Category Archives: they way
Are You Ready for this? Do you really want this revival/renewal?
Devotional Thought for our seemingly broken days:
5 A man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years. 6 Jesus saw him lying there, and he knew that the man had been sick for such a long time; so he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” 7 The sick man answered, “Sir, I don’t have anyone here to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am trying to get in, somebody else gets there first.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your mat, and walk.” 9 Immediately the man got well; he picked up his mat and started walking. The day this happened was a Sabbath, John 5:5-9 (TEV)
211 Lazarus rose because he heard the voice of God and immediately wanted to get out of the situation he was in. If he hadn’t wanted to move, he would just have died again. A sincere resolution: to have faith in God always; to hope in God always; to love God always… he never abandons us, even if we are rotting away as Lazarus was.
XI. CONFESSION
1 It is taught among us that private absolution should be retained and not allowed to fall into disuse. However, in confession it is not necessary to enumerate all trespasses and sins,2 for this is impossible. Ps. 19:12, “Who can discern his errors?”
XIII. THE USE OF THE SACRAMENTS
1 It is taught among us that the sacraments were instituted not only to be signs by which people might be identified outwardly as Christians, but that they are signs and testimonies of God’s will toward us for the purpose of awakening and strengthening our faith. 2 For this reason they require faith, and they are rightly used when they are received in faith and for the purpose of strengthening faith.
I often hear people saying they miss the way church used to be. They may indicate the music or the preaching. Mostly what they long to see are the full sanctuaries on Sunday morning, and church campuses that were busy every day and night of the week. In dact, for a couple decades we can see the phenomena of people moving from one church to another, looking for the one that is coming alive, that seems to have a new life about them.
We want revival, much like the man who was at the pool wanted to be made well, much like Lazarus, to his surprise, found himself alive at the command of Jesus. ( I love St Josemaria’s idea that he could have decided to stay there, as I think it is descriptive of many of us!)
But are we ready for it? Do we really desire it?
For what it will take is the sureness of our absolution. Revival and renewal, whether individual or parish wife, requires something. The realization that every one of our sins are forgiven! Revival, being brought to life in Christ means we know and depend on the promises that nothing, including that sin, can separate us from the love of God.
What an incredible thing these sacraments are, these sacred times are, when we realize that God is at work as He desires to be, awakening and strengthening our faith, our dependence on Him.
For that is what having a strong faith means, we depend on God more, not less. We realize His presence in our lives more, not less. We let Him guide our lives, much like a leaf caught up in a stream…drifts and goes where the current takes it.
This kind of reliance on God’s mercy and love, these things we call grace, is at the heart of every revival, every renewal in the history of the church. It is the hope that underlies the Lutheran Reformation, and the Catholic councils we know as Vatican I and Vatican II. This is Escriva’s “The Way” and what Luther preaches so clearly in his catechesis.
So Jesus says to His church today and to you and I,
“Do you want to be healed?”
“Do you want to be forgiven of your sin?”
“Do you want to be renewed, and revived”
It starts with trusting in God enough to pray, “Lord have mercy on me, a sinner!”
Holy Father, Lord Jesus, and Blessed Holy Spirit, in your mercy, help us to say yes, letting you in to cleanse us of all sin and unrighteousness, helping us not to fear coming clean as much as we fear to remain trapped in our sin, which drives us apart from you. We pray this in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit! AMEN!
Escriva, Josemaria. The Forge (Kindle Locations 922-926). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Tappert, Theodore G., ed. The Book of Concord the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press, 1959. Print.
Another Urgent Task for the Church for Today!
Devotional Thought of the Day
2 I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche* to come to a mutual understanding in the Lord. 3 Yes, and I ask you also, my true yokemate,* to help them, for they have struggled at my side in promoting the gospel, along with Clement and my other co-workers, whose names are in the book of life. NABRE Phil. 4:2-3
174 Don’t say, “That person bothers me.” Think: “That person sanctifies me.”
Yesterday I wrote about the church being urged to work for unity at every level. That scripture urged us to do so, even as we find ourselves in opposition to others. That unity is found int he presence of God, in a sacramental (some would say incarnational) presence of God.
In my devotional reading today, Paul is again urging unity, but this time we aren’t the one’s who are divided – we are urged, as the church, to help bring two people back together, to help them reconcile and know the unity that can only be found in Christ.
