Lorica

Remembering is always the first step in turning to God. Man's first step away from God was a failure to remember. It doesn't sound nearly as hideous as it is, but what really lies at the root of all our sin, and all our woe, is forgetfulness. It's not so much what we have done that is man's great failure, but what we have failed to do. The on-going power of sin, even in our lives, those of us who have come to chirst and been baptized, is simple neglect. And a Holy Lent for us will consist of attentiveness and remembrance.

Saint Paul says that we can be eloquent, we can be eloquent to the point of the angelic, we can see the mysteries, we can expound upon them, we can enlighten those around us. We can do miracles. We can give all that we possess, and be great altruists. We can suffer in our body for God and for others. But Saint Paul says that if we do these things without Love, then all of these things that we might do are meaningless. Without love, all these works, and amendments, and satisfactions, turn to dust.

When we hear Christ speak of the one with the noble, good heart (and how does He describe this person? The one who clings to the word), there is a seriousness about it. The Word of God in Christ is not for silly, lazy people. The demons are going to steal it, or, you know, it's not going to last. it won't take root. If we are going to last, if we are going to be saved, we have to bury it deep. So the demons can't get at it. So the love of the world can't choke it out. And burying the word in our heart, as the psalmist says, requires something of us.

Jesus spoke in parables. Is Jesus still speaking in parables? The obvious answer is, we just read the parables this morning, and we take the reading of scripture in the context of liturgy as Jesus directly speaking to us, so we have to say yes, He is still speaking in parables. But beyond and past the Holy Writ, is he speaking to you in parables, in your life? Is he speaking to the world in parables? Or has he given up parables? Maybe he's given up parables and gone on to more straightforward means of communication in your life. That shouldn't be too difficult of a question to answer. If he does still speak to us in parables, do we get what he's trying to say to us? Or are we left scratching our heads? Does the seed of the word of christ penetrate the soil of our heart? Does it take root? Or does it get swept away by the wind, snatched up by the birds? Do we get additional information from Christ? Well, if we're left in the dark, which we so often are, there's a reason for it.

Since we have been redeemed by the Blood of Christ we live for Him now, there is a kingdom coming down out of heaven of which we are citizens, he has delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of the Son. Our loyalty lies with the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, his body the Church.

The letter itself testifies that the events being described show us an example of martyrdom which is conformable to the Gospel- which is to say we are going to describe for you the exemplary death of a great and holy man who died in the same holy way that our Lord and the Apostles died. The Epistle of the Smyrneans which describes Polycarp’s death is the Proto-Martyrology- the first work of its kind in the Church. It is notable not just because it is the first- it really set’s the tone for all subsequent martyrologies- it is Polycarp after Jesus and the Apostles of course, but it is Polycarp who teaches us how to die- and there is little in this world more beautiful than a holy death.

Episode Notes Leviticus 14:1 begins: “The Lord spoke to Moses….” What follows in chapter 14 are the complex instructions for what to do when a person thinks they have been cleansed from leprosy. These detailed instructions are given to Moses directly from the Lord. As we look at Leviticus chapter 14 and read the story of Jesus healing the Leper and then instructing him to go now and follow these very requirements, we should keep in mind just who the Lord is who gave Moses these very instructions. The Lord who, several thousand years ago gave Moses detailed instructions for a cleansed leper is the very same person telling this leper to go and fulfill these requirements. The Lord in Leviticus is Jesus Himself now standing before this recently cleansed man and referring him back to his original directive.

The things of greatest significance in this life have something to do with birth, death or conjugation. The arch of a life is defined on both ends by baptism and a funeral and marriage at the center holds equal place of import. The very creation and fullness of the human, male and female is summed up in marriage. Likewise the new creation is fulfilled as Christ and His bride the Church.

Episode Notes Not many of us are from noble stock or the aristocracy- (is anyone here from the aristocracy?) we should relish this story which draws attention to the simple poor rustic shepherds who were lowly esteemed laborers in their day. And it is even more impressive that Luke devotes so much space to them. They who were invisible and lowly esteemed by society have been highly esteemed by the Evangelist who goes on and on about them, they were highly esteemed by the angels who put on quite a show for them, they were most highly esteemed by God Himself who arranged all of this and has had it recorded for all the ages to delight in.

