Ad Jesum per Mariam

Receive What Jesus Gives You! Be Dependent upon the Lord!

Receive What Jesus Gives You! Be Dependent upon the Lord! Intoday’s first reading from Proverbs we hear about something that all humans have struggled with since Adam and Eve. We hear about the Word of the Lord. We need to be content with what we have. Hmmm! Hear more within the Homily! We hear from scripture of the danger of abundance. In our wealth and abundance, I will deny the Lord! We won’t forget the Lord; we will deny the Lord! Curious prediction! The idea is when I have an abundance, I no longer need to turn to anybody, or trust anybody! Why? Because of the notion that our wealth will keep one safe! My abundance will sustain me. Rather than leaning on God and His gifts, people with abundance focus on their wealth. Curious. In the Blessing of Abundance, if we are not careful, my heart will become numb. At that moment there is no need to turn to the Lord. Hear more within the Homily! Our Relationship With God Our relationship with God, must have us in the receiving position. We need to receive what God has for us! If we rely on ourselves because we have too much … or too little …. we have nothing. It is this disposition that we hear about the Gospel reading. The Lord gathers his disciples and will send them out. Before He does so, He gives them a gift. The disciples have authority over all diseases. He gives them authority and they must receive that specific authority. The Lord Gives the Disciples What They Need The Lord makes it clear! The disciples do not need anything else, beyond what (the authority) the Lord has given them. They do not need extra clothes, food, or a walking stick. They have what they need! What the Lord is really saying to His disciples . . . and to us . . . is do not be overly concerned or preoccupied with other things you think you may need. Leave them behind and focus on what the Lord has given them. Why? Because the moment we start thinking of what else we need, we move further away from what the Lord has given them! Note also what the Lord means by these actions! If the Lord sends them with a specific job and specific authority, then I (the Lord) will support you . . . I will look after you . . . I will make sure you have what you need! Listen more to this Meditation Media. Listen to: Receive What Jesus Gives You! Be Dependent upon the Lord! Calling of the Apostles: Italian Artist: Domenico Ghirlandaio: 1481 Return to Meditation Media Gospel: Luke: 9: 1-6 First Reading: PRV: 30: 5-9

Broadcast on:: 02 Oct 2024
Audio Format:: other

The Lord be with you, reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke. Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. And he sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He said to them, take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick nor sack nor food nor money and let no one take a second tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there. And as for those who do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them. They set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and curing diseases everywhere. The Gospel of the Lord. When the gospel is proclaimed at Mass, the priest or the deacon who does the proclamation presses his lips to the words when he finishes and kisses them. That is done every single time. In a gesture we often miss because we're physically changing our postures and sitting down. And yet it is done every time and there's something marvelous hidden in that gesture. Whether the word is consoling or not, it is kissed. Whether the word is convenient and reassuring or whether the word is challenging, demanding and off-putting, it is kissed. And that disposition built into the liturgy reminds us that the entirety of the gospel is to be valued. And that's also part of the discipline of the liturgy. Where we have an ordered presentation of the readings and what that does is it frees the congregation from the tyranny of Father's preferences. We don't simply hear what Father would like to proclaim. And why? Because we're all partial. And so rather with a disciplined series of steps, we move through the entirety of the gospel, not just lingering with our favorite parts. And in all honesty, there are some days it's easier to kiss those words than other days. And yet that too is important because it reminds us that this is to be received a certain way. The kiss at the end of the proclamation is made on behalf of the entire community. As he kisses those words, the priest then says, "By the words of the gospel may hour, not by hour, sins be wiped away." And it said and done on behalf of everybody, recognizing that especially in an earlier age where nobody had mislettes, nobody else had a copy of the words. But there's a marvelous practice that often creeps into the private practice among the laity of reading Scripture at home, where when it has been finished, the words are kissed, the Bible is closed, and set aside in a place of prominence in the house. And that disposition of recognizing that what is given to me here must be received a certain way. There's a certain surrender and a certain respect that must be present. This is part of what we see developed for us in our readings from the book of Proverbs. And note today the insistence on receive the word and don't add anything to it. And at first glance we say, "Well, who's going to add things to the Word of God? But the reality is we all do." The reality is the human heart likes to qualify things, likes to explain things in the way that works best for me. And this is not saying don't try to understand it, don't try to explain it, but it becomes so easy to think I need to somehow supplement what God is doing for me. That Lord, I recognize you're doing this, but I need these other things too. That the Lord requires this of me, and I would like to extend that requirement and amplify it