Paul urges us to help them, and while we probably don’t have these names in our congregations and parishes, we have people that stand apart, that divided over something. People that we might classify as good people, people that work hard in the church, that minister to those hurting, that feed those who are hungry, that care and teach people about God’s love.
Let’s face it, we all have stubborn streaks, we all can be more than a bit irritable and irritating. We can all struggle and in those struggles, get a bit defensive, and bit anxious, a bit territorial. We all struggle with sin, and sin can divide people, even as it separates us from God.
Our sin, and the unrighteousness of the sins committed against us need to drive us to the altar, to the cross where the blood of Jesus cleanses us. That is where the healing between two who find themselves divided and antagonistic can happen. For there, face to face with sin being forgiven, with mercy being extended, we see what happens.
It is in the presence of God that we find that mutual understanding in the Lord. It is where love overwhelms us and where healing begins, as God heals us, as God draws into unity together.
And sometimes – the two parties need the third to remind them of this – that there they are together, that there they are both cleansed, and whatever divided them fades as quickly as their own sin does.
There, at the altar, where we celebrate the New Covenant, there is where they are reconciled. There, they find peace, and the joy of community united in Jesus is restored! AMEN!.
Escriva, Josemaria. The Way (Kindle Location 534). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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Coincidences? Or Do Demons Exist? If So, How Are We Freed From Them?
Devotional Thought of the Day
8 I was left there alone, watching this amazing vision. I had no strength left, and my face was so changed that no one could have recognized me. 9 When I heard his voice, I fell to the ground unconscious and lay there face downward. 10 Then a hand took hold of me and raised me to my hands and knees; I was still trembling. 11 The angel said to me, “Daniel, God loves you. Stand up and listen carefully to what I am going to say. I have been sent to you.” When he had said this, I stood up, still trembling. 12 Then he said, “Daniel, don’t be afraid. God has heard your prayers ever since the first day you decided to humble yourself in order to gain understanding. I have come in answer to your prayer. 13 The angel prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief angels, came to help me, because I had been left there alone in Persia. Daniel 10:8-13 (TEV)
931 Saint Ignatius, with his military genius, gives us a picture of the devil calling up innumerable demons and scattering them through nations, states, cities, and villages after a “sermon” in which he exhorts them to fasten their chains and fetters on the world, leaving no one unbound. You’ve told me that you want to be a leader … and what good is a leader in chains? (1)
100 Let me tell you this. Even though you know the Word perfectly and have already mastered everything, still you are daily under the dominion of the devil, who neither day nor night relaxes his effort to steal upon you unawares and to kindle in your heart unbelief and wicked thoughts against all these commandments. Therefore you must continually keep God’s Word in your heart, on your lips, and in your ears. For where the heart stands idle and the Word is not heard, the devil breaks in and does his damage before we realize it.(2)
As I looked at our gospel passage for this Sunday, I realized it touched on something pastors and priests don’t like to talk about.
Demons.
In it, a poor lady comes and asks for Jesus to free her daughter who has a demon. The passage is about God’s love, but it is demonstrated Jesus freeing the woman’s daughter.
He didn’t heal her from a mental illness, this wasn’t a medical or psychological problem. It wasn’t something that could be cured by becoing gluten free, or getting your sugar under control, or taking some supplements.
This was first class spiritual warfare.
Warfare that may be more common than we ever want to admit. More common than we eve want to face.
Heck we have enough trouble with those struggling through physical health issues or mental illness issues, dealing with cancer, dealing with being bereaved. Others whose marriages are challenges, those who are financially strapped, those whose families are damaged by criminal activity, people who are in bondage to alcohol or drugs. . It seems like the challenges to life grow and grow, peole are afficted, in ways that seem to frequent to be simply “coincidences”.
But how do you know which is a spiritual attack, and which is just “life” being a….pain. ( I so wanted to use a different word there!) I mean – there are attacks – really annoyances, just enough to distratct us from God’s presence. There are times of oppression – like the scene in daniel, and then there are the times more serious. The first two we might right off as coincidences, or just life being a pain. But the overwhelmi that darkness is looming, that God may have hidden his face from us, that isn’t just a coincidence. That is what Daniel experienced.
And we learn from his example how to deal with such times.
We pray and pray and then hear the voice of God,
“Daniel, God loves you. Stand up and listen carefully to what I am going to say. I have been sent to you.” and “Daniel, don’t be afraid. God has heard your prayers ever since the first day you decided to humble yourself in order to gain understanding. I have come in answer to your prayer.”
