Here are a few pictures (before and after) of a major house project our company just completed in Haddonfield. We are all quite proud of this!
Reports, musings, sermons, happenings from a Presbyter (Priest) of The Episcopal Church who loves Jesus, the natural world, ice and snow, and is raising 3 children with his artist-wife, Erin McGee Ferrell. (This photo is of the Presidential range in NH taken from Vermont.)
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Let No One Deceive You
Sermon for the 3rd Sunday of Pascha / Easter (RCL – Year B)
Offered by Nathan Ferrell at HS, Bellmawr & St. Luke’s, Westville
Texts: Acts 3:12-19; Psalm 4; 1 John 3:1-7; Luke 24:36b-48
I recently heard a story, from Bart Campolo, of a 14 year old boy in Philadelphia who had been sentenced to time in a rehabilitation program for violent juvenile offenders. He had shot and killed an innocent teenager to prove himself to his gang. At the trial, the victim’s mother sat impassively silent until the end, when the youth was convicted of the killing. After the verdict was announced, she stood up slowly and stared directly at the convicted boy and stated, “I’m going to kill you.” Then he was taken away to serve several years in the juvenile rehab facility.
After about six months, the mother of the slain child went to visit his killer. He had been living on the streets before the murder, and she was the only visitor that he had in jail. For a time they talked, and when she left she gave him a little money for cigarettes. Then she started step-by-step to visit him more regularly, bringing food and small gifts.
Near the end of his three-year sentence, she asked him what he would be doing when he got out. He was confused and very uncertain, so she offered to help set him up with a job at a friend’s company. Then she asked about where he would live. He had no family to return to, so she offered him the temporary use of the spare room in her home. For eight months he lived there, ate her food, and worked at the job that she found for him.
Then one evening she called him into the living room to talk. She sat down opposite him and waited for a moment, collecting herself. And then she said, “Do you remember in the courtroom when I said I was going to kill you?” “I sure do,” he replied. “I’ll never forget that moment.” “Well, I did it,” she went on. “I did it. I did not want the boy who could kill my son for no reason to remain alive on this earth. I wanted him to die. That’s why I started to visit you and bring you things. That’s why I got you the job and let you live here in my house. That’s how I set about changing you. And that old boy, he’s gone. So now I want to ask you, since my son is gone, and since that killer is gone, if you’ll stay here. I’ve got room and I’d like to adopt you as my own son if you let me.” And so she became the mother he never had, and he became the son whom she had lost.
During these great fifty days, we are celebrating the reality of our risen Lord and the new life that he has brought to humanity. During these days, we sing with joy, we proclaim the “alleluia”, we speak of the joy of the resurrection. This is good and right thing. But this does not simply do away with the pain and trials of life.
“Little children, let no one deceive you.” My friends, we need to be honest and to recognize that, though Christ is risen, though death and the powers of hell have been overcome, that evil still exerts much influence over our lives. Think about this poor mother who lost her son for no reason. None at all except for a stupid, nasty game played by other young boys.
2000 years after the incarnation and resurrection, after the coming of Christ into the world, this remains a dark and evil world. The power of Christ’s resurrection life has changed and transformed countless billions of human lives over the years. But it has not seemed to make much of a difference in the general direction of life on this planet. Even today, poverty inflicts unnecessary pain on billions of human souls. Recently I heard a news report of a densely populated region in central China that is the steel mill center for China’s rapid development. Among the people of this province, birth defects are 6 times higher than in the rest of the country. Through our own actions today, we are causing cancers and birth defects and new viruses that cause great harm, as well as causing mass extinctions of other species and changes to our entire global environment.
This world of humanity remains a dark, dark place. But it is precisely there that our Lord comes, dies and rises again.
My wife, Erin, is an artist, an oil painter. If you’ve ever watched an artist begin to work on a blank canvas, you will soon realize that a good, memorable painting requires multiple steps and layers to achieve the desired effect. Erin likes to paint with bold, bright colors. But before she can begin to use these colors, first the entire canvas or board must be covered with a dark brown or black base layer. Without this darkness beneath the painting, the colors will not be as bold and bright and noticeable.
