The Heart of the Matter

Seeing the Hound of Heaven in Romans: Chapters 9, 10 and 11

In preparation for this coming Sunday's homily, I am mulling over the three chapters in Romans where Paul shares his anguish over his kinsmen’s not accepting Jesus as the Messiah.  I see a clear link with our anguish over our own relatives who are not abiding by our Catholic faith.  The fundamental issue is the same: the demand of the Gospel is faith, but the preference of Paul’s kinsmen (and of fallen away Catholics) is a different preference:  both groups attempt to establish their own righteousness rather than submit to the righteousness God wants from us: that is, faith.

   

Oh, they may even have zeal for God, but their zeal is not discerning.  They want to live not by faith, but they want to live as if a good life could be accomplished by doing good.  The Lord makes very clear, however, that "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."  Yet, how many of the baptized do not practice the faith.  Have they not heard the faith proclaimed and taught?  They have; but not everyone has lived according to what they heard.

Perhaps they did not understand what they were taught?  It has more to do with a willfulness to be disobedient to the Word of God than not understanding.  Does that mean that God rejects them for their disobedience?  Of course not!  God does not reject either the Jewish people or the baptized people!  And even though it may feel like everyone has departed from the life of faith, it is not so.  Look at us!  Just as in the Old Testament, so in the New Testament: a remnant will be faithful.  You and I are part of today’s remnant. 

  

The rest, however, have become hardened in their hearts, or as Scripture puts it: "God gave them a spirit of deep sleep, eyes that should not see and ears that should not hear.” 

   

Can we, therefore, say something radical: that their loss of faith is the work of God?

Well, when we choose against God and God’s ways we begin a series of stumbles that have us fall again and again into a state of further alienation from God and the Church.  Such as: I commit some deed I know is wrong, and then I find it all the more enticing, so I justify my decision and choose this sin rather than repent of it.  How is this the work of God? God arranged our souls so that a choice against Him begets other choices against Him, until it gets bad enough so that we repent.  The huge problem with self-justification is they we never get to repent because we have chosen to believe that bad is good.  And that’s how we begin to abide in a state of enmity with God.  It is the work of God whenever a soul recognizes that this state of enmity with God is no longer wanted.

   

Has God, therefore, rejected those who have chosen to be His enemies?  No!  But they do abide in a state of disobedience to God.  That makes them enemies of God.  There is a big HOWEVER here.  The “However” is this: we are all enemies of God every time we choose sin against the ways of the Lord.  Even the best of us can at times be an enemy of God.  That’s why it’s so necessary to go the confession every now and then.  But to choose sin and justify it against the clear teaching of the Church does indeed put us in an abiding state of enmity with God.  In such a case we are seeking self-justification, not the justification that comes from recognizing oneself as a sinner in need of God’s saving grace.  Until we come to know that we need God, desperately need Him, we abide in a state of enmity with God – even if we do lots of wonderful things.

       

We have the face the music that God has so set things up that there is a state of alienation (i.e. enmity) for those who fall away but a kindness for those who abide in faith – and not any faith, but the faith He called us to in Baptism.  

         

So, in respect to the gospel, the fallen away are enemies of God; but in respect to having been chosen as sons and daughters of God, they are beloved because of the faithful witness of their ancestors and those who went before them, the saints.  

   

“For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.”  This is the great message of hope and it means that God will not stop seeking the lost sheep.  He is the Hound of Heaven chasing after us until we finally realized how loved we are.  That is our hope; that is the hope of all who have been baptized; and this is the hope we can have for our fallen away brothers and sisters.

The Man Born Blind

"Was it this man's fault, or was it his parents' fault, that he was born blind?"  That's the question the apostles asked Jesus when they encountered the man born blind.  In biblical days it was common to lay blame on someone when bad things happened.  It had to be somebody's fault.  We still like to lay blame on sick people for many of their illnesses.  "They didn't exercise enough."  "They didn't eat the right things."  "They didn't stop smoking," and so on.  We're not too far away from the pre-Jesus mindset of wanting to assign blame for whatever goes wrong in our lives.

But how does Jesus answer the apostles' question?  "It wasn't his fault, or his parents, that this man was born blind.  It was to show forth the glory of God."  So, instead of assigning blame for whatever goes wrong in life, we might do better to look for the glory of God in whatever goes badly. 

What exactly, then, is "glory"?  "Glory" is "getting one's way," like a football team winning the Super Bowl: they get their way; they win!  So, if we are to give God glory even when terrible things happen, then we are saying to ourselves and to God: "Lord, in the way I handle this, You will get Your glory; You will get Your way.  So, Lord, keep me free from bitterness, free from sitting on a pity pot, free from resentment, from blaming anyone.  Set me free from anything that would diminish Your getting Your way in the manner I contend with what I am faced with.  This will be how my difficult circumstances will show forth Your glory."

To help us get ready spiritually for Sunday

I came across this wonderful meditative approach to helping us prepare for the Sunday liturgy. It's a website produced by the Carmelites, one of whose saints was the Little Flower, whose picture is here.  This website provides a study and prayer approach to the upcoming Sunday's Gospel.  You can reach this Carmelite website by clicking here.  Also, I've added an automatic link in the column just to the right of this posting, labeled as, "Preparing for Sunday: Carmelite Meditations for Sunday."

Think what Sunday Mass could be like if the whole congregation prepared for Sunday by reading the Scriptures ahead of time!  And think further what we could be like as the Body of Christ if we prayed about the Scriptures before we come to Mass! 

My brother's good idea

My brother had a good idea the other day.  He said that there should be a way to learn something more about the Sunday Scriptures because they are so rich and only so much can be covered in a homily.  So, I thought, this space would be a good place to do some preparation for the coming Sunday Mass.  Therefore, for this coming Sunday let's look at the first reading, from Isaiah, Chapter 1, verses 1 to 10.

Hundreds of years before Christ, Isaiah was a political figure, kind of like a Secretary of State, in Judah whose capital was Jerusalem.  He was also a prophet who was given by God a prophecy about the coming "day" when the Messiah (i.e. the Anointed One, the Christ) would establish the Kingdom of God in Jerusalem.  "That day" was a phrase used by many of the prophets about the coming Kingdom.  In this reading the coming Messiah is depicted as a shoot from the stump of Jesse.  Jesse was the father of King David, so the coming Messiah would be of the house and lineage of King David, and the Messiah would be called the Son of David. 

When "that day" comes the Messiah will usher in the era of justice for the poor and peace for all of creation.  For justice and peace to happen, God will bestow the gifts of the Spirit upon the Messiah.  The Church has seen this list of gifts as 6 of the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit that we are given when we are anointed in Confirmation. 

Application: we, because of our union with Jesus in our Baptism, and because of the call given us in Confirmation, are the ones through whom He will bring about the era of justice for the poor and peace for the world. Some calling!