Your kingdom come. Your will be done

Saint Cyprian of Carthage

Bishop, Father of the Church and Martyr

An excerpt from his Treatise on the Lord’s Prayer

Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

The prayer continues: Your kingdom come. We pray that God’s kingdom will become present for us in the same way that we ask for his name to be hallowed among us. For when does God not reign, when could there be in him a beginning of what always was and what will never cease to be? What we pray for is that the kingdom promised to us by God will come, the kingdom won by Christ’s blood and passion. Then we who formerly were slaves in this world will reign from now on under the dominion of Christ, in accordance with his promise: Come, O blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which was prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

However, my dear friends, it could also be that the kingdom of God whose coming we daily wish for is Christ himself, since it is his coming that we long for. He is our resurrection, since we rise again in him; so too he can be thought of as the kingdom of God because we are to reign in him. And it is good that we pray for God’s kingdom; for though it is a heavenly kingdom, it is also an earthly one. But those who have already renounced the world are made greater by holding positions of authority in that kingdom.

After this we add: Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven; we pray not that God should do his will, but that we may carry out his will. How could anyone prevent the Lord from doing what he wills? But in our prayer we ask that God’s will be done in us, because the devil throws up obstacles to prevent our mind and our conduct from obeying God in all things. So if his will is to be done in us we have need of his will, that is, his help and protection. No one can be strong by his own strength or secure save by God’s mercy and forgiveness. Even the Lord, to show the weakness of the human nature which he bore, said: Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, and then, by way of giving example to his disciples that they should do God’s will and not their own, he added: Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.

All Christ did, all he taught, was the will of God. Humility in our daily lives, an unwavering faith, a moral sense of modesty in conversion, justice in acts, mercy in deed, discipline, refusal to harm others, a readiness to suffer harm, peaceableness with our brothers, a wholehearted love of the Lord, loving in him what is of the Father, fearing him because he is God, preferring nothing to him who preferred nothing to us, clinging tenaciously to his love, standing by his cross with loyalty and courage whenever there is any conflict involving his honor and his name, manifesting in our speech the constancy of our profession and under torture confidence for the fight, and in dying the endurance for which we will be crowned—this is what it means to wish to be a coheir with Christ, to keep God’s command; this is what it means to do the will of the Father.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

 

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Happy Father’s Day, Dad!

Dad and I in Jerusalem outside Yad Vashem (August 1999)

God our Father, in your wisdom and love
you made all things.

Bless these men, that they may be strengthened
as Christian fathers.

Let the example of their faith and love shine forth.

Grant that we, their sons and daughters,
may honor them always
with a spirit of profound respect and love.

Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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ORDINARY TIME Week 12: Sunday

“Once when Jesus was praying in solitude, and the disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” (Luke 9:18.)

Saint Cyril of Alexandria comments on this verse from the First Reading proclaimed at Mass today:

“You see the skillfulness of the question. He did not at once say, “Who do you say that I am?” He refers to the rumor of those that were outside their company. Then, having rejected it and shown it unsound, he might bring them back to the true opinion. It happened that way. When the disciples had said, “Some, John the Baptist, and others, Elijah, and others, that some prophet of those in old time has risen up,” he said to them, “But you, who do you say that I am?” Oh! how full of meaning is that word you! He separates them from all others, that they may also avoid the opinions of others. In this way, they will not conceive an unworthy idea about him or entertain confused and wavering thoughts. Then they will not also imagine that John had risen again, or one of the prophets. “You,” he says, “who have been chosen,” who by my decree have been called to the apostleship, who are the witnesses of my miracles. Who do you say that I am?” (Commentary on Luke, Homily 49)

Collect

Grant, O Lord,
that we may always revere
and love Your holy name,
for You never deprive of Your guidance
those You set firm
on the foundation of Your love.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

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A WORD FROM TODAY’S MASS Ordinary Time 11: Saturday

What is the “Kingdom of God?” Where is the “Kingdom of God?” Is the “Kingdom of God” just another word or synonym in the Gospels for Heaven? “The Kingdom of God” sparks many questions and rightly so. When searching the Gospels for “Kingdom of God” or “Kingdom of Heaven (which appears more often in the Gospel according to Saint Matthew),” one is amazed by the numerous references. Throughout the centuries, believers have pondered the meaning and implications of “the Kingdom of God” and scholars certainly have grappled with the phrase and filled library shelves with volumes of thought-provoking commentaries.

