The TRUTH is LIGHT

Luke 11: 33 - 36

[33] "No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. [34] Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. [35] See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. [36] Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you."

Luke puts these words into the mouth of Jesus. They contain more truth than a lot of people can deal with. We all go through life experiencing the lack of truth around us. We all go through life wondering who among us is living the truth through and through. There are very few people, if any, who shine brightly with the inner truth of God’s presence. Like the philosopher Diogenes, we find ourselves living in a barrel, walking the streets in broad daylight carrying a lighted lamp, seeking an honest person shining with internal truth, fearless in sharing it. Mostly what we find are people who consider what they do and what they say as truthful because it accommodates their opinion and their comfort zone. I’m sure that you’re looking for examples. OK, here we go. Look for yourself here, because you and I are here somewhere.

“Are you honest in all that you do?”
“I certainly am”
“Do you know anyone who is completely honest?”
“HHmmmm, well… not really.”
“So, you don’t trust anyone else then?”
“Well, I trust some people.”
“So they are completely honest, then?”
“Well, not really.”
“So, why do you trust them?”
“Well, because I know them.”
“So what you mean is that you know what not to trust them with?”
“Exactly.”
“Isn’t that a little confusing? Do you make mistakes sometimes?”
“Oh, yes I do. But then I know how to protect myself against that person’s weakness.”
“Do you have a test that you can use?”
“I have one for money and one for time.”
“Let’s try the money one first.”
“If you ask me to borrow $5.00 I will never say ‘no’ the first time.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. I have a conviction that $5.00 is an inexpensive way to find a friend.”
“So, what about the ‘time’ test?”
“I am always punctual. I give everyone about 3 minutes’ leeway for appointments. If a person makes me wait longer than that, even the first time, I will no longer trust that person to be on time no matter what.”
“Isn’t everyone late now and then?”
“Of course, that’s why I said that there are no honest people except me.”
“So you have dishonest friends?”
“No, I have dishonest acquaintances who think that I am their friend.”
“Doesn’t that make you dishonest?”
“…AAhhhh…!?!”

It is true that we live in a world that is complicated. For some reason it is practically impossible for us to be as pure and truthful as the light of the candle. The candle never lies. When it is not lit, it isn’t very useful. There are times when even when it is lit, it is not useful, such as in broad daylight. Then again, there are times when in broad daylight a lit candle can be useful…such as helping to take away the odor of cooked fish from the room. Then again, an unlit candle can also serve as a simple decoration in a small room. St. Luke’s example of a candle then, can carry more than one lesson. Perhaps the most basic one is that a candle is never anything but a candle. We children of God can appear to be candles of truth and honesty, but in reality affect the world in deceiving ways. The difficulty that we have is that we consider ourselves to be truthful and honest. We don’t ever worry about our lack of honesty or truthful purity. Part of the reality of this is that there are several faces to the truth as we know it. Let’s take a professional athlete as an example. Again, look for yourself here, we are all here.

Executive: “Professional Athlete, you’ve been good for this team for several years now.”
P.A. “Thanks. I enjoy being here.”
Ex. “It’s good having you. We do have a little problem though.”
P.A. “OK, let’s here it.”
Ex. “We are having a cash problem. We will not be able to renew your contract.”
P.A. “Really? I don’t make as much as certain others on the team.”
Ex. “That is true, but your salary is closer to the amount that we have to cut than the others. You know how that is, it’s kind of like eating your cake without seeing it disappear.”
P.A. “OK, so I guess I don’t have a choice, right?”
Ex. “Sadly, we have made a corporate decision, and you are it.”

Every reader of adult age knows that there is some truth and some untruth contained in this conversation. The Professional Athlete may not know what the other two or three facets of the truth regarding his relationship with the team are. Perhaps it is the Giant who doesn’t like small people; or it’s the Neat Freak who doesn’t like slobs; perhaps it is the union steward who hates the fact that Professional Athlete refuses to join the union. Professional Athlete may never know the true reason why he was cut from the team. The Executive will sleep well every single night because he will be comfortable that he didn’t lie to the Professional Athlete. He’ll never once think that he wasn’t honest because after all what he did say was in some ways the more compelling part of the whole truth.

