly, knowing me truly and following me correctly. Think of your own lies for a second there, my friends. We see how important this issue is. How often do we find ourselves knocked off course? Because of an attitude that it just won't leave us. How often do we find ourselves stopping short even as we try to be good? Because of habits of thinking and attitudes and regrets that just live inside of us. How often do we cling to things that we know aren't good? And if for whatever reason we can't quite put them down. Saint Augustine beautifully expressed this one day when he prayed out loud to the Lord, "Convert me and change me, Lord, tomorrow." We have that reluctant spirit that lives inside of us. And Jesus gives Peter that stinging correction because he needs to bring Peter around to the truth. The key to knowing Jesus Christ is the mystery of his cross. He comes full of the cross. No one is going to knock him off course. He moves to this because he's come to save you. And nothing will stop him from doing this. The problem is the cross makes no sense to the world around us. The cross makes no sense to the human heart naturally. The cross is something mysterious, powerful and unsettling. And it reminds us now that Jesus when he comes to save us isn't just saving us from sin. He's not just saving us from death. He's not just saving us from the devil. He's doing all of that. But he also comes to save us from ourselves. Jesus comes to save the world from itself. When the world drifts away from God thinking it knows best it always falls. It always tortures and wounds itself in some way. On our own, all we have is wandering under the shadow of death. And we are not walking before the Lord in the land of the living. And he's come to put our feet on that path. And so he says to Peter, you have that spirit of the world. The spirit that doesn't know me within you. What you need is this. And the spirit of the world is incapable of receiving this. And why? The spirit of the world is self-asserting. The spirit of the world is self-seeking. The spirit of the world is self-indulgent. The spirit of the world is preoccupied with advancing and dominating and gaining. It is the opposite of the spirit of Jesus Christ. And in the end, the spirit of the world is self-deceiving. It does all of those things convinced of its own goodness. It does all of those things convinced of its own rightness. It does all of those things convinced that this is the way it's supposed to be. And in the end, it settles for a merely worldly Savior who can't save anyone. On the other hand, there's the spirit of Jesus Christ, which is self-denying, which is self-giving, which is self-surrendering. Note the difference in attitude. Rather than gain, I give. Rather than assert myself, I serve. Rather than dominate, I lift. It's the spirit that doesn't place itself at the center of everything. The broken spirit of man places himself always at the center. It has to be my way, on my time, according to my preference and my convenience. But the Lord doesn't come for that. And so what he's saying to Peter is, we have to get that spirit out of you so that you can follow me to the land of the living. And there's only one way to get there. It's this way, because this is the way I walk. And so let's look at what he says to Peter. He says to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan." Why would he say that? Because Satan likes to lead. Satan likes to be in charge. Satan likes to be out in front. But I'm going to ask this very intelligent looking young lady a question. If you're walking in front of somebody, can you follow them? No, why not? Because you're not the leader, but you're in the wrong place, right? That's what Jesus is saying to Peter. Last I checked, I'm the teacher, you're the disciple. Your place is behind me, not in front of me. And if I follow somebody, who chooses the direction, the follower or the leader? The leader, very good. Who sets the pace, the follower or the leader? The leader, you mean the follower has to follow and pay attention to the leader? That's pretty hard. What my brilliant young friend has just reminded us is by definition, if I am following, I'm not in charge. By definition, if I'm following, I don't get to choose the way. If I'm following, I don't set the pace. Note, to follow, I have to let myself go. That's really important because with all due respect to Mr. Sinatra, the national anthem of hell as I did it my way. And so to clarify this, to clarify this, Jesus turns and looks at everybody and he says, "If anybody wishes to be my disciple." It's a funny question right now because he's speaking to his disciples. You would think they would have already said yes, but now he is calling them to something deeper. There's a point in following the Lord where we have to get beyond those initial immature movements of faith. Those things are not bad, but their only real value is to bring us to a point where the Lord can ask us this question. Do you really want to follow me? Do you really want to walk with me into the land of the living? Do you really want to do that? Do you really want to be with me? There's that question. Where