*****
“Judgment Day”. The term has as a sense of finality to it, doesn’t it? Well, it should!
St. Francis de Sales wrote:
“Consider the majesty with which the sovereign Judge will appear, surrounded by all the angels and saints. Before him will be borne his cross, shining more brilliantly than the sun, the standard of mercy to the good and of punishment to the wicked. By his awful command, which will be swiftly carried out, this sovereign Judge will separate the good from the bad, placing the one at his right hand and the other at his left. It will be an everlasting separation and after it these two groups will never again be together. When this separation has been made and all consciences laid bare we will clearly see the malice of the wicked and the contempt they have shown for God, and we will also see the repentance of the good and the effect of the graces they received from God. Nothing will lie hidden.” (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part I, Chapter 14)
In the next life, nothing will be hidden. In this life, one thing in particular should never be hidden - our God-given gifts, abilities, talents, skills and graces.
Today's Gospel issues this stern and stark warning: we must not return unused the gifts (no matter how great or small) that God gives us.
To be sure, to invest these gifts in the lives of others requires our willingness to take risks. There are few guarantees in life. We cannot be certain on any given day how well we will use our gifts, to say nothing of whether or not our gifts will be appreciated, honored, accepted or welcomed by others. Still, we must endeavor to take prudent care of and make good use of our God-given time, talents and treasure in this effort, but the risks that we take in generously sharing ourselves with others should not be rash or reckless.
But as risky as naming, embracing and investing our gifts might be, we must never allow the anxieties of an uncertain world to tempt us to do the unthinkable - to bury our talents. To act as if we possessed nothing with which to give honor to God or to meet the needs of others is far worse than any mistake we might generally make on any given day in using our abilities.
Of course, we will make mistakes in our attempts to make good use of our God-given graces. But there is no greater mistake than to live our lives as if we had no gifts to use in the service of God or others by burying them - obscuring them from the light of day.
When in doubt, keep those gifts out: for you, for God and for others to see and to share. And, in the process, share your Master’s joy…today!
*****
“Lord, please let me 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)
Despite the fact that 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.
*****
“And he came down quickly and received him with joy…”
The story of Jesus and Zacchaeus highlights an aspect of the Salesian notion of devotion: enthusiasm. Jesus only has to tell Zacchaeus once to “come down quickly.” For his part, Zacchaeus came down as quickly as he could!
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:
“When charity reaches a degree on perfection at which it not only makes us do good but also to do this carefully, frequently and promptly. It is called devotion. Ostriches never fly; hens fly in a clumsy fashion, near the ground and only on occasion; but eagles, doves and swallows fly aloft, swiftly and frequently. Good people who have not as yet attained this devotion by toward God by their good works but do so infrequently, slowly and awkwardly. Devout souls fly to him more frequently, promptly and with lofty flights.” (TLG, Book VIII, Chapter 4, p. 64)
This description certainly describes Zacchaeus to a tee. Here is a man with a great sense of urgency. He literally flew down to Jesus at the invitation to spend time with him. Once he arrived at his home with Jesus, Zacchaeus was just as quick to declare his intention to share his good fortune with those less fortunate than him as well as to make things right with anyone who might have a grievance against him.
How quickly will we be this day to respond to Jesus’ invitation to spend time with him? How quick will we be to share our good fortune with others? How quickly will we be to make things right with anyone who might have a grievance against us?
*****
Today we celebrate the life and legacy of Saint Cecilia.
“Although Cecilia is one of the most famous of the Roman martyrs, the familiar stories about her are apparently not founded on historical documentation. There is no trace of honor being paid her in early times. A fragmentary inscription of the late fourth century refers to a church named after her, and her feast was celebrated at least in the year 545.”
“According to legend, Cecilia was a young Christian of high rank betrothed to a Roman named Valerian. Through her influence Valerian was converted and was martyred along with his brother. The legend about Cecilia’s death claims that after being struck three times on the neck with a sword, she lived for three days, and asked the pope to convert her home into a church. Since the time of the Renaissance Cecilia has usually been portrayed playing a viola or a small organ…and is considered the patron of musicians.” (http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1207)
We know more about Cecilia’s death than we do about her life, but insofar as God is “not the God of the dead, but of the living”, how can we imitate what we know of her life by sharing with others the presence of the living God within us?
*****
“If this day you only knew what makes for peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes.”
Have you ever noticed throughout many of the stories in Scripture how often people recognized God-given opportunities to do something good only after the fact? While hindsight is better than having no sight at all, there are certain limitations that come with recognizing how God has been active in one’s life only after subsequent reflection. This pattern gets played out time and time again in numerous accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry. People frequently did not recognize what Jesus had done for them or who had been with them, until after the fact.
