Cut It Off

Earlier this week in the Gospel we heard Jesus urge us that if our hand is what ails, cut it off.  Similarly, He directs us if our foot is what would be our downfall, cut it off.  

I can boldly and brashly assert that I can do this or that, but at what cost?  Am I insisting on stretching myself to do something that I am not equipped to do, that is going to cause harm in the end?  

If my pride would result in my ruin, I need to have it ripped out of me.  In the end, it's not what we accomplish, but what we admit of the truth about ourselves and our limitations that matters.  

We Were Born To Bear Witness To The Truth

We all face the choice whether or not we will speak up for the truth.  We are invited to defend the truth.  Like Jesus, we were born for this and came into the world for this purpose, to testify to the truth.*    

At His trial, Jesus told Pontius Pilate, "Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to My voice."**  We belong to the truth if we defend and respect the rights of all people.    

Once we die, some people who have not called themselves Christians may very well hear Jesus say to them, "You listened to My voice."  And then they may respond, "Lord, I was not a Christian.  When did I listen to Your voice?"  And then The King may reply, "When you fed those hungering for justice, by taking to the streets and protesting over the shootings of unarmed Black men, you defended the truth that their lives are valuable.  When you gently interacted with gays who had been assaulted, you gave refreshing drink to those who were thirsty for the truth that we all deserve to be treated with respect.  When you welcomed the immigrant into your community, you acknowledged the truth that we are all brothers and sisters.  When you empowered a woman, by helping her to become educated so she could support herself, so she could be clothed with dignity and strength,*** you testified to the truth that we are all entitled to the chance to become our best selves.  When you listened to the mentally ill homeless person, you bore witness to the truth that we all have a voice crying to be heard.  When you encouraged your neighbor who felt trapped in a challenging situation, you gave witness to the truth that we all need each other.  

* John 18:37 

** John 18:37 

*** Proverbs 31:25 

Who Do You Say I Am?

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus asks His disciples, "Who do you say I am?"  Peter replies, "You Are The Messiah."*  Jesus keeps asking this question, even today.  All of us answer it, without exception.  

You might say, "No one has ever asked me this question."  Even when it's not directly asked, it's still asked.  This side of Heaven, it's not always clear when it's asked, but still it's being asked of each and every person.  

Once we get to the other side, it will become clear when we were asked who we say Jesus is.  We may find ourselves asking Jesus, "When did you ask me who You are, and when did I say who You are?"  

If we recognize someone and show that person the appropriate respect and honor, we're showing that we know who that person is.  Then we're showing what we believe, who we are, and who the other is.  

Regardless of our religion or lack thereof, anytime we stand up for the truth, we're respecting Jesus.  Anytime we love our neighbor, we're loving Jesus.  In such choices, we decide whether or not to honor Jesus.  

When we accord Jesus honor and respect by loving our neighbor, we're recognizing Him in our neighbor.  Through such living out love and truth, we're showing we know who truth and love is.  

* Luke 9:20 

Know Him And Know The Way

We can spend a lot of time with someone without really hearing that person, or without mulling over what he or she says.  Even after spending so much time with people, we can even miss important truths about others, even about those we love very much.  

Jesus told His disciples where He was going they knew the way.*  He had been teaching them the way through how He lived his life.  He had taught them that unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains a single grain, but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.**  

Jesus is the grain of wheat.  To yield a rich harvest to the glory of His Father in Heaven, He laid down his life with much love for us.  Jesus showed His disciples that the way is not to remain a single grain, but that the way was to die to oneself so as to live for others.  

Thomas expressed confusion, saying the disciples did not know where He was going, so how could they know the way?*** He took literally Jesus’ word.  Thomas had much reason to look for the figurative given Jesus' style.  In missing His meaning, Thomas missed Jesus.  

Jesus explained He is The Way, The Truth and The Life.****  The Way to the Father is through Jesus.  As we embrace Jesus, we accept the sacrifices we have to make to live in love.  Jesus told Saint Faustina He is love itself;***** The Way to Heaven is through Jesus, by living in love.  

If we know Jesus, we know love.  When we welcome Jesus into our hearts, we welcome love into our hearts.  As we listen to Jesus, to the Word of God, we are led into The Way to God Our Father. If we pay attention to Jesus, we find in Him The Way to eternal life.  

* John 14:4 

** John 12:24 

*** John 14:5 

**** John 14:6 

***** Diary of Saint Faustina, 1074.

Have Life, And To The Full

In today's Gospel, we hear that Jesus came that we might have life, and have it to the full.*  What do we have to do, what's our part, so that we might have life to the full?  

God is inviting us into deeper life in all that happens.  In what we expect, what catches us off guard, what pleases us, what seems distasteful, God will work all of it for our good, if we but love Him.**

In what we find challenging, we might not understand the purpose of the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Here as always God calls us to trust in Him, to go forward in faith in Him.  

Once we've come out of difficult times, we are not merely to feel relief that we are no longer enduring such trials.  Surely we are to be grateful to God that we're through such tribulation.  

Yet upon emerging from such taxing tests, we do well to take stock of what lessons were just being presented to us.  What was God just trying to teach us?  Were we resisting it, or were we embracing it?  

Last week Highway 1 reopened a half dozen miles north of the hermitage, after being closed for three months due to collapse.  The road opens, yet do we find life in the road we've always taken?    

The way in front of us may be closed, or perhaps God is opening up a new way for us, or maybe God is showing us a way that has always been open to us.  What seems like misfortune may be a blessing.  

When the path is cleared, do we want to go back to going the way we used to go?  We may have evolved such that we no longer feel inclined to proceed the way we used to take.  

