Why do bad things happen to good people?

From last Sunday’s Gospel, Peter had just confessed Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of the living God.  In response, Jesus said to Peter:  “You are rock, and on this rock I will build my Church.  And I give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.”  Peter’s leadership in the early Church was clearly established.  Peter voiced the Church’s foundational faith.

In the next very important step of discipleship, Jesus confides to his disciples what he means to be the Messiah.  Jesus’ explanation of discipleship did not compute with Peter.  He was clearly looking for a “no-pain” version of Christianity.  Peter strongly objected to Jesus’ prediction of his passion.  Jesus contradicts Peter’s no-pain version of Christianity not only with “Get behind me, Satan!” but also with the oft-quoted statement “Those who wish to come after me must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me.”  For Peter in his discipleship, it is not enough to talk the talk in declaring Jesus to be the Son of God.  He must also walk the walk in following Jesus to his passion and death.

The cross was central to who Jesus is as our Messiah and Lord.  This is what Peter must learn.  And likewise, this is what we too must learn in our path of discipleship.

How are we like Peter and prefer a ‘no-pain’ version of Christianity.  What happens when you or a member of your family is given the test results that indicate cancer?  What happens when life doesn’t seem to be fair?  Why me?  I didn’t deserve this.  Why did God allow this to happen to me?

All of us, have we not, asked the question “why” when the results have not been what we wanted.   Why do bad things happen to good people?

None of us get a free pass from the cross in life.

Today’s First Reading catches the prophet Jeremiah in a moment of weakness.  His intimate lament contains some of the strongest language of doubt found in the Bible.  “You duped me O Lord, and I let myself be duped…All the day I am the object of laughter; everyone mocks me.”  Preaching God’s Word has brought him only derision and reproach.

Jeremiah felt that God was not standing by him.  There was a side to Jeremiah that was not willing to deal with the cost of discipleship.  This is similar to Peter’s objection to Jesus’ prediction of his passion

God does not deceive – and Jeremiah at his core knows this.   God tests the just and disciplines His children through sufferings and trials.

What Jeremiah learns, Jesus states explicitly in today’s Gospel.  To follow Him is to take up a cross, deny yourself – your priorities, preferences, and comforts.

 In our time of suffering, may we discover the inner strength that comes from God who is within us to trust that God’s love for us is unending.  Yes, in your life and in mine, stuff happens that we don’t like -- illness, death of one we love, relationships that have gone wrong, life is unfair at times.

How does this affect our spiritual journey?  This is the question of Jeremiah, the apostle Paul, and Peter in the Gospel.  This is the question of a mom and a dad in dealing with their child’s serious illness.   This is the question we face when a family member dies much too young.  This happens when our chosen career path doesn’t work out. 

We experience suffering personally, and we experience the suffering that happens to us globally as well.  Half a world away, women are kidnapped and sold as sex slaves by shadowy militias.  Christian teenagers are crucified by ISIS.  Uncomfortably closer to him, there are flares of racial conflict in Ferguson, Missouri.

Peter echoes our sentiments when he says:  “God forbid, Lord!  No such thing shall ever happen to you.”

God forbid that the Church has to deal with people with people that don’t have time to come to Sunday Eucharist.  God forbid that clergy in the exercise of religious leadership are not kind and compassionate with the disciples of Jesus.  God forbid that any members of your family do not believe in the same way you do.  God forbid that I wrestle with greed, excess, control of people, and sexual self-interest.

Yes the Church still is suffering.  Jesus wants us to judge as God and not as humans do.  God desires a Church that is forgiving.   The prayerful Gospel question is:  what is the cost of discipleship for me to be a follower of Christ?  As did Peter we have to learn that the cross was central to our discipleship of the Lord Jesus.  Our spiritual path is to be a disciple of the crucified Lord.  In walking the walk of discipleship, we must be willing to embrace the cost of discipleship.

In your spiritual journey, how do you talk to the Lord in facing illness, death, relationships that have fallen apart, in dealing with depression and loneliness?  Do you experience frustration, anger, and abandonment from a God who is supposed to be taking care of you?

Can you experience a God who accompanies you in moments of darkness as well as moments of light? Can you experience a God whose love for you is unending even amidst the trials of life?  This was the question Jeremiah, Paul, and Peter experienced in today’s Scripture reading.  Paul prays that we will be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God.

Jesus accepted suffering personally.  He did not passively submit to it.  And we know, Christ’s love was infinitely meaningful.

True discipleship happens only after we hear and accept this challenge:  “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

God is good…all the time.

Do the struggles in life lead us to Jesus as the source of our true inner strength?