Episode Notes Tonight, the Lord of Hosts, Judge of Nations and terror of the wicked- is a small, helpless, vulnerable baby who is crying and wants his mother. The Man of War is a crying baby, and his mother coddles him, wraps him tightly in strips of cloth and holds him close and nurses him. This is the man of war, a plump little baby crying for his mother. We must feel some tenderness knowing the holy baby Jesus. Tenderness that His mother feels for him. For all the talk of war, and enemies, and hard brutality and destruction- On this night, this festival reveals our God, our man of war as He also is to us, a tender precious, gentle, weak, vulnerable baby. This sentiment is every bit as central to our faith as that of war and the destruction of the Devils works- more so, because the war will end but the tenderness will only grow and the sweet fragrance that we enjoy in this festival of Christmas will wash away all the residue of the ugly and hard battle of our punishment.

Episode Notes We are often befuddled by the Jews rejection of Jesus. Even with all the physical evidence staring them in the face, the astonishing undeniable miracles- I mean they tried to kill Jesus after he raised Lazarus from the dead- It is bewildering to us to conceive of their rejection of Jesus after all he did. But we are told in the Gospels repeatedly the reason they rejected Jesus- they rejected him because their hearts were hardened. Ok… That’s no reason to crucify Him. Well this is only bewildering because we do not understand what a hardened heart can do to a person- it makes them insane, incapable of seeing clearly, of making wise decisions, of knowing what’s what. It takes away their reason and makes them beasts. That’s the reality of someone who’s heart has become truly hardened. Now who wants to be a foaming pet on a demon’s leash? Good news is we know how to avoid such a condition. Repentance- that is the cure and preventative medicine for a hardened heart.

Episode Notes John was a man -sent from God. We know that his conception was miraculous, next to our Blessed Mother and the Savior John’s nativity is the one other nativity feast we celebrate- he was slightly older than Jesus, of the priestly class, they met while in their mothers wombs and John leapt for joy. We read that John was filled with the Holy Spirit while in the womb- he went out into the wilderness and became a great ascetic and to be with God. He knew God in the Wilderness, God spoke to him and told him things as he did the prophets of old but John was greater than all the prophets of old, there had been no one greater born of women.

Episode Notes I have heard recently of a person who is very angry at God for all the awful things he does to people or allows to happen to people- which I suppose, in this person’s mind is the same thing- if he allows it, he might as well have done it himself- in the final tally, He is responsible for all the awful things. It is a somewhat understandable position to assume and one that God anticipates. He is quite aware that this is how things appear and He warns us repeatedly of the threatening delusion. God is not the author of evil, can not be tempted by evil nor does he tempt any man with evil. And yet all the same he does test our faith that it might be proven. Proven to be true- and proven as in refined and made perfect. And the testing of our faith consists in a fiery trial of suffering- in some form or another. Why does he have to be so mean, can’t he just prove our faith another way, with walks by the lake and mimosas at brunch? We’ll no he can’t as a matter of fact or else I’m sure he would.

Episode Notes There is no one without sin. Our confidence is not in our sinlessness but in the Goodness and mercy of God to forgive the honest sinner who fears and waits upon the Lord. What does it mean to fear and wait upon the Lord? To wait is one who has hope in God’s mercy and goodness, to fear is to recognize the uncompromising nature of reality, that is the Holiness of God- that this eternal blaze of glory, goodness, joy and truth will destroy all that is treacherous and disloyal. Jesus said if you deny me before men I will deny you before my Father in heaven. God does not just forgive the honest sinner but he invites him into his divine counsel and gives him and his descendants the earth.

Episode Notes Jesus warns us in the gospel this morning that there is a great tribulation coming. Whether he speaks of something yet to happen or something that has already happened- there will be tribulations until the end. He promised us in the world you will have tribulation. Why? He is God, He is good and wants us to be happy, I mean he created us for the express purpose of being filled with delight and joy. So why doesn’t he just fix it all with a wave of His hand- why this tribulation? Apparently it would not be what is best for us or else He would.

