Salesian Scripture Reflections
From Sundays Salesian and Spirituality Matters
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(June 15, 2013: Saturday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time)
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“God has given us the ministry of reconciliation…entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”
The notion of “reconciliation” to which St. Paul refers in today’s Second Letter to the Corinthians has to do with the values so clearly demonstrated in the ministry and message of Jesus himself. These values include:
- to cause others to become friendly or peaceable again
- to reconcile hostile persons
- to promote agreement or harmony among others
- to make compatible or consistent
- to restore communion, communication or community
Jesus’ reconciliation was all about ending the enmity between God and the human family, as well as, the enmity within the human family. Jesus’ reconciliation was all about making friends out of enemies. Jesus’ reconciliation was all about challenging others to agree upon the things that matter most in life. Jesus’ reconciliation was all about helping people to live in ways consistent with the ways of God. Jesus’ reconciliation was all about creating relationships within which people could experience what is means to be children of God, as well as brothers and sisters in Christ.
What does it look like when we are at our best in trying to imitate this ministry and message of reconciliation in our own lives? Francis de sales wrote:
“This life is a journey to the happy life to come. We must not be angry with one another along the way, but rather we must march on together as a band of brothers and sisters, companions united in meekness, peace and love. I state absolutely and make no exception, do not be angry at all if that is possible.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 8, pp. 146 – 147)
Does this mean that if we do, in fact, find ourselves angry with others from time to time that we are failing at our God-given message and ministry of reconciliation? Not necessarily! The greatest enemy of reconciliation is not the occasional flare up of anger. No, the greatest enemy of reconciliation is if – or when – we choose to remain angry.
Notwithstanding the challenges inherently associated with Jesus’ ministry and message, today, how might we be a source of reconciliation in the name of God in the lives of others?
Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (June 16, 2013)
Salesian Perspective
Today our God wants us to understand the wideness and depth of his loving forgiveness. Each of the three selections for today’s liturgy represents a veritable celebration of the fact of God’s forgiveness.
If salvation were a strictly juridical system of justice then no one would escape the deserved sentence of death (2 Samuel). But even the greatest sinner can hope for happiness because God has introduced the merciful loophole of loving forgiveness into an otherwise unfeeling network of legal prescriptions (Galatians). Above and beyond the law, the saving power of Jesus’ death assures every believing and repentant sinner of the joy of reconciliation and redemption (Luke).
David, the chosen one of the Lord, has ordered Uriah to be killed in battle to satisfy David’s lust. It’s only when God speaks to him through the prophet Nathan that David understands the greatness of his sin and asks God’s forgiveness. The Lord forgives because his love and mercy are greater than anyone’s sins.
We find the same greatness of mercy revealed at the Pharisee’s table. Jesus speaks to the Pharisee about the great love the sinful woman has shown as she washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and anointed them with ointment. Then he tells him: “Her many sins are forgiven because she has shown great love.” Humble love always calls forth God’s great mercy.
What does all of this say about my daily living? St. Paul offers me a path. “I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me.” Christ has loved each of us and given himself up for us. The greatness of his mercy and love has met my humble, sinful need.
There are three truths found in these Scripture readings that we are invited to take away for further prayer, reflection – and living – today:
- Holiness does not consist in never having sinned but in the ability to recognize one’s failures and to seek reconciliation (2 Samuel);
- Forgiveness is not a judicial procedure dependent on the law but part of a personal relationship with a loving God (Galatians);
- The joy of being forgiven expands the heart’s capacity for greater loving (Luke).
So, let us be glad in the Lord and give witness by living out his great mercy by being sources of God’s merciful love in the lives of others!
(June 16, 2013: Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time)
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“I tell you that her many sins are forgiven because of her great love. Little is forgiven the one whose love is small.”
Today’s Gospel provides us with a powerful example of what one might call a great “teachable moment.” While the “certain” Pharisee no doubt enjoyed specialized expertise regarding the law and the prophets, it is “a woman known in town to be a sinner” who certainly seems to have the greater grasp of God’s mercy and generosity as it is embodied in the person of Jesus.
While the Pharisee no doubt possesses great knowledge, it is the “woman, known in town known to be a sinner”, who demonstrates that – notwithstanding her sins and weaknesses – she possesses even greater love.
Francis de Sales’ insights on the relationship among love, repentance and forgiveness are worth considering here.
