You Get What You Choose

Consider, today, the book of Sirach [1]. This book was written in Hebrew by Jesus Ben Sira, a wise Jewish teacher, almost two hundred years before the birth of Jesus, the Savior. It was later translated into Greek by his grandson. It is in the group of Bible books called Wisdom books. Chapter 15 verses 11 to 20 are his lecture notes on “free will”.

First he paints a picture that we are all familiar with from our childhood. Imagine that you are standing  before two pots. One contains a roaring fire and the other filled water. Now you are told to choose which pot to plunge your hand into. Even as children you knew that you get what you choose. One choice gives me a burned hand while the other choice gives me a clean hand.

Ben Sira then moves to a more adult choosing:
You have before you life and death, good and evil.
Whichever you choose, God will give to you.

As adults we realize that life is more complex than just hot or cold choices and we understand the examples like Jesus uses. If we plant weed seeds we are going to harvest weeds whereas if we plant  grain seeds we are going to harvest grain.

Grain or Weeds, Good Seed or Bad Seed you choose!
Life or Death, Good or Evil, You choose!

Ben Sira tells us that God never forces anyone to choose weeds, bad seed, death or evil. You see, God made us free. Free to choose good or evil. He honors our freedom and gives us many ways to discern what is good and what is evil. Jesus talked about this when he came among us.

Ben Sira makes his point in another way when he says that God grants no one a license to choose evil.

A few years ago I ran into an example of secular thinking that contradicts this. It has to do with a virtue and its opposite vice. That pair is the virtue Love and the vice Lust [2]. A virtue desires good and a vice desires evil.

I had been asked to speak at a non-Catholic wedding and in my talk I made the point that a successful marriage required that it be based on love and not on lust because lust was in fact the opposite of love. Now I knew that some of the guests present, unlike the bride and groom, had never thought this through. So I made sure to define the terms.

Love, the love required for a successful marriage, is self sacrificing love. You value the other for who she or he is, not what he or she can give you and you would even give your life for her or him.

Lust, is seeking self gratification in the form of pleasure, status, power or money and the other is viewed as an object from which these can taken.

At the reception the Justice of the Peace who had officiated approached me and objected to my talk on this very point. His view was that marriage was a license (by the state) to make lust between these two persons legal.

You most likely have heard this view even in your own community. Perhaps some of you have even thought this might be the way it is. Ben Sira and Jesus, in the sermon on the mount, however, make it clear that no one and no license will ever make evil into a virtue. 

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1. Also Known as Ecclesiasticus. It was excluded from the Protestant Old Testament because it was thought to not have been written in Hebrew. Later research has established that it had been written in Hebrew and later translated into Greek as part of the Septuagint Old Testament which was used as scripture by the Apostles and early Christian writers. The NABRE translation of this book can be read here.


2. Pope John Paul, in his September 10, 1980 audience, spoke of the contradiction between lustful desire and self giving love. See: Translation by Micheal Waldstein: Man and Woman: He Created Them, 2006, Daughter of St Paul , Boston Ma.

Christ The King Sermon

Today we conclude the liturgical year with the celebration of the feast of CHRIST THE KING. Over the recent Sundays we have heard, in our Gospel readings some of Jesus’ Kingdom Parables that inevitably began;

"The Kingdom of Heaven is like - - - -"

Now, if there is a kingdom there must be a king! We Christians claim that the King we follow is Jesus Christ. But what a strange king he is.

While the kings of the world gain and maintain their power and position with armies, laws, status and economics. They surround themselves with cronies whose loyalty they have purchased with titles, property and power.

Jesus came among us not with an army or a powerful family or any money. He wasn’t a royal prince. He owned no property and was not a General in any army. AND YET WE NOW ACCLAIM HIM AS KING!

What was it about Jesus that finds millions of people around the world acclaiming him as King today?

Our Old Testament reading from the prophet Ezekiel reports the words of God saying,

"I myself will ... tend my sheep. I will pasture my sheep,( I will give them rest, shelter and food). I will find the lost and bring them back. The injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal."