Jesus asked his disciples:  “Who do you say that I am?”  Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah…And so, I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church…I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.”

Peter got it right, and this correct statement of faith constitutes his blessedness.   Jesus then shifts the focus from himself to Peter.   Peter has seen and acknowledged the identity and mission of Jesus, and now Jesus is unfolding the identity and mission of Peter.  The two are intimately linked together.

Simon Peter is a paradoxical leader of the Church in that he exhibits both strength and weakness in his faith journey.  In next Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus is saying to Peter:  “Get behind me, Satan!  You are an obstacle to me.  You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

And yet, Peter was chosen to be the first pope not by accident, but rather by divine design.  His very failure somehow became his credential to be the foremost preacher of God’s limitless mercy.  The lack of faith that had broken him to the core had made room for an equal measure of grace.  From being a stumbling block for others to becoming the cornerstone of the Church, Simon Peter had lived the Gospel he would announce to others.  This is why Jesus had appointed him leader.  They would see in his face the look of one who knows the giving and forgiving God.   Peter could speak from his own experience:  Do not be afraid.  God’s love has pursued you even in your sin, found you and given you new life.

Today I invite you to reflect on your own faith journey and see if you can identify with the faith journey of Peter – yes, the inconsistency and sinfulness of Peter’s spiritual  journey.  I know the great Saint Augustine could identify with Peter when he said:  “I believe; help my unbelief.”

I know for myself that conversion has happened when I’m not in control of the situation, when I’m nervous or anxious or feeling vulnerable about where we’re going, when I’m misunderstood or when I misunderstand another, when I’m not in my comfort zone,  these life situations remind me of the truth of my life.  I stand in need of the grace of God from moment to moment, day to day.  Ultimately those situations of failure in my life that make me more aware of my need for Jesus are really blessings for my life.

St Paul says:  “When I am weak, I am strong.”  His weakness enabled to know that the source of real strength in his life was his trust in Jesus.

How does it go for you in your spiritual journey?  How have you experienced the conversion moment when you realize it all depends upon God’s limitless mercy and love?  As the glass shines brightest when it is broken, so too, our faith is strongest when we, in the midst of our own vulnerability, recognize that it our trust in Jesus that is the source of our spiritual identity.  Can your experience of dealing with a divorce or an addiction or a relationship that has gone South or unemployment or downsizing or some disillusionment from a person you had previously trusted – can this experience --make you more aware of the truth of your life that Jesus is your rock and your salvation.

The movement in the spiritual life of each one of us is that as we become aware of God’s limitless mercy and love for ourselves, we are then missioned to witness to the love of Jesus for others.  We are to share what we have been given.

Jesus said to Peter:  “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.”  The first and most important power that was given to Peter and his successors was the forgiveness of sins.  Pope Francis has made a hallmark of his papal ministry a tireless call for all of us sinners to embrace and celebrate God’s boundless mercy and untiring forgiveness.  What was true in the mystery of the Church in the days of Peter is equally true in the mystery of the Church in our day.

St Peter is the gate keeper.  However, his role is not just the afterlife security officer who hears and judges our pleas for entrance.  Peter’s keys are to throw open wide the kingdom’s gate, to welcome all to join the community of us sinners who celebrate God’s forgiveness and love for each and every one of us.  A great grace of Holy Spirit parish is our practice of celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  That is a grace of our parish, and may even more in our parish community celebrate this sacrament of God’s forgiveness in our lives.

 Part of the take home message of today’s Gospel is that certain keys have been entrusted to each of us.  They are not just given to the Pope or the pastor; they are given to all the baptized.  This is what it means to be Church.  We are all the Rock upon which the Divine Builder wishes to build His Church.  I invite you in your prayer today to respond to the question:  What keys has the Lord entrusted to you that serve for the building of the Church of Jesus?  How have you listened prayerfully to the call of God in your life?  As a parent, as a son or a daughter, as a neighbor, as a parishioner?

May we use the keys that have been given to us to open rather than close the way to Jesus.  We should welcome more people than we turn away and serve more people than we refuse.

May the struggles of our life lead us to trust in Jesus as the source of our inner strength.  May all of us commit ourselves to do what the Lord asks of us in the building of the Church.

A story of faith and a story of welcome!

In today’s Gospel, at first Jesus does not answer the Canaanite woman.   Then he tells her that he has come only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  Finally he says:  “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to dogs.”

Wow!  That is a harsh reply spoken by Jesus – so uncharacteristic of Jesus.  Usually Jesus is the one challenging the status quo.  What gives here?

