Got Living Water?

The world out there is full of questions and one in particular seems to come out very often, most especially when we take a look at the great tragedies of our times: “Is the Lord in our midst or not?” (Ex 17:7, first reading). Today we enter into this question and have an opportunity to find the answer.
Jesus tells us that God is still in our midst but not in the way we may think or expect Him to be. He is in our midst in a very ordinary way and we find Him when we respond to the needs that people have. We find Him when we love; when we discover ourselves as “beloved of God” and when we love “the other” with the Love He has poured into our hearts. Then we understand how God is present in the world today.

In that “Give me a drink” that Jesus says to the Samaritan woman we find more, however, than a simple request to be charitable. This request opens us to the revelation of God and of ourselves; this request allows us to dialogue with God and this dialogue moves two hearts closer and closer together until they become one.

We know that our lives demand something more, something that like the thirst of midday in a desert, haunts us until we find anything that can bring relief. The tragedy of life is that most of the time we settle for water from the well... if we are lucky. Some even settled for the water of a cactus. The gift that God brings to us is more enriching and totally satisfying - living water. No wonder the woman wants to know where it is. She knows that that’s what we long for!
This living water is not like well water. It moves and moves things. A well can be covered: you put sand on it and it’s covered. No one can cover a stream: there will always be water. 
The Living water comes from within, but like a stream with an underground source, it may carry with it the dirt of the earth. We can not drink it until all the impurities have been removed. So it is with us. The Living water has been given to us, but we carry a lot of junk (impurities) which muddy the water. What to do?

“Call you husband....” Why switch the conversation on to the husbands? The Samaritan woman has five husbands and the one she has now is not her own. As I meditate on this word, I am reminded that the Hebrew word for husband is the word for “master” (Ba’al) which is also used for idols. Earthly idols made of earth, of dirt, of clay.

Now I know what to do. There are too many attachments in our lives, attachment that can function like idols, something that we give all our attention and devotion. For as long as we keep those clay idols the living water will always be muddy. By getting rid of them, they will not contaminate the water any longer and I can drink of that water and be truly and forever satisfied.

Only in this way, we can be part of the thirst-quenching network that Jesus invites us to be. If we hold our idols in our hands and tell people that God can satisfy our hearts, how truthful are we? Can they really believe us? I don’t think so.

If we say that God is living in our midst but we don’t let go of the idols of self interest and pride, how credible are we?

But when we allow the Love that God has poured into us to purify our hearts and transform our lives we can be made into credible aqueducts, capable of bring the LIving water to all those who long for it.
We can be the answer to the world’s question: God is in our midst because He lives among us when we love each other with His love.

Living the Transfiguration Story

Sunday, March 20, 2010

I believe that we must live the whole Gospel, and each page invites us to enter deeper and deeper in to the life of God so that we can live our lives with Him and viceversa. How can I live the story of the Transfiguration?

Peter, James and John get a glimpse of the glorious Christ; it must have been a wonderful and awesome experience. Although I understand why the disciples were terrified, I can also understand why Peter told Jesus that he wanted to build three tents. We have this human need to put everything into boxes so that we can control, catalog, shelf and use when needed whatever it is that we are experiencing.

There is always the temptation of putting “Moses” into a box or a tent. Moses represents the Law, the regulatory aspect of our Christian life. In him we find all the rules and regulations that are given to us as an aid. Putting him in a tent can give me the feeling of being in charge or domesticate the rules, making everything serve me rather than God. Also, I can become a victim of rubrical fundamentalism or a total dismissal of liturgical norms.

Elijah is the “prophetic” dimension. The Church cannot live without it. This is the aspect of our christian life that constantly pushes us forward and finds new ways of expressing our love for God. But it can be messy and unruly; it’s easier to put it in a box and control it so that everything happens under my control. In doing so, I can risk to stifle the Spirit and become unable to “sing the new song”.