It’s safe to say that this occurrence is a pretty common human experience. In a scene from the movie Field of Dreams (1989), Dr. Archibald “Moonlight” Graham (played by Burt Lancaster) observes: “You know, we just don't recognize life's most significant moments while they're happening. Back then I thought, ‘Well, there'll be other days.’ I didn't realize that that was the only day.”
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales observed:
“Blind men do not see a prince who is present among them, and therefore they do not show him the respect they owe him until only after being informed oh his presence. However, because they do not actually see him they easily forget his presence, and having forgotten it, they still more easily lose the respect and reverence owed to him.” (IDL, Part Two, Chapter 2, p. 84)
The aim of the Spiritual Directory – the goal of the Direction of Intention – is to help us to acquire foresight when it comes to recognizing the activity and presence of God in our lives. Through our efforts to anticipate the variety of ways in which God may choose to reveal himself, may we recognize God’s divine activity and presence as it actually occurs in each and every present moment – whether significant or insignificant – and not only after the fact.
And so, be on the lookout for how God may invite you to be instruments of His peace - today!
*****
“He fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him…”
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales observed:
“Consider that a certain number of years ago you did not yet exist. God has drawn you out from nothingness so as to make you what you are now and has done so solely out of his own goodness. Consider the nature God has given you. It is the highest in this visible world, is capable of eternal life and able to be perfectly united with God’s Divine Majesty…God has placed you in this world not because God has any need of you but because God wishes to exercise his goodness in you by giving you his grace and glory. For this purpose God has given you intelligence to know him, memory to be mindful of him, will to love him, imagination to picture his benefits to yourself, eyes to see His wonderful works, and tongues to praise him, just to mention a few…Consider the corporeal benefits that God has bestowed on you: the body itself, all goods provided for its maintenance, health, comforts friend, supporters and other helps… By noting each and every particular blessing you will perceive how gentle and gracious God has been to you.” (IDL, Part I, Chapters 9- 11, pp. 53 -57)
How can we possibly even begin to give thanks for everything that God has given – and continues to give – to us? Francis de Sales offers this suggestion - just as God has been gentle and gracious to us, may we strive to be equally – or at least, somewhat – as gentle and gracious to others on this Thanksgiving Day…and every day!*****
“My house shall be a house of prayer…”
This quote from today’s Gospel goes much deeper than talking about a building. This quote has little or nothing to do with why we should be quiet in church. From a Salesian point of view, this quote goes to the heart of what it means to be human.
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:
“God is not only in the place where you are, but God is also present in a most particular manner in your heart and in the very center of your spirit. He enlivens and animates it by his divine presence, for he is there as the heart of your heart and the spirit of your spirit. Just as the soul is diffused throughout the entire body and is therefore present in every part of the body but resides in a special manner in the heart, so also God is present in all things but always resides in a special manner in our spirit.” (IDL, Part II, Chapter 2, p. 85)
God dwells in a very particular way within the heart – within the spirit and soul – of each and every one of us. Using the words from the Communion Rite, notwithstanding that we may be unworthy to have God enter “under our roof,” God is very much alive and at work in the very core of our being, enlivening us and animating us to meet the demands, challenges and invitations that come our way each and every day.
Each of us, then, is a house of prayer. Each of us is a particular manifestation and expression of the God in whose image and likeness we are created. And insofar as prayer is a dialogue, our fundamental vocation is to be engaged in conversation with God as we try our level best to bring out the best in our little corners of the world.
Today, how can we be that house of God in the lives of one another?
*****
“The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob…is not God of the dead, but of the living.”
In his commentary on this passage from the Gospel of Luke, William Barclay makes the following observations:
“The Sadducees came with this question about who would be the husband in heaven of the woman who was married to seven different men. They regarded such a question as the kind of thing that made belief in the resurrection of the body ridiculous. Jesus gave them an answer which has a permanent valid truth in it. He said that we must not think of heaven in terms of earth. Life there will be quite different because we will be quite different. It would save a mass of misdirected ingenuity – and not a little heartbreak – if we ceased to speculate on what heaven is like and left such things to the love of God.” (pp. 250-251)
But Barclay’s commentary is not limited only to the message of Jesus. He also draws attention to the method of Jesus, using arguments to which ordinary people could relate. “Jesus used arguments that the people with whom he was speaking could understand. He talked to them in their own language. He met them on their own ground, and that is precisely why the common person heard him gladly.”
Fr. Brisson believed that the first step in any worthwhile endeavor – be it preaching, teaching or evangelizing – is to meet people where they are…just as Jesus did.
Ho might we imitate the message – and method – of Jesus in our own interactions with others just this day?