Now think back to the mother over in the city who lost her son in a violent crime, and yet who gained an adopted son 3 years later. Nothing could ever replace the son that she lost. There is no way to explain away her pain, and we can never minimize it. And yet, out of this pain, new life has emerged. New hope, new possibilities.
We know with certainty that sin is detestable to God. What did we hear proclaimed today in John’s first letter? “No one who abides in God sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him.” God longs for us to live a life without sin, a life without lies or deception, anger or wrath, a life without violence or bloodshed, greed or selfishness. Sin breaks the heart of God and it causes us pain.
But the truth is that without our sin, then we would never know the new life that Christ brings to us now.
Without the pain of the cross, then the apostles would not have been struck with wonder and awe and joy when they encountered their Lord, now risen and alive in their midst.
Without the struggle of our lives, then we can never know the joy of victory, the peace that comes from accomplishment, the possibilities of a new beginning.
Let no one deceive you. In this midst of seeming darkness and struggle, new and full and abundant life is available through the risen Lord. Where do you see it springing up and bearing new fruit?
May the eyes of our faith ever be open to notice and to see our Lord as he goes about his redeeming work among us. Amen.
Offered by Nathan Ferrell at HS, Bellmawr & St. Luke’s, Westville
Texts: Acts 3:12-19; Psalm 4; 1 John 3:1-7; Luke 24:36b-48
I recently heard a story, from Bart Campolo, of a 14 year old boy in Philadelphia who had been sentenced to time in a rehabilitation program for violent juvenile offenders. He had shot and killed an innocent teenager to prove himself to his gang. At the trial, the victim’s mother sat impassively silent until the end, when the youth was convicted of the killing. After the verdict was announced, she stood up slowly and stared directly at the convicted boy and stated, “I’m going to kill you.” Then he was taken away to serve several years in the juvenile rehab facility.
After about six months, the mother of the slain child went to visit his killer. He had been living on the streets before the murder, and she was the only visitor that he had in jail. For a time they talked, and when she left she gave him a little money for cigarettes. Then she started step-by-step to visit him more regularly, bringing food and small gifts.
Near the end of his three-year sentence, she asked him what he would be doing when he got out. He was confused and very uncertain, so she offered to help set him up with a job at a friend’s company. Then she asked about where he would live. He had no family to return to, so she offered him the temporary use of the spare room in her home. For eight months he lived there, ate her food, and worked at the job that she found for him.
Then one evening she called him into the living room to talk. She sat down opposite him and waited for a moment, collecting herself. And then she said, “Do you remember in the courtroom when I said I was going to kill you?” “I sure do,” he replied. “I’ll never forget that moment.” “Well, I did it,” she went on. “I did it. I did not want the boy who could kill my son for no reason to remain alive on this earth. I wanted him to die. That’s why I started to visit you and bring you things. That’s why I got you the job and let you live here in my house. That’s how I set about changing you. And that old boy, he’s gone. So now I want to ask you, since my son is gone, and since that killer is gone, if you’ll stay here. I’ve got room and I’d like to adopt you as my own son if you let me.” And so she became the mother he never had, and he became the son whom she had lost.
During these great fifty days, we are celebrating the reality of our risen Lord and the new life that he has brought to humanity. During these days, we sing with joy, we proclaim the “alleluia”, we speak of the joy of the resurrection. This is good and right thing. But this does not simply do away with the pain and trials of life.
“Little children, let no one deceive you.” My friends, we need to be honest and to recognize that, though Christ is risen, though death and the powers of hell have been overcome, that evil still exerts much influence over our lives. Think about this poor mother who lost her son for no reason. None at all except for a stupid, nasty game played by other young boys.
2000 years after the incarnation and resurrection, after the coming of Christ into the world, this remains a dark and evil world. The power of Christ’s resurrection life has changed and transformed countless billions of human lives over the years. But it has not seemed to make much of a difference in the general direction of life on this planet. Even today, poverty inflicts unnecessary pain on billions of human souls. Recently I heard a news report of a densely populated region in central China that is the steel mill center for China’s rapid development. Among the people of this province, birth defects are 6 times higher than in the rest of the country. Through our own actions today, we are causing cancers and birth defects and new viruses that cause great harm, as well as causing mass extinctions of other species and changes to our entire global environment.