Episode Notes A phrase from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians caught my attention this morning. He tells the Ephesians to redeem the time because the days are evil. The days are evil… It’s hard to image something written 2K years ago that could sound more contemporary. We are likely in the beginning throws of the collapse of a civilization. It has happened before, and if Jesus tarries it will happen again. Feeling our contemporary demise acutely we may miss the obvious, St. Paul was also in days which were evil, and that was long ago with much historical and social water under the bridge. We have no corner on evil days, mankind has been living in days which are evil for a very long time.

Episode Notes When we study Jesus' life in the Scripture he appears as many things, he is a shepherd carrying for his sheep, a vintner growing and tending his vine, a creator bringing things into existence, a teacher showing the way, a miracle worker setting people free, a destroyer of death, a redeemer who offers his life to pay the price of our salvation and deliverance from enslavement to the enemy. He is certainly all of these things and more. The first clear apostolic proclamation to the world was: JESUS IS LORD!

Episode Notes The temptation of any heresy is to choose. That's what heresy means, to choose. The tension between truth and love, the seeming tension, as if somehow we need to "strike a balance", is a false dichotomy. And whenever a choice is made, in choosing that thing that is chosen, the choice becomes something other than it is, when it is left without its partner. Things that are good and true are only good and true when taken together. As soon as they are broken apart, they become something else. Love becomes "tolerance", niceness, an occasion to blur reality in order to salve our broken psyche. Truth becomes some radicalized system which excludes judges, radicalizes and oppresses people. We have to ask, how can Christ himself, who is the Truth and who is Love, how can Christ be divided? We cannot choose! To choose is heresy.

Episode Notes God has not predestined anyone to perdition- that notion is an obscenity to be denounced and rejected. We are not trapped in a hopelessly irreversible trajectory towards our fate. You can choose the good and the beautiful or you can do nothing in which case by tragic default you will succumb to the powers of this fallen state, the overlords of corruption and atrophy. These harsh taskmasters will carry you down a dark river to a place you do not really want to go but you will go because you did not bother to desire what you truly desire. That is up to you. That is the power that God implanted in your being and which identifies you as human made in God’s image.

This is a test of keeping your bearings, of good judgment and discernment about what is true, about what matters, about who butters your bread, about what kingdom you belong to, where do you draw your breath, what is the source of your life? Whose your mother? Everything that can be shaken is shaking right now, are you shaken? Confused and destabilized? This world will burn, the kingdom of God alone will remain.

In times like these when everything has been thrown into disorder and chaos, when our lives have been disrupted by threat of sickness and death and loss of property and comfort we must be courageous and steady in our faith and in our living as well. There is no more important time than in this to live orderly. We shall go on living- if you are a follow of Christ that is what you shall do, you shall live, that is not a prophecy that you will not get sick itis a fact- whether you get sick or not you shall live and so live your life free from fear, live courageously in faith.

The symbolism of ashes goes all the way back to Genesis chapter 3 where God is telling Adam the consequences of his sin. He tells him that the ground, the earth has been cursed and now since Adam broke the fast and ate the forbidden fruit his eating from now on –all the days of your life- will be in sorrow. He goes on: Through thorns and thistles and sweat and toil and pain will Adam eat and to make matters worse- in the end his eating will not result in life anyway. His painful eating will prolong his painful life but in the end he will return to the dust from which he came. “For dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return”

When you said I will fast and I will pray, and I will deal with my besetting sins over the next 40 days you picked a fight. And whatever this confrontation may mean we must not remove the demonic element from this discussion. And we can be valiant because we have been armed with the ashes of penitence. Our foreheads have been sealed with the mark of Christ, we have been branded as his own and our victory is assured by His Resurrection. This call to battle was issued on Ash Wednesday at the conclusion of the imposition of ashes in the following collect: Grant to us, O Lord, to put on the armor of our Christian warfare with holy fastings: that we, who are to fight against all spiritual wickedness; may be defended by the power of abstinence. Through Christ, our Lord.