The methodology for dealing with demonic attacks is and always must be to hear the voice of God. We must hear and know and depend on His promises to us. We have to realize that He loves us and nothing can separate us from the love of God. Not illness, not jails, not losing it, not all the trials of life. He loves you – start there, hear it often (hence Luther’s comments about church) Remember your baptism, feast on God’s word, and at His table, hear his words (Not the pastor’s or priest’s) that you are forgiven, that you are His beloeved chidlren.
Hearing this changes everything for Daniel, knowing the presence of God is what is needed, for Satan can’t stand against those words. Even for the exocrcists – those skilled in dealing with demonic, the presence of God is always what makes the difference, always the necessity. The guarantees that we celebrate in the sacraments are that what tells us that there is more than our clining to thoughts and ideas given to us from those who have gone before.
He is clinging to us. He loves us. That is the message we need to know, to depend upon, to trust.
For the Lord will always answer our cry for mercy. AMEN.
Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 2164-2167). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (pp. 378–379). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press. cited fromt he Large Catechism Explanation of the Third Commandment
Imitating Christ Not as Hard as you think
Devotional/Discussion Thought of the Day
34 And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. John 13:34 (TEV)
“All this he does out of his pure, fatherly, and divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness on my part. For all of this I am bound to thank, praise, serve, and obey him. This is most certainly true.[1]
“Thy kingdom come.” What does this mean?
Answer: To be sure, the kingdom of God comes of itself, without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may also come to us.
How is this done?
Answer: When the heavenly Father gives us his Holy Spirit so that by his grace we may believe his holy Word and live a godly life, both here in time and hereafter forever.[2]
824 Have you noticed how human love consists of little things? Well, divine love also consists of little things. (3)
Over the course of history, theologians have wasted a lot of time on the arguments about whether the scripture is applicable today. Some say the Old Testament law is no longer binding. Some say you only preach the law to those who are not believers. Others say that a lack of holiness, a lack of strict obedience to scripture (or at least certain parts of it) shows a lack of faith, and may result in the same judgment as an unbeliever.
What a colossal waste of time!
What a shameful waste of time and effort from those who are supposed to be our teachers, those who are to shepherd us.
The above quotes in green are from Luther’s small catechism. They were written to help a dad teach his children about God, about the precious relationship we have with them. They describe a relationship where God’s love and mercy transform us into His children. As His children, we respond to that love instinctually, we do what St Josemaria calls the “little things”. We think about Him (and His people) we take on the mundane, we sacrifice, all without thinking about it, because God loves us, and we adore Him.
This is the Godly life Luther mentions, caused by the presence of the Holy Spirit. We lose our desire to please ourselves, and we find pleasure in the presence of God and His people. We find ourselves devoted to the one who is devoted to us.
This isn’t Ph.D. level theology. It is a life of faith….
it is the response to crying out, “have mercy…” and realize He has….
Love Him, love those He loves…..you don’t need a Ph.D. for that… just the ability to do the little things.
AMEN
[1] Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 345). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
[2] Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 346). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.
(3) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 1892-1893). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Sharing the Hope You have in Christ Jesus: Doing God’s work
Devotional Thought of the Day
27 “My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” 28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11:27-30 (NLT)
658 If things go well, let’s rejoice, blessing God, who makes them prosper. And if they go wrong? Let’s rejoice, blessing God, who allows us to share the sweetness of his cross.
We are too much like the laborers of the first hour in the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Mt 20:1–16). Once they discovered that they could have earned their day’s pay of one denarius in a much easier way, they could not understand why they had had to labor the whole day. But what a strange attitude it is to find the duties of our Christian life unrewarding just because the denarius of salvation can be gained without them! It would seem that we—like the workers of the first hour—want to be paid not only with our own salvation, but more particularly with others’ lack of salvation. That is at once very human and profoundly un-Christian.Escriva,
A recent response to a blog indicated that I was doing something wrong, by trying to show that sharing one’s faith, doing the work revealing the love and mercy of Christ, was wrong. The writer thought I was unjustly burdening people, by using the law to motivate people.
Except that in a relationship with God, sharing the good news of His mercy, the love He wants everyone to know, isn’t hard, or burdensome. It is if we condemn people for not doing it, but it isn’t if we free them to be able to share the greatest gift they have ever been given.
Like Herod talking to John the Baptist, I like and dislike hearing the words of Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict). They ring very true – why are we jealous of those who find a relationship with God at the last minute? Are we upset that we had to work harder alongside our master?