This world of humanity remains a dark, dark place. But it is precisely there that our Lord comes, dies and rises again.
My wife, Erin, is an artist, an oil painter. If you’ve ever watched an artist begin to work on a blank canvas, you will soon realize that a good, memorable painting requires multiple steps and layers to achieve the desired effect. Erin likes to paint with bold, bright colors. But before she can begin to use these colors, first the entire canvas or board must be covered with a dark brown or black base layer. Without this darkness beneath the painting, the colors will not be as bold and bright and noticeable.
Now think back to the mother over in the city who lost her son in a violent crime, and yet who gained an adopted son 3 years later. Nothing could ever replace the son that she lost. There is no way to explain away her pain, and we can never minimize it. And yet, out of this pain, new life has emerged. New hope, new possibilities.
We know with certainty that sin is detestable to God. What did we hear proclaimed today in John’s first letter? “No one who abides in God sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him.” God longs for us to live a life without sin, a life without lies or deception, anger or wrath, a life without violence or bloodshed, greed or selfishness. Sin breaks the heart of God and it causes us pain.
But the truth is that without our sin, then we would never know the new life that Christ brings to us now.
Without the pain of the cross, then the apostles would not have been struck with wonder and awe and joy when they encountered their Lord, now risen and alive in their midst.
Without the struggle of our lives, then we can never know the joy of victory, the peace that comes from accomplishment, the possibilities of a new beginning.
Let no one deceive you. In this midst of seeming darkness and struggle, new and full and abundant life is available through the risen Lord. Where do you see it springing up and bearing new fruit?
May the eyes of our faith ever be open to notice and to see our Lord as he goes about his redeeming work among us. Amen.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Spring in New Hampshire
The kids and Seamus (Westie) on the Lake Solitude trail. It was a warm day, but we still had to trudge through thick snow and manuever over slick ice at the top.
Watching a flock of 14 ravens fly low over the mountain, frolicking in the warm winds
As always, the dogs love to go hiking!
A view from White Ledges on Mount Sunapee down to Crotched Mountain and Pack Monadnock
As of First Importance - Paschal Sermon
Sermon for Holy Pascha (Year B RCL)
Offered by Nathan Ferrell at Holy Spirit, Bellmawr & St. Luke’s, Westville
Texts: Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; John 20:1-18
Offered by Nathan Ferrell at Holy Spirit, Bellmawr & St. Luke’s, Westville
Texts: Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; John 20:1-18
Can you see it? Can you feel it? The darkness is fading; the Light has risen! The old has passed away; the new has come! Death is dead; life is born again!
This is the resurrection Feast, the holiest and most blessed of all days, when we rejoice in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead – the first fruits of the new creation!
And so we sing, Alleluia! Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and on those in the grave bestowing life!
Everything has changed now because of this event, this resurrection. Life on this planet has never been the same since that day. Your life, and my life, is forever changed because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Now, I recognize that it is hard for the modern mind to grasp this reality of resurrection. The problem is that the resurrection cannot be proved or disproved as if it were a theory for which we could develop a set of experiments. In truth, this is because we are not speaking of an abstract idea. Today, we are not celebrating a concept, like the rebirth of spring after a long winter.
No. We sing, we speak of a man – a real life human being who is alive and well today.
This is not some fairy tale story. This man, this one who was so brutally executed by Roman soldiers, early on Sunday morning, before the sun rose, that man stood up and walked out of the tomb alive, more alive that you or I could ever imagine!
This man is the one we trust. We are not espousing faith in the idea of a resurrection. The church does not counsel us to consent to the concept of life after death. Rather, we are committing ourselves to this man, to this particular man who lived and died and yes, who is alive even now.
And so put out of your head once and for all any notion of “Christianity”, as if we could trust our very lives to some set of beliefs and ideals. I often hear people say things like, “Oh, I believe in the golden rule.” That might be nice on the kindergarten playground, but it won’t do to sustain a real life in the real world.
