To Be Chosen

For evening prayer last night our Director chose to do a method of Lectio Divina (Reading from Scripture) with Meditatio (Meditation).

The passage he chose was that of Jesus' call to the disciples--his call to follow him. Several words stood out from what he read: "Come," "See," "Hear," "Find," "Follow," "Chosen," and "Love."

These words came together for me in the following way: "Come and see and hear so that you may find and follow because you were chosen to love." Maybe a bit of stretch, but it speaks to me.

Today's readings for Tuesday of the first week of Advent, I think, speak to this: God call us, God chooses us, do we choose to respond to his love? Are we not always being invited to "come and see and hear so that we may find, leading us to follow because of our being chosen to love?"

The 1st Reading for today from Isaiah is the famous reading of the peaceable kingdom:

"Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;The calf and the young lion shall browse together,with a little child to guide them.The cow and the bear shall be neighbors,together their young shall rest;the lion shall eat hay like the ox.The baby shall play by the cobra’s den,and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair.There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain;for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD,as water covers the sea."

Are we not called to love so that we may create this peaceable kingdom? Are we not chosen to love for this purpose? We are given the gifts to make it possible in our being chosen, the first part of this reading, is clear about what the Spirit will provide us:

"The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him:a Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, A Spirit of counsel and of strength,a Spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD, and his delight shall be the fear of the LORD. Not by appearance shall he judge,nor by hearsay shall he decide, But he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land’s afflicted. He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips."

Has God not chosen us like Isaiah speaks of Jesse? Has not God allowed a shoot to "sprout from our stump" and from our "roots a bud shall blossom?" Are we not to be the "signal for the nations" Isaiah speaks about? We are chosen to make the peaceable kingdom alive in our lives. We are chosen to love so much so that we become that peaceable kingdom.

Continuing on the topic of being chosen--Jesus speaks of the same in today's gospel. Jesus says: "No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him."

The question is do we allow Jesus to reveal himself, to reveal the Father to us? Do we recognize that we have been chosen?

A wonderful Advent theme: to be revealed. We are preparing for the revelation of God the Father in his Son, Jesus. Let us prepare our hearts daily to recognize how Jesus is revealed to us at all times.

In this Advent season, let us recommit ourselves and our hearts to the revelation of Christ. Let us open our eyes and see Jesus being revealed to us, see the beauty it is to be chosen!

Salvation for All

The following stands out from today's readings.

From Isaiah 4:2-6

"He who remains in Zion / and he who is left in Jerusalem / Will be called holy: / every one marked down for life in Jerusalem."

"Then will the LORD create, / over the whole site of Mount Zion / and over her place of assembly, / A smoking cloud by day / and a light of flaming fire by night. / For over all, the LORD’s glory will be shelter and protection: / shade from the parching heat of day, / refuge and cover from storm and rain."

From Matthew 8:5-11

"For I too am a man subject to authority..."

"When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, / 'Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. / I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, / and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob / at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven.' "

I can't help but see a message of salvation being spoken in the passages. They speak of the salvation that will take place at the end time. It is then that "we will be called holy" and that "many will come from the east and the west" to "the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven."

For who will savation come? The Prophet Isaiah is clear, "For over all, the Lord's glory will be shelter and protection..." Jesus is just as clear, "many will come..."

This is a beautiful Advent message. As we "wait in joyful expectation" the spirit of the season is one of hope. When Jesus comes he is hope for all, that is, salvation for all. God is calling us to holiness by following the path completed in the birth of his son Jesus. Jesus is the path. It was the coming that made salvation possible for all.

If salvation is possible for all, then what is required of us? Faith. A lived faith. A faith that recognizes, like the centurion in today's gospel, that we are all subject to authority. Not an authority to fear, but one to recognize. Daniel Harrington, S.J., writes: "It [Advent] is an occassion for us to examine ourselves and try to see where the works of darkness may have entered. But moral conversion is not the whole story. Rather, the positive challenge is 'to put on the Lord Jesus Christ.' That means allowing our lives to be shaped even more by and better conformed to the person of Christ."

Let us then be hope for all, Jesus for all. Let us truly be Catholics, let us be universal. Who are the Gentiles of today that we are called to love? Who are the Gentiles that have much to teach us and instead we make Gentiles out of them? Let us love all.

Faith, Hope, and Love--and the greatest of these is Love.

WAIT!

It is a cold, Sunday night here in the novitiate. It's been a nice weekend. A lot of celebrating.

Yesterday, we "celebrated" the life of Br. Antonio Gonzaga. Br. Antonio died last Monday at the age of 84. It was a beautiful funeral. The eulogy, given by Br. James Riordan, focused on Br. Antonio as a man who was ever-present to life, to the present moment. In the evening, the LEO Center (Oakland) celebrated their friends (donors) with a nice presentation and dinner held here at Mont La Salle. Seven students spoke about their experience of LEO and how much of an impact it has had on them--one even brought us all to tears.