The life of Jesus of Nazareth did not unfold before the eyes of God, it was all of it- always present before Him, His Birth, Passion and Glorious Resurrection the whole life fully present, His glory was present in his birth and in his death, there was no uncertainty about how things would end up. Your life too- for all the doubt, uncertainty and vacillation, for all the weariness and wandering- your life, your whole life past present and future is all present before the face of God, God knows you in this way, even the you - you do not yet know is present before His face.

One of the most basic fundamental duties of a Christian soldier is to be attentive to their thoughts. This is where the battle will be won or lost. We are admonished to take every thought captive. It is astonishing to realize how many people do not understand the critical battle ground of our thoughts. If you do not do something about your thoughts, if you do not take this seriously and address this you will lose the fight.

Whether you know it or not everyone here today is a runner, a boxer, an entrepreneur, a vineyard worker, this is what you are, it is what God made you to be and you will never be happy until you start running, boxing, buying and investing, pruning and harvesting. Now the good news is this- if you run you will win, if you box you will overcome, if you buy you will get rich, if you prune you will reap a great harvest- it is guaranteed- you can have total confidence in the outcome if you only engage- be courageous, take up your sword and go into battle and you will be victorious. Sit on the couch- give up- quit- despair- and you will be lost.

Jesus does not provide the answer that so many are demanding of God on their own terms, shaking their silly little fists in the face of the one who died for them. But he does give an answer, he gives the only answer that will enable man to endure and make it safely through this stormy trip. It is up to us whether we will hear what Jesus tells us with faith and love, and trust because we know Him, we know he is trustworthy, he is true and good and just and we know that he loves us, really know it, that is faith, knowing you are loved and so we receive His word and it is enough.

If you are a Christian you have declared your allegiance to this kingdom. You are no longer a member of the world kingdom, even though you physically still exist in this world you are not of it, you are from above, your citizenship is in the kingdom of God and you are a member of the Family of God. And our society has different rules and a different way of life. We live here in God’s house.

Life is in the temple because Jesus is in and is the Temple and that temple as far as we are concerned is the liturgically gathering Apostolic Eucharistic Church. This is where we fulfill the very meaning of our existence, to offer ourselves to God in sacrificial worship as a community. We do this for one reason only because it is right, this is the only reasonable response of the creature to His creator.

The mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” Jesus does not respond, there is only silence and yet there is so much for us to lean in that space of silence. Her confidence, her trust and faith ring out in the silence. In the empty pause when the Word did not speak - the Woman without much ado confidently gives a command that has echoed throughout the ages. With this command and her fiat spoken to the angel, the Woman has taught the world about the one thing most important- “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

The family becomes a true reflection of the divine society only in as much as they flourish in the Church, otherwise they can become a stumbling block to salvation. Jesus makes it clear in this story that his earthly mother has no rights over him which are at odds with His heavenly Father. The family is a sacramental union of divine life but only if it is subservient to the Church, to the Family of God in the Spirit.

Typically when a husband and wife have a baby they have the privilege to choose a name for their child. In the case of the naming of Mary’s baby things went a little different than usual. As far as I am aware this is the only known case in history where the baby… actually named himself.

What a glorious faith we have that mocks the fruitless foe that can do nothing to hurt God’s children; the more we are assailed the more we are blessed who trust in God if only we become like these innocent babes.

This is the irony of it. The immaterial God who cannot be seen has made himself known by becoming a man. In olden times he manifest himself in fire, smoke, or a burning bush, He hid in the rock and behind a thick curtain. But now he comes and is, Jesus of Nazareth, Mary’s boy. And yet- while He makes himself so very accessible and vulnerable he becomes more hidden. His manifestation in the flesh becomes a cloak. He takes form and in so doing becomes to many imperceptible.

“For while all things were in quiet silence, and the night was in the midst of her course, Thy almighty word leapt down from heaven from Thy royal Throne, as a fierce conqueror into the midst of the land of destruction.”

