GOD MORNING -- REEF LECTION -- aka DENIS DION

Reef Lection

It is said that plagiarism is the highest form of flattery.  Well, this is not really plagiarism, it is "copiarism."  This is the most dynamic way I have of saying "Amen" to the ideas found below.   
My brother's name is in the title.  Under the Pseudonym "Reef Lection" he puts out a short daily meditation.  He sends it only to a limited number of close friends and relatives and one enemy.  
For now, enjoy this special treat.  It's a keeper.
Paul Dion, enemy # 1  [(;-(-[


Book of Numbers 11: 25-29
Mark 9: 38-48

Two of the three Scripture passages chosen for today's Liturgy are remarkably similar.  In the Book of Numbers a ceremony takes place where Moses gathers a number of people.  At one point "...the Lord bestowed the "spirit"(taken from Moses) on seventy elders."  There are two other elders who were a part of the encampment who did not go to the gathering, but upon whom the "Spirit" was also bestowed, and went about the camp prophesying.  This did not set well with Joshua who had been Moses' aide since he was a lad.  He went to Moses and complained about these two guys.  They weren't doing anything wrong.  Just the opposite in fact.  Moses told Josh to cool his jets.  Hey, good is good, right?  In fact Moses says he wished the Lord would bestow the spirit on all of them.  Centuries later, undoubtedly by design, Jesus runs into the same thing.  Young John comes to Jesus to let Him know that there were some people who were chasing out demons in His name.  They were obviously people they didn't know and were not following Jesus day to day. Jesus says, "So what?  They are doing good aren't they, and they are invoking my Name to do it.  Isn't that just dandy?"  What Jesus actually said was, "There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me.  For anyone who is not against us is for us."  You really have to read these passages carefully and slowly to get the flavor of what Joshua says to Moses and what John says to Jesus.  There is definitely some jealousy there.  "These guys are stealing our thunder!"  I can truly relate to that.  For forty five years I worked in broadcasting, 25 in radio and 20 in television.  During those forty five years I made darn sure I got credit for whatever went out over the air with my voice on it.  In fact, I was fired from my last job in radio because my employer refused to pay me my "talent" fee.  We're talking $25.00.  During the 20 years I worked in television, I had to be very diligent on a daily basis to be sure they spelled my name correctly at the end of a broadcast when the "credit roll" comes up, and to be sure I was advised whenever a commercial with my voice on it was dubbed and sent to another TV station.  I got a one time "talent" fee for that.  Now we're talking even smaller potatoes, $6.50 per dub.  Over my 20 year tenure, I probably averaged $200.00 a year in "talent" fees.  Woohoo!  I was like a dog marking my territory and, God forbid, someone else should get credit for what I did, or, even worse, that I got no credit at all.  And for what?  Who even pays attention to the "credit roll" anyway?  Besides, most of the time it scrolls up so fast no one can read them anyway.  Pride!  Jealousy!  He's prophesying and we're not sure he should be!  He's healing and doing good in the name of MY Jesus.  How dare him/her!  What does it really matter.  Fortunately, that part of my life is behind me...way behind me, but I still have to ask myself if that kind of thinking still exists within me.  For example, How do I feel when I hear that you send these reflections out to other people that you know, and how do I know that you're not taking credit for them instead of me?  You know what?  I think that is just fabulous!  I truly hope you do that.  It does not matter whether I get the credit or you get the credit, because the one who should really get the credit in the Holy Spirit, for She is the author of most of these Reef Lections.  It doesn't matter whether it comes from me or from you or your neighbor.  What matters is that it comes in the name of Jesus.  Who cares where it came from?  When it touches your heart and brings you closer to Jesus, or to the Father or to the Holy Spirit, it is good!  And that is the essence of the message in the two Scripture passages for Sunday.  Whether from a bishop, a priest or minister, or deacon or a nobody, when it is done in the Name of Jesus, it is good, really good and worthy of His praise and glory!  Our job is to spread the Word anyway we can.  Alleluia!!! 