What we proclaim today is a real man in the real world – Jesus the Messiah – who lives today to transform ordinary human lives into something beautiful and fantastic and divine.
And so I will say it again: There is no such thing as Christianity. You will never hear me use that word. It doesn’t exist! But what does exist is a real man who died and rose again, and a real life community of people who love him and who are learning from him how to live.
Any intellectually honest person who is willing to look at the facts of what we know about the resurrection of Jesus Christ will conclude that something extraordinary happened on that Sunday morning. Something that cannot be explained away, something that has altered the lives of billions of people in the ensuing centuries.
Even Newsweek magazine had this to say recently about the veracity of the resurrection:
“From the beginning, critics of [the Church] have dismissed the Resurrection as
a theological invention. As a matter of history, however, scholars agree that
the two oldest pieces of New Testament tradition speak to Jesus’ rising from the
dead…The uniqueness – one could say, oddity, or implausibility – of the story of
Jesus’ resurrection argues that the tradition is more likely historical than
theological” (Newsweek, March 28, 2005).
If, in fact, Jesus did rise from the grave, than every other human discovery before or since pales in importance when compared to this. Mary Magdalene found an empty tomb, and it remains empty to this very day.
But if the resurrection be a hoax, some creative theological tale spun by desperate and ingenious followers of a failed revolutionary, then this building and all the nice and pretty words which are spoken here are totally hollow and empty. They may work to provide some measure of psychological soothing to human beings who are living through a difficult life – like an opiate for the masses, as one famous observer described it.
But if our claim be true, ah, then my friends, nothing else can matter so much. No one else but this risen Lord could possibly be the authority for our life. If Christ is raised, then there is power available and accessible right now to change and transform our lives.
We can never outrun that power, we can never use it up, we can never become separated from it. Because we can never become separated from Him, unless we choose to walk away. Resurrection power is here today, by trusting in the Lamb of God, who laid down his life out of love for you, who overcame the powers of death and hell, and who lives today.
The apostle Paul, who met the real, alive Jesus on the road to Damascus, and who was transformed by his awesome power, wrote this in his letter to the Christians at Corinth: “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain.”
Beloved, don’t let the grace and love and mercy that God has showered upon you – don’t let that be in vain! God loves you. God wants to be in loving relationship with you in a way that fills every moment of every day with light and truth and goodness. Open your minds and your hearts to this kind of new life with Jesus.
The great Saint John Chrysostom of the 3rd century has given us the magnificent and famous call for all people to join in the celebration of this Feast. Listen well to his words, and take them to heart.
The Paschal Homily of St. John Chrysostom (Read Each Year at Pascha)
!Let us all enter into the joy of the Lord! First and last alike receive
your reward; rich and poor, rejoice together! Sober and slothful,
celebrate the day!
You that have kept the fast, and you that have
not, rejoice today for the Table is richly spread! Feast royally on it, for
the calf is fatted. Let no one go away hungry. Partake, all, of the cup of
faith. Enjoy all the riches of His goodness!
Let no one grieve at his
poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let no one mourn that
he has fallen again and again; for forgiveness has risen from the grave.
Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Savior has set us free. He has
destroyed it by enduring it.
He destroyed Hades when He descended into it.
Hell took a body, and discovered God. It took earth, and encountered
Heaven. It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.Where, O death, is your sting?
Where, O Hell, is your victory?
Christ is Risen, and you, O death, are annihilated!Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down!
Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice! Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!
Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead; for Christ having risen
from the dead, is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
To Him be Glory and Power forever and ever. Amen
Blood Gushes Out
A Homily for Good Friday 2009 (4/10/2009), Offered at Church of the Holy Spirit, Bellmawr, NJ
There’s an old celtic story from Ireland about a conversation between Mary and Jesus when he was a young boy.
Why do we call this day good? How can we give such a positive appellation for a day of suffering and pain, forced upon one who never deserved such treatment?
In the eastern churches, it is called Great Friday because it stands apart from and above every other Friday of the year. Perhaps the title of good derived from that ancient title many hundreds of years ago.
Of course, we know now why it is Good Friday. In this cross, we discover who we really are. What other people have been bought at such a cost? Who else in the history of humankind has ever willingly died to create a new community, to redeem a new nation?
