*****
“Your faith has saved you…”
Our first reading reminds us of the Lord’s promise to the people of Israel that God will protect them and bring them home for He is “the Father of Israel and Ephraim is my firstborn”. God is particularly solicitous of the weak (e.g., the blind and the lame), women with children and those who cannot survive on their own.
This concern exhibited by a loving Father gives us some glimpse into the unique relationship between God and His people. St. Francis de Sales continually reminds us of God’s love for his creation. This truth certainly makes sense and is very consistent with the fundamental reason for our existence. After all, what child is not loved by his or her parents in a totally gratuitous fashion?
In our second reading we are confronted with the role of the high priest, one who is as human as we all are. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews makes clear that the high priest can be compassionate because he, himself, is a wounded healer. Here again, we see the gratuitous nature of our relationship to our God. God gives us a vocation, no matter what our state in life. It is not ours to take, but rather to respond to his invitation.
The Gospel recounts the story of the blind beggar, Bartimaeus. What a powerful example of how deeply God loves all of us, but especially those who are disadvantaged. This relationship, while gratuitous, is not passive – in fact, there is a real sense of mutuality on display here. Bartimaeus cries out to Jesus to have pity on him. Jesus, in return, restore the sight of the blind man. The blind man asks that he might be able to see, and Jesus tells him that his faith has saved him.
In other words, both played their respective roles in an interaction that resulted in a miracle!
We ask for the faith that we need to see the fundamental relationship between God and his people. Sometimes, our own brands of blindness prevent us from seeing the unique God-given goodness in other people. Perhaps even more tragically, our blindness prevents us from seeing the unique, God-given goodness in ourselves. This inability to see the good imprisons us and others by denying the possibility of maximizing our gifts and talents for our own good and the good of our brothers and sisters.
Francis de Sales challenges us to emulate the faith of Bartimaeus. He challenges us to be confident enough in our own intrinsic self worth that we dare to ask our Lord that we might see more of who we – as well are others – really are, especially in the sight of God.
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“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”
Even as we strive to be “children of God”, we are still imperfect people. Try as we might to do otherwise, there are still many ways in which we live according to the ‘flesh’. Each of us still retains our share of shadows; all of us still struggle with some elements of darkness. What are we – as children of God called to live in the light of the Spirit – to do about this dilemma? Francis de Sales certainly offers this encouragement:
“It is a great part of our perfection to support one another in our imperfections; what better way is there for us to practice love of our neighbor save in this support?” (Select Salesian Subjects, #0096, p. 22)
The presence of shadows – and even darkness – should not discourage us in our attempts to be who we are: children of God! The spirit does bear witness in our spirit, imperfect as we are.
*****
“To what can I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like a mustard seed…”
It seems paradoxical that Jesus would describe something as vast as the Kingdom of God in terms of one of the smallest of all seeds: the mustard seed. Still, consider how St. Francis de Sales describes eternity in a letter to the Duc de Bellegarde (Peer and Master of the Horse at the courts of both Henri IV and Louis XIII of France):
“Keep your eyes steadfastly fixed on that blissful day of eternity towards which the course of years bears us on; and these as they pass, themselves pass us stage by stage until we reach the end of the road. But meanwhile, in these passing moments there lies enclosed as in a tiny kernel the seed of all eternity; and in our humble little works of devotion there lies hidden the prize of everlasting glory, and the little pains we take to serve God lead to the repose of a bliss that can never end...” (Stopp, Selected Letters, p. 236)
Indeed, the Kingdom of God is a big thing. In fact, it is the biggest and the broadest of all things. As Jesus reminds us, however – and as Francis de Sales underscores – sometimes the biggest of things come in exceedingly small, ordinary and everyday packages!
*****
“We know that all things work for good for those who love God…”
We may take these words from Paul’s letter to the Romans on faith, but there are many times in our lives when – despite our best efforts to love God and, for that matter, our neighbor also – things not only do not work for good, but also things do not work out in ways that we would like.
At least, not on the surface, or not in the short run.