Let’s see:  why might this Canaanite woman not belong?  Three reasons:  She’s a woman.  She’s a Canaanite or a Gentile.  Also, she’s annoying because “she keeps calling out after us.”  How does this apply to us:  While only half of us are women; most of us are Gentiles (non-Israelites); and, if we are honest, most of us are annoying at least some of the time.  Do we belong in the kingdom of God?

By all accounts, this is an unusual Scriptural event.  Does Jesus really intend to shun her?  What was he trying to teach his disciples who clearly want her out of the picture?  Does this sound like the Jesus who said:  “Come to me all who labor are burdened  and I will give you rest.”

For me, the take-home message is twofold:

First, this is a wonderful story of faith.  This Canaanite woman is driven by faith from beginning to end.  Because of this faith in who Jesus is and what he can do, she will not be put aside by anyone.  Remember, she is not fighting for herself; she is fighting for the life of her daughter.  She is a woman; she is a Gentile; and she is a mother who would not be denied. 

The power of her faith makes her willing to risk insult, encourages her boldness, gives her a sense of empowerment, and ultimately brings about the transformation she seeks.  Her faith gives her this incredible boldness in the presence of the disciples and in the presence of Jesus.  Does your faith, does my faith give me this kind of confidence in the healing Lord? 

Faith can clearly bring power to the powerless.  She would not take “no” for an answer.   As a result of the mother’s faith and persistence, Jesus declared her daughter healed.  So too for us, those who persist in believing and trusting God will find themselves rewarded with inner peace and an assurance of ultimate well-being.  I had the privilege of anointing an older woman this week who had just entered a home hospice program.  Even though cancer had weakened her considerably, together with her daughter and grandson, her faith empowered her to exhibit such an inner peace and gratitude for the blessings of her life.  Her faith was a source of inspiration for all of us.

Second take-home message:  Everyone belongs.

Reflecting on the disciples’ encounter with the Canaanite woman,  who do we attempt to exclude from God’s presence today?

Let’s face it:  the inclusive work of the Church is hard work, and it goes against the way the world is organized, the way our worldly hearts want to behave.  We would rather hang out with people like us  -- people who speak our language, vote for our political  party, share our skin color, live in our zip codes.  But that is not the way of God, and, please God, not the way of the Church.  We see in our Gospel story for today, where Jesus met a Gentile woman, who begged him to heal her daughter.  This posed a problem for Jesus, not because he did not care for this woman and her daughter, but because the plan of God was to begin the spread of Christianity from the center of Israel.    Jesus wanted to honor God’s chosen people, the Israelites.  Yet, human need and this woman’s great faith “converts” (in parenthesis) Jesus to reveal more fully that everyone is welcome, everyone belongs in the kingdom of God.

The Canaaanite woman becomes a sign of the Gospel universality.  No one belongs under the table, much less away from it.  As we come to the table of the Lord to celebrate Eucharist at the Lord’s altar table, is it not true in the plan of God that no one belongs under the Eucharistic table, no one is to be excluded.  All are welcome.

A way of looking at the welcome of Jesus is to ask ourselves:  if Jesus will welcome even us, who are we to issue restrictions?  In the words of Pope Francis:  “Who am I to judge?”  May we never lose touch with our own craziness, our own messiness, our own sinfulness and yet know, at the same time, we are God’s beloved.  As God issues no restrictions on the love he has for us, so too, may we issue no restrictions on God’s love for all of His people.

Today’s Gospel story is about an expanding circle of grace.  That circle had to be learned by the early Church and by ourselves as well.  We often heart the phrase “to think outside the box.”  It describes the capacity to expand our concepts beyond the familiar, comfortable and even our orthodox patterns that define our reality.  Religious beliefs are even harder to change because they come to us in absolute terms. 

What convinces Jesus that the Spirit is at work in the Canaanite woman is her deep love for her daughter and her persistent faith in his power to heal the child.  Jesus encounters deep faith and love in religious outsiders like the Canaanite woman or the Roman centurion, but also in religious outcasts within Israel – lepers, sinners and the poor who neither know nor keep the Law.

The Gospel challenge for us today is to ask ourselves do we withhold love for people we decide are outside of God’s grace because they are different from us.  Our place at God’s table may put us next to someone we never thought would be as cherished by God as we ourselves want to be.  With this comes the challenge to love them as God loves them.

"Take courage. It is I. Do not be afraid."

As we engage today’s Gospel of the disciples on the Sea of Galilee, we’re in the midst of an angry sea, in a boat that seems fragile and there are howling winds and enormous waves that threaten to capsize the disciples.