-Because of this Good and Great Friday, we know that we are loved, we know that nothing – not even death – can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The blood which gushes forth from the cross falls into the hearts of all that love him. Does it fall into your heart? Does it touch your heart? Are you there, standing with the Blessed Mother at the foot of the cross, gazing on the one who was pierced?
I can think of no better place to stand. Stay there at the foot of the cross. Spend your entire life there with Mary, allowing the awesome majesty of love divine to ever hold sway over your heart and mind.
One more ancient Celtic song for our reflection upon the Cross:
There’s an old celtic story from Ireland about a conversation between Mary and Jesus when he was a young boy.
“Are you asleep, Mother?” Jesus asks.
“No, I am awake, dear Son.”
“Why are you awake, Mother?”
“Because I am distressed by a vision of you.”
“What is that vision, Mother?”
“It is a slim dark man, on a black horse, with a long
sharp lance in his left hand. He pierces your right side, and blood gushes
out.”
“Where does the blood fall, Mother?”
“It falls into my heart and into the hearts of all that love you.”
(Celtic Fire, by Robert Van de Weyer, 1990, p. 162-3).
Why do we call this day good? How can we give such a positive appellation for a day of suffering and pain, forced upon one who never deserved such treatment?
In the eastern churches, it is called Great Friday because it stands apart from and above every other Friday of the year. Perhaps the title of good derived from that ancient title many hundreds of years ago.
Of course, we know now why it is Good Friday. In this cross, we discover who we really are. What other people have been bought at such a cost? Who else in the history of humankind has ever willingly died to create a new community, to redeem a new nation?
-Because of this Good and Great Friday, we know that we are loved, we know that nothing – not even death – can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The blood which gushes forth from the cross falls into the hearts of all that love him. Does it fall into your heart? Does it touch your heart? Are you there, standing with the Blessed Mother at the foot of the cross, gazing on the one who was pierced?
I can think of no better place to stand. Stay there at the foot of the cross. Spend your entire life there with Mary, allowing the awesome majesty of love divine to ever hold sway over your heart and mind.
One more ancient Celtic song for our reflection upon the Cross:
“I adore the suffering King who feels my suffering; I love the sorrowing Lord
who knows my sorrow.
At his death, no fire came upon his captors to
burn them, no great flood rose to sweep them away; the earth did not open to
swallow them up; the sky did not fall to crush them.
No fierce
birds came to attack Pilate; no wild beast mauled the priests and the scribes;
no snake rose up to bite those who whipped Jesus.
He allowed them
to accuse him falsely, without opening his mouth. He let them drag him to the
cross with no words of reproof. He watched quietly as they drove nails into his
hands and feet.
He who created the universe, he who preserves the
universe, he whom the sun and moon obey, he who rules the stars, forsook his
mighty power.
So he suffered with us who suffer much; he sorrowed
with us who feel much sorrow.
I adore the suffering King who feels
my suffering; I love the sorrowing Lord who knows my sorrow.”
(Celtic Fire, by Robert Van de Weyer, 1990, p.167-8).Amen.
Monday, April 6, 2009
The Majestic Lion
A Sermon offered for Palm Sunday 2009
The flaming banners of our King, advance through his self-offering.On this day of mixed emotions, we gaze upon the passion of our Lord and upon his broken, beaten, crucified body upon the cross. Through a travesty of justice, he stands condemned by cowardly men who lived afraid of the truth, too intent on protecting their own power and privilege to risk being interrupted by God.
He lived to rob death of its sting; he died eternal life to bring.
The best are shamed before that wood; the worst gain power to be good.
O grant, most blessed Trinity, that all may share the victory (The Hymnal, # 161).
And yet we can rightly glory in the triumph of this Passion, for we know that this is a pivot point of history, a point of no return after which life on earth can never be the same. With Saint Paul, we can boast above all else in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to us and us to the world (Galatians 6:14).
Our Lenten journey has brought us all the way to this point – to the Cross, to the choice that our Lord has made to empty himself even to the point of death on the cross.