What can and must we do with the reality of “the Kingdom” in our day? In 1975, Pope Paul VI penned the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi (On Evangelizing in our Day). Early in the Exhortation, the Bishop of Rome states: “As an evangelizer, Christ first of all proclaims a kingdom, the kingdom of God; and this is so important that, by comparison, everything else becomes “the rest,” which is “given in addition.” Only the kingdom therefore is absolute and it makes everything else relative. The Lord will delight in describing in many ways the happiness of belonging to this kingdom (a paradoxical happiness which is made up of things that the world rejects), the demands of the kingdom and its Magna Charta, the heralds of the kingdom, its mysteries, its children, the vigilance and fidelity demanded of whoever awaits its definitive coming (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 8).” Clearly, Pope Paul VI sees “the Kingdom of God” has the central experience of Jesus’ Public Ministry; so central that everything in His ministry is grounded in “the Kingdom.” Similarly, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (paragraphs 541 through 556) examines the manifold depth of “the Kingdom” in Jesus’ Public Ministry. Based on these texts as well as other Catechetical Documents, the Roman Missal and the Sacred Scriptures, I have compiled a working description (note: not a definition) of “the Kingdom of God” that has been helpful to undergraduates, deacon candidates, seminarians and believers. There is certainly much room for discussion in this description and is in no way intended to be exhaustive.

1. ‘The “Kingdom of God” is God our Father intervening definitively in the created order.’ The Kingdom is not necessarily or strictly a specific place, although ‘place’ will be a dimension of the Kingdom as a way of living. The Kingdom is a way of living, an ongoing activity initiated by God the Father in loving concern for beings that have been created in His image and likeness. We have become addicted to sin in such a way that we cannot break free from its grip by our own power. We have come to enjoy sin too much. Sin’s tentacles have woven deeply into our lives that often we cannot see or think clearly. We may from time-to-time have great desires to rid ourselves of sin, desires that are marvelous but desires that do not contain within themselves the power to effect what is desired. More often than not, however, sin has dulled our senses to Divine Love. Sin has numbed us into complacency and entitlement to the point that we even approach the things of God and Church from a selfish point of view with no regard to the life of faith as engagement with the Divine Persons who call me as an individual and as a community to ongoing conversion manifesting charity and service to the Body of Christ. So powerless over sin, so addicted to the false self we have become that an intervention is needed: the “Kingdom of God.”

2. This intervention is a work of power, a power that transforms and surpasses the power of Creation. God the Father’s work is quintessentially a work of restoration, not annihilation. Ask anyone in construction and he or she will tell you that it is often easier to raze a building and start over than to renovate or restore. Renovating an existing structure that does not have a level, plumb or square line in it makes restoration tedious and time consuming, not to mention the ‘surprises’ lurking behind old plaster and lathe. Yet ask any restorer when the project is complete and most likely she or he will tell you that in spite of its challenges and frustrations, it was and continues to be a labor of love. Such is the Kingdom. Neither Creation nor humanity is destroyed. The Creator does not raze the created order and begin anew. Even though humanity makes continuous choices reinforcing the addiction to sin, the Father – with eyes of loves – gazes upon each human person in such a way that each of us are declared “precious.” So precious are we in the sight of God the Father, that none of us are disposable, expendable or useless. Each of us has a particular vocation in the Father’s plan of salvation and our very being is so precious to the Father that the loving, transforming power of His Kingdom calls us from the addiction to our false selves to our true selves as icons of the Father’s love.

3. This transforming power becomes a way of living, hence not a specific ‘place’ that one can absolutely pinpoint. You cannot use Google Maps or a GPS device to find the Kingdom. The Kingdom is God the Father’s way of living. It is a way of living that is the Son, Jesus. He lives each moment of His life attentive to His Father’s word and will. Spending nights in communion with His Father, Jesus teaches with His life that Kingdom living is living joined, connected, related – whatever words you wish to use – to God the Father. As a way of living, the Kingdom is a radical embrace of the First Commandment: no one nor no thing nor anything we deem important comes before the Father or interferes with our relationship with Him. Kingdom living is life that provides the essentials to a sister or brother in need (Matthew 25) and celebrates, praise and thanks the Father for all that He is doing in life (cf. Luke 1, the Magnificat). It is in this sense that one can speak of the Kingdom as ‘a place.’ Wherever one is when living as the Father commands, there is the Kingdom.