At some point in time, the storminess on the Sea of Galilee may describe anyone’s life – one’s parish or school; one’s business or neighborhood or family; one’s personal life as our employer tells us that our job is downsized or outsourced, or our doctor explains our test results.

This has been the life of the community of the Church many times since Jesus walked on water, and it is what today’s Gospel account is all about.

When we focus on the power of the winds and the depths of the waves and how wet and cold we are, then we panic and grasp and clutch and…sink.  When we give our life over to Jesus, we save our life.

This message is straightforward and easy to understand but so hard to live out when we are gripped by our fears.    The grace we seek from today’s Scriptures is to cultivate faith in Jesus that is greater than our fears.  The words of Jesus that are spoken to us again and again are:  “It is I; do not be afraid.”

There is a remarkable similarity between the situation Elijah found himself in today’s first Scripture reading and the disciples’ predicament in today’s Gospel.

Elijah had incurred the wrath of Jezebel, wife of Ahab, the King of Israel, and, as a result, the prophet had to flee into the desert and to the mountaintop.   There, he began to despair.  Although he felt alone and helpless, he was soon to learn that the God for whom he had fearlessly prophesied had not abandoned him.  God was near, providing food for the journey and an experience of God’s presence in his life.

Like Elijah, the disciples of Jesus found themselves in peril, as wind and waves tossed them about.  Their anxiety increased when they did not recognize Jesus and thought that it was a ghost that was approaching.  Jesus insisted they have courage.  He said:  “Do not be afraid.”

 When in your life do you experience the turbulence of the sea and your fears and anxiety get the best of you?  Are there times when you panic there is too much to do and not enough time to do it?  As a parent or grandparent, what happens when you do not approve of the choices your children are making?  As a teen or young adult, what happens when your heart is broken from a relationship that falls apart?  How is it for you when you are disillusioned by those in authority – in the government, in the Church, or in your place of business?  Personally when loneliness or depression gets the best of you, where do you turn?

There is a take-home message from the experience Elijah and the experience of the disciples on the Sea of Galilee.

The Lord said to Elijah:  “Go outside and stand on the mountain before the Lord; the Lord will be passing by.”  As Elijah waited, the Lord was not to be found in the wind, or the earthquake or the fire.  After the fire, there was a tiny whispering sound, this is where Elijah experienced God’s presence.  And so we ask the question, where do we experience the Lord in our lives?  What is our tiny whispering sound?  Where is our sheer silence that speaks of God’s presence in our life?  God is to be found in the small gestures, in the gentle breezes of life, in the sound of sheer silence.  You never know how deeply a small gesture touches someone.  Last week I had the opportunity of spending some time with three grand nephews and my grand-niece.  They are ages 7, 5, 3, and less than a year old.  Simply holding Keara Grace in my arms touched me deeply with the mystery of God’s love.  She was a tiny whispering sound of God’s love in my life.  To read a bed-time story to my grand-nephews was also a gentle breeze of God’s presence.  Holding a one-year old in your arms or reading bed-time stories to young boys is not earth shattering by any means, but I can tell these were privileged opportunities for me to experience God in the gentle breezes of my life.

In the Gospel account of the storm of Sea of Galilee, the evangelist Matthew tells us that Jesus came to the disciples during the fourth watch of the night.  That is 3:00 am.

If you are awake at 3:00 am, often it is a sign of something wrong.  If you are unable to sleep tossing and turning, if you are waiting for someone to come home at 3:00 am, if the phone rings or there’s a knock on the door, if people are out on the streets at 3:00 am, it often is not a very good sign.

For some people, it’s 3:00 am emotionally.  Whatever problems we experience, whatever hurt or guilt or grief, it’s always worse in the middle of the night.  In the life of the Church, we may think it is 3:00 am if the numbers in our parish community are dwindling.

Despite the fears and struggles of our life that make it seem like it is 3:00 am no matter what time it is.  Exactly when it seems that things couldn’t get any worse, Jesus comes to us walking on the sea of our sadness and discontent.  With love and assurance, Jesus says:  “Take courage.  It is I.  Do not be afraid.”  Then like Elijah and like the disciples, we will draw courage from His presence – so much courage that like Peter; we dare to venture out into the deep.

As we pray over today’s Scripture readings, the grace that was given to the prophet Elijah was to recognize God in the “tiny whispering sounds” in life – in the silence and the gentle breezes.  May we seek the awareness of discovering God’s presence in the ordinary events of our day – even holding a child in your arms.   As the disciples did on the Sea of Galilee,  may we also recognize God’s presence in the storminess of our life.   The Lord is speaking to us:  “Take courage. It is I.  Do not be afraid.”