What is it about a God that would do this? A God who seeks the lost, gathers together those the world has divided and treats them with dignity and respect? This God came among us as Jesus to show us himself.

Pope, Benedict XVI, wrote about this God in his encyclical "Deus Caritas Est" in which He says that ‘Jesus is Love’, God is love.

The love that Jesus was and taught was of the type the Greeks identified as ‘Agape’, self giving love. Jesus gave himself away so that we might be free to love him in return.

Jesus talked a lot about freedom. What is it about love and freedom, that are at the very heart of the Good News that Jesus proclaims? Consider what you and I know about love, plain old human love.

We have all been in a social setting where we meet an interesting couple. Suppose their names are Mary and John. They have shared with you that they have been married for 20 years. Your curiosity is aroused so you ask the natural follow up questions.

"Mary how did you come to know John?
"John when did you really get to know Mary?"

If they are open in answering this query you likely forge ahead with this 'getting to know you' conversation.

"John, when did you first realize that you loved Mary?"
"Mary, when did you first know that you loved John?"

Sometime the response here is funny and interesting. If you sense they are comfortable in their relationship you boldly venture deeper.

"John, is it easy or hard serving as Mary’s lover?"
"Mary, is it fun or challenging to serve as John’s lover?"

After 20 years they might be surprised, maybe a little pleased, to be asked about being lovers. If they bite on this one you begin to sense you already know the answer to the next question but you ask it anyway.

"Would you say you have been happy together despite the hardships of life?"

If you get this far you likely have two new friends. At the very least you now know one more interesting life story.

Notice that you have asked them about knowledge, love, service and happiness. All topics apparently related to the subject of love.

Before the middle of the last century, in the United States, the text book for Catholic Sunday schools was called ‘The Baltimore Catechism’. It taught by a series of questions and answers. One of the first questions is this one:
Q. Why did God make me?
The answers were given in brief statements followed by several pages of explanation. We had to memorize the short answers. The short answer to this question was:
A. God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.
Isn’t it interesting, that the reason that God made us gives the very same list as you use in talking to Mary and John?

What happens if John loves Mary but Mary doesn’t love John?
     Can John make Mary love him?
     Can he buy her love with money?
     Can he get her love with threats?
     Can he steal her love? (Love can only be given, it cannot be taken!)

We all laugh about these ideas because we all know that whatever Mary decides about John can be love only if she herself freely chooses to love John.

Now that we have John and Mary loving each other what happens next? They want to do things together:
     Start a business together
     Write a book together
     Start a rock band together
     Study together (if they are students)
     Eat dinner together
     Take care of each other
     Even get married.

Ultimately they want to:
    Talk and listen to each other
    Touch and be touched
    Give themselves to each other.

Our idealism about romantic forms of love do not exhaust the subject of love but have helped us identify some important factors about the topic.

Think about these thing as we continue our Mass. We have just listened to God’s words and we will shortly respond to him with our petitions.



While we humans always desire that our love be returned it often is not. But if it is love, the lover always seeks ways to give of himself for the one(s) loved as Jesus did. Yet when our love is returned it brings a happiness as great a we may ever know in this world.

If God is love, as the Pope has written then he, in his very nature, must be a lover. Jesus came and told us that we are his beloved and invited us to return that love.
He wanted us to freely respond to his love. He dramatically demonstrated the self sacrificing nature of true love by dying for us on the cross.

How in the world can we return such a love? After all God exists beyond time and space. We can see how God cares for us. Ezekiel in our first reading and David in our responsorial psalm, used the image of a good shepherd to show this care for us.

Because we are human we want to be with our beloved. In addition to eating with our beloved we want to touch our beloved. We want to give ourselves to our beloved.

In our Gospel reading today Jesus tells us the wonderful secret of how to do this.

Remember a few Sundays ago we heard Jesus tell us about the two great commandments? Love God and Love your neighbor. He went on to say that all of God’s commands are based on these two.

Today he reveals how these two love requirements are related in a way that will make it possible to fulfill our deepest desire to return God’s love.

You heard the parable. It is a courtroom drama and the secret is revealed in the verdicts and the sentences.