Here we see in clearest detail the passionate love of God that will stop at nothing to achieve reconciliation with us.
Here in the Gospel of Mark, we do not see a meek and mild Lamb being led quietly to the slaughter. Not in the slightest. Here I see a bold and strong Lion who will not back down even in the face of death, One who sets his face like flint and who walks with determination straight toward his enemy, knowing with confidence that his Father is with him. Mark gives us this picture of the Master who is in control of the situation: he knows where they will celebrate the Passover, he knows of Judas’ treachery; he knows of Peter’s denials; he speaks with boldness before Pilate and the Sanhedrin. He does not shrink back from the truth, even though it means the agony of feeling forsaken by his Father, feeling separated from the Father.
Here in his Passion, our Lord offers himself as food for the world. This is the mystery which we celebrate and receive each time we gather here at the Table of the Lord. When we distribute the bread of communion, you may notice a wonderful symmetry between the words and the actions of the distribution. We say, “the body of Christ”, as we raise the sacred host before each person. For just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the body of the Son of Man must be lifted high upon the cross, so that all those who trust him may have eternal life (John 3:14-15).
After this we say, “the bread of heaven” as we lower the bread into the hands of each one, for the Israelites ate the manna in the desert and died, but our Lord is in fact the true bread which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world (John 6:49-51).
The Son lifted up on the cross for our redemption; the manna coming down from heaven to feed our hungry souls. All of it right here in the Passion of our Lord, all of it right here at the turning point of history.
And standing before the authorities and rulers in Jerusalem, our Lord made the good confession. He declared the truth about his own identity and the world. “I am the Son of the Blessed One, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of God and coming with the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62). He did not shrink back in fear, but he pushed forward with faith and confidence in the one who would never leave him nor forsake him, the Father of all.
On Good Friday, we have scheduled times for confession before both of the Good Friday liturgies. In the Anglican tradition, we call this the Reconciliation of a Penitent. I know that many of you are not familiar with this rite, but it is right there in our prayer book and it has been part of our worship since the days of Thomas Cranmer. Following the guidance of scripture, we do not teach that private confession is a requirement to partake of the precious body and blood of our Lord. Each person must examine and prepare themselves; this is a matter of conscience. However, in many parts of the Church, there has been a long-standing practice of making a formal, complete, sacramental confession at least once or twice a year, most especially during the seasons of Advent and Lent, before the great festivals of the Incarnation and the Resurrection. But simply because this practice is not required, does not mean that it is not beneficial.
On Friday, there is time available for each person to come individually, to sit together with me before the cross of our Lord, to pray together and to make a full and complete confession of everything on your conscience, and then to receive the gift of absolution. For me and for many others who have made use of this rite, this is a wonderful gift, an opportunity to lay down all the burdens of our past and to partake again of the redemption made by our Lord for us in the most direct and deliberate way. The classic guidance for this practice of private confession among Anglicans is this: “All may; none must; some should.” All are welcome to make use of this gift. None are required to do so. Some need to make use of it to find healing for past sins which weigh heavy on the heart.
For there is healing power in the blood of the Lamb, shed upon the cross for our redemption, offered by the One who comes as a conquering Lion to claim victory over the forces of death and hell. As we begin this Holy Week together, God calls us to lay aside everything that distracts us, and to walk with our Lord in this way of his suffering. For as we trace again his footsteps, we draw near once more to the strength, healing and grace of new and eternal life in Jesus Christ. Trust in him; walk with him; and you will experience this new life within you, a life that death cannot quench.
There My Servant Will Be
A Sermon for the 5th Sunday of Lent (March 29, 2009)
Our journey toward the passion of our Lord continues today as we hear once more of our Lord’s commitment to the way of the cross. In our texts for today, we hear of our Lord preparing to offer himself as both priest and victim. Freely and with resolve, He offers himself for the redemption of the world. And what is more, he calls us to walk this path with him, to journey with him to the cross, to lay down our lives on behalf of others.