for somebody else. It is so easy to fall into that. This notion that somehow even as the truth is given to me, it's not sufficient in and of itself. And the development that we see in our first reading is remarkable in the way that is teased out. Because it connects to this issue that our hearts have struggled with since Adam and Eve first fell in the garden. This inability, this inability to be content with what we have and value and receive it well. And so here, you have the word, let it be enough for you. Let it be enough for you. Don't look for another truth. Don't look to supplement it. Rather, embrace it and make it yours. That's the point of the kiss given to the words of the gospel at the end of the proclamation. And why? Because the author of Proverbs continues and says because when you do that sooner or later, you will be branded a deceiver, offering the Word of God, but giving everybody something else. Attempting to speak the truth, but communicating a lie. And this issue then of letting the Word penetrate us flows into this curious double request. Let falsehood and lying be far from me. Let deceit not have a place within me. But what was the root of deceit just a verse earlier? That tendency to take the word of God and modify it. Adjust it. Amplify it in some way so that I can make it more effective than what God said. And you know when we put it that way, it sounds so crazy and yet it happens so very easily. But the second half of the request is interesting. At first glance it has nothing to do with the Word. It then says, "And the other thing I long for Lord is don't give me wealth and don't give me poverty." And we wonder, well, that's interesting but that sounds economic. That doesn't sound like relating to the truth. That doesn't sound like surrendering to the Word. And yet hidden within that request is another statement of the curious dispositions of our heart. Don't give me wealth. You know, standing in North America I feel like a bad American just to say those things. Because we've built so much on acquiring wealth, on advancing ourselves. We celebrate it. And yet note, because in my abundance I will deny you. Not forget you, but deny you. And say, "Who is the Lord?" This notion that when I have more than I need, this notion that when I have an abundance I no longer need to turn to anybody. I no longer need to rely on anybody. I no longer need to trust in anybody because my wealth keeps me safe. My abundance sustains me. And all of a sudden rather than relying on the strength, the kindness, and the protection of God, I find that I don't need those things. It's the curious reality that in the blessing of abundance, if I am not careful, my heart numbs itself, loses itself, becomes too satisfied with itself. And so I have no need to turn to the Lord because I've got everything I need. But then on the other side, but don't give me poverty either because in my lack I'm going to steal. In my lack I am going to let my sense of need determine how I live. And it will produce a certain aggressiveness in me where I will take what is not mine because I have a right to it. I will take what is not mine because I need it and I don't have it. And note here these two sides of the coin of what do I have? The coin of too much. The coin of abundance which numbs the spirit. And the coin of not enough. The coin of lack. And what does that do? Curiously it roots a perverse self-reliance within me. I don't look to God to help me. I'll help myself. I'll take it. The same spirit we see with the aggressiveness of Adam and Eve reaching out to the tree in the garden. It's right here. I want it. I don't have it. Let me take it. And this attitude of the way my heart gets mastered by either my sense of having enough or my sense of needing to get something else. If I'm not careful I decide how I'm going to do it. I no longer trust the Lord. I deny Him. I forget Him. I assert myself. Receive the word. Don't add anything to it. Note how. Note how in the end there's a sense of my relationship with God has to have me in a receiving position. In a receptive position. And I need to be about receiving what the Lord has for me in the way He gives it to me. Because the minute I move away from that I'm in trouble. And it's this disposition now that we see in our gospel reading which flows directly out of what we see in the first reading from Proverbs. The Lord gathers His twelve apostles around Him and He's going to send them out. But look what He does. Before He sends He gives. And so we hear He gives them authority over all demons and to cure all diseases. He gives them an authority. The expectation then is that they need to receive exactly that authority. Note what He didn't give them. He didn't give them authority to rule. He didn't give them authority to set their own agenda. He didn't give them some other kind of authority. It was very specific. It was an authority against that which can destroy the goodness of human life and an authority to bring healing where life is wounded. That is the specific authority that Jesus gives here. And He sends them out with that authority. And because He's doing that, He makes it very clear. You don't need anything beyond what I've just given you for this. You will go. You will heal the sick and you will proclaim the kingdom. So authority and a job. That is what they are given. And now the Lord says and don't even think about the walking stick. Don't pack a bag. Don't pack a change of clothes. Don't pack a lunch. You don't need those things. The Lord is not saying be reckless, be irresponsible. Don't care for yourself. What He is saying is don't lose what I have given you in your preoccupation over all of the other things you think you need. Leave those things behind because they won't help you. Leave those things behind and receive what I have given you. Because the danger is the minute they sit there and say and I need