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“Dismiss all anxiety from your minds…then will the God of peace be with you.”
The image of a vineyard is employed in the first and third readings from today's lectionary. In both cases, things in the vineyard have not turned out quite the way that the owner had planned. It seems that the people responsible for caring for the vineyard in the first place did not live up to expectations.
Who owns the vineyard? God does, of course. What is the vineyard? It is the world in which we live. It is the world of relationships among us. It is the world – as Francis de Sales says, the universe – within us. Who is responsible for the upkeep of the vineyard? We are…as individuals and as community.
The truth is that we do not always live up to God's expectations, either. As collaborators with God in God’s ongoing plan of creation, redemption, inspiration and salvation, we do not always harvest the grapes of life in ways that give life: things like respect, honesty, purity, decency or virtue that we should. Sadly, we often use our energies in producing grapes of wrath: things like jealousy, envy, indifference, hatred, violence and injustice.
This journey is our lot in life. We clearly know the kind of vineyard that God wants us to cultivate and grow, but sin, fear, and selfishness often prevent us from producing the kinds of fruit that give life.
As tragic as this reality is, however, only one thing can make things worse - being anxious about it.
Francis de Sales wrote: “With the single exception of sin, anxiety is the greatest evil that can happen to a soul.” Why? “Instead of removing the evil, anxiety increases it and involves the soul in great anguish and distress together with such loss of strength and courage that it imagines the evil to be incurable……all this is extremely dangerous.” (IDL, Part IV, Chapter 11)
We need to be honest. We need to identify those areas of our lives - our thoughts, feelings, attitudes and actions - in which we have trouble in cultivating a harvest of peace, justice, reconciliation and love. But we need to do this without anxiety because anxiety both weakens our ability to turn away from sin and robs us of the courage we need to do what is right and good.
By all means, acknowledge the reality of sin and the shortcomings in your life, but dedicate more of your energies to living “according to what you have learned and accepted……then, the God of peace will be with you”.
Strive each day to produce a harvest of love from the vineyard of life…but avoid anxiety in the process.
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“What is written in the law? How do you read it?”
Jesus raises a great question in today’s Gospel. And the person to whom he directs it – a “scholar of the law” – would appreciate the power of the question. Any student of the law – and in particular, anyone who practices law – knows that it isn’t enough just to know the letter of the law, but it’s also important to know how to “read” – that is, to interpret – the law so as to know how best to apply it.
Which brings us to the best – albeit, if not the most concise – answer to that question - the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Talk about a study in contrast! Two so-called experts in the letter of the law failed miserably because they did not offer any assistance to the man who fell victim to robbers, whereas the Samaritan – a man who may have known very little, if any, law – followed the law of compassion and common sense by tending to the needs of this unfortunate stranger by being a good neighbor.
Of course, the most important law for those who follow Jesus is the Gospel, that is, the Law of Love. It is important for us to have a working knowledge of that Law; it is important to know how to “read” or interpret that Law. More important, however, than knowing or interpreting it is to have the willingness to put the Gospel of Jesus Christ – the Law of Love – into practice.
In what ways can we be a Good Samaritan today?
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“You are anxious and worried about many things…”
In his Introduction to a Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:
“Anxiety is not a simple temptation but a source from which and by which many temptations arise. With the single exception of sin, anxiety is the greatest evil that can happen to a soul. Just as sedition and internal disorders bring total ruin on a State and leave it helpless to resist a foreign invader, so also, if our heart is inwardly troubled and disturbed it loses both the strength necessary to maintain the virtues it had acquired and the means to resist the temptations of the enemy. He then uses his utmost efforts to fish, as they say, in troubled waters.” …” (IDL, Part IV, Chapter 11, pp. 251-252)
Martha was obviously overwhelmed by her desire to do right by Jesus when it came to the practice of hospitality. Apparently more obvious to Jesus, however, was the fact that Martha was “anxious and worried about many things”. This issue of wanting help with the serving seems to have been the tip of the iceberg.
We should want to put our best foot forward when entertaining guests. We should want to give worthwhile things our best effort. We should want to do things well. We should want to get them right the first time.
And when we do not? Deal with it; learn from it and move beyond it without being all worked up and anxious about it. Anxiety not only ruins good things; anxiety makes bad things even worse.
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“We were to be mindful of the poor, which is the very thing I was eager to do...”
For St. Paul, being “mindful of the poor” was part-and-parcel of proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ. For St. Francis de Sales, being mindful of the poor was part-and-parcel of what it meant to “Live + Jesus”.