God, however, is always ready to interrupt our lives and to surround us with His presence. It is only when we let go of our tendency of putting everything - even God - into a box that we can experience God’s love around us and it is only then that we can hear Him speak. Just as Moses and Elijah were engaged in the wordless dialogue with Christ, so God invites us to listen to Him. Only Christ and HIs word can bring us to understand Moses and Elijah, only when we live the Gospel that these other two dimensions of our lives make sense. Jesus is the center, the one who brings harmony between the two.

What is Jesus telling us? “Rise!” Yes! He can help us get up and continue our Journey with HIm to Jerusalem, to the Cross. Our journey requires that we keep our eyes only on Jesus and He alone. But we know that things are going to be better.

"Salty" relationships

I can't help it. I keep thinking about being called "Salt of the earth." I know I am called to bring the flavor I received and share it to the world, making everything more flavored.

What I received is God's love; this is what makes everything different. God's love, then, must be my "salt."

Today, the Word proclaimed at Mass brought two stories together: creation (from Genesis) and the visit of Jesus to Gennesaret which brought about many healings (from Mark).

Beyond every healing, behind every miracle there is a relationship. Jesus never heals anonymously. Relationships are the most important things we have. They must be appreciated as special and unique.

 Each relationship has to be flavored, too. And this is where the challenge is: the amount of salt is different with each relationship.

It's like being on one of those cooking shows where the contestants get a "mystery ingredient." Each ingredient cooks and relates to other foods in a particular, unique way. The chef who wins is the one is careful with the "mystery" and brings the best from it. It's the same with our relationship. We can't salt in the same way. We must respect its uniqueness and administer the right amount of love.

I pray that God will help me to become sensitive to know how much salt is necessary with each individual person I encounter each day, so that they will have the right amount of God's love and they won't leave too "insipid" or "too salty".

It's challenging but quite rewarding, I am sure.

Jesus calls us by two new names

As Jesus continues His teaching we continue to meditate on what it means to live our lives as children of the Kingdom of God. Jesus continues to call us by new names; in doing so, He tells us how He sees us but also creates in us that vision. By calling us “Salt of the earth” and “Light of the world” He makes us so. But what does it mean?

I am amazed at how many references are in our languages about salt. One in particular seems to be meaning: “salary,” comes from the Latin, salarium, referring to the allotted amount of salt a roman soldier would get as remuneration for his services to the Empire. By being called salt, Jesus it pointing out how valued we are - we are worth someone’s salary.

Salt has so many functions: preserves, disinfects, but most of all, although not considered food itself, it touches and changes every food it reaches. It allows all other ingredients to “come alive” and bring forth their own flavor. By being called salt, Jesus is telling us that we have a particular function in the world: to preserve it from going bad, cleaning up their wound and making sure they don’t become infected but most of all we called to “flavor” everything we do, every conversation and relationship we have with the extra flavor of God’s Love. What a mission! But also, what a trust has God in us.

At the time of Jesus Light and Darkness were considered “things,” one pushing the other away. As St John of the Cross said, we are like stained glass windows: allowing the light inside to shine forth. But, what do people outside see when they look at our windows?

The point of these two parables, I believe, is found not in the opening statements. Jesus points to something that we, as humans, find very annoying: when we get something that doesn’t work properly, we get annoyed and tend to put the object away as it is considered useless. Salt and Light have specific functions; if they lose the ability of doing what they are supposed to do, they are useless.  Jesus tells us that useless salt can be thrown away. Is that what we want Him to do with us?

How can salt and light lose their function? Salt is a sodium chloride - common salt - is a stable compound, a crystal that does not decay. How can it lose its flavor? By being mixed up with impurities. Technically salt doesn’t lose its flavor but looses the ability of transferring the flavor because the impurities keep it from being active.

If the window is dirty, light does’t go through properly and changes its brightness.
The Word today also suggests that we ought to take away the impurities and injustices that life throws at us. When we do that and behave as people of the beatitudes we will be able to be fully active in the world and experience God’s presence in us. We can start by looking around us; what is missing in our family? attention? let’s put it there by making sure that each member of our family gets the attention and supports we want to have. What about our workplaces? all around us? in the street, where we shop? How about in our churches? We can take the first step and by doing so, our little light will shine a bit brighter and people (and we, too) can start experiencing the flavor of the Kingdom.
Jesus is calling us to something beautiful and is transforming us into what the World needs now more than ever. Are we ready to take up this challenge?