There is only one power and force in this world which can keep me from being close to Jesus and that is me. And I know what I must do. I must stop looking for someone to blame. I must stop looking to temporal things to make me happy, I must repent.

We are still in Babylon preparing to enter the eternal city. The sooner we embrace this reality the sooner we can find Christ in the midst, the sooner we can experience the comfort of the comforter.

Maranatha! is the bold cry of the Christian who is ready and desirous of the coming of the Lord. Why bold? Because he knows full well that that coming means judgment, but his conscience is clean, he is ready and anxious for the judgment because for those who love God the judgments means eternal joy, final deliverance, absolute perfection. The early Christians did not utter Maranatha with a tepid whimper but with great earnest pleading: Come Lord! The more confident we can say Maranatha the more ready we are for Christmas and the Holy Babe.

The Penitential fasting season of Advent (not as severe as Lent) uses the theme of the second coming and calls for repentance to prepare the soil of our hearts to fully embrace the seed of Christmas joy. We cannot fully embrace the holy babe if we do not adequately fear the judgment.

The forgiveness of God is not simply a general attitude of mercy toward us. It is our very real and actual redemption. Can we say God forgives all, yet not all are saved or is it more accurate to say, God has an attitude of mercy and forgiveness towards all but not all are forgiven and redeemed. Our parable helps us to understand why not all are forgiven their debt.

Both the Centurion and the Nobleman had faith in Jesus. The difference is the centurions faith was perfect and mature and relied solely on the Word of Jesus, the nobleman’s faith was imperfect and weak and required a sign. When Jesus rebukes the nobleman’s faith and refuses to come he is disciplining the nobleman and doing what is needed to perfect his faith.

If someone asks you why we pray for the departed- ask them why do we pray for anyone? God knows what we need, He does not need us to inform him. Jesus is the Mediator, Jesus finished the work, Jesus is our intercessor, He doesn’t need us to pray. Why pray at all?

Johns prophecy to the first Christians is that while apostate Israel will be destroyed- they will survive, they will not go down with old Israel, they will emerge as the remnant, they will endure the coming persecution and tribulation and it will become clear that they are the true Israel the perfected Israel of which the former was a type and a shadow.

When He Ascended into Heaven accompanied by the Angelic Host trumpeting His return to majesty as the glorified God-man the conqueror of death and reconciler of creation. He entered into the Heavenly tabernacle and presented before God the Father a new Humanity, Holy and Blameless and he said: “Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.”

And because we know and we believe we must speak, we must respond to the Word we have received. We have a voice, the Logos has been put into our mouths from the knowledge of the voice and we must bear witness, we must speak the truth to the world and back to God in praises.

If we think of our creation as God throwing us into existence and thus propelling us toward a goal the image is not of God throwing a ball-- but a boomerang. The Divinely caused trajectory of our existence is meant to be an arc which comes back to the source. We who came forth from God must return to God.

Love God and Love Neighbor this is everything. This love is manifest thru worship. Worship is the offering of sacrifice which we associate with the direct worship of God but may not realize that the sacrificial deeds we do on the behalf of our neighbor are accounted as sacrifices offered to God and they are pleasing and acceptable to Him. Our good deeds, our love of neighbor are part of our worship of God.

When man became his own god and started fabricating rules the rules he made destroyed love. And this is the constant challenge that Jesus runs into with the Pharisees and lawyers. Their rules are tyrannous and love depleting. God’s rules are life giving and love building. It is not a matter of rules or no rules. Of law being bad and lawlessness being good. The problem is the source and the inner meaning and motivation.

We honor the great warrior Archangel this day and celebrate his mighty defeat of Satan, if we want St. Michael to be our friend and defender we must become like a child seated on the lap of Christ. This is how we will make his victory our own and the angels will fight for us and bring us to Christ through all the dangers and snares of this world.

There is only one way, one door, to finding life, to becoming truly human and that is to be willingly joined to Jesus Christ upon His cross. God has shown us how to live, how to be a human being, we have seen it with our eyes when we have seen him hanging upon that cross. When we see how God has chosen to die we have seen what it means to live.