VALUE OF SUFFERING

There was an interesting thought that crept into my consciousness today.  I read that some one on a religious Internet site asked the question, "Is it right to ask God to cure my suffering?"  You have to admit that this is not your ordinary cute little challenging question such as makes the rounds on the Internet now and then.  You know the kind of question I mean.  The famous question about why we "get into an automobile but get on a bus."  No.  This is not a George Carlin question.  This is a real one coming from a spiritually alert person.   Not that I am saying that Carlin was not a spiritually alert person.   The reason why the question intrigues me is that if I were suffering I would not be shy about turning to God and asking Him to get me out of the situation.  This is a question that could only come from a Christian, more than likely a Catholic one at that.  But is is intriguing.  Why would anyone think that suffering is a morally proper state to live in?  Why would someone think that it would be sinful to wish to be relived of suffering?   I think I know why.   I do have some ideas that I will put on the table after I make a couple of short points.
~Suffering is not synonymous with pain.  My father lived for some 40 years with daily pain.  He led a fruitful life.  In fact, I saw him truly suffer for one whole year, one time, but not from what was causing him the pain.  He had contracted Rheumatic fever and it was excruciating.  Not from the pain, but from the forced inactivity.   Rheumatic fever is a very dangerous illness.
~I have a very exciting and fiery case of gout.  Since the age of  thirty-two I have endured this painful condition. I've never missed a day's work because of it.  I have it in just about every joint known to man and woman, and I suppose, God too.  Two years ago I was flat on my back for a couple of months.  True, for a while the pain was "killing" me.  I was suffering more from the situation that I was in than the pain.  I want you all to know that I prayed that I would walk through that valley and get high enough up on the sunny side of the hill to see something toward the future.  I did.  I am convinced that God did it.  He provided me with a loving community of generous people to help me through the valley of darkness.  
I think that the big difference between pain and suffering is that suffering is communitarian.  It affects the whole environment.  The pain of suffering is not necessarily physical.  In some cases it attacks your wallet more than your body.  In many cases it affects your identity as it relates to your place in the world.  I was in a wheel chair for about ten or twelve weeks and I have to say that I would have swapped an extra dose of bodily pain for freedom from that Satanical instrument of torture.
We have a very good example of the difference between suffering and pain in the Gospel of Luke.  The story of the rich man and the poor Lazarus.  The poor man lingered and loitered around the rich man's table to snag what he could falling from the table, despite the avaricious behavior of the rich man.  He even was satisfied to let the dogs lick his pullulating skin lesions.  He died and went to Heaven.  The rich man went to Hell.  There he suffered.  And how!  We never hear about the poor man's state of mind.  All we know is that he was not a very healthy individual.  
The people whom we see suffering in the Gospel are those who have not yet met Jesus or who have met Him and rejected him.  We have to believe that the Pharisees, as religiously fervent as they were had to be extremely uncomfortable around Him.  The Sadduccees even worse.  
Consider Judas.  He suffered so badly that he did himself in.
That brings me to the reason why it is perfectly correct to pray to be delivered from suffering.  It is, briefly, because in that prayer, we meet Jesus.  We humans relate to the pain of Jesus.  We wonder how He could have lived though it all for so long.  Actually, the physical torture was nothing compared to the centuries of rejection that the Father, Son and Spirit had undergone at the hands of the Chosen People to that point.  It is because of that personally insulting rejection that Jesus was suffering.  It is because He is the only One who knows the depth of that suffering and has lived it in His divinity that He can save us from committing that very sin.  It is therefore easy for me to say that the value of suffering lies in the fact that it puts us in the same situation as Jesus was.  This unity between Him and us is so intimate that our suffering becomes His and we are delivered from owning it.  When we unite ourselves with Jesus on this very intimate level, our suffering is offered for the spiritual good of others.  In this intimate relationship, physical pain, though present, becomes unimportant.
It is through the example of Jesus that we know that suffering is a communitarian reality.  He did not do it alone.  He did not do it for me or for anybody else personally.  He did it for the People.  He did it for the human race.  He did it for the sons of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, i.e., for us all.  He did it in public.  He did it in the main street of the Holy City.  The City over which He had shed bitter tears.  The City that had killed Prophets.  When we suffer, it is not we who suffer.  It is we and Jesus.  When it is WE and JESUS, the pain is secondary.
So that is where the question is born.  "If we are so close to Jesus in suffering, shouldn't it be wrong to pray for it to stop?"  The answer is no for three good reasons.
ONE.  Even Jesus prayed for it to stop.  Remember?  It didn't, but He suffered in the presence of His Father.  Just as we suffer in His presence for His Will to be done.
TWO.  Among the scoffers and the indifferent passers-by there were those who were impressed by the strength of the person being tortured.  Jesus even won one of them over.  That's the goal.  That's our goal too.  But we can only get it if we are suffering in and with the Father, Son and Spirit.
THREE.  When He resurrected, look at all the unfinished business He cleaned up.  It's after He suffered that He told the Apostles to get going and to spread the word.  When we are delivered from our suffering, Jesus knows that we will do everything in our capability to spread the word.