This is the path of love. But it is not an easy path. Our natural minds fight against it. The instinct for self-preservation is so strong. In order to walk this path with our Lord, we must be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
In our book chapters for this week, we read about people whose natural, instinctual perspectives have been transformed by the light of Christ. Anna, by nature, has a difficult time dealing with her mother-in-law, Irene. But God has shown Anna that Irene is meant to be in her life, that Irene is sent to her in order to assist Anna in overcoming her most deep seated sins. And at the very end of Chapter 11, we find this amazing prayer written by Bishop Nikolai. This Bishop was a fierce opponent of the Nazi’s. He was arrested and sent to the Dachau concentration camp. “Bless my enemies, O Lord,” he wrote. “Even I bless them and do not curse them. Enemies have driven me into your embrace more then friends have.”
Imagine, please, what life would be like if you could see the world in this way. Take a moment and think about the person in your life at this moment who is giving you the most difficulty. Perhaps it is a co-worker or your boss. Perhaps it is your spouse or your child. This is the person for whom you need to give thanks to the Lord. This person is the most skilled tool which God has given you to overcome the sin in your life. The eyes of faith allow us to trust that God has placed this person in our life for a reason, in order to help us to overcome our anger, pride and selfishness. I hope that you will be able to name this person directly during the Prayers of the People today, when we pause to ask God to “bless all whose lives are closely linked with ours”. What is the point of giving thanks only for those who are nice to us? For those we like and who like us? Doesn’t everyone do this? Do not even the Gentiles act in this way? But the way of Christ allows us to pray for, and even to love, our enemies. In Christ, we are different than the world. We see things differently, and we give thanks for those who trouble us.
This is the path of dying to self. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.” Jesus demonstrates for us this path of laying down his life for the sake of others. A bit further along in the Gospel of John, our Lord speaks of the greatest love of laying down his life for his friends. But in Romans, St. Paul explains that “while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10). While we were enemies of God, our Lord laid down his life to bring us back to the Father. How can we do any less, when we have received so great a salvation?
Damien de Veuster is a Belgian Catholic priest who went to live among the people of a remote peninsula on Molokai in Hawaii. This was 1864, and Father Damien volunteered to serve among 8,000 people who had been banished to this place because they had contacted leprosy during an outbreak in Hawaii during the 1850s. Father Damien led a group who went to the lepers colony in order to serve those who had been outcast by society. He was well aware of the risk that he took, that he too might catch this deadly disease. It is said that Father Damien spent years attempting to connect with the people there, but to no avail. He was not able to led them to respond to the love of God in any meaningful way, and his ministry there did not seem to bear any fruit. Therefore he decided to leave the colony, since he had no symptoms of Hanson’s disease, as leprosy is officially named. However, on the very day when he was scheduled to be picked-up by a boat and carried away, as he stood waiting on the dock, he looked down at his hands and noticed several white spots. He too had become a leper, and now he was forced to stay among the people of Molokai. Father Damien returned to the congregation he had tried to serve for years, but now his work was entirely different. He was an outsider no more; now he was one of them. He stayed there the rest of his life, sharing the love of Christ with thousands, until his death at the early age of 49 years.
Father Damien walked in the path of Christ, willing to lay down his life on behalf of others. “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there my servant will be also.” Damien de Veuster is to be canonized this coming October by the Vatican.
It’s not likely that you and I will be asked to lay down our lives like Father Damien did, but maybe - just maybe - we will. However, what we know with certainty is that God asks us to lay down our live daily, in small ways, on behalf of those around us every single day.
The great Thomas Merton explained this path with great clarity.
It’s so easy for us to be tempted by the big and bold and brilliant. We live in a world of celebrity, after all, and fame seems to be the prize that all people seek today. But we know better. We know that love supersedes fame and fortune, the love that is shown when we choose to reject our anger and bitterness and greed, and instead to live with generosity, humility, patience in our everyday lives. May God continue to transform us, so that when we are tempted to turn and run from the difficulties of our lives, that by the grace of God, we may instead embrace them as blessed opportunities to become more – more filled with the love and the light of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
This is the path of love. But it is not an easy path. Our natural minds fight against it. The instinct for self-preservation is so strong. In order to walk this path with our Lord, we must be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
In our book chapters for this week, we read about people whose natural, instinctual perspectives have been transformed by the light of Christ. Anna, by nature, has a difficult time dealing with her mother-in-law, Irene. But God has shown Anna that Irene is meant to be in her life, that Irene is sent to her in order to assist Anna in overcoming her most deep seated sins. And at the very end of Chapter 11, we find this amazing prayer written by Bishop Nikolai. This Bishop was a fierce opponent of the Nazi’s. He was arrested and sent to the Dachau concentration camp. “Bless my enemies, O Lord,” he wrote. “Even I bless them and do not curse them. Enemies have driven me into your embrace more then friends have.”