“Theotimus, along with the tribulation and sorrow found in a lively repentance, God often places deep down at the bottom of a person’s heart the sacred fire of divine love. Then, this love is changed into the water of our many tears, and these, by a second change, are transformed into a second and mightier fire of love. Thus, the renowned repentant lover first loved her Savior; next, this love was changed into tears; then, these tears where changed into a surpassing love. Hence, our Savior said that many sins were forgiven her because she had loved much…This is why perfect penitence has two different effects. In virtue of sorrow and detestation, it separates us from sin and from those to which delectation had attached us. In virtue of the motive of love – whence it has its origin – it reconciles us with God and unites us with God from whom we had separated ourselves by despising him. Hence, at one and the same time, in its quality as repentance, it reclaims us from sin and, in its quality as love, it joins us again to God.” (Treatise, Book II, Chapter 20)
It is interesting that Francis de Sales later relates that this very relationship among repentance, love and forgiveness to today’s selection from Paul’s letter to the Galatians: “This loving repentance is ordinarily put into practice by elevations or turnings of the heart to God…It is not without reason that some have said that prayer justifies. Repentant prayer, or suppliant repentance, which raises the soul to God and reunites it to God’s goodness, undoubtedly obtains pardon in virtue of the holy love that gives it that sacred movement.” (Ibid)
How ironic that the greater sinner – or, at least, the one who more greatly recognizes the reality of one’s sinfulness – is better able to both extend herself in love and receive the love – and forgiveness – of her Savior! What can we learn from her sinfulness, from her repentance, from her hospitality, from her great love, and from her even greater love of her Savior?
Today, how can we put it into practice in our relationship with others?
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(June 17, 2013: Monday of the Eleventh Week in ordinary Time)
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“Now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation.”
In a letter to the Duc de Bellegarde, Francis de Sales wrote:
“Keep your eyes steadfastly fixed on that blissful day of eternity towards which the course of years bears us on; and these as they pass, themselves pass by us stage by stage until we reach the end of the road. But in the meantime, in each passing moment there lies enclosed as in a tiny kernel the seed of all eternity; and in our humble little works of devotion there lies hidden the prize of everlasting glory, and the little pains we take to serve God lead to the repose of a bliss that can never end..” (Stopp, Selected Letters, p. 236)
Seen through the lens of Salesian spirituality, St. Paul’s exhortation makes absolute sense. The seed “of all eternity” isn’t found in the past; it isn’t found in the future. It is found only in each and every present moment as it comes!
Just this day.
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(June 18, 2013: Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in ordinary Time)
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“The abundance of their joy and their profound poverty overflowed into a wealth of generosity…”
In Part III of his Introduction to the Devout Life Francis de Sales counseled:
“We must practice real poverty in the midst of all the goods and riches God has given us. Frequently give up some of your property by giving it with a generous heart to the poor. To give away what we have is to impoverish ourselves in proportion as we give, and the more we give the poorer we become. It is true that God will repay us not only in the next world but even in this one.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 15, p. 165)
In his own words Francis de Sales is describing what St. Paul witnessed in the early Christian community. People practiced the virtue of poverty by sharing their possessions with others, enriching not only others but themselves as well.
In the Salesian tradition poverty isn’t about having nothing – poverty is about sharing what we have with others. Poverty isn’t about doing without – it’s about being generous with and to other people.
Today, how can we practice poverty, that is, how can we give to others with “a generous heart”?
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(June 19, 2013: Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time)
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“Who ever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”
“Karma” is a word that comes from Buddhist and Hindu traditions. It can be defined in many ways, for example:
- the law of cause and effect
- what goes around comes around
- you reap what you sow
- totally innocent victims are rare
- no good deed goes unpunished
- your actions create ripples that spread out, echo and constructively or destructively interfere with the ripples from the actions of others
St. Paul may have known nothing about karma, but in effect, this is the notion about which he wrote in today’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. For his part, Jesus tells us that whatever we do won’t simply come back to us, but that whatever we do with come back to us thirty, sixty and a hundred-fold!
As we heard yesterday in Part III of his Introduction to the Devout Life Francis de Sales counseled:
“We must practice real poverty in the midst of all the goods and riches God has given us. Frequently give up some of your property by giving it with a generous heart to the poor. To give away what we have is to impoverish ourselves in proportion as we give, and the more we give the poorer we become. It is true that God will repay us not only in the next world but even in this one.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 15, p. 165)
What we do in this life does matter. In fact, everything we do has the potential for becoming a spiritual, moral and/or actual boomerang in our lives. God will repay us not only in the next life but even in this one.
So, what seeds for tomorrow will you sew bountifully – today?
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(June 20, 2013: Thursday of the Eleventh Week in ordinary Time)
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“Please put up with me.”