I’ve often explained it this way. Imagine some billionaire is down at the local bank, handing out million dollar checks to whoever shakes his hand. You get yours, deposit it. What do you do? Do you simply go home, or go to the local BMW dealer? Or do you get out your cell phone and call a few friends? Do you consider it work, do you consider it burdensome to do so? No, you do it because you know people who could use some cash, and you care about them.
It’s the same thing with the good news that God loves you. Yeah – you. He loves you so much to carefully strip away everything that hinders you, all the sin, all the resentment from being sinned against, all the crap in your life. Is that worth more than a million dollars? If we realize it is, then shouldn’t we joyfully share it with those who are hindered and broken by sin?
That is what being yoked to Christ is about in this life. It’s about doing the Father’s will, helping fulfill His desire that all would come to the transformation that is true repentance. Serving others, ministering to their needs, helping them find Jesus, and the hope He gives them in life. Some have the vocation of doing this as shepherds of God’s people. But if they are doing it while they are shepherding, so the church is doing it alongside them. Which is why the burden is easy. We aren’t alone. We bear this with all the church, and with the Lord of Life, the Holy Spirit who indwells and empowers us.
It is bearing our crosses, it is abiding in Christ. When we see people come to know Him, to receive His mercy, His forgiveness, His love, it is an incredibly joy filled experience. When the road gets a little rough, when thins don’t work as we planned, when we are rejected or when we are oppressed, we still are sharing His cross, His yoke, and dwelling in His presence, the joy remains.
It is the only work, the only vocation I know of, where we beg people to join with us, as we rest in peace. His peace.
Enjoy it!
Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 1538-1539). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Ratzinger, J. (1992). Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. (M. F. McCarthy & L. Krauth, Trans., I. Grassl, Ed.) (pp. 217–218). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
A Necessary Ingredient for Faith in Troubled Times…
Devotional Thought of the Day
8 No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 (NLT)
16 Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted! 18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20 (NLT)
581 How humbly and simply the evangelists relate incidents that show up the weak and wavering faith of the Apostles! This is to keep you and me from giving up the hope of some day achieving the strong and unshakeable faith that those same Apostle s had later. (1)
The simplicity and pastoral care with which the Fr. Josemaria Escriva wrote his simple sentences astounds me. I may not agree with everything he writes, but there is so much which resonates with me. Simply put, he often puts the words to what I know and struggle to explain.
This is true today, as I struggle with how the church (myself included) struggles to reflect the love of Christ into a broken and dark world. We get so caught up in our own pain, the sense of betrayal we have felt, our own anxiety and paranoia that we fail to trust God, to have faith in His promises.
The task to have a world, a country, a community that glorifies God seems overwhelming, and even impossible. The world wants what it wants, its version of justice, its version of freedom, its version of love and hope, and we seem surprised that it is at odds with what we know from scripture.
And rather lament over the brokenness of the world, we lament over the loss of power and the loss of our dreams. As we do, or faith wavers, we doubt, we give way to our feelings.
To this loss, the words in blue above speak strongly. We aren’t alone when we struggle; the apostles struggled just as much as we do. They walked for 40 days with the Lord Jesus, after he rose from the dead, after being beaten, crucified and a spear strike into his heart and lungs. And in Matthew’s gospel, it tells us, their faith wavered, they doubted, they knew anxiety and fear. (What else did they need – they had Jesus, risen from the dead!)
That they did, that God continued to work through them, that they would go on to grow in their trust of God is amazing. 10 of 11 of the men there would die, brutally, because they took the task Jesus commissioned them for very seriously. They made disciples, they baptized people and taught them to treasure what God had given them in Christ Jesus.
But first they doubted, first their faith wavered, and Jesus even rebuked them a time or two… for not trusting Him, for not turning to God.
That is where humility comes in, of knowing we are children of God, people who are his, and are welcome to depend on Him. Even when we don’t understand the world any more than it understands us. It is at that point where we need to be humble, to be meek, to find our confidence, not in our strength, not in our ability to argue, not in our witty meme’s or comebacks. We need to be humble, to walk with God, to seek out the justice of the cross. To know the love of God, shown in Jesus bearing the wounds that would bring healing to all the broken people, all the broken relationships in the world. Including us.
As we find that healing in Christ Jesus, we can help others heal.
That requires trusting God… and being humble enough to admit our need, our dependence on Him.
Lord Have mercy on us!
1. Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 1387-1389). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