The Kingdom is at hand

Jesus begins His own ministry; instead of establishing a center from where He would preach, He goes around and calls people to Himself. He has not stopped doing this since that day. I am called; personally called to follow Jesus wherever He goes.

I hear the proclamation: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” The journey of a Christian begins with this act of repentance; I am challenged since the beginning to change my mind, my opinion about what God is doing. How many times I think I have figured God out, I can read His mind, I pretend to know what He is going to do next. Fool! I have to change my mind, being constantly opened to what He is going to say, to do, to reveal. Repentance: a humbling act that gives me freedom.

The Kingdom of God is at hand. He will repeat this message to the disciples when He will send them out. He spent an incredible amount of time teaching about this topic. I think it deserves to be understood better. Not a geographical place, of course, but still concretely real - the established presence of God living in our midst.
The Kingdom belongs to God; only He can establish it. Yet, I can create the condition for this establishment. Never thought of it, I am involved in this. When I pray “Thy Kingdom come,” I can hear Him say to me: “what are you going to do so that My kingdom may come.” Yes! What can I do?
Jesus talked about the kingdom being present in our midst and also within us. What a great gift: the Kingdom is within me. It begins with me. It begins when I say Yes to Him and live out His words, one after another. That’s how He wants me to love Him.
But the Kingdom is also in our midst. The second reading of this week, from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, speaks of the necessary condition for the Kingdom to be established among us - the unity that comes from loving one another.
Unity and the Kingdom. One and the same? I can see how important it is to remain focused on reciprocal love. When we love one another, God lives in our midst. This is what really matters then, this is what makes us true Church.
I know what I must do, now: live out the kingdom that is in me so that it can be established in our midst. Another call to love, but this time I know that I am an active participant in the Kingdom that is at hand but that has already started being established here.

Follow the Lamb

John helps us to focus on Jesus. I believe there is a point in our lives when we have to make a personal choice to follow Jesus. Nothing can substitute for Him. The reason we pray, the reason we go to Church or read the Bible, etc, must be to be close with Him. Have I made the fundamental choice to follow Jesus and let nothing take HIs place? not even what I do for Him?

John points to Jesus and identifies Him as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” I wonder, if He has taken away the sin of the world why do we experience sin all the time? True, we are sinners... all the time. But why is it that some sins seem to be more “present” than others?

Jesus does take away our sins but sometimes we have a hard time to give them up to Him. We want to do everything by ourselves... even get rid of our sins. How can that be possible? We cannot erase sins from our souls! This only complicates our lives...

Then, we have to come up with a plan. A plan that can help us correspond to the Grace that He have given us. How can I experience victory if I fight with no shield or sword? 

A Plan, then; first step is to identify the biggest sin, then come up with a solution so that I can avoid triggering the sin.

I pray that I may discover more and more what the role of sin is and most especially the great gift that is to have Jesus being the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world

In the waters of new life

By saying Yes to God's will I can be reborn

The Christmas cycle ends. With the feast of the Baptism of the Lord we are closing the Christmas season.

Reading the story closely, I understand the difficulties that both John the Baptist and the early communities had about Jesus’ baptism. Why would he go to be baptized? Why forgiveness of sin? Wasn’t Jesus the one without sin?

Jesus brings with Him the sin of the nations, of all ages. Jesus is bringing with Him my sins as well. I know that whatever happens to him happens to all of us. With the forgiveness of sin, the Trinity allows me to be born and re-born everyday. What a great gift I have found!!!!!

The baptism of Jesus challenged the early christian communities! My own baptism challenges me. How do I live my own life as a child of God? Do I keep that “dignity” given to me unstained?

As a community, how can we grow in our understanding as members of God’s household?

I know we have to grow; the challenge exists and we have to keep the light burning.