So we are left with the conviction that there are no honest people in the world, except ourselves. We are convinced that even the pastors and bishops of our church are not perfectly honest in their relationship with the world.
We faithful church goers too are often left wondering about just how honest our leaders are. We see our pastors come and go. We see our teachers come and go. Often we are left with nothing but neutral pulpit announcements; often we are left with nothing except the disappearance of a name from the bulletin after the appearance of a new face on campus. These events always make us wonder about the basic honesty in our environment. Where is the candle? Is it lit? Is it off? Is it under a bushel?

We faithful Catholic churchgoers know where to look for the candle. We walk into the church and we see it burning calmly and steadfastly just before the sacramental home of Jesus Christ. The red candle is our beacon of honesty. That red candle is the light on the mountaintop. It is the presence of Jesus Christ transfigured before our very eyes, twenty-four hours a day, into the hot flame of love and justification. It is the light of generosity, of hospitality and of constant comfort. It is the light that no human can extinguish. It is the light that never stops giving, never stops guiding and never stops warming our hearts. No matter how complex our world of fractional truth becomes, the light hanging in the house of God is not fragmented. It is whole. It is Holy. It is simple. It is one. It calls us to be honest, to be simple, to be loving and generous. It lights the path that leads to the One for whom it burns. Let’s let it set our hearts on fire with the Love that fired up the heart of Jesus.

If we follow that light, it will guide us to the eternal happiness of heaven. If we follow that light, there will never be any crying at my funeral nor at anyone else’s.

NEW CHILD AT OUR HOUSE

We have this cute little girl at our house. She was sent to us by God and we love her.
Even our children love her. They have no jealousy about the love that we pour into this little lady. In fact, they contribute generously in pouring their love out to her. When we are not there, they hold her hand to help her take a few halting steps. They warm her water, her milk and her soup with great joy. For the most part, she looks at them with a wide, toothless smile and returns their love.
She is a little different. She's about 4 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs about 62 pounds. She has some very sneaky tricks up her sleeve. She loves to make everyone think that she doesn't understand English. She also loves to make everyone think that she is very hard of hearing. None of this is really true, but we all go along with the joke because that is one of her favorite games. She can't fake us out with her eyesight though, we all know that it is sharp beyond expectations, especially when it is focused on the neighbors' houses. We have to admit that we enjoy the stories that she creates from her observations from the sitting room windows. We enjoyed her fabrications about the rocky relationship between the two young people from across the court. It is always humorous to hear the quasi-fiction that she weaves. It is also interesting to listen to the semi-fiction that she spins about some of the souls who spend a lot of time caring for her. The rolling of eyes among the family members is rather comical in itself.
People come and go and she relentlessly asks them if they have eaten if they are arriving; the question is the same as they prepare to leave and it is repeated several times during the day to any and all who pass in front of her. It is her way of reaching out to those she loves. She is careful not to insert herself too deeply into the kitchen, being especially careful about not playing with the electric stove. She has found out that it is quite mysterious to have a stove that doesn't have a flame. She has learned how to warm her drinking water by using the microwave oven. She has also come around to cooking rice in the automatic rice cookers that rest on the kitchen counter.
One of the more humorous, although dangerous portions of her antics, is her constant effort to escape from inside the house and head for the garden. We keep telling her that it is dangerous for her to try to negotiate the stairs without help, but our counsel just goes in one ear and out the other. We have found her crumpled up on the driveway, at the foot of the steps, struggling to get back on her feet. It's always a laugh to see her frightened looks. We know that she is not afraid of the fall, but of the fact that she has been caught off base. She accepts our help to return to the sitting room where she sits with hanging head and listens to our admonitions. No matter how much we tell her that she could fall and nearly kill herself or handicap herself physically, she just laughs because so far, every time she has fallen, she has come out smelling like a rose. The one thing that does happen though, is that her asthma and enphysema attack her, and that is always a sobering experience.
This cute little girl is my dear mother-in-law, 88 year old Florfina. I have featured her here before. She has not always been as hale and hardy as she is at this moment. She provides the family with happiness and joy. She is herself enjoying a return to her childhood, true enough, but it is not always a happy trip. I am often reminded of the words that Jesus told Peter after asking him for a third time, "Do you love me?" and Peter
said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you. "