are we? Where are we? Do you really want this? And if the answer is yes, here's how it goes. If you want to follow me, step one, you deny yourself. You know, our shorthand ways of talking about the faith short circuit this all the time. We just say pick up your cross and follow Jesus. Jesus doesn't say that because that's skipping a step. Deny yourself. Then pick up your cross. Make the decision that you'll let me lead. Make the decision that you'll walk behind me. Make the decision that you'll move at the pace I mark out for you. And then you pick it up and then you move. But don't follow me without that cross. Don't follow me without that because that's the key to knowing me. And the cross isn't just a matter of suffering. The cross is the way Jesus shapes us. The cross is the way Jesus makes us into better men and women. The cross is the way Jesus lifts us up out of everything that goes wrong on this world. And to something better even as we live through the wrong. What a powerful, powerful gift that is. But it hinges on our being willing to actually let him lead. And so I'm going back to my young friend who is the expert at all things relating to school. Now, in school during the week, are there days where your teacher gives you homework? There are. Do you get a lot of homework? Not really, just math. Well, I'm going to give you guys homework too, but it won't be math, okay? So no math homework from father today. But I am going to give you some homework. When you go home, when you go home, find that crucifix that you stuck up on the wall when you moved into the house all those years ago. It's been up there a while, hasn't it? If you don't have a crucifix, your homework is to go out and get one. Every home should have a crucifix. But that crucifix that's up on the wall that you see every now and then as you enter and leave the house, take it down, okay? Climb up there, take it down off the wall, blow the dust off of it. It's been up there a while, blow the dust off of it. And then clean it, clean it. And note, you can't do those things without touching it. You can't do those things without physically holding it. And when you take it down, you begin doing that. And you clean the body of Jesus on the cross. You clean all around the cross, you feel its shape, you feel its weight. I guarantee you, there will be a prayer waiting for you. I don't know what that prayer is going to be, but there's going to be something there. It might have words, it might not. It might be a memory, it might be a regret, it might be a need for healing. It might be that you're suddenly provoked to pray for a family member that you know is really struggling. But something's going to be there. Say that prayer. Say that prayer that only happens when you put your hand on a cross. We spend most of our lives just looking at the crucifix. But Jesus has picked it up. Jesus has touched it. If the cross has meaning, it was my grandmother's crucifix. Make sure the kids know that, because that's part of your family's history. You know? Let your children hold it too. Pass it around from one person to the other, each holding the cross to naming who you're going to pray for while you hold that cross. Know how different prayer is when we do something like that. And then before you put it back up, you remember what Jesus said. Pick up your cross, pick it up, and follow me. Literally, pick it up, hold it in your hand. Take it to your heart, and just tell the Lord, "I want to do this. I don't know if I can, but I want to." That's a really good prayer. That's a really good prayer. And note how different it is to say those words when I have it in my hand. You see, sometimes we need something palpable, something tangible. And he's very concrete, the Lord. Pick it up. If you have a small crucifix, keep it near your bed. When you get up in the morning, pick it up. Bring it to your heart and say, "Help me do this." Keep me on course. Help me do this. Good prayer doesn't have to be long. It just has to be real. And I'd be remiss if I didn't point out. On this day where the church also marks the feast of our Lady of Sorrows, the Virgin Mary who stands at the foot of the cross of her son, she has this mysterious ability, St. Louis de Montfort writes, that when we approach her with real devotion, with real affection, she lends a certain sweetness to the cross that we wouldn't find otherwise. Difficult as it can be. Within the difficulty, there's something sweet. Something appealing. Even something joyful. Just like in an earlier age when the children had to take their medicine and mom would dip it in sugar and give it that way, on some levels that's the effect our Lady has. The cross is difficult. It's not easy. Self-denial and self-giving are hard things, but they don't have to be completely unpleasant. And the beautiful thing is the more we hold the cross, the higher the cross lifts us. The higher the cross brings us. The higher the cross carries us. That's the real secret. We begin by picking up the cross, following Jesus, thinking that we carry it. The reality is when we do it well, it's the cross that carries us. And that indeed is a very great thing. Amen.