In a letter of spiritual direction and encouragement, St. Francis de Sales made the following observation:
“To be a servant of God means to be charitable towards one’s neighbor, have an unshakable determination in the superior part of one’s soul to obey the will of God, trusting in God with a very humble humility and simplicity, to lift oneself up as often as one fails, endure oneself with all one’s abjections and quietly put up with others in their imperfections.” (Stopp, Selected Letters, p. 140)
As followers of Jesus we are challenged to “put up” with one another as an expression of our love for one another. Note, however, that while Francis de Sales says in this case that we must “put up” with another’s imperfections, in other cases he also reminds us that if we really love others we must not put up with another’s sinfulness or immorality. In the case of the latter we are obligated to draw their attention to it, not as an occasion to embarrass them, but as an opportunity to help them to become more of the person that God wants he or she to be.
What’s the moral to the story? When it comes to the people we love, there is a distinction that we need to make – there are some things with which we need to put up, but there are other things about which we need to be put out.
And to point it out!
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(June 21, 2013: Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious)
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“I too will boast…”
Just from what we heard in today’s first reading, by any measure Paul certainly had a great many things about which he could boast in his efforts at being the great Apostle to the Gentiles. However, if Paul ultimately boasted about anything, it wasn’t a list of everything that he did for God; rather, Paul boasted of all the ways in which God was faithful to him!
In a sermon on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Francis de Sales preached:
“People who, like Martha, are desirous and anxious to do something for Our Lord believe they are very devout and believe that this eagerness is a virtue. However, this is no so, as He Himself would have us understand. Only one thing is required, that is, to have God and possess Him. If I seek only Him, what does it matter to me if I have to do one thing or another? If I desire only His will, what will it matter to me if I have to do one thing or another? If I desire only His will, what will it matter to me whether I am sent to Spain or to Ireland? If I seek only His cross, why should I be troubled if I am sent to the Indies, or to old countries or to new countries, since I am certain that I shall find it everywhere?” (Living Jesus p. 436) Rather than boast of all the ways that he might have done great things for God, Francis preferred to boast – as it were – of his need to do things for God, not in accordance with his will, but by God’s will.
Francis de Sales’ life is filled with illustrations of how he attempted to practice this virtue. In reflecting upon an offer he received – which would have been quite the feather in his cap – to become a coadjutor to Cardinal de Retz in Paris, he wrote to Madame Angelique Arnauld: “I am, and shall be and ever want to be at the mercy of God’s divine providence. I want to hold no rank except that of a servant and a follower…I am again invited to go to Paris under advantageous conditions. I said that I would neither go there nor stay here unless to follow the will of God. This country (Savoy) is my home according to my natural birth; according to my spiritual birth, my home is the Church. I shall willingly go or stay wherever I can best serve the latter without attaching myself to the former.” (Ibid, p. 438) Tempted as he might have been to boast of such an offer, Francis instead preferred to boast – as it were – of his fidelity to God’s will for him by remaining in Savoy!
Aloysius Gonzaga (1568-1591) was a contemporary of St. Francis de Sales. His family had big plans for him. They envisioned him making his career as a soldier. In the event, God had other plans for him and Aloysius joined the Society of Jesus at the age of seventeen. Six years later he died during a plague that ravaged Rome. Recognized for his holiness, he was beatified in 1621, one year before the death of Francis de Sales. While he might not have lived long enough to do great things for God, we see in his short life a man who did ordinary things for God – and other people – with great love!
So, if we are to boast of anything today, let it be less about all the things that we might try to do for God and more about all the things that God actually continues to do for us!
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(June 22, 2013: Saturday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time)
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“Do not worry about your life…”
In his Introduction to the Devout Life (in a chapter entitled, “We must be Faithful to both Great and Little Tasks”), Francis de Sales wrote:
“The Sacred Spouse implies that He is pleased to accept the great deeds of devout persons, that their least and lowest deeds are also acceptable to Him, and that to serve Him as He wishes we must have great care to serve Him well in both great, lofty matters and in small, unimportant things. With love we can capture His heart by the one just as well as by the other…For a single cup of water God has promised to his faithful a sea of endless bliss. Since such opportunities present themselves from moment to moment it will be a great means of storing up vast spiritual riches if only you use them well.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 35, pp. 213-214)
Don’t worry about whether or not you are making great progress in the spiritual life. Don’t worry about not measuring up! Don’t worry about not being perfect! Just simply – with trust and confidence – do good things for God – be they little or great – as often as you can on this earth.
In the process you will slowly – but surely – store up treasures not only in heaven, but also right here, right now on this earth.
FR Michael Murray OSFS