Posts Tagged ‘Failure’
Failing Well – Br. Lucas Hall
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Br. Lucas Hall
We have just heard of two prophets: Jeremiah and John the Baptist. They are both very prominent figures in Scripture. And they both failed.
I don’t say this to disparage them. But John, as we just heard, was killed, overcome by the society he strove so adamantly to change. And Jeremiah escaped martyrdom, but his calls to change went unheeded, and he watched his people reap what they had sowed. They were conquered, and Jeremiah spent the rest of his days in exile and lament.
This is, indeed, a religion for failure. How many crucifixes can you see in this chapel? Why? We have the story of the Resurrection, the Ascension, Christ’s triumphs and glories. Is it some ancient obsession with blood sacrifice? Some medieval holdover of hyper-penitence? No. “We proclaim Christ crucified,” writes Paul to his fellow Christians (1 Corinthians 1:23). A foolish stumbling block to those outside, but central to what we as Christians embrace as the path to salvation. Read More
Fallible Giants: Peter and Paul – Br. David Vryhof
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Br. David Vryhof
Ezekiel 34:11-16
II Timothy 4:1-9
John 21:15-19
We stand today in the presence of two of the giants of our faith: the Apostles Peter and Paul. No one has had a more profound influence on the Christian faith and on the Church than these two men. Both of them have their own feast – Peter on January 18 for his confession of Jesus as the Messiah and Paul on January 25 for his conversion – but they are commemorated together on this day, June 29, because of the Church’s tradition that they both died as martyrs in Rome during the persecution under Nero in the year 64. Today we observe them as martyrs for the faith.
They are very different figures: Peter was a simple man, not highly educated and possibly illiterate, a fisherman from Galilee. Paul was an extremely well-educated, cosmopolitan Jew who was also a Roman citizen. He was from a notable family line and had received an excellent education. The two men didn’t always agree. Peter was the chief ambassador to Jewish believers, while Paul focused his efforts on winning Gentiles to the faith. Peter was centered in Jerusalem and the surrounding area, while Paul’s missions extended throughout Asia Minor and even to Rome. One of their most heated conflicts was around the question of whether Gentile believers ought to comply with Jewish law. Yet, their commitment to Christ and to the proclamation of the Gospel enabled them to overcome their differences. Both were zealous to the end. The tradition holds that Peter was crucified, upside-down, and that Paul, because he was a Roman citizen, was beheaded rather than crucified. Read More
Meeting Us Where We Are, and Sending Us Out – Br. David Vryhof
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Br. David Vryhof
Has the Risen Christ ever come to you when you were in a place of need? If so, how did he come?
I’m moved by the resurrection accounts in the Fourth Gospel, in which Jesus returns to his broken-hearted disciples as the Risen One, meeting them just where they are.
Early in the morning of the first day of the week, he appears to Mary Magdalene just outside the tomb.[i] She is confused and desperate, weighed down with grief and loss, and can only imagine that someone has, for reasons incomprehensible to her, removed the body from the tomb and laid it somewhere else. Her teary eyes fail to recognize the One who speaks to her. She assumes he is the gardener and pleads with him to tell her where they have laid him. Then Jesus speaks her name. “Mary.” And her world immediately brightens. Instantly, the weight of grief is lifted from her shoulders; hope springs anew; her teacher is alive!
Recall how Jesus appears to Peter, the faithful and devoted disciple who, swept up in a moment of fear, denied knowing his Lord three times.[ii] Now he meets Jesus on the shores of Lake Galilee, where he has been fishing with the others.[iii] Jesus speaks to him so tenderly. “Peter, do you love me?” Never a word of blame is spoken; Jesus does not criticize or shame. Three times the question is asked; three times Peter affirms his love for Jesus; three times the charge is given, “Feed my sheep.”[iv] Jesus offers forgiveness, accepts Peter’s pledge of love, and restores him to a position of leadership among the disciples. So kind, so tender, so sensitive to Peter’s pain, Jesus absolves him. Read More
First Comes Knowledge, Then Wisdom – Br. Curtis Almquist
Br. Curtis Almquist
Mark 6:1-6
Learned people were already impressed by the knowledge of this precocious Jesus by the time he was age 12, maybe earlier.[i] Now there is something more. He is age 30 or so, and now people are asking, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him?”[ii] In the New Testament epistles, Jesus is named “the wisdom of God.”[iii] He is called the one “in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.”[iv] Wisdom and knowledge. Knowledge is about one’s breadth of information; wisdom is about one’s depth of understanding. Jesus had become wise.
The English words “wisdom” and “vision” come from the same etymological root. Wisdom is a kind of deep seeing, an “in-sight,” what Saint Paul calls “the enlightening of the eyes of the heart.”[v] Wisdom is not a skill, nor is wisdom learned from a book. Wisdom is a gift from God, a seedling implanted in our soul at birth that needs to be cultivated. Here are two practices that cultivate the gift of wisdom. Read More
When You’re Discouraged – Br. David Vryhof
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Jeremiah 20:7-13
John 10:31-42
You may recall that when God called Jeremiah to be a prophet, he tried to avoid the call by protesting that he was too young. God reassured him that God would be with him and that he would be given the words to speak. Unfortunately for Jeremiah, the words that God gave him were harsh words: he was to warn the Israelites that unless they turned from their wicked ways, God would deliver them into the hands of their enemies and they would be carried into captivity. Read More