4. The Kingdom, as a way of living, has been prepared by the prophets of Old. Many of the prophets called Israel to authentic worship, a message that is still quite valid despite present, misguided and weak arguments that attempt – erroneously – at a division between religion and spirituality. For the prophets, the spiritual relationship formed by the covenant necessarily bound one (religion) freely to observe and practice a continuous, ongoing change-of-heart. The prophets knew that the ‘energy’ required to live justly as a covenant person did not come from within a person by himself or herself. Such living depended upon the mercy of God celebrated and experienced in authentic worship. Such worship then propelled one to be an instrument of charitable service in the world acting, not on one’s own initiative and power, in the name of God.

5. The Kingdom, as a way of living, is now definitely revealed and embodied in Jesus. Here, all ambiguity concerning the Kingdom is erased. The Kingdom is essentially a Person, the Person Jesus: “only He can lead us to the love of the Father in the Spirit and make us share in the life of the Holy Trinity (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 426).” The Incarnation makes the Kingdom a reality in the created order to effect the Father’s loving transformation of everything, most especially the human heart. Responding and living the love revealed to us in Christ Jesus is the essential work and live of the “Kingdom of God.”

Is there more to be said about the Kingdom? Certainly – but more importantly the Kingdom is not intended for study but for living. While some of these reflections may give us some insight, such insight is always directed to worshipping God the Father and serving one another in the name of Jesus Christ with the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit.

As Jesus’ teaching on prayer is proclaimed today at Mass, consider ...

• I have thought that the “Kingdom of God” is ...
• What does it mean to “seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness”?
• In view of the “Kingdom of God,” I am thankful for ...?

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

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A WORD FROM TODAY’S MASS Ordinary Time 11: Friday

In ‘light’ of Jesus’ wisdom teaching concerning the eye as the lamp of one’s body, He directs that the eye must be “sound.” The New American Bible translates the Greek word ἁπλοῦς (haplous) as “sound” whereas other English translations render the adjective “healthy” or “clear.” When viewed in the context of the remaining verses of this section, “sound,” “healthy” and “clear” are appropriate translations. No matter the particular word used to translate ἁπλοῦς, one might ask what makes an eye sound, healthy or clear?

In the culture of Greek antiquity, ἁπλοῦς meant “single” not just in terms of quantity, but also ‘single as free from any contamination, guile or distraction.’ ἁπλοῦς also conveyed a sense of “simple” or “plain” that enabled one to view or apprehend truth. A reality that was considered “simple” or “plain” in antiquity was free from complications or embellishments that clouded or distorted reality, regardless of whether or not the intention was to deceive. In time, ἁπλοῦς acquired addition meanings such as “sincere” or “genuine.”

Jesus directs that His disciples’ eyes are ἁπλοῦς – “single” in the Object they behold, namely, Himself. Eyes riveted on Jesus, especially Jesus crucified, are eyes that behold in wonder the simple awe of His sacrificial love for all people. Eyes that comprehend the depth of self-emptying love bathes the body and mind in healing, forgiving mercy that ignites a desire to respond with a life lived in harmony with the One Who is Truth.

As Jesus’ teaching on being ἁπλοῦς is proclaimed today at Mass, consider …

• Praying Psalm 22 at some point today before an image of Jesus crucified.
• Examining who and what I look at ... are these viewings reflective of being a disciple of Jesus?
• Do I see Jesus in the poor and suffering?

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

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A WORD FROM TODAY’S MASS Ordinary Time 11: Thursday

The Lord’s Prayer is the baptismal prayer of Jesus’ disciples. How often have we prayed this Gift individually, communally and ritually? How much ink has been used through the centuries to pen commentaries on the Lord’s Prayer? (Do spend a few moments pondering the section from the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Lord’s Prayer.) Saints and sinners have pondered the sacred words of this prayer to experience our Lord’s comforting presence and peace. Many a catechumen longed to pray these words once the life-giving waters of Baptism poured the new life of Divine adoption into her or his heart.

