The Lord Hears the Cries of the Poor

 

Certainly, Jesus urged a focus on the poor, but although in the Gospels many people cried out to Him, the Gospels never mention anyone crying out for money.  It’s been my personal experience that most poor people aren’t crying out for money, although they might benefit from things money could buy, or by my standards they might.

Once we were helping fix a poor woman’s dilapidated house, when a volunteer noted that “she has a bigger screen TV than I do.”  I asked the woman why.  She said it was due to an inheritance, “and I wanted it.”  I said: “but you have no food, and your house is falling down.”  She didn’t respond to that because I hadn’t asked a question, and she perceived “what is” as just being “what is.”  It was the way she lived.

Jesus came and changed “what is,” and by His life showed a different way of living, with a different focus.  “Love as I have loved (God and neighbor), and you will have eternal life.”  The world is focused on self and things for self, but Jesus did not teach getting things for self, but of a total giving of self.  He didn’t create rich people, or powerful people, or beautiful people --- all of which God could do.  He never forced anything on anyone, but now people could “choose” eternal happiness. He showed them how, and then demonstrated the results by rising from the dead.

Those who like their lives, of money, power or beauty, find it hard to let go of that focus on self.  And so, they rarely cry out to God, even for an eternal life which will bring them immensely more joy than these earthly things --- but just not yet.  It’s ironic that people buy options on future events for a monetary payback, but they don’t want to option for eternal payback.  Because it’s not money, it seems to be a payback they just can’t bet on, because they can’t feel it --- until He comes again.

Jesus never said to eliminate the poor to His disciples, but to tell them how to get eternal life; they are much more open minded to listen.  Perhaps that’s why surveys show the happiest people on earth are in the poorest places, which readily accept Christianity.  They have nothing earthly to give up now to gain an eternal happiness.      

Be a Shining Light

 

As is often the case, as I read tomorrow’s Gospel (Lk 11:27-36) and Fr. Bartunek’s reflections in The Better Part, my soul was touched.

 

Jesus is trying to convince us to be like the sun, instead of desiring only to receive, which makes us like a black hole.

 

What a wise reflection!  Often our “Godly” thoughts are about our need to get more of Christ, to understand the light of His teachings, and then put them deep into our hearts.  That sounds like a good thing to do.  But if that is all we do, we are just like a black hole, sucking it all in.  As Bartunek notes, Jesus, who is the Eternal Light, wants us to be like the sun.  Jesus came to show us how to be like the Eternal Light, which is (as He explained) to love God and neighbor with all our heart.  That is acting as He created us to be, in His Image.

We shouldn’t just let His teachings change our hearts, but exude that change in our lives, so others can see the light.  Whether you seriously take or “have a right to” everything you want while in this world, we were not created to just be like black holes, sucking it all in.

I so often notice the bright shining sun these days, the peek in the morning, the radiance all day, and then it seems I always notice the last peek at night.  And on many cloudy rainy days, there always seems to be one small opening in the heavens, where I saw the sun shining. The sun reminds me of God, and His love for me.  But just watching His beauty isn’t good enough. 

We were made to be a shining light.

I Didn't Know That

 

I’ve often run into Christian believers who didn’t know that the Gospel speaks of two separate “feeding of the thousands.”  In reading reflections (from The Better Part) on tomorrow’s Gospel (Lk 10), it struck me as a new understanding of Jesus’ sending out His followers on a missionary journey.  There were two of these events recorded also.  Either I forgot (which is likely) or I didn’t know the importance of the separate events.

In the Gospel, Jesus sends 72 disciples in front of Him, in pairs of two.  He had previously sent out the 12 of his apostles.  While The Better Part reflections (#185) speak the numbers as relating to the Catholic Church’s hierarchy structure, it also speaks of evangelistic failures, “Wipe the dust from your feet.”  Fr. Bartunek comments:

“If Christ Himself suffered seeming failures in the apostolate, should we expect anything more?  The greatest danger for an apostle is discouragement.  Discouragement comes from unfulfilled expectations.  To avoid discouragement, therefore, Jesus points out what our expectations need to be.  If we seek only to please the Lord, the Lord will indeed be pleased, even if no one else is.

“The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few.”  Imagine the emotion behind those words.  They express a sense of urgency, a burning desire to reach out to all the men and women who so desperately need direction, meaning, and true love in their lives, and to lead them into the Kingdom.  So many needs, so many souls ripe for the Good News!  And yet so few of Christ’s followers are willing to go out and gather them in.  The true friends of Christ, the ones He can really count on, will let His yearning love echo in their hearts, and reverberate in their action.

The point Jesus is making is to just love, act with love.  That’s all He asks.  We don’t need to make elaborate plans, just go out into the world, with love as He did.

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Leading into that Gospel and Fr. Bartunek’s commentary are two quotes which are just great:

Adapt yourself with gracious and charitable compliance to all your neighbor’s weaknesses.  In particular, make a rule to hide your feelings in many inconsequential matters.  Give up all bitterness towards your neighbor, no matter what.  And be convinced that your neighbor is in everything better than you.  … each day, look for every possible opportunity to do a kindness for those you do not like.   
                                                                           -- St. John Baptist de la Salle

I am convinced that there is a great need for the whole Church to rediscover the joy of evangelization, to become a community inspired with missionary zeal to make Jesus better known and loved.
                                                            --  Pope Benedict XVI