Today, we celebrated the beginining of Advent--the beginning of our preparation. Various Brothers have told me how much the novitiate year lends itself to really entering into the liturgical year and its seasons. It's been a gift to already feel that experience. I think one of the practices that helps make that possible is our "shared prayer" based on each Sunday's readings. Once a week, usually on Saturday mornings, we read the upcoming Sunday readings and each of us shares a reflection on them. A very good practice.

With the beginning of Advent, it is a great opporunity to really enter into the season and not rush into the Christmas season. This Sunday's reading came from Isaiah, Psalm 122, Paul's letter to the Romans, and the Gospel according to Matthew.

A couple of phrases struck me in the readings.

From Isaiah: "Come, let us climb the Lord's mountain,/ to the house of the God Jacob,/ that he may instruct us in his way/ and we may walk in his paths./ O house of Jacob, come,/ let us walk in the light of the Lord."

From Psalm 122: "Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord." (one of my favorite Spanish liturgical songs is based on this verse of Psalm 122)

From Paul's letter to the Romans: "It is the hour now for you to awake from sleep./ Let us then throw off the works of darkness/ and put on the armor of light..."

From the Gospel: "Therefore, stay awake!"

As I reflected on these passages, the Interior Life document from the Brothers' recent General Chapter in Rome came to mind. The Interior Life document speaks of being Brothers with "eyes wide open;" Brothers who live a spirituality of "mystical realism;" and Brothers who are "captured" as a result. I think this is very much an Advent message: "eyes wide open," "mystical realism," and "captured."

The readings call us to the people on the way ("Come, let us climb the mountain of the Lord"), on the way with eyes wide open ("...awake from your sleep") going toward the mystical realism, toward the light rejoicing so that we truly are awakened by the light, that is, captured by Jesus. The Gospel speaks of the end of time, the end of the world and our need to prepared. Yes, an Advent message: We should be captivated by the light this season, captivated by hope, by the coming of Jesus, that we may live with eyes wide open, awakened, so that hope triumphs over fear, light prevails over darkness. All this so that Jesus becomes the path in our life, the path to the Father. We are from God and are a people on the way back to God.

The Advent season is all about preparation. Preparing our hearts to once again renew our commitment, welcome again Jesus and let him once again be that path that leads us "rejoicing to the house of the Lord."

I titled this reflection WAIT because of the need in our world today to really prepare for the coming of our Savior. Let's not skip to "Christmas" without taking the time to wait and prepare our hearts. Let us WAIT to truly have the opportunity to realize what the "happiest time of the year" is all about.

I have made it a goal of mine this Advent to practice waiting in the practical ways of life. I was inspired by a reflection I read by a Jesuit priest who gives some "first advent-week hints:"

"Contrary to popular expectations, Advent decorations are more helpful than Christmas decorations. What might these be? Unlit candles placed in windows are a good Advent symbol. One lit Advent candle gives its little illumination during these first seven days. An empty cup or bowl placed near the Advent Wreath speaks of longing. One small sweet at the end of the evening meal can speak of the fuller joy that is coming. A good joke or word puzzle can be shared, but not the punch line or solution is spoken until the next meal. We need to grow in our sense of reaching for and not demandingly having it."

Toward the end of his reflection he writes about the Apostles in today's gospel who question Jesus about when the end will come. Jesus response to the Apostles (the gospel reading) is all about simply waiting and being prepared. The reflection ends with some practical advice for us in light of this:

"“Now, when is this going to happen, what day, where and just what exactly is going to happen?” Don’t ask! Just keep watching, keep learning, keep waiting. After all it is the season of Advent."

Photo Update (September - November)

Life atop Mont La Salle continues to move along. Novitiate life continues with the usual schedule of classes, workshops, personal time, spiritual time, and the gift of prayer. But, there's always the unplanned that keeps us alive. So here are some photos, just follow the different links!

Community rest and relaxation time at St. Joseph's Camp at the Russian River,

Mont La Salle's commemoration/celebration of the Martyrs of Turon,

our Halloween Festivities, and

our time at the Senior Vocation Retreat

Hope Again

Being a big Dodger fan, I am reading a lot of the news on the hiring of Joe Torre to manage the Dodgers. Everyone seems so alive with HOPE!

It's the way I feel, and not necessarily for my baseball team, but for my real team these days: the Brothers.

Vocation ministry is probably one of the biggest priorities today in religious orders, reaching out to men and women who might be discerning a religious vocation. In our case, finding out what men out there, young and old, may be called to the vocation of the De La Salle Christian Brothers.

From Thursday, Nov. 1 - Saturday, Nov. 3, the District held its annual High School Senior Vocation Retreat. Of the twelve young men expected, 7 showed up. Marilyn Paquette, coordinator of Lasallian student programs, responded with great faith saying, we have the seven for a reason. The three days certainly showed it was great to have those 7 there.

For me, the seven young men who showed up and the adults that accompanied them represented HOPE. It was great to share our vocation story with them and see them open to God's spirit in their lives as they move towards college.