Finally, suffering is good because it teaches the one who goes through it with Jesus and comes out the other side to pitch in and try harder to be a more faithful and righteous disciple.    In my case, this part was done for me.  My loving and devoted spouse, Belle, promised God that if He got me through it, she and I would offer the rest of our lives working for Him.  Now you know why I don't want anybody crying at my funeral.

JESUS, MY GOD, I NEED YOU

The other night I caved in to the nagging of my Lord, Jesus. He dragged me to a night of recollection, reflection and meditation especially tailored to volunteer ministers of the parish. It's not that I didn't want to go. It's just that I have negative feelings about going in front of Jesus on someone else's terms rather than my own. Yes, even if the someone else happens to be Jesus, Himself. OK, I went. I thought that I had crossed the highest and hardest hurdle just going over the outgoing threshhold of my comfortable abode. Boy, was I ever in for an attitude adjustment!
I got there a little bit late. After the opening prayer. I was surprised. The place was chock-a-block with faithful church people. I mean, the creme-de-la-creme of the church people in this parish, anyway. I immediately prayed to the Divine Nagger, "not with this crowd! I told You I didn't want to come." He took pity on me and showed me to a seat in the dark corner of the back row.

See, He does have some Mercy left in Him.

The preacher is a person known to be creative, voluble, facile and articulate in his delivery. This evening he was creative and cautiously articulate in his second language. I was happy for that. I figured that he would have a greater problem with his task than I with my situation. He started by telling a cute little story about commitment and when he finished asked us all: "On a scale of
10% to 110%, how much percent do you dedicate to your ministry?" Hey, wait a minute. Is this meditation or confession?
Now the Divine Nagger gets in on the act and says in a solid, non-wavering tone into my left heart, "Stop complaining and answer the question."
So I do. It's not easy because I am a tough grader and besides, I know He's watching. (No, I'm not going to tell you what grade I gave myself.)
I hear a little whisper, "Hmmm, looks like we've got some work to do, eh?"
I hate it when He gives me that Canadian accent! So I say, "Let's move on, shall we?"

Indeed, the preacher did proceed to say a few inane things until the Holy Spirit took the upper hand again and I hear something like, "When you go to Jesus, why do you go?" I can't believe my ears. This is really tough, lightning and thunder stuff here. Why do I go to Jesus? Moi? Well, of cour...
"Careful, now, I'm right here, you know."
Well, let me see...WOW, mostly when I want something, I guess. But that's your fault because you said that You and Your Father would give us anything we asked for.
"Very well, I see that you need a moment to think about this. Please come up with something better than "...but you said..." so I'll back away a bit, but I'll be back in about a minute."
Boy, He can be tough. Now I know how Peter felt when He cornered him on the shore in Galilee. I better make nice and find a diplomatic way to say some hard truth.
"So, you want to be diplomatic, eh? Now that's a new side to you. You haven't gone over to Be____ub, now have you?"
No, Lord, of course not. I won't try to be diplomatic. I'll just cough it out. I ask for more than I give, that's true. I also think that it is true that I use a lot of it to give to the Mission that You expect me to do. I also know that I go to You a lot to thank You for the graces You give me. I go to Your altar a lot to partake in the Eternal Food that is Your Body and Blood. I bet You're going to say that I should share your love of me with my 'neighbor', right? You're going to say that I should stop and think before talking. You're going to say that I should give more to the collection, be nicer to Your priests and think better thoughts about non-Catholics.
"Ah, Paul, Paul. Get off your high horse and tell Me you love Me more. Open your eyes and look to Me for the answers to the ministerial problems that you have. When you ask Me for something, let it be for something that I want to get done. You remind Me so much of Jonah."
I told you that He is tough.
He is also smooth and merciful. He still keeps me healthy. He gives me more than I want and fills all my needs. He is there to talk to me when I need company. I am glad that I have known Him all my life and never have been tempted to leave Him. With Grace like that, I don't need anyone crying at my funeral.