Imagine, please, what life would be like if you could see the world in this way. Take a moment and think about the person in your life at this moment who is giving you the most difficulty. Perhaps it is a co-worker or your boss. Perhaps it is your spouse or your child. This is the person for whom you need to give thanks to the Lord. This person is the most skilled tool which God has given you to overcome the sin in your life. The eyes of faith allow us to trust that God has placed this person in our life for a reason, in order to help us to overcome our anger, pride and selfishness. I hope that you will be able to name this person directly during the Prayers of the People today, when we pause to ask God to “bless all whose lives are closely linked with ours”. What is the point of giving thanks only for those who are nice to us? For those we like and who like us? Doesn’t everyone do this? Do not even the Gentiles act in this way? But the way of Christ allows us to pray for, and even to love, our enemies. In Christ, we are different than the world. We see things differently, and we give thanks for those who trouble us.
This is the path of dying to self. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.” Jesus demonstrates for us this path of laying down his life for the sake of others. A bit further along in the Gospel of John, our Lord speaks of the greatest love of laying down his life for his friends. But in Romans, St. Paul explains that “while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10). While we were enemies of God, our Lord laid down his life to bring us back to the Father. How can we do any less, when we have received so great a salvation?
Damien de Veuster is a Belgian Catholic priest who went to live among the people of a remote peninsula on Molokai in Hawaii. This was 1864, and Father Damien volunteered to serve among 8,000 people who had been banished to this place because they had contacted leprosy during an outbreak in Hawaii during the 1850s. Father Damien led a group who went to the lepers colony in order to serve those who had been outcast by society. He was well aware of the risk that he took, that he too might catch this deadly disease. It is said that Father Damien spent years attempting to connect with the people there, but to no avail. He was not able to led them to respond to the love of God in any meaningful way, and his ministry there did not seem to bear any fruit. Therefore he decided to leave the colony, since he had no symptoms of Hanson’s disease, as leprosy is officially named. However, on the very day when he was scheduled to be picked-up by a boat and carried away, as he stood waiting on the dock, he looked down at his hands and noticed several white spots. He too had become a leper, and now he was forced to stay among the people of Molokai. Father Damien returned to the congregation he had tried to serve for years, but now his work was entirely different. He was an outsider no more; now he was one of them. He stayed there the rest of his life, sharing the love of Christ with thousands, until his death at the early age of 49 years.
Father Damien walked in the path of Christ, willing to lay down his life on behalf of others. “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there my servant will be also.” Damien de Veuster is to be canonized this coming October by the Vatican.
It’s not likely that you and I will be asked to lay down our lives like Father Damien did, but maybe - just maybe - we will. However, what we know with certainty is that God asks us to lay down our live daily, in small ways, on behalf of those around us every single day.
The great Thomas Merton explained this path with great clarity.
“The true path of [Christian] asceticism is a path of simplicity and obscurity,
and there is no true Christian self-denial that does not begin first of all with
a whole-hearted acceptance and fulfillment of the ordinary duties of one’s state
in life” (The Ascent to Truth, p. 159).
It’s so easy for us to be tempted by the big and bold and brilliant. We live in a world of celebrity, after all, and fame seems to be the prize that all people seek today. But we know better. We know that love supersedes fame and fortune, the love that is shown when we choose to reject our anger and bitterness and greed, and instead to live with generosity, humility, patience in our everyday lives. May God continue to transform us, so that when we are tempted to turn and run from the difficulties of our lives, that by the grace of God, we may instead embrace them as blessed opportunities to become more – more filled with the love and the light of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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