Centuries ago, Tertullian remarked that the Lord’s Prayer is a summary of the entire Gospel. Consequently, each of must frequent the Lord’s Prayer not only with a prayerful voice but with a reflective heart challenging me to ‘daily’ conversion. Each declaration of the Prayer (for example “Our Father”) and each petition of the Prayer (for example, “Give us this day our daily bread”) are points for examining our lives in the light of our Father’s mercy as disciples of His Son, Jesus. Saint Teresa of Avila, a Doctor of the Church, often used the Lord’s Prayer to help the sisters in her community lead a more devout Christian life.

Long before Saint Teresa, Origen of Alexandria penned a treatise On Prayer and drew the majority of his insights from the Lord’s Prayer. Among the many dimensions of this Prayer that stirred him to reflect on the Person Jesus, Origen was captivated by the petition for “daily bread.” ἐπιούσιος (epiousios), the Greek word translated here as daily, appears only once in the entire New Testament and expresses necessities for living physically AND spiritually.

As Jesus’ teaching on prayer is proclaimed today at Mass, consider ...

• When I pray the Lord’s Prayer, how reverent and attentive am I to the Sacred Words?
• What (or WHO) is needed super-essentially for living life?
• What life changes am I being called to make in view of the Lord’s Prayer?

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

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MEMORIAL Saint Anthony of Padua

“Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles.” (Matthew 5:41.)

In commenting on these verses from today’s First Reading, Saint John Chrysostom writes:

“Do you grasp the excellence of a Christian disposition? After you give your coat and your cloak, even if your enemy should wish to subject your naked body to hardships and labors, not even then, Jesus says, must you forbid him. For he would have us possess all things in common, both our bodies and our goods, as with them that are in need, so with them that insult us. For the latter response comes from a courageous spirit, the former from mercy. Because of this, Jesus said, “If any one shall compel you to go one mile, go with him two.” Again he leads you to higher ground and commands you to manifest the same type of aspiration. For if the lesser things he spoke of at the beginning receive such great blessings, consider what sort of reward awaits those who duly perform these and what they become even before we hear of receiving rewards. You are winning full freedom from unworthy passions in a human and passible body.” (The Gospel of Matthew: Homily, 18.)

Collect

Almighty ever-living God,
who gave Saint Anthony of Padua
to your people
as an outstanding preacher
and an intercessor in their need,
grant that, with his assistance,
as we follow the teachings
of the Christian life,
we may know your help in every trial.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the
unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

 

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ORDINARY TIME — The Lord’s Day — Week 11: Sunday Pondering Jesus’ victorious Word

εὐαγγελίζω (euaggelizo)
“to announce the Good News of victory in battle”

“Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon,
“Do you see this woman?
When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet,
but she has bathed them with her tears
and wiped them with her hair.
You did not give me a kiss,
but she has not ceased kissing my feet since the time I entered.
You did not anoint my head with oil,
but she anointed my feet with ointment.
So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven
because she has shown great love.
But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”
He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
The others at table said to themselves,
“Who is this who even forgives sins?”
But he said to the woman,
“Your faith (ἡ πίστις σου, he pistis sou)
has saved (σέσωκέν, sesoken) you;
go in peace (εἰς εἰρήνην eis eirenen) (Luke 7:44-50).

”

(Luke 7:44-50.)

θεωρέω (theoreo)
(“to perceive, discover, ponder a deeper meaning”)

One might contend that Jesus’ declaration to the woman: “Your faith has saved you; go in peace” summarizes the words and deeds of His Public Ministry. Jesus proclaims and does the work of His Father’s Kingdom in such a way that the listener is offered a connection with Jesus that heals the brokenness of humanity and fills life with the creative love of the Father’s peace. All of this is grounded in and sparked by “faith (πίστις, pistis).”

For many, ‘faith’ is a vague dimension of living with Jesus. On one hand, many say that ‘faith’ has something to do with mystery and not being able to understand various elements of Christian teaching. On the other hand, some might echo a catechism definition: “Faith is first of all a personal adherence of man to God. At the same time, and inseparably, it is a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed. As personal adherence to God and assent to his truth, Christian faith differs from our faith in any human person. It is right and just to entrust oneself wholly to God and to believe absolutely what he says. It would be futile and false to place such faith in a creature (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 150).” Yet when faced with ‘unpacking’ the definition, a good number remain clueless.

