Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Feast of the Holy Innocents
A sermon of St Quodvultdeus
A tiny child is born, who is a great king. Wise men are led to him from afar. They come to adore one who lies in a manger and yet reigns in heaven and on earth. When they tell of one who is born a king, Herod is disturbed. To save his kingdom he resolves to kill him, though if he would have faith in the child, he himself would reign in peace in this life and for ever in the life to come. Why are you afraid, Herod, when you hear of the birth of a king? He does not come to drive you out, but to conquer the devil. But because you do not understand this you are disturbed and in a rage, and to destroy one child whom you seek, you show your cruelty in the death of so many children. You are not restrained by the love of weeping mothers or fathers mourning the deaths of their sons, nor by the cries and sobs of the children. You destroy those who are tiny in body because fear is destroying your heart. You imagine that if you accomplish your desire you can prolong your own life, though you are seeking to kill Life himself. Yet your throne is threatened by the source of grace, so small, yet so great, who is lying in the manger. He is using you, all unaware of it, to work out his own purposes freeing souls from captivity to the devil. He has taken up the sons of the enemy into the ranks of God’s adopted children. The children die for Christ, though they do not know it. The parents mourn for the death of martyrs. The child makes of those as yet unable to speak fit witnesses to himself. See the kind of kingdom that is his, coming as he did in order to be this kind of king. See how the deliverer is already working deliverance, the saviour already working salvation. But you, Herod, do not know this and are disturbed and furious. While you vent your fury against the child, you are already paying him homage, and do not know it. How great a gift of grace is here! To what merits of their own do the children owe this kind of victory? They cannot speak, yet they bear witness to Christ. They cannot use their limbs to engage in battle, yet already they bear off the palm of victory.
Feel Lonely @Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Matthew8:18-22
When Jesus saw the great crowds all about him he gave orders to leave for the other side.
One of the scribes then came up and said to him, 'Master, I will follow you wherever you go'.
Jesus replied, 'Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head'.
Another man, one of his disciples, said to him, 'Sir, let me go and bury my father first'.
But Jesus replied, 'Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their dead'.
Jesus speaks about the hardships of the apostolic calling. He says foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.
What Jesus is trying to speak about is our comfort zones. He is not asking for our materialistic comforts. He does not demand for us to give up our possessions. If we wish to be apostles, we must come out of our comfort zones. He speaks about poverty. We must be poor of the securities of ourselves and walk with the riches of God, being totally dependant on him. That is the true apostolic calling. Going out of our zones.
Next he calls for commitment. Jesus did not accept quickly the scribe. Jesus wants full commitment. Not just stepping in because of emotions. He asks this of us. "Are we ready to take up that challenge? Are we ready to let go of the securities of the world for Christ?"
One of Jesus' disciples then requested to first allow sometime to bury the dead. Jesus did not say yes. Was Jesus being very selfish? No. Jesus was trying to portray that the apostolic calling is NOW! Not last time, not next time. Discipleship is now.
Jesus then replied, Leave the dead to bury the dead. Dead here refers to the spiritually dead. What Jesus meant was. Let them(those who have no desire) wait... as for you who received the calling, follow now. Those spiritually alive, your calling starts now. For those spiritually dead, let them follow later. Don't procrastinate.
Some of us are trying to follow Jesus. In the apostolic calling we face challenges. One scenario is forgiveness. We would always procrastinate and 'say': "forgive later... or it can wait!" But Jesus calls for immediate actions. We must forgive immediately.
God love you.
Amen.
Feel Lonely @Wednesday, December 21, 2005
