*****
“Each of us hears them speaking in our own tongue about the marvels that God has accomplished.”
Even though they were speaking to many people from many languages and many cultures, the apostles were understood by all of their listeners as they proclaimed the marvels that God had accomplished.
How was this possible?
Inflamed by the power of the Holy Spirit, the apostles were speaking the language of the heart. They were speaking with enthusiasm. They were speaking with gratitude. They were speaking with praise and thanksgiving. They were speaking from their core. They were speaking from their soul. In short, they were speaking the universal language – the language of the heart.
We are most human - we are also most divine - when we speak the language of the heart, when we speak the language of love, when we speak and listen from the soul and when we are grounded in the Word Made Flesh.
Communicating is often easier said than done. We misunderstand one another. We presume to know what others are thinking or feeling. We use the same words for which we have different meanings. We have different ways of saying the same thing. We hear, but we fail to listen. We are always talking, but we so seldom share something of the soul.
St. Francis de Sales tells us that the Holy Spirit comes to inflame the hearts of believers. When we speak and listen from hearts inflamed with joy, truth and gratitude, conflict gives way to understanding, confusion gives way to clarity, estrangement gives way to intimacy, hurt gives way to healing, frustration gives way to forgiveness, violence gives way to peace and sin gives way to salvation.
Today, be it through speaking or hearing, how might we become more fluent in the language of love?
*****
“Who told you that you were naked?”
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales does not equate happiness with self-centeredness, self-absorption or self-obsession. However, Francis does equate happiness with what he calls self-possession. The Gentleman Saint writes:
“It is man’s great happiness to possess his own soul, and the more perfect our patience the more completely do we possess our souls.”
What happiness it is to know and accept yourself for who you are in the sight of God! What delight it is to be comfortable – without being complacent – in your own skin! What joy it is to be essentially at home – to be at peace – with the person that God made you to be! Why, it is the next best thing to Paradise.
Tragically enough, the ability to be at home with ourselves became the first – and the most fundamental – casualty of The Fall. No sooner had Adam and Eve eaten from the fruit of the tree of knowledge than their natural state – their nakedness, their transparency – became a reproach. They were embarrassed – they were ashamed – of who they were. Literally, they were no longer comfortable in their own skin. Suddenly sullied by self-alienation and self-loathing, Paradise was lost…and life became a burden.
As we know all-too-well, so much of the misery, sin and sadness that plagues the human family to this very day comes from either (1) the inability to be who we really are, or (2) the fruitless attempt to become someone we are not. In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales exclaimed:
“God has signified to us in so many ways and by so many means that he wills all of us to be saved that no one should be ignorant of this fact. For this purpose, through Creation God made us ‘in his own image and likeness’, whereas through the Incarnation God has made himself in our image and likeness.”
The redemptive grace of the Incarnation makes it possible for us to experience once again the happiness that comes from possessing our own souls. The restorative power of the Incarnation makes it possible for us to experience once again the joy of being essentially at home with who we are in the sight of God. Wounded as we are by sin, our practice of devotion – our quest to possess our own souls – no longer comes effortlessly as it originally did in Paradise. It requires perpetual practice; it demands tremendous patience That said, God not only promises us the joy and peace born of this heavenly self-acceptance; God also shows us how to achieve it on this earth in the person of his Son.
Jesus embodies the power of self-possession. Jesus exhibits the joy of self-acceptance. Jesus exudes the peace of self-direction. Who better than Jesus shows us what it looks like to be comfortable in one’s own skin? Who better than Jesus demonstrates what it looks like to invite - and to empower - others to do the same?
Not unlike what he did with our first parents, The Evil One hits us where it hurts. Sometimes Satan tempts us to believe that we cannot possibly be happy by being who we are. Other times, Satan tempts us to believe that we would be happier if we were someone else – perhaps anybody else – other than who we are. In very deep, dark places within our minds and hearts, each and every one of us is tempted to ask this question:
Sinner as I am, weak as I am, wounded as I am and imperfect as I am, why should I believe that God wants me to be comfortable – at home - in my own skin?
*****
“To keep the law is a great oblation…”
The word ‘oblation’ (from which the word ‘oblate’ is derived) is defined as “an offering (late Latin oblatio, from offerre, oblatum, to offer), a term, particularly in ecclesiastical usage, for a solemn offering or presentation to God.
“Solemn offering” has such a lofty, ceremonial and almost ethereal ring to it, doesn’t it? It evokes images of priceless presentations, high altars and lots of incense. While it may be true that some oblations are made in such a manner, most offerings and sacrifices – at least, in the Salesian tradition – tend to have a more familiar, ordinary and even mundane ring to them.
We recognize these everyday oblations, offerings and sacrifices as part-and-parcel of the attempt to live a life of ‘devotion’. Francis de Sales wrote:
“Devotion is simply that spiritual agility and vivacity by which charity works in us or by aid of which we work quickly and lovingly. Just as it is the function of charity to enable us to observe all God’s commandments in general and without exception, so it is the part of devotion to enable us to observe them more quickly and diligently. Hence a man who does not observe all God’s commandments cannot be considered either good or devout. To be good he must have charity, and to be devout, in addition to having charity he must have great ardor and readiness in performing charitable actions.” (IDL, Part I, Chapter 1, p. 40)
Keeping God’s law is a great oblation. Following the commandments is a great offering. Living a God-like life is a great sacrifice. But for most of us on most days, this oblation is less about what we keep and more about what we give – quickly, lovingly and diligently.