Living in a Jewish milieu of the first century, Jesus’ followers would certainly have known the necessity of faith in terms of Covenant living. אָמַן (aman) is one of the rich Hebrew words that translate into English as faith. Grounded in the experience of parenthood, אָמַן (aman) expresses ‘a connection between persons, originally a parent and child, that provides for all the essentials of life (especially food) so that one may be ‘built up’ and grow strong while connected to the other.’ In this vein, אָמַן (aman) was also used to express the relationship between a mother and her nursing child. In both cases, the ‘provider’ knows what s/he must do for the other: give the necessities for life to another. The ‘recipient’ comes to know the ‘provider’ as the source of life and trusts that s/he will give all that is vital for living and growing. For the Israelites, this tender imagery expressed the relationship between God and themselves.

The connection or relationship had another dimension: bonding or adherence. For the one who receives life’s necessities from ‘the provider,’ explicit in that experience is that one receives from no one else. Dependent as one is on the provider, that dependency forms exclusivity. One does not take from the provider while looking around at the same time for a ‘better’ or ‘tastier offer.’ No matter how good something looks, no matter how pleasing something sounds, אָמַן (aman) fosters the life connection to one and only one. This is the lesson of the Garden. So long as humanity listened to the Creator and only the Creator, life flourished. When humanity opened the door to dialogue with another, the fundamental relationship of life was dealt a severe blow to human nature.

It is no wonder then that Jesus calls forth אָמַן (aman) in the people He meets and continues to meet. All of humanity’s ills then and now are rooted in a divided existence that seeks a false autonomy that makes idols of everything thus enslaving our lives in and to sin. אָמַן (aman) – the connection of life to and with Jesus offers true freedom and health of body, mind and soul that each may live in peace.”

ORDINARY TIME Week 11: Sunday

“When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.” ...” (Luke 7:39.)

Saint Ephrem the Syrian offers the following insight on these verses from today’s Gospel proclamation:

“Our Lord worked wonders with common things so that we would know the things those who scorn wonders are deprived of knowing. If such healing as this was snatched from his hem in secret, he was most certainly capable of the healing that his word worked in public. If impure lips became holy by kissing his feet, how much holier would pure lips become by kissing his mouth? With her kisses, the sinful woman received the favor of blessed feet that had worked to bring her the forgiveness of sins. She was graciously comforting with oil the feet of her Physician, who had graciously brought the treasury of healing to her suffering. The One who fills the hungry was not invited because of his stomach. The One who justifies sinners invited himself because of the sinful woman’s repentance.” (Homily on Our Lord, 13-19.)

Collect

O God,
strength of those who hope in you,
graciously hear our pleas,
and, since without You
mortal frailty can do nothing,
grant us always the help of Your grace,
that in following Your commands
we may please You by our resolve and our deeds.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen

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ORDINARY TIME Week 10: Sunday

“Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.” Taking him from her lap, he carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed ...” (1 Kings 17:19.)

Saint Ephrem the Syrian offers the following insight on these verses from today’s Gospel proclamation:

“He stretched himself on the child three times and cried out to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.’” These words contain many symbols. [The Scripture] shows us immediately that through the invocation of the three names a human being will come back to life. If he kills the ancient Adam with the help of the Messiah in the holy baptism. The divine Paul says, “If we have died with the Messiah, we believe that we will also live with him.” And what follows agrees precisely with this meaning: “He stretched himself on the child,” because in this life, which he will give us after we are dead to that ancient Adam, “he will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory.” And here you can also see a symbol of the triple descent of the Son of God to the dead: the first symbol consists here in the fact that he was made flesh and included his infinite nature into the womb of the Virgin; the second, that he stretched his body on the wood and was crucified; the third, that whoever accepts death lies in the grave and goes down to Sheol, so that, in order to vivify humankind, God consented to stretch his majesty on our smallness. “O ineffable miracle,” which Isaiah calls “wonder,” “his Lord has come down to the man and has assumed the likeness of a slave.” (On the First Book of Kings, 17.)

Collect

O God, from Whom all good things come,
grant that we, who call on You in our need,
may at Your prompting discern what is right,
and by Your guidance do it.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen