November 3 through November 9
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(November 3, 2024: Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time)
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“The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
In today’s reading, a scribe - that is, a Pharisee with a degree in canon law - “steps up”, presumably in an attempt to put Jesus down. Hence, the question: which of the Ten Commandments plus the six hundred and thirteen rules [the Deuteronomic laws] that rabbis believed God orally gave Moses was the most important of all?
Some rabbis thought all were equally important - a kind of early example of “the seamless garment” notion. Most others used to spend a great deal of time disputing which ones were the greatest.
Jesus’ response is an acceptable one, quoting DT: 6:5 (today’s first reading!), stressing that the love of God must involve the total person: heart, soul, and mind. There are no half measures. Then, Jesus goes on to quote LV19:18, which stresses that we should love our neighbors as ourselves.
Jesus combines these two commandments and declares that they are the foundation of God’s entire revelation. That is, the whole law and the prophets rest on these two pillars. Combining these two may not be unique to Jesus, but it clearly shows his position on his understanding of the Torah.
We have the saying that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. When one part fails, the entirety fails. This saying also applies to love, too, in regard to the three-link chain of love: for ourselves, for our neighbor and for our God. Note the order in which the “loves” are named in the Gospel, however: God, neighbor and self. Love of self, perhaps, is the trickiest one of all.
On the one hand, love of self (what Francis de Sales referred to as “self-love”) from a solely earthly perspective can all-too-easily revert to infantile behavior - life is all about me. I have trouble learning that I am not the center of the universe - as a young child believes. If I fail to learn to admit that I am a sinner, then I am in for trouble. While I might admit that I am not perfect, I might have trouble admitting being wrong in any specific instance. Frequently enough, I will do anything to avoid admitting failure. In sum, I have an overblown sense of the person I really am.
On the other hand, some of us may have been love-starved or abused when young in any number of ways. Authority figures or other powerful role models in our early development may have put us down so heavily that our self-image is badly damaged. From a solely earthly perspective, I may have real trouble loving myself. I may see myself as having little or no value. In sum, I sell myself way too short.
The Romans said it well: in medio stat virtus - in the middle (between the extremes) stands virtue. A healthy self-image stands in the middle. I am not the center of the universe, but neither am I a doormat. I need to check for the need for balance on this first step in the progression from what Francis de Sales calls “self-love” to “love of self”. Which begs the question – what is the difference between the two?
Simply put, “self-love” is all about how I see myself from an earthly perspective. “Love of self” is all about how God sees me; that is, with a heavenly perspective.
What better way to live this virtue than how Jesus did it – by meeting others where they are and by meeting ourselves where we are. After all, we can’t love ourselves and others for the person we aren’t – we can only love ourselves and others for the person we are.
As God sees us.
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(November 4, 2024: Monday, Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time)
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“Complete my joy…”
In the movie Sudden Impact (1983), hard-nosed San Francisco detective, Harry Callahan, (played by Clint Eastwood) uttered these now-famous words while challenging a would-be robber to do something stupid (specifically, to pull a gun on him): “Go ahead. Make my day”.
One can hear a parallel in today’s first reading. For all intents and purposes, Paul says the same thing – “Go ahead. Make my day” – while challenging the Philippians to do something good, appealing to “any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, and compassion and mercy.” What will make Paul’s day?
· Being of the same mind with others
· Being of the same love with others
· Being united in heart
· Doing nothing out of selfishness
· Putting others first
· Looking out for others’ interests.
Today, imagine Jesus saying, “Go ahead, make my day” or if you prefer, “Complete my joy”. How can we make Jesus’ day? How can we complete his joy? Try to be of the same mind, heart and love with others. Try to do nothing out of selfishness. Try to put others first by looking out for their interests.
And make your own day – and complete your own joy – in the process!
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(November 5, 2024: Tuesday, Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time)
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“Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus…”
What does it mean to have the ‘attitude’ of Christ? In his great ‘hymn’ to the Philippians, Paul notes that Jesus did not cling to his divinity nor to his power. However, Jesus’ self-emptying is not self-deprecation, because Jesus viewed his divine power as something which – by its very nature – is meant to be placed at the service of others. His self-emptying is the ultimate expression of divine – and, for that matter, human – generosity!
This ‘attitude’ of Christ lies at the very heart of the Beatitude that Jesus taught (and lived): “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” Blessed – happy – are those who realize that whatever they possess – whoever they are – is designed, deemed and destined, to be shared with others.
Francis de Sales certainly understood the necessity of having the attitude of Christ. “Our possessions are not our own”, he wrote in the Introduction to the Devout Life. “God has given them to us to cultivate and God wants us to make them fruitful and profitable.” How do we make our possessions – our power – “fruitful and profitable?” The Gentleman Saint is quite clear: “Make yourself a servant of the poor.” (IDL, Part Three, Chapter 15, pp. 164-165)
Do you want to have the “attitude” of Christ? Be generous! Put what you have – and who you are – at the service of others.
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(November 6, 2024: Wednesday, Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time)
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“For God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work…”
Am I good or am I evil? Your answer to this question is no mere theoretical or abstract discussion. In the Salesian tradition, at least, the question – and its answer – make all the difference between life and death. If you believe that you are good, odds are that you will think, feel, believe and behave in ways that lead to life. By the same token, if you believe that you are evil, well – not surprisingly – you will in all likelihood think, feel, believe and behave in a manner that lead to death.
