*****
"Why are you terrified?”
Given the fact that the disciples were caught out on open water in a violent storm would be plenty of reason to be terrified, regardless of whether Jesus was with them or not. In the event, the disciples’ terror quickly subsided, when they witnessed the calming power of Jesus.
In a letter to Madame Gasparde de Ballon, Francis de Sales wrote:
“Regarding your fears, they are the work of the enemy who sees that you are quite determined to live in Our Lord without any reserves and exceptions. The evil one will make every sort of effort to upset you and make the way of holy devotion seem hard for you. What you must do to counteract this is to open your heart and often repeat your protestation never to give in, always to keep faith, to love the challenges of God’s service more than the sweetness of the world’s service and to say that you will never leave God’s side. Be careful not to give up on prayer, for that would be playing into the hand of your adversary. Instead, continue to go steadfastly with this holy exercise and wait for Our Lord to speak to you, for one day he will say words of peace and consolation to you. Then you will know that your trouble will have been well spent and your patience and trust useful…Say often: May Jesus reign!’” (Selected Letters, Stopp, pp. 225 - 226)
We all have things in life that should concern, scare - and even - terrify us. Jesus is not asking us to never be fearful or even terrified; rather, Jesus asks us to trust him precisely in times of timidity, tempests and terror.
No matter how daunting the storms of life may be, do not allow them to shake your faith in God’s love for you and fidelity to you. Regardless of how your boat may get rocked during the course of your life, Jesus will never – never – abandon you. He will either calm the storms for you or ride them out with you.
*****
“The measure with which you measure will be measured back to you…”
In his commentary on today’s selection from the Gospel of Matthew, William Barclay wrote:
“Many a time the Rabbis warned people against judging others. ‘He who judges his neighbor favorably,’ they argued, ‘will be judged favorably by God. They decreed that there were six great works which brought a person credit in this world and profit in the world to come – namely, study, visiting the sick, hospitality, devotion in prayer, educating children in the Law and thinking the best of other people. The Jews believed that kindliness in judgment was nothing other than a sacred duty.” (Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1, p. 119-120)
“There is hardly anyone who has not been guilty of gross misjudgment; there is hardly anyone who has not been the victim of someone else’s misjudgment. And yet, the fact is that there is hardly any commandment of Jesus which is more consistently broken and neglected than temptations to judge other people.” (Ibid)
There are three great reasons why we should not judge other people:
- We never know all of the facts or all about the person.
- We are rarely impartial in our judgment.
- None of us are so perfect as to presume to judge any other person.
(<u>The Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Matthew</u>, Volume 1, p. 119-120)
If these reasons are not enough to curb our tendency to judge other people, then heed Jesus’ warning: “The measure with which you measure will be measured back to you.”
In that case, if we cannot refrain from judging others, it might be in our best interest to judge people in the most positive light, that is, to presume the best in others.
With the hope that God – in his mercy – will look for the best in us.
*****
"Do to others whatever you would have them do to you…”
The “Golden Rule” has been around for an awfully long time. It predates Jesus, but it’s still important enough for Jesus to refer to it in the context of his “Sermon on the Mount”. It also predates St. Francis de Sales, but it is still important enough for him to refer to it in the context of his Introduction to the Devout Life. He wrote:
“Be just and equitable in all your actions. Always put yourself in your neighbor’s place and him 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. Resolve to examine your heart often to see if it is such toward your neighbor as you would like his to be toward you were you in his place. This is the touchstone of true reason.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 36, p. 217)</p< The “Golden Rule” seems so simple, doesn’t it? It’s tempting to say, “You mean to tell me that living the Gospel boils down to doing something so simple? Heck, anybody can do that!” Maybe so, but we know not everybody does do it when push comes to shove. Do you?
*****
“When he created things, God commanded plants to bring forth their fruits, each one according to its kind. In like manner he commands Christians, the living plants of his Church, to bring forth the fruits of devotion, each one according to his position and vocation.” (IDL, Part I, Chapter 3)
Insofar as we are “living plants of the Church,” what kind of fruit(s) should we be producing? He offers some ideas in a letter he wrote four hundred years ago to Mademoiselle de Soulfour:
“Let us practice those ordinary virtues suited to our littleness…patience, forbearance toward our neighbor, service to others, humility, gentleness of heart, affability, tolerance of our own imperfections and similar little virtues…” (LSD, p. 98)
Today, how will other people describe us by the fruits that they discover growing in and from us today?
