Choosing Your Battles

“Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 
but we proclaim Christ crucified, 
a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.”

1 Corinthians 1:22-23

When we experience some discord or find ourselves on the receiving end of some injustice and we are thinking about saying something back or retaliating, someone may offer some words of wisdom saying, “choose your battles wisely.” Those are indeed wise words, but there are some battles that come without our choosing it and some battles that we must choose to fight.

As time for Passover neared, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. When He arrived at the Temple, He found moneychangers and people selling various livestock filling the temple area. This did not sit well with the Lord. The Temple ought to be a place of prayer and worship, but it has become a den of thieves, a place marketplace. But we also need to understand something. They moneychangers and salespeople were there for a reason. Sacrifice was a big part of the Jewish worship, and the animals offered need to meet certain criteria, and so these salespeople were simply offering a service to help worshippers. But could it really be that simple? If so, why was Jesus so mad? It was greed and loss of priorities that set Jesus off.

The moneychangers and salespeople were charging people excessively, putting heavy burdens on people who wanted to worship from the bottom of their hearts. People using God to benefit themselves. How disgraceful? How disgusting? How real. We see this later when indulgences were sold, offering pardoning of sins and even lessened time in purgatory for a favorable amount of money. And we also hear of the Church cheating people of their money, selling of positions, etc. This happens today still in other forms, whether it be clergy taking advantage of the people whom they serve or Church organizations using monies for inappropriate uses. So, Jesus was angry at this. This was a battle that Jesus chose to fight, a battle that could not go unchallenged.

People have lost sight of why the Temple was there. It was first and foremost for the worship of God, not a place to make a profit. Instead of following the spirit of the law, they focused simply on the letter of the law or not following the law at all. Jesus wanted to remind the people of this — to love God with all their hearts, minds, souls, and beings. To do what is right, to reject lies, and to stand up for the truth. In other words, to choose the battles that must be fought. St. Paul tells us that the Jews demanded signs and the Greeks sought wisdom, but Christians proclaim Christ crucified. Signs and wisdom apart from God mean nothing. The Jews kept asking Jesus to show a sign that He has authority to say this or do that. The Greeks had no notion of an all-powerful and monotheistic God, but focused on seeking wisdom. Those were battles that were worth fighting for them. For Jesus, the battles that were worth fighting were battles that transcended the natural realm. The battle for salvation, for eternal life.

Brothers and sisters, what are the battles we are willing to fight? Do we speak for the voiceless? Do we protect the vulnerable? Do we stand up for the Truth? Do we say no to the devil? When we hear the advice, “choose your battles wisely,” may we not base our decisions on the probability of winning, but rather on whether or not they conform with what is right, good, and true. May we, like the Lord, have the courage and strength to drive out the evil in our communities and restore the holiness that ought to dwell.

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Going Down the Mountain

“Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them;
from the cloud came a voice,
‘This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.’”

Mark 9:7

Every Second Sunday of Lent we hear the Transfiguration account where Jesus brings Peter, James, and John up a mountain where He is transfigured before them. Matthew and Mark emphasized that it was a high mountain and that Jesus brought those three disciples by themselves. The mountain, the high mountain, is always a place of encounter between God and man and there are times that we must be by ourselves with God — quiet prayer and solitude with God is necessary.

Peter, James, and John make up a trio that serves as an inner circle of Jesus, not of any more importance, but only a difference in role distinction perhaps. These three whom the Lord allowed to witness Him in His glory on the high mountain are the same three He asks to keep watch with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. If we are to share in the glory of Christ, we must share also in His agony. Glory is never apart from suffering. The Cross itself is both a horrific depiction of torture but also the greatest expression of God’s love to man. Love and suffering are inseparable. We know this in our lives. The cost of love is pain. Only because there is love do we feel pain. This is a reminder for the Christian life that glory and resurrection only come after suffering and the Cross. Now, back to the mountain.

If you have ever gone hiking, you may agree with me that as hard as the ascent may sometimes be, the descent may be equally difficult. It would seem like going down the mountain would be easy, but we sometimes forget to factor in the soreness in our legs, the steepness of the descent, and the terrain that pave the way down. But we must endure it because we have to get down! As much as Peter wanted to stay on the mountaintop and build tents, the Lord reminded him that they must go down. Why? Because when they went down, people were waiting for them. People with various illnesses and struggles were waiting for Jesus and the apostles to offer them healing and comfort. The Christian life is not a life of comfort on the mountaintop but a life of service and a life that is on the move (hence, we are sometimes referred to as a Pilgrim Church).

Jesus brought Peter, James, and John up the mountain to show them what awaits them — the glory of the Resurrection — and to show them the importance of prayer, of communing with God. And then He leads them down the mountain. Those “mountaintop moments” where we feel the closeness of God or moments when we feel His Presence and loving embrace are not moments that are meant to be experienced and then put into our spiritual scrapbooks. Those moments of intense consolation and closeness with God are meant to propel us into action. Those awesome moments we experience with God on the mountain ought to move us to run down the mountain to share with whomever would listen the great things that God has done in our lives! The fruit of prayer is not to go back to doing whatever we were doing, but rather a life that is transformed, transfigured even, a life that anticipates to meet the People of God and to serve them.

Brothers and sisters let us not be content with staying on the mountain because Jesus Himself did not. Let us not be content with simply fulfilling our obligations in going to Sunday Mass and then going right back to our old lives. Let us courageously go down the mountain with the Lord so that we might come to meet the people He will place in our lives. Let us share the love, mercy, joy, and consolation of God with those whom we will encounter in our daily lives. We can’t turn around and walk the other way or stay up the mountain. We must go down it. The people awaits us, brothers and sisters. The people longs to meet the Christ in us. Let’s not keep them waiting.

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In the Desert

“The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert,
and he remained in the desert for forty days,
tempted by Satan.
He was among wild beasts,
and the angels ministered to him.”

Mark 1:12-13

Do you remember your baptism? Pope Francis said that if we do not know when we were baptized, we ought to find out, remember it, and celebrate it because it was the day we became a child of God and an heir to the Kingdom. It is this “gateway sacrament” that enables us to live a life of faith, a life that shares in the divine life of the Trinity, a life that is sustained by prayer.

The first thing Jesus does after his baptism is pray. We are told that he was driven into the desert by the Spirit where He stayed and fasted for forty days and was tempted by Satan. This time of communion with the Father sustained the Son even in the face of temptation. In the other synoptic accounts we read of the words exchanged between Jesus and the devil and it was with Scripture that Jesus rebukes the devil. Although the devil quotes Scripture, he is no match for the Incarnate Word that stood before him. The eternal word of God is effective and performative. A life of prayer is a life rooted in this Word. It is this Word that will protect us from the lures of the devil. Mark also tells us that “angels ministered to him.” When we are immersed in prayer and live a life that is rooted in our relationship with God, we will come to experience more fully the hand of God working in our lives, the moments when the angels of God minister to us.

Just as Jesus knew who He was before the devil we too ought to know who we are. Jesus knew He was the Son of the Father and that nothing He did was apart from Him. Likewise we must always remember that by the gift of our baptism we have become beloved sons and daughters of the Father. Let us never forget that. Let us never cease to be in communion with the Father in prayer.

As Christians the desert is a place that we must go. Just as Christ went so must we. A life rooted in prayer is a life that leads us not away from the desert but rather through it courageously. Even when we find ourselves in the middle of the wildernesses and deserts of our lives and the devil stands before us, we have no fear because the Father is with us and He sends His angels to minister to us.

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