*****
“What should we do?”
The crowds asked John the Baptizer: "What should we do?" Such a simple question. Such a challenging question. Such a potentially life-changing question.
You and I live in a world in which the coming of Christ has already occurred. However, this world in which we live is also a place in which the possibilities of that promise have yet to be fulfilled.
What should we do? Try to fulfill it by sheer force of human will? Should we just shrug our shoulders and hope for the best?
The answer for us is the answer that John offered to the crowd two thousand years ago: “Be generous, do your job justly and don't exact from others more than they should - or can - give.” In short, following the Will of God, following the example of Jesus, cooperating with the promptings of the Spirit is not about doing more, doing extra. It is not about embracing a different vocation. It is not about being someone other than who you already are. Simply - and yet, powerfully - it is about doing more with the life that you are already living and doing more with who you are in ways that give life, justice and peace to others.
Francis de Sales passionately believed this teaching! He cautions against jumping to the conclusion that following Jesus, walking with Jesus and being Jesus for others requires that we do extra. Francis says clearly: "Be who you are. Be that well."
We all want a world that more perfectly reflects the peace, the hope, the reconciliation, the justice and righteousness of the Kingdom of God. We all want a world that more clearly embodies the fulfillment of the promise given to us in Jesus. We all want a taste here and now of the banquet that awaits us forever in heaven.
What should we do? Be generous. Do our jobs, live our lives justly. Do not take or expect from others more than they should - or cannot - give.
Be who you are. Be that well. Be who, what, why and how God creates, redeems and inspires you to be: joy to the world, joy to yourself and joy to others.
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“Your ways, O LORD, make known to me; teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me…”
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis wrote:
“When commanded to go to Rages, young Tobias said to his father, ‘I do not know the way,’ to which his father replied, ‘Go, then, and find some man to lead you.’ I say the same thing to you. Do you seriously wish to travel the road to devotion? If so, look for a good person to guide and lead you. This is the most important of all words of advice. As the devout Teresa of Avila says, ‘Although you seek God’s will, you will never find it with as much certainty as on the path of that humble obedience so highly praised and practiced by all devout writers.’ The advice of the great St. Louis gave to his son was this: ‘Choose as your guide an able and experienced person who can safely teach you the things that you must do.’”
Francis de Sales strongly believed that we should not attempt to “go it alone” in our efforts to imitate Christ, to practice devotion or to “Live Jesus.” Whether in the form of a confessor, a spiritual director, a personal coach, a friend or a combination of these, we should seek out companions to accompany us along the road of life and avoid the temptation to be lone wolves. He continued:
“‘A faithful friend,’ Holy Scripture says, ‘is a strong defense, and those who find friends have found treasure. A faithful friend is the medicine of life and immortality, and those who fear the Lord find one.’ For this reason, we must more than anything else have faithful friend who by advice and counsel guides our actions and thus protects us from the snares and deceits of the wicked one. For us, such a person will be a treasure of wisdom in affliction, sorrow and failure. Such a person will serve as medicine to ease and comfort our hearts when afflicted by spiritual sickness. Such a person will guard us from evil and make our good even better.” (IDL, Part I, Chapter 4, pp. 45 – 46)
God provides us with many means of support in our attempts to walk in God’s path.
• How often do we pause and thank our friends for helping us to be the people that God calls us be?
• How often to we thank our friends for keeping us on the straight and narrow?
• How often do we thank our friends for picking us up when we fall or for finding us when we stray?
Today, how grateful are we for having companions on the journey?
*****
“Which of the two did his father’s will?”
Talk is cheap. One incurs no cost at all when simply saying what one will do. It is a different situation all together when it comes down to someone actually doing what they said that they would do.
There is something of both sons (from today’s Gospel) inside of each of us. It’s easy to initially ‘yes’ somebody to death, only not to follow through in the end. By contrast, it is also easy to say ‘no’ to something, only to eventually come around and follow through in the end.
Let’s face it. Sometimes we do the right thing for all the wrong reasons. Sometimes we do the right thing only as a last resort. Sometimes we do the right thing because it is the only option we have left. Sometimes, we do what we know is right against our will.
How can you do the Father’s will today? By - however reluctantly or enthusiastically - doing it, rather than merely talking about it.