In his Introduction to a Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:
“We must practice real poverty amid all the goods and riches God has given us. Frequently give up some of your property by giving it with a generous heart to the poor. If you love the poor be often with them. Be glad to see them in your home and to visit with them in theirs. Be glad to talk to them and be pleased to have them near you in church, on the street and elsewhere. Be poor when in conversing with them and speak to them as their companions do but be rich in assisting them by sharing some of your more abundant good with them.” …” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 15, p. 165)
Unlike today, the poor were generally not relegated to the outskirts of the city or society. Insofar as there were no suburbs of which to speak in Francis de Sales’ day, most towns were a mix of the richest of the rich, the poorest of the poor and everybody else in between. He would have encountered the poor – in all shapes, sizes and situations – everywhere, every day. While he did not have much money to speak of for himself, one must assume that there were many things other than money with which Francis de Sales was blessed abundantly. In addition to the occasional coin, Francis shared other things that were likewise precious to him: his time, his attention, his care, his compassion, his availability, his interest, his patience, his respect and his love.
So many of the things with which we are blessed by God are not things at all. Still, they are no less precious to us - nor are they any less valuable in the eyes of God – especially when we share them with the poor, the needy and the down-and-out.
How can we help someone who might need our help today? How can we demonstrate that we are “eager to do it”?
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“He will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence...”
There is an adage which basically goes like this: “If you don’t ask, you don’t get”.
Mind you, the adage does not guarantee that you will always get what you want. Likewise, the adage does not guarantee that if you do get what you want that you will get it when you want to get it or how you want it. On the other hand, if you do not ask the question that pretty much guarantees that – under normal circumstances – you will never get what you want under any circumstances!
That is one way of “reading” (remember Monday’s Gospel about the scholar of the law and Jesus?) today’s Gospel parable. By all means ask; by all means seek; by all means knock. But do not think that whatever you receive – whenever you receive it – however you receive it – necessarily results from the first question, the initial seeking or a single knock. In God’s way of telling time, we may need to ask, seek or knock many times.
In some cases, maybe even over a lifetime.
However, it is important to carefully take note of a distinction that Jesus makes in today’s Gospel. While God promises to provide whatever we need because of our persistence, God makes no such promise when it comes to providing whatever we want.
Do you want to ask God for something? Then how about this prayer: God give me the gratitude that comes from wanting what I already have, rather than having what I want.
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“When an unclean spirit goes out of someone…it brings back seven others more wicked than itself.”
In today’s Gospel, Jesus drives out a demon. In addition, he speaks about demons that would attempt to divide a kingdom against itself. Francis de Sales knew a few things about demons. In his Introduction to the Devout Life, he wrote extensively about this same demon upon which we touched previously this week: anxiety.
“Anxiety is not a simple temptation but a source from which and by which many temptations arise…When a soul perceives that it has suffered a certain evil, it is displeased at having it and hence sadness follows. The soul immediately desires to be free of it and to have some means of getting rid of it. Thus far the soul is right, for everyone naturally desires to embrace what is good and to dispose of anything evil…Now if it does not immediately succeed in the way it wants it grows very anxious and impatient. Instead of removing the evil, it increases it, and this involves the soul in greater anguish and distress together with such loss of strength and courage that it imagines the evil to be incurable. You see, then, that sadness, which is justified in the beginning, produces anxiety, and anxiety in turn produces increase in sadness. All this is extremely dangerous.” (IDL, Part IV, Chapter 11, p. 251)
Anxiety never roams alone. It brings with it a whole host of other unclean spirits that can divide the kingdom of our heart against itself. Whatever difficulties or challenges you may face, do not let things get worse by allowing anxiety and its cohorts to make a home in your heart.
Simply – but firmly – show them the door – today!
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“Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”
In his letter to the Galatians St. Paul writes: “Scripture confined all things under the power of sin, that through faith in Jesus Christ to promise might be given to those who believe…Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a disciplinarian. Through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus.”
We need to be clear. When Paul speaks about “faith” or “belief”, he isn’t talking about a faith or belief as something vague, obscure, invisible or unknowable; rather, he is referring to a faith – to paraphrase Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel – that hears the word of God and observes it. For Paul, faith is believing in the power of God’s word; faith is about believing that God’s word makes a difference; faith is about believing that we have a part to play in hearing – and observing – that word.
How can we hear, observe and act on the word of God, today?
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