Jesus then said to him,
"Feed my sheep. Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go. " (John 21:15-19)Florfina is in the unenviable position of many older human beings who have to live their lives out under very restrictive conditions. They have sharp, dynamic minds, good eyesight, good hearing, good appetite for food and so many other things struggling for expression in bodies so debilitated that they are prisoners of their longevity. They have good families who surround them with love, psychological, spiritual and emotional stimulation as well as physical care in comfortable circumstances. I, like the rest of us who participate in her ongoing care are enjoying ourselves. We like being around her because she is a good example of how to struggle with being gracious while being under siege to old age. Through her, God is telling us the same thing that He told Peter 2,000 years ago. It is like living the Gospel every day, right before our very eyes.

The point of all this is that there is a huge human and spiritual upside to giving loving care to our aging parents. This is more than obeying the 4th commandement, this is Love in action. This is the answer to the Mission given to us by Jesus to care for the sick, sustain the widows, etc. It is a two way street. Happy care givers in the person of children and extended family members provide truly pure consolations to all the members of the household, young and old, strong and weak, loud and quiet as well as close and distant. Don't look for a "HOME", create one. By doing so, you will bring God into the space that exists under your roof. That, in short, means that you will already be living in a small corner of heaven.
Try it, you'll like it. Then you will know that there is absolutely no reason to cry at my funeral.

A LITTLE CORNER OF HEAVEN

Jack and Charlie

Two 80 -year-old men, Jack and Charlie, had been friends all of their lives. When it was clear that Jack was dying, Charlie visited him every day. One day Charlie said, 'Jack, we both loved playing golf most our lives, and we played many years, and on many different courses. Please do me one favor: when you get to Heaven, somehow you must let me know if there's a golf course there.'

Jack looked up at Charlie from his death bed and said, 'Charlie, you've been my best friend for many years. If it's at all possible, I'll do this favor for you.' Shortly after that, Jack passed on. At midnight the following Friday, Charlie was awakened from a sound sleep by a blinding flash of white light and a voice calling out to him, 'Charlie, Charlie, my dear friend.' 'Who is it?' asked Charlie, sitting up suddenly. 'Who is it?' Charlie -- it's me, Jack.' 'You're not Jack. Jack just died.' 'I'm telling you , it's me, Jack,' insisted the voice. 'Jack! Where are you?' 'In Heaven,' replied Jack. 'I have some really good news and a little bit of other news.' 'Tell me the good news first,' said Charlie. The good news,' Jack said, 'is that there's Golf in Heaven. Better yet, all of our old buddies who died before us are here, too. Better than that, we're all young again. Better still, it's always springtime, and it never rains or snows. And best of all, we can play golf all we want, and we never get tired.' 'That's fantastic,' said Charlie. 'It's beyond my wildest dreams! So what's the other news' 'You're in our foursome Tuesday.'

Now, see, this is what I've been telling you all, "No Crying at my Funeral."
I do have some reservations though. I hate golf. But I do love pinochle and beer; bridge and scotch and Bourbon and ceviche with fresh chips.

Now I know what I'm going to get when I go to heaven.

And you all thought I had no sense of humor.

BIBLICAL GEOGRAPHY IS THE FIFTH GOSPEL

I agree with Phil Bloom. I agree with the reflections and meditations and homelies found in the magazine today. They are well thought out and underscore the spiritual depth of the authors. I appreciate them all. They make me think and they make me reach out to God Himself. In that sense, I know that it is going to be a good weekend. I am going to add something to the weekend because I hardly ever am given the opportunity to meditate on the impact that the geography of the Gospels has on what it is that God is trying to tell us. Homelists don't consider it important, I guess.