to take this and I need to take this and I need to take this and I need to take this, they move further and further away from what the Lord has already given them. And note the Lord's insistence, if I am sending you, I will support you. If I am sending you, I will look after you. If I am sending you and you are octing in my name, I will make sure you have what you need. Having what you need is not your job. That would be my job. And so in speaking this way, the Lord is also saying to these twelve apostles who have received this considerable authority that all of that has to rest in the way they continue to trust in Him, rely on Him, and depend on Him. The minute they take the accessories, they're relying on something else and on someone else. Note how similar it is. And so the Lord is now saying, I am giving you something to go and give, to go and use. Give the people that, not something else. I am giving you something. Go and be about that. Don't try to be about something else. Mission creep is something that the people of God have struggled with from the very beginning. The Lord has given me a certain mission and I like to add to it. I like to supplement it. And the next thing you know, that little side channel I'm going down suddenly becomes the big thing. And I lose the focus on why are we here and what are we doing in the first place. It happens to everybody sooner or later. Life goes off the rails so easily that way. And so here the Lord is saying, but when we're starting we're not doing that. The beginning is going to be clean. It's going to be clear. Receive what I give you. But receive it. Receive it. And move forward with that. And it's wonderful that we can reflect upon that here at the foot of this great rock upon which our Lady and our Lord are mounted. Because who is our Lady but that one? Filled with Grace who at the very fullness of time opened her heart and her life to receive the very Word of God fully and completely. We reflect on this far too little. The completeness with which our Lady receives our Lord. Jesus loses nothing of His divinity in being received by Mary. She receives Him fully. Jesus loses nothing of His power. Nothing of His wisdom. Nothing of His mercy. Nothing of His love. Her life is open and she receives Him completely. She adds nothing. The Lord will take His humanity from her but she herself doesn't amplify that. She herself doesn't add to that. She herself receives and lets Him work. And she receives Him so well, so completely and so perfectly that she communicates Him completely and perfectly to the world. Born of the Virgin Mary, the Lord has lost nothing of His power. Nothing of His goodness. Nothing of His mercy. She receives completely and communicates completely. Note how marvelous that really is. This in a sense is what the Lord is doing with His Apostles now. As He sends them to begin participating in His mission, receive from me and learn to receive and then go forth and communicate what I've given you. It's so simple to say, so very difficult to do. And that's why the discipline of learning how to receive Holy Communion well becomes so very important because that is the essence of what we do here on this altar. We come forward, we open our mouths, we stretch out our hands to receive. We don't come forward to take communion. We come forward to receive it. What an interesting expression to receive Holy Communion. It reminds us first that communion with the Lord is not an achievement for us. It is a gift. It is the Lord who makes possible the fact that we can have communion with Him. That's not the other way around. Communion with the Lord doesn't rest first and foremost on me. It rests on the fact that He gives Himself to me. And I need to receive that. I need to receive Him. Note how marvelous that is. The intimacy that we can experience in this wonderful sacrament is in fact a gift and it must be received. But it's not merely a gift, it is a person. I must open my life to a person and to the extent that I can receive that person. My life is filled with His presence. Note how marvelous that really is. And it's in this that happens because again at Mass we do it together. And so at Mass the other thing we receive is true communion with one another. Which again is not an achievement that is the result of our goodwill. It is a gift that is given by the Lord who gathers us as one into Himself. The oneness of the believing community is not a social oneness. It is not a political oneness. It is not a oneness first and foremost in mind and agreement. It is a oneness of belonging. A oneness of belonging to Christ and in Christ. A belonging that includes all of the others who likewise belong. And again note how marvelous that is. We are united in the church not because we've decided to be. We are united because Christ is the one who knits us together and holds us together. And that is also something that we receive. What a marvelous, marvelous gift. What a marvelous reality that is. You know and it also takes the pressure off of us when we say you know I can't get along with everybody. Well you know that's true. And the issue is not can I get along with everybody. The issue is can I recognize that oneness that obtains among us deeper than the issue of getting along. Deeper than the issue of agreeing because it rests on him. We receive so much in this sacrament. We reflect upon it far too little but our readings today remind us how we receive that does matter. How we receive that does matter because when we can truly surrender to the fullness of this great mystery then it's the mystery that carries us. And that's the other beautiful point here. When we leave after Mass it's not so much that we carry Jesus out into the world. It's that he carries us. That he moves us. That he animates us. And that's what makes a committed and authentic Christian life different from anything else on this planet. Amen.