It left me very hopeful.

I also have been working with Br. George VanGrieken on some projects he's working on to get the name out there. This too makes me hopeful.

Faith is an incredible gift, since it allows us to HOPE.

Faith, Love, and the Good Samaritan

Faith gives us hope--hope in all the we do and in all we encounter. Ideally, this hope leads to love, which in turn leads back to faith.

For me, living must somehow include faith and love because it is what allows us to live more fully so that we may live in light of our gospel call.

I think of today's gospel: the parable of the Good Samaritan. If we are to be good Samaritans are we not required to have faith and love? A faith and love that is rooted in the gospel. After all, the gospel itself is rooted in faith and love.

As Brothers, educators, our salvation of young people is centered around the faith and love found in the gospels. A salvation that allows young people to live more fully.

To bring faith and love to our students, we must be rooted in the gospel, in love, and in faith--for it is the way to live. Jesus said, "I came so that they may have life and have it more abundantly."

Let us live abudantly in faith and love.

Increase Our Faith

Reflecting on the week's readings (Mon., Oct. 1 - Sun., Oct. 7)

“Increase our faith…” is the request of the apostles to Jesus. Throughout the week, the readings spoke very much of FAITH. I want to begin by saying that faith does not make sense, it is illogical.

Monday’s first reading is from the prophet Zechariah. It ends: “Lo, I will rescue my people from the land of the rising sun, and from the land of the setting sun. I will bring them back to dwell within Jerusalem. They shall be my people, and I will be their God, with faithfulness and justice.” God seems to be saying, “stick with me,” and “I’ll have your back, I won’t let you down.” Thursday’s reading comes from the prophet Nehemiah. It deals with Ezra sharing God’s word following the return of the Israelites from exile. The reading is rather detailed about Ezra sharing the Torah with the people, but one line stands out, “…rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength!” The people are reminded that this great joy of returning from exile must begin with “rejoicing in the Lord” for God provided the strength during the time of hardship.

Friday’s reading returns to the Babylonia exile as the people admit sin to the Lord, “For we did not heed the voice of the Lord, our God, in all the words of the prophets whom he sent us…” In Saturday’s reading from the same book, the Prophet Baruch speaks, “Fear not, my children; call out to God! He who brought this upon you will remember you. As your hearts have been disposed to stray from God, turn now ten times the more to seek him; For he who has brought disaster upon you will, in saving you, bring back enduring joy.”

In all that is said above there seems to be this idea of having faith in God even though life may be tough at the moment. Doesn’t faith make even less sense when life gets tough? Yet, the prophets very clearly push their people to have faith, their words push us to have faith and even “rejoice in the Lord!” Sunday’s Old Testament reading from Habakkuk presses on, “if it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late. The rash one has no integrity; but the just one, because of his faith, shall live.” A very clear message that takes it to another level by saying that in order to simply live we must have faith. How do we then make sense of faith?

If Habakkuk is saying “…the just one, because of his faith, shall live,” then I say the one who lives has faith. Therefore, how we live will give us faith, how we live will allow God’s grace to come upon us and give us faith. That is the challenge: to live. It is not easy to simply live. I turn to the gospel readings of the week then for guidance on how to live.

We can say that the gospel themselves are our guide for living so that we may gain faith amongst much more of God’s grace. But, again, I think the readings of this past week point to some specific examples for us.

This week we hear two versions of the same gospel reading where the apostles ask Jesus who is the greatest. Jesus turns to a child for his response to the apostles saying, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.” “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. For the one who is the least among all of you is the one who is the greatest.” A very clear message from Jesus about how we should live. Living to the point where we are able to humble ourselves in such a way that “children” / “the least” become the greatest. The faith received because of directing our lives in this way helps us accept and truly receive Jesus who is our path to God the Father.

Using some other gospel passages of the past week, I believe we desire to follow Jesus like the one who speaks to Jesus and says, “I will follow you, wherever you go.” Jesus’ clear message to those who want to follow is, “Go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.” That is to live. Jesus adds, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.” To live then means to go forward and let go of what is preventing us from proclaiming the Kingdom of God. We must look at our lives and see what is getting in the way. In Paul’s second letter to Timothy (Sunday’s 2nd reading) he reminds Timothy, “…God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.” To be humbled to point of being childlike, of being the least is to use God’s gift “of power and love and self-control.” Yet, it is very easy to live without using these gifts, life is just much easier without having to worry about loving all, taking self-control over our desires that steer us away from God, and why worry about the power to bear our “share of hardship for the gospel.”

Let us live such that we may open our eyes to see and ears to hear, for faith is a grace from God. Jesus reminds us, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

If we hear and see, Jesus’ message to “Go and proclaim the Kingdom of God” becomes God’s call to live. Live so that we might recognize faith, gain faith, and live faith. Live so that on that day we may say to God, “We were unprofitable servants; but have done what we were obliged to do.”