This is the second Sunday that important revelatory spiritual events take place. None of them occur in the "Holy Land" but in The territory of the pagans, the "others", like the Greeks and the Romans. Last Sunday we heard the story of the Canaanite woman with the daughter possessed by demons. This Sunday we hear the confession of Peter. Next Sunday we are going to hear about Peter begging Jesus not to go to Jerusalem. Jesus is then going to tell Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan." Whoa! Where did that come from? Read on.
In these three Sunday stories, geography is important. Jesus is spending some time in the mixed territory of the Greek and Roman empires. There are very few Jews here (Hebrews). Jesus and His people are over 100 miles to the north of the spiritual heart of the Promised Land. The Temple is 4 or 5 days of foot travel away. The people who are approaching Jesus are "foreigners", not of the chosen people, yet they confess His Divine Power in front of His Jewish disciples. These disciples who are Orthodox Jews (Hebrews) of proper religion and blood. The "foreign" people stand up in front of Him and ask for what they need. They bargain with Him and they get what they request. Next Sunday, Peter, the tough guy, the ONE who has been told that he is the Rock, the foundation of the new community is going to act just like a real Jew, he is going to say, "Don't talk like that, nothing like that is going to happen to you." Yup, this is the same Peter who asked to walk on water but who doubted once his feet got wet. This is the same Peter who heard the Syro-Phoenician woman tell Jesus, "Even the dogs eat from the droppings of the king's table." All this is happening in territory that is not spiritually orthodox. Did Jesus make a mistake by coming here? NO. Jesus is the quintessential missionary. Son of David, Son of God does not camp out in Jerusalem (City of Peace), he grows up and preaches in the land of Israel, not in the land of Judah. He goes to Jerusalem to fulfill the law that says that all Jewish men must go to the Temple to pray at least once per year. The rest of the time He operates in the North, in Galilee. He spreads the message to the Chosen People and the "foreigners" in the North showing them that He is sent by the Father to EVERYONE, not just to the sons of Judah but to all the people of God. He shows them that the fisherman takes all that he catches on board and sorts it out when he gets to the dock. He teaches them that God chose them for a purpose, and the He is among them to teach them what the purpose is.

Finally, at the end He goes to Jerusalem and meets the rabid community of the Chosen People around the Temple. They capture Him and do Him in by using the Roman military to carry out the deed. This fulfills the history of the prophets sent by God to the Chosen people...they preached and were killed because of the hardness of heart of the people.

These Gospel stories are geography lessons. They are stories of revelation. They are also history lessons of where the Chosen People of God settled and how they related to Him. The people of the North (Israel) were considered to be hicks and red-necks by the snobs of the South (Judah).

Listen to the stories that are being recounted at the Sunday Masses this month. Matthew is telling us a lot. He is telling us that the revelation of God is not meant only for a select few, but for EVERYONE, circumcized or not; born in Judah or born in Syria, Phoenicia or Rome.
If you want to have a better understanding and a greater appreciation of the revelation contained in the Sacred Scripture, read the map every time you read the Bible. Try not to die before you get to meet Jesus on His home turf.

Remember that you heard it here. It will help you to hold back your tears at my funeral.

VOTE YOUR CONSCIENCE

You will notice that the whole of the country has "politics fever" these days. There is even a new book by a Catholic Archbishop about Catholicism and politics. Some of the thoughts in the book are very challenging. They fly in the face of some of the "conventional wisdom" that we encounter every day. In fact, some of his statements even fly in the face of our conscience. What? Why do I say that? Hang on to your false teeth, this isn't going to be an easy ride.

Remember the blog post about yoga? We stated the position of the Church about yoga. We even quoted a document from the Vatican. There are people to this day who will not read us because they think we are some kind of right wing organization. Why, even the archbishop of Los Angeles has said some nice things about yoga, so there.