*****
“Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed the deaf hear, the dead are raised…”
These words are Jesus’ answer to the question, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” Of course, Jesus’ words are not mere words. On the contrary, they describe the actions that Jesus is performing, the miracles he is working and the healings that he is affecting on a remarkable level.
How would we answer the question: “Does the love of God dwell within you, or should we look somewhere else?” Of course, the most powerful answer would not come in the form of words, but rather, the convincing answer would come from our actions: namely, from the practice of virtue. Francis de Sales wrote:
“Let us try sincerely, humbly and devoutly to acquire those little virtues whose conquest our Savior has set forth as the goal of our care and labor. Such are patience, meekness, self-mortification, humility, obedience, poverty, chastity, tenderness toward our neighbors, bearing with their imperfections, diligence and holy fervor.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 2, p. 127)
What kinds of simple, everyday signs might we perform today as signs that “the one who is to come” continues to come to us, each and every day?
*****
“Though the mountains leave their place and the hills be shaken, My love shall never leave you nor my covenant of peace be shaken, says the LORD, who has mercy on you.”
What comforting and reassuring words we hear in the closing verse of the selection form the Book of the Prophet Isaiah!
In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:
“God displays in a marvelous manner the incomprehensible riches of his power in the vast array of things that we see in nature, but he causes the infinite treasures of his goodness to show forth in an even more magnificent way in the unparalleled variety that we see in grace. In a holy excess of mercy, God is not content in solely with granting to his people, that is, to the human race, a general or universal redemption whereby everyone can be saved. God has diversified redemption in many ways, so that while God’s generosity shines forth in all this variety, the variety itself, in turn, adds beauty to his generosity…” TLG, II, Chapter 6, p. 116)
What a powerful statement! God’s mercy is not generic, and it is not one-size-fits-all. God’s mercy is directed toward each one of us personally, individually and by name. In the next-to-last chapter of his Treatise, Francis remarked:
“Consider how Jesus took on the task of redeeming us by his death, ‘even to death upon a cross’. The Savior’s soul knew each of us by name and surname…” (XII, Ch. 121, p. 280)
However the mountains may be moved and hills in our lives may be shaken, nothing compares with the love and mercy that God has for us: in good times, tough times and all the other times in between!
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“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ…”
“Genealogy (from Greek: γενεά, genea, “generation”; and λόγος, logos, “knowledge”) is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members. The results are often displayed in charts or written as narratives. The pursuit of family history tends to be shaped by several motivations, including the desire to carve out a place for one’s family in the larger historical picture, a sense of responsibility to preserve the past for future generations, and a sense of self-satisfaction in accurate storytelling.” (Wikipedia)
Today’s opening chapter from the Gospel of Matthew is Scripture’s version of Ancestry.com. Bridging the Old and New Testaments, it outlines the “genealogy of Jesus Christ.” As such, it carves out a place for Jesus within the larger picture of salvation history. As such, it strives to preserve names from past generations for future generations. As such, it tries to tell the story of Jesus’ predecessors as accurately as possible. As such, it attempts to provide as much information it can about the kinship and pedigree of those who came before Jesus.
Many of us assume that the “genealogy of Jesus Christ” ends with Jesus Christ. We assume that the story ends with the third set of fourteen generations. Nothing could be further from the truth! The “genealogy of Jesus Christ” is not limited to the names of his predecessors; it continues to this very day in the names of his followers; it continues in the present generation – in the lives of people like you and me.
How can we live up to our God-given pedigree today? How can we give convincing witness of our divine kinship today? How can we demonstrate that we are children of God – brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ – today?
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“He shall reign and govern wisely; he shall do what is just and right in the land…the Lord our justice.”
In his >u>Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales wrote:
“Be just and equitable in all your actions. Always put yourself in your neighbor’s place and your neighbor in yours, and then you will judge rightly. Imagine yourself the seller when you buy and the buyer when you sell and you will sell and buy justly…A man loses nothing by living generously, nobly and courteously with a royal, just and reasonable heart. Resolve to examine your heart often to see if it acts toward your neighbor as you would like your neighbor to act toward you were you in your neighbor’s place. This is the touchstone of true reason.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 36, p. 217)
Today, how can we imitate “the Lord our justice”? Let us start by examining our hearts. How well are we doing “what is just and right in the land”? Are we doing what is right, just and reasonable in our relationships with others?
