A Good Offense and a Good Defense in the Spiritual Battle

Our homilist today commented on today's gospel statement (Mt.11:11) that "the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force."  He said that we need a good offense and a good defense to enter into effective combat.

The defense, he said is penance, the offense, mortification.  These are the two basic elements in conversion.  Penance involves saying "I'm sorry," asking for forgiveness, and, most importantly, cleaning up the mess, the collateral damage that sin causes.  Mortification entails preparing oneself not to sin again.  Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are the main components of mortification.  By these means we keep the end (our death and judgment) in mind, and access the strength of grace against our proclivity to sin again.

So there is a force of good that we can invoke against the violence of the dark powers directed against the kingdom: Penance and Mortification. Let's use it!

Advent

To wait for... to hope for ... to anticipate. Not to act, for it is not our doing, this thing we await.  Patience! Quiet! Rest your hands. Sit and in silence ... watch and listen.

Thank You

Why is it, close to my birthday, I want to give You a present, not receive one, since I have already received from You what I can only praise You for giving me, your presence on this day and on every day that I live? And so I do give you my present, myself, in thanks to You, in praise of You, who gave me myself.

Magnus es, Domine, et laudabilis valde

So begins the Confessions of St. Augustine.  According to Jean Luc Marion, the archetypical creaturely action is praise, praise of our creator.  Man, a being who is "tilted" toward God, doesn't regain stature until he rests (leans) against God. Let us praise Him.

O God beyond all praising,
we worship you today
and sing the love amazing
that songs cannot repay;
for we can only wonder
at every gift you send,
at blessings without number
and mercies without end:

We lift our hearts before you
and wait upon your word,
we honor and adore you,
our great and mighty Lord.

(Instrumental)

Then hear, O gracious Savior,
accept the love we bring,
that we who know your favor
may serve you as our king;
and whether our tomorrows
be filled with good or ill,
we’ll triumph through our sorrows
and rise to bless you still:

We lift our hearts before you
and wait upon your word,
we honor and adore you,
our great and mighty Lord.

Does Anything Ever Change?

After reading the following passage from Isaiah I asked myself, "How can I possible comply with the the requirement ' not to hear of bloodshed' or 'not to look on evil'?" 

Isaiah 33:15-16

Whoever walks righteously and speaks honestly,

Who spurns what is gained by 0ppression,

Who waves off contact with a bribe,

Who stops his ears so as not to hear of bloodshed,

Who closes his eyes so as not to look on evil,

That one shall dwell on the heights …

Even if we can be righteous, spurn ill-gotten gains and refuse bribes, who among us can be free of the sound of bloodshed and the visions of evil around us?

Even Jeremiah could not follow Isaiah’s prescription to “dwell on the heights”.

Today’s Canticle from morning prayer, 

Jeremiah 14:17-21

Speak to them this word:

Let my eyes stream with tears night and day, without rest,

Over the great destruction which overwhelms the virgin daughter of my people over her incurable wound.

If I walk out into the field, look! those slain by the sword;

If I enter the city, look! victims of famine.

Both prophet and priest ply their trade in a land they do not know.

Have you really cast Judah off?

Is Zion loathsome to you?

Why have you struck us a blow that cannot be healed?

We wait for peace, to no avail;

For a time of healing,

But terror comes instead.

 But he does not leave us without a remedy for our woes.

He advises admission of our offenses ---

We recognize our wickedness, LORD, the guilt of our ancestors:

we have sinned against you.

and calls on God for mercy ---

Do not reject us, for your name’s sake,

Do not disgrace your glorious throne.

Remember! Do not break your covenant with us.

and recognizes the greatness of the Lord ---

Among the idols of the nations are there any that give rain?

Or can the mere heavens send showers?

Is it not you, LORD, our God, to whom we look? 

You alone do all these things.

GSP - Gross Spiritual Product

Celebration of Discipline is a book written by Richard J. Foster. Since it was recommended to me I have come to learn that it is quite a popular text on Christian spirituality. This is the second book that I've read by this author. Some of the sources for his work were somewhat new to me. One of those sources is a man named D. Elton Trueblood. Like Richard Foster, Elton Trueblood was a Quaker and a theologian.

Following is a quotation from the introduction to Celebration of Discipline written by Elton Trueblood. It speaks to our current cultural condition in which happiness and prosperity are measured by the size of your paycheck and the amount of goods that you consume.

D. Elton Trueblood

‘A genuine cultural Revolution would ensue if considerable numbers were to obey the trenchant command, “De-accumulate.”

The greatest problems of our time are not technological, for these we handle fairly well. They are not even political or economic, because the difficulties in these areas, glaring as they may be, are largely derivative. The greatest problems are moral and spiritual, and unless we can make some progress in these realms, we may not even survive. This is how advanced cultures have declined in the past.'

The Meaning of An Acorn

We spend most of our childhood anticipating, desiring and certain of the ultimate value of growing up. We don’t want to be kids. Despite this all consuming desire to be an adult, I’m not certain I ever got there.

As evidence of this theory, after my wife and I were married and before we had children, I felt compelled to construct a kite. I bought the lumber and the plastic and constructed an eight foot high kite. I flew it and if I was not such a large guy it would have lifted me off the ground.

Fast forward to today. This spring I planted some acorns. I gathered them last fall and kept them in a plastic bag in the refrigerator all winter. I planted them in the spring. When the first acorn sprouted a sapling I was elated.

I began this endeavor so that I could give each of my grandkids an oak tree to plant and in twenty or thirty years they could look at that tree and recollect that their gramps had given it to them. This was my shot at immortality or at least an extended remembrance of my presence in the life of my grandkids.

I knew nothing of the way an oak tree grew. Leaves emerged from the sprout. Soon after, from the center of the stem, a new set of leaves was born, fresh, new unblemished filled with the splendor of newness.

The thing is - these little child trees were difficult to give away.  I grew seven or eight so it was not too difficult. I would still have three or four for myself. Yet, I began to wonder why they intrigued me so. I would visit my trees frequently and experienced a good deal of satisfaction from seeing the extension of the tree trunk, small and thin as it was, coming out of the center of the stem, with new, unblemished leaves, light green to a reddish hue, each fresh - a reminder of the excitement of new life.

On reflection it occurred to me that my fascination with these saplings had a more transcendent significance. The new emergence of another layer of growth and new leafs reminded me of our spiritual growth. Each effort at being a little Christ that we make is the emergence of new growth. Awareness of our weaknesses and self concerns is a new growth in the Spirit. It is the emergence of a life in Christ that produces an unblemished, fresh and new growth. Nature mimics the Spirit. Praise God!