Remember the one about lying? We clung to the tight line and said that lying was wrong, even just a little bit no matter what. We got swatted for that one too. After all, everyone lies, sometime. My position is, unless you're lying to the Gestapo or the SSS to save some poor waif's life, it's wrong. There see, I made a concession.

We all know deep down that killing is wrong, but do you remember the blog post in which we said that it is wrong to perform an abortion even to save the mother's life? We took heat from that one too. Sam Brownback who brought it up to begin with really caused a dust storm over it.

Permit me to go out of the "No Crying at my Funeral" box a little bit and talk about bribery. We all know that it is wrong. It is so wrong that we cluck our tongues when we see the situation that the third world lives in because of the rampant bribery that takes place there. We are all very sure that it doesn't take place here. Really? Are we sure why the telecom companies got protected? Why we don't have autos that run on hydrogen yet? Why the fleet average of the major auto makers has gone up out of sight over the last decade? Why just about all the construction contracts in Iraq have gone to one or two companies? We know in our hearts that there are plenty of right hands being washed by the left ones in the whole mess, now don't we? Yes we do. These observations have all contributed to dulling our consciences to the hard, cold edge of the Truth. We all think that it is OK to lie, cheat and steal, just a little bit from anyone and everyone because it makes our life easier. So what conscience are we left with when it comes time to vote?

Is it the conscience that says that abortion is wrong? Is it the one that knows that an unprovoked war is wrong? Is it the one that gets angry at the misuse and exploitation of our natural resources? Is it the one that abhors bribery in any form, even lobbying? Is it the one that gets inflamed at the thought that there are people who bend the law with impunity because they have gobs and gobs of money? Is it the one that lashes out at the injustice of wasted food when it is very clear that if the world cared more, hunger could be appeased by perhaps as much as 50%? Is it the one that gets enraged at the uncaring "professionals" who run our schools so incompetently that even high school graduates have to take remedial reading classes before going to college? Is it the one that gets frustrated into rage when the shambles of our medical care system lets hundreds of thousand people die every year because they can't afford to get the care that they need? I ask again, what conscience are we left with when it comes time to vote?

Do we vote for the Evangelical Christian who will support Israel at any cost? Do we vote for the Catholic who thinks that open borders are the only way to live? What about voting for the Republican who decides that every living person in the United States should have an identification card? Then there's the Democrat who will go all out to assure that there will be a constitutional amendment making way for same-sex marriage? What about the Baptist who is kicking and scratching every day of his life to preserve the electrification subsidies of his section of the country although there isn't a single nano-watt more needed there? Oh, I nearly forgot, what about the person who is more in favor of growing more corn for fuel than for supplying the food chain? Will your conscience allow you to vote for the candidate who will vow to pass legislation to euthanize all abandoned pet animals? Yes, what conscience are we left with when it comes time to vote?

We are only left with the conscience that we allow God to enlighten for us. Life is too complex for us to do it on our own. The activist will fight on and vote one way; the pacifist will vote another way; the monk will see things differently; the mother will have her conscience and the father his. The only way to make this a little more understandable is to remember that God is the equalizer. We have the duty to study, research and learn about as much as we can. The bottom line is what we learn from God by living close to Him. Even the best candidate cannot know everything. Politics is too big and too complex. Only God can enlighten us, both, politician and plain citizen alike. Only a close relationship with God can bring the peace that we pray for. It is paradoxical, but the more we abandon of ourselves to God, the more successful we become in enlightening our conscience concerning the morality to be practiced on the public stage. In and through God we find light and strength. Is that the conscience we will have whenit comes time to vote?

So, when you hear or read this again, "Vote Your Conscience", hope and pray that what you have in your heart is God, and what you have is His finger hitting the screen to the right choice. It is impossible to be a one issue citizen. It is impossible to be a one issue candidate. All we can hope to be is one with the Truth, the Truth who lives in us. That is the kind of unity that can bring peace to the nation and to the world.

Now, I know it is not safe to talk politics in front of strangers, but I did anyway. Anyone who can be that brave (or that foolhardy) won't have anyone crying at his funeral. Right?