In a letter to her second daughter Francoise, St. Jane de Chantal wrote:
“If you can look beyond the ordinary and shifting events of life and consider the infinite blessings and consolations of eternity, you would find comfort amid any and all reversals of fortune…Oh, when will we learn to be more attentive to the truths of our faith? When will we savor the tenderness of the Divine Will in all the events of our life, seeing in them only His good pleasure and His unchanging, mysterious love which is always concerned with our good, as much in prosperity as in adversity? Let us surrender ourselves lovingly to the will of our heavenly Father and cooperate with His plan to unite us ultimately to Himself. Courage! May you find strength in these thoughts.” (Stopp, Letters of Spiritual Direction, p. 216)
We know – or, at least, we deeply want to believe – that indeed “all things work for good for those who love God.”
Today, may we find consolation and encouragement from the words of St. Jane de Chantal (who knew more than her fair share of suffering, setback and loss) that all things do work out for good in the long haul even when it seems – in the short run, at least – that they do not.
*****
“He called his disciples to himself…”
Remember the hit TV comedy series Cheers? These are the words from the show’s theme song:
Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got. Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot. Wouldn't you like to get away Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came. You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same You wanna be where everybody knows your name. You wanna go where people know, people are all the same, You wanna go where everybody knows your name.
In today’s Gospel we hear that even Jesus knew that “making your way in the world…takes everything you’ve got” and that “taking a break from all your worries sure can help a lot”, so he went up to the top of a mountain by himself to spend time in prayer with his Father. The next day, he calls his disciples to himself and named his Apostles. And to this day – nearly two thousand years later – everybody knows their names.
Just today, how can we make a name for ourselves in the service of God and neighbor? Today, how can we treat others in ways that makes them “glad you came”?
*****
“I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie.”
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:
“Your language should be restrained, frank, sincere, candid, unaffected and honest. Be on guard against equivocation, ambiguity or dissimulation. While it is not always advisable to say all that is true, it is never permissible to speak against the truth. Therefore, you must become accustomed never to tell a deliberate lie, whether to excuse yourself or for some other purposes, remembering always that God is the “God of truth”. If you happen to tell a lie inadvertently, correct it immediately by an explanation or by making amends. An honest explanation always has more grace and force to excuse us than a lie does.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 30, p. 206)
Children of God that we are, let us try our level best this day not to lie. Better yet, let us try our level best to talk – and walk in – the truth.
*****
“Trick or treat!!!”
“Trick-or-treating or guising is a customary practice for children on Halloween in many countries. Children wearing costumes travel from house to house to ask for treats such as candy (or, in some cultures, money) with the question ‘Trick or treat?’ The ‘trick’ is a (usually idle) threat to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given to them. In North America, trick-or-treating became an ever-growing phenomenon Halloween tradition in the years following the lifting in 1947 of nationwide sugar rationing that had occurred during WWII.”
“The tradition of going from door to door receiving food already existed in Great Britain and Ireland in the form of ‘souling’, where children and poor people would sing and say prayers for the dead in return for cakes. Guising, that is, children disguised in costumes going from door to door for food and coins also predates trick-or-treating, and is recorded in Scotland at Halloween in 1895, where masqueraders - in disguise carrying lanterns made from scooped out turnips - visited homes to be rewarded with cakes, fruit and money. While going from door to door in disguise has remained popular among Scots and Irish, the North American custom of saying “trick or treat” has become the norm.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trick-or-treating)
(NOTE: in the United States Halloween has become one of the most popular social events for adults, second only to News Years Eve.)
Many of us will be opening our doors countless times tomorrow night for little (and maybe, some not-so-small!) ghosts, ghouls and goblins that are wearing disguises and hoping for treats. Isn’t it reassuring that when we approach God in prayer for the many good things that we seek on behalf of ourselves or others that we do not need to be disguised – that we do not need to wear masks – that we do not need to pretend to be something or someone we are not? Isn’t it wonderful that we can simply be who we are on this earth without the need to hide our faces from a God who loves us for the people we are?
One of the greatest treats that we can enjoy in this life is to simply be ourselves!
Of course, there’s no ‘trick’ to expressing our gratitude to a God who loves us for the people we are. The best way is to ‘treat others in the same way, that is, to love them not for whom they are not, but to love them for whom they are!