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales observed:
“Consider that a certain number of years ago you were not yet in the world and that your present being was truly nothing. The world had already existed for a long time, but of us there was as yet nothing. God has subsequently drawn you out of nothingness to make you what you are and God has done so solely out of his own goodness. Consider the nature God has given to you. It is the highest in this visible world. It is capable of eternal life and of being perfectly united to his Divine majesty.” (IDL, Part One, Chapter 9, p. 53)
During the 1970’s it was quite popular to say, “God doesn’t make junk”. While not exactly high theology, it does get to the heart of the Salesian understanding of human nature. To paraphrase the words of St. Paul, we humans – all of us – are more than capable of serving God’s goodness. As members of the Salesian family, we likewise know that being good and having good are not the same things as doing good. We all fail to live up to our God-given goodness. We all fail to put our goodness into action. We all fall short when it comes to recognizing and sharing our goodness with others.
In other words, as good as we may be, we sometimes do bad things.
Remind yourself throughout this day that God has made you a good person – after all, you are made in God’s very own image and likeness. In like manner remind yourself throughout the day to ask for the grace you need to be instrument’s of God’s good purpose in the lives of other.
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(November 7, 2024: Thursday, Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time)
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“There will be rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
Whence comes all this rejoicing over repentant sinners? In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis de Sales wrote:
“God’s favor floats over all life’s difficulties and finds joy in turning all miseries to the greater profit of those who love him. From toil he makes patience spring forth, contempt of this world from inevitable death, and from concupiscence a thousand victories. Just as the rainbow touches the thorn of aspalathus and makes it smell sweeter than the lily, so our Savior’s redemption touches our miseries and makes them more beneficial and worthy of love than original innocence could ever have been. The angels, says our Savior, have ‘more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just who have no need of repentance.’ So, too, the state of redemption is a hundred times better than that of innocence. Truly, by the watering of our Savior’s blood – made with the hyssop of the cross – have been restored to a white incomparably better than that possessed by the snows of innocence. Like Naaman, we come out of the stream of salvation purer and cleaner than if we had never had leprosy.” (TLG, Book II Chapter 6, pp. 116 – 177)
“Redemption is a hundred times better than innocence.”
Given the fact that all of us suffer from the leprosy of sin in any number of ways, not only should the power of repentance make for rejoicing among the angels in heaven, but this repentance should also produce even greater rejoicing among us here on earth! Who else but God could have the power to turn our sins into a means of our salvation?
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(November 8, 2024: Friday, Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time)
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“Our citizenship is in heaven…”
In a letter addressed to Jane de Chantal, Francis de Sales wrote:
“Be devoted to St. Louis and admire his great constancy. He became king when he was twelve years old, had nine children, was constantly waging war either against the rebels of enemies of the faith, and reigned as king for over forty years. He made two journeys overseas. In the course of both of these crusades he lost his army, and on the last journey he died of the plague after he had spent much time visiting, helping and serving those who were plague-stricken in his army. He bandaged their sores and cured them, and then died joyfully and with fortitude…I give you this saint for your special patron.” (Stopp, Selected Letters, p. 75)
Francis de Sales clearly held this devout king in very high esteem. Louis IX clearly and convincingly demonstrated how being a citizen of heaven requires Christians to tend to the things of earth. While he may have had a great many things on his plate as the ruler of a realm, Louis’ earthly duties and responsibilities were not an obstacle to living a Christian life. Rather, these very duties provided opportunities and occasions in which he practiced the Christian life and pursued a life of virtue. This was a man who was dedicated to fulfilling his earthly vocation in a heavenly way.
Of course, it is no surprise that Francis de Sales should admire such a noble, generous and down-to-earth saint like Louis IX. After all, Francis de Sales is likewise recognized for his very down-to-earth way of being a heavenly man. Of the “Gentleman Saint”, Jacques Maritain once wrote: “No one better than he has succeeded in showing the marvelous adaptability to the progress of love penetrating every state of life. I do not mean in spite of the temporal commitments of the Christian in the world – I mean because of these very obligations themselves.” (Kelley, Spirit of Love, p. x)
We are citizens of heaven, and we are citizens of earth. How might God challenge us to do justice to this dual citizenship just today?
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(November 9, 2018: Dedication of the Lateran Basilica)
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“You are God’s building...”
To construct a building is one thing, but to maintain it is another. Prudent builders/owners not only allot resources for the actual construction of whatever it is they build, but they will also earmark resources for the ongoing upkeep of the building.
In a letter to Madame de Chantal (February 11, 1607), Francis de Sales observed:
“It is not necessary to be always and at every moment attentive to all the virtues in order to practice them; that would twist and encumber your thoughts and feelings too much. Humility and charity are the master beams - all the others are attached to them. We need only hold on to these two: one is at the very bottom and the other at the very top. The preservation of the whole building depends on two things: its foundation and its roof. We do not encounter much difficulty in practicing other virtues if we keep our heart bound to the practice of these two...” (LSD, pp. 148-149)
God – the Master Builder – has constructed each of us in his image and likeness. Today, celebrate the building-of-God that you are! Maintain the gift of your divinely-built edifice with the spiritual foundation and roof most readily available for your good - humility and charity!
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