"Whatever you did for the least of my beloved, you did for me." Enter, then, the eternal happiness of the kingdom.

"What you did not do for the least of my beloved, you did not do for me." Enter the eternal regret outside the kingdom.

What is different about us Christians? We treat our fellow human beings as though they were God himself.

Now you and I know the secret. Our God waits with open arm for our response.

Love - Best Learned in the Family

My wife and I had a very enjoyable Holiday with two of our three adult children visiting for several days. Our youngest daughter came alone for several days before Thanksgiving and our son and his family, minus their oldest who is in basic training in the Army, over the holiday. Love provides great consolation in physical presence and the touch of the beloved.

Roxane Salonen, one of my favorite Bloggers, wrote recently about this and her still at home children. Here is a brief section of her posting.

'I'm not sure what's gotten into my middle son, 7, but lately, he's been extra affectionate toward me. Trust me, I am not taking this for granted.

"I love you second," he said to me today, after telling me for about the eleventh time that he loves me. He'd searched me out, found me napping in a quiet spot on a futon, and proceeded to snuggle in close. I was all too happy to have him near.

"Who's first on your list?" I asked.

"God," he said, "then you, then Dad."

Can't beat that, I guess, but I know that it won't always be this way. I know how it is with kids. They go in phases. Sometimes, they seek affection primarily from their mothers. Other times, it's the dads who get the most attention.

But right now, my guy is in a Mom phase, just cause, apparently. And I am absorbing all of the hugs and words of affection with the utmost gratitude. Someday, he'll be more likely to walk away than toward me. Someday, he will not seek out my mommy arms to comfort him. Someday, that will all be the stuff of the past. I know this. And knowing it makes me savor these moments when he approaches me with outstretched arms, or says, unprompted, "I love you, Mom," several times a day. Oh, I am eating this up alright. It is pure gift.'

Read Roxane's entire posting.

Thank you Jean, David, Natalie, Morgan, Dylan and Madison for making your love touchable and may our virtual hugs reach out to Kathy, Charlie, Hayley, Kelsey, Meghan, Brian, Tony, Patrick and Melissa who are far away physically but are right here in our hearts. Thanks Roxane for reminding us of those days when our children were in our arms as well as in our hearts.

I'VE LOOKED AT LOVE FROM BOTH SIDES

I remember from my youth the Joni Mitchell song “Both Sides Now” and thought of its chorus while reading a posting by Jennifer on her Blog “Conversion Diary”. One of Joni’s Chorus verses is:

“Ive looked at love from both sides now

From give and take and still somehow
Its loves illusions I recall

I really don’t know love at all” (Joni Mitchell, 1969)

As is often the case those that have been through the longest battles, the biggest failures, the worst diseases or the farthest journey exhibit remarkable wisdom. Sometimes it is someone dying of AIDS/HIV, a Soldier survivor of a brutal war, or a woman coming to terms with an abortion. Their stories, their journeys certify their wisdom.

Jennifer’s journey is documented in her Blog. Here is a quote from a recent posting that triggered my memory of “Ive looked at love from both sides now.”

“One of the most obvious differences I've seen since I've gone from running in mostly nonreligious to mostly religious social circles is how much more life you see among religious groups of people. When I think back on the almost thirty years I spent in secular social networks, I'm struck by how comparatively quiet and sterile everything seemed. In religious circles I see so much more marriage, more adoption, more biological children, more people letting friends or relatives live with them -- more crazy, messy, loud life.

In particular, the most striking difference I've seen in this area is when it comes to helping people in need. I've seen a sincere desire to help others in both my old and new social networks, but it plays out in very different ways. In the secular crowd people might volunteer at soup kitchens or organize aid programs for the needy, the most dedicated might even join the Peace Corps. The Christians, I noticed, volunteered and did aid programs and went on international missions as well, but they crossed a line that I almost never saw crossed in the secular world: they were willing to help others by letting them become intimately involved in their own lives.”

Read Jennifer's entire posting. I think she does know something about love now.

View Joni Mitchell singing "Both Sides Now" in 1970.