*****
“I make you a light to the nations that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
Francis de Sales wrote: “I have often wondered who is the most mortified of the saints that I know, and after some reflection I have concluded that it was St. John the Baptist. He went into the desert when he was five years old and knew that our Savior came to earth in a place quite close by, perhaps only one-or two-days’ journey. How his heart, touched with love of his Savior from the time he was in his mother’s womb, must have longed to enjoy Christ’s presence. Yet, he spends twenty-five years in the desert without coming to see our Lord even once; and leaving the desert he catechized without visiting him but waiting until our Lord comes to seek him out. Then, after he has baptized Jesus, he does not follow him but stays behind to do his appointed task. How truly mortified was John’s spirit! To be so near his Savior and not see him, to have Him so close and not enjoy His presence! Is this not a completely detached spirit, detached even from God himself to do God’s will, and to serve God, as it were to leave God for God, and not to cling to God in order to love him better? The example of this great saint overwhelms me with its grandeur.” (Stopp, Selected Letters, Page 74)
“How truly mortified was John the Baptist’s spirit.” What does Francis de Sales mean? The American Heritage Dictionary defines mortify as to discipline by self-denial or self-inflicted privation. John did, indeed, discipline himself and denied himself many things to be faithful to his understanding of whom God wanted him to be: a light to the nations, a light to highlight the coming of Jesus, even when this meant that John would ‘follow’ Jesus by – in fact – staying behind!
Think about it! According to St. Francis de Sales, John spends twenty-five years in the desert preparing to announce Christ’s coming. Despite growing up in the same general area, John meets Christ only once – when he baptized Jesus at the Jordan River – only to remain behind as Jesus recruited others to be his apostles and disciples! John never sees his cousin again.
John was faithful to the role God wanted him to play in the plan of salvation: He played that role supremely well. Listen to what Jesus himself said: “I tell you the truth: among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.” (Matthew 11: 11) However, Jesus continues, “Anyone who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” John shows us that being faithful to God’s will often requires that we deprive ourselves of the desire to “have it all” and to dedicate ourselves to discerning – and embracing – what it is that God wants us to do…and not to do.
Each of us is called – like John – to be “a light to the nations” and help God’s salvation to reach to the ends of the earth. This assistance does not necessarily mean being the biggest, brightest or best bulb in the chandelier - it means being faithful to the kind of light that God wants you to be when, where and how God wants you to shine!
*****
“Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.”
In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales observed:
“The truth is that our Savior’s redemption touches our sins and makes them more beneficial and worthy of love than original innocence could ever have been. After all, Our Savior himself tells us that there ‘is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just people who have no need of repentance.’”
“So, too, the state of redemption is a hundred times better than that of innocence. Truly, by the watering of our Savior’s blood - made with the hyssop of the cross - we have been restored to a white incomparably better and brighter than that found in the snows of innocence. Like Naaman, we emerge from the stream of salvation purer and cleaner than if we had never had leprosy in the first place.”
Can God make us clean? Yes. Can God heal us and make us whole? Yes. Can God restore us to life and to love? Yes.
All this, and so much more.
*****
“I will come and cure him.”
In a sermon about St. Joseph and the Holy Family, Francis de Sales observed:
“Let it, then, be enough to know that God wishes us to obey, without occupying ourselves with considering the capability of those whom we are called upon to obey. In this way we shall bring down our minds to walk simply in the happy path of a holy and tranquil humility which will render us infinitely pleasing to God.”
This is a great insight that Francis de Sales offers regarding the virtue – and practice – of obedience. The essence of obedience (from the Latin meaning to listen) is not simply doing what we are told; obedience is recognizing that each person in our lives has a unique role in helping us to become the people that God wants us to be. Obedience is about listening to how God may be speaking to us today through the people with whom we live, love and labor every day,
In truth, we see the obedience of two people in today’s Gospel – Jesus, and the centurion. Jesus’ obedience is demonstrated in his listening to the needs of another (in this case, the centurion describing the plight of his servant) and choosing to respond as his father wills Him – to follow the centurion home and effect a healing. For his part, the centurion demonstrates his obedience by listening to Jesus, believing that Jesus will be true to His word, the soldier returns home, confident that Jesus will effect the healing…or perhaps, already has. Jesus is amazed at the quality of the obedience of the centurion. He knows more than a little about the virtue of obedience because he was soon to be obedient even unto death: death on a cross.
On a scale of 1-to-10, what is the quality of our obedience? How willing are we to listen for and to the voice of God in our lives and follow it?
Today!