*****
“Philip Neri was a sign of contradiction, combining down-to-earth popularity with piety against the background of a corrupt Rome and a disinterested clergy.” “At an early age, Philip abandoned the chance to become a businessman, moved to Rome from Florence, and devoted his life and individuality to God. After three years of philosophy and theology studies, he gave up any thought of ordination. The next thirteen years were spent in a vocation unusual at the time—that of a layperson actively engaged in prayer and the apostolate.”
“As the Council of Trent (1545-63) was reforming the Church on a doctrinal level, Philip’s appealing personality was winning him friends from all levels of society, from beggars to cardinals. He rapidly gathered around himself a group of laypersons won over by his audacious spirituality. Initially, they met as an informal prayer and discussion group, and also served poor people in Rome.”
“At the urging of his confessor, Philip was ordained a priest and soon became an outstanding confessor himself, gifted with the knack of piercing the pretenses and illusions of others, though always in a charitable manner and often with a joke. He arranged talks, discussions, and prayers for his penitents in a room above the church. He sometimes led excursions to other churches, often with music and a picnic on the way.”
“Some of Philip’s followers became priests and lived together in community. This was the beginning of the Oratory, the religious institute he founded. A feature of their life was a daily afternoon service of four informal talks, with vernacular hymns and prayers. Giovanni Palestrina was one of Philip’s followers, and composed music for the services. The Oratory was finally approved after suffering through a period of accusations of being an assembly of heretics, where laypersons preached and sang vernacular hymns!” “Philip’s advice was sought by many of the prominent figures of his day. He is one of the influential figures of the Counter-Reformation, mainly for converting to personal holiness many of the influential people within the Church itself. His characteristic virtues were humility and gaiety. He was beatified in 1615 and canonized in 1622.” (https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-philip-neri/)
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:
“As for certain good-humored, joking words, spoken by way of modest and innocent merriment, they belong to the virtue called eutrapelia by the Greeks, which we can call pleasant conversation. By their means we can take friendly, virtuous enjoyment in the amusing situations human imperfections provide us.”
The only thing on par with Philip Neri’s notion of holiness was his appreciation for humor. We see in him a perfect example of how pursuing a life of devotion leaves plenty of room for laughter!
Today, how might we imitate his example today?
*****
“Master, I want to see…”
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales offered wrote:
“God is in all things and places. There is no place or thing in this world in which God is not truly present. Everyone knows this truth in theory, but not everyone puts this knowledge to good effect. Blind men do not see a prince who is present among them, and therefore do not show him the respect they do after being informed of his presence. However, because they do not actually see the prince, they easily forget he is there, and once they forget this fact, they still more easily lose the respect and reverence owed to him. Unfortunately, we frequently lose sight of the God who is with us. Although faith assures us of his presence, we forget about him and behave as if God were a long way off because we do not see him with our eyes. While we may tell ourselves and others that God is present in all things, we often act as if this were not true because we fail to remind ourselves of God’s presence.” (IDL, Part II, Chapter 2, p.84)
Even though the blind man in today’s Gospel could not actually see Jesus, it is crystal clear that he showed Jesus respect and reverence. What is the moral of the story? Even when we lose sight of how Jesus acts in our lives and in the eyes of other people day in and day out, it is always within our power to show him the respect and reverence by acting as Jesus did in showing respect and reverence for others.
*****
“The Lord takes delight in his people.”
Sinners though we are, how is it that God takes delight in us? Simply said, because – sinners though we are – we are created in the image and likeness of God. So, at the most fundamental level, God does not love us for what we do – rather, God loves us for whom we are.
While God may love us for who we are, today’s Gospel illustrates that God does not take delight in some of our behaviors. In the person Jesus, God makes it perfectly clear of the divine displeasure stemming from turning a place of worship into a “den of thieves”.
There is no doubt that we can add to the delight that God takes in us by conforming our ways of thinking, feeling, seeing, hearing and doing to the ways of God. In other words, we can enhance the delight that God takes in us by doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong. In addition, to the extent that we do what is right and good, we – however imperfectly - take delight in God.
Just today, how might we do our part in helping God take delight in us? Here is one suggestion - by doing our level best to be sources of delight in the lives of others.
*****
“By what authority are you doing these things…?”
We see in today’s Gospel a typical tactic employed by those who take umbrage with others. If they cannot refute what others do, they will attempt to refute their authority for doing so. Jesus did not ask permission to do good things. He simply did them, regardless of the consequences. Tragic, indeed, that his enemies attempted to use his good deeds as evidence of wrongdoing!
We have all heard the expression: “No good deed goes unpunished”. Today’s Gospel reminds us that in a perfect world, doing good should be applauded and rewarded. However, insofar as we do not live in a perfect world, we should not be shocked that doing good may sometime bring its share of resistance and hostility.
By any means – by all means – do good things. Just be certain that you are doing that good for God’s glory, and not your own glory.