To the extent we embrace what God is trying to show us, we find true life.  God wants us to have life to the full, yet God leaves it up to us whether we accept the truth of His invitation.  

* John 10:10 

** Romans 8:28 

Honor The Truth

On this day we celebrate the Solemnity of the Epiphany.  Today we heard at Mass the Gospel reading telling us of the wise men coming from the east to honor the true King, Jesus.*   

Whenever we honor the truth, we honor Jesus.  Every time we reject the truth, we tell Jesus that we do not want Him to be our King,** since He is The Truth.***  

Today the outgoing President of the United States once again repeated his baseless claim that the most recent Presidential election was stolen, and that he was fraudulently defeated in that election, despite no credible evidence of widespread voter fraud; he encouraged his supporters to go to the Capitol and protest the outcome of the election, which they did, so that protesters stormed the Capitol and people died.****  In the lawfully sanctioned electoral process in the United States, the citizens told the outgoing President that we do not want him to be our President, yet he and some of his supporters refuse to acknowledge that truth.  When any of us supports unfounded allegations, we are rejecting the truth, and consequently we are telling Jesus that we do not want Him to be our King.  

How far are we willing to go to support the truth or deny it?  All of us, each and every one of us, with no exceptions, will have to give an account of whether we have fostered or undermined the truth.  On that day, the Truth may very well say to us, "Any time you denied the Truth, you denied Me."  

* Matthew 2:1-12 

** Luke 19:14 

*** John 14:6 

**** https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-video-statement-capitol-rioters-we-love-you-very-special-2021-1

Stay Awake Because You Do Not Know The Day Or The Hour

Today I feel as if the Gospel echoes the urgency my soul has felt for years.  For years I feel I have been reminded of the truth I have heard today.  

Today at Mass we heard that 

Jesus said to his disciples: 
“Be watchful! Be alert!  
You do not know when the time will come.  
It is like a man traveling abroad.  
He leaves home and places his servants in charge, 
each with his own work, 
and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.  
Watch, therefore; 
you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming, 
whether in the evening, or at midnight, 
or at cockcrow, or in the morning.  
May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.  
What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’”*    

After Mass today, Father Isaiah pointed out to me that this Gospel passage could be calling us to be vigilant so we recognize Jesus when He comes to us in our daily lives.  On any given day, we may cross paths with a homeless person; we do well to remain alert so we see Jesus in that poor person in front of us.**  

Of course in these Gospel verses Jesus is telling us that we do not know the day or the hour when He will come again, in His Second Coming.  We do not want to be unprepared when He returns, but instead we want to be ready for his arrival.  

Most often when I hear these Scripture verses, I am reminded I do not know when I will be called from this life to the next.  I have taken this directive from Jesus as an urgent call to attend to the duty of the present moment, to be constantly striving to love God and my neighbor, since at any given moment, this life might be about to end.  

Over and over in my life I have been reminded of the truth that I do not know when my time will come.  For many years now, my friends and friends of friends have passed away having had little or no warning.  They were not expecting death, yet at times it came unannounced, probably coming earlier than they had been anticipating.  

A college classmate of mine, Chris, once he was in his mid-twenties, died from complications related to cancer.  A few years later, Liz, a dear mentor and co-worker, in her late thirties had a headache at work one day; that night she expired from a cerebral hemorrhage.  Less than a half dozen years later, another co-worker in his late forties got up one morning and very soon thereafter suddenly collapsed from a fatal heart attack.  Around the same time, a friend of a friend, in his early fifties died during the course of an operation.  About a half dozen years later, another friend of a friend, Eric, in his forties lost a battle with brain cancer.  Around the same time, Karen, a former co-worker in her late fifties or early sixties passed away after only a day or two of any evident health challenge.  

Over and over I have been reminded that I do not know when my time will come.  Today in my heart, mind and soul is echoing the reminder of today's Gospel that has been presented to me repeatedly during my life.  And so, what has been reinforced in my soul I say to you: Be watchful, be alert, since you do not know when the time will come.  

* Mark 13:33-37 

** Matthew 25:40,45 

Love Counts No Costs As It Upholds Justice

Yesterday at a protest in London, the actor John Boyega spoke out against racism.  He denounced when people are demeaned for their race.  

It occurred to him that by speaking out so boldly, it might hurt his career.  He considered that he might not have a career after he said what he had to say.*     

He values the dignity of all people, rather than profit at any cost.  He speaks to uphold justice.  

People who seek justice seek God, even if they do not know it.  Those who seek truth seek God.  As persons strive for recognition of the truth of the dignity of all, they strive to do the work of God.  

When one loves justice, goodness and right no matter what the cost, one loves God with all one's heart, with all one's soul, with all one's mind, and with all one's strength.  To love God in this way is the most important commandment, as Jesus tells us in today's Gospel.**  

John Boyega spoke against racism for the sake of George Floyd, a black man pinned to the ground by a white police officer who continued to apply pressure even after Mr. Floyd protested that he could not breathe, resulting in the death of Mr. Floyd.  Although John Boyega thought he might endanger his acting career by defending the rights of our brother George Floyd, and of our other black brothers and sisters, including Sandra Bland, Trayvon Martin, Stephen Lawrence and Mark Duggan, who have suffered similar fates, John Boyega spoke out for the sake of our brothers and sisters.*  To put one's neighbor's interests before one's own, is to love one's neighbor as oneself, the second most important commandment, as Jesus tells us in today's Gospel.***  

Love seeks the dignity of the other.  Love looks beyond oneself.  Love spares no expense.  

We love with all our heart when we work for justice without counting the cost.  We truly love our neighbor when we put our neighbor before ourselves.  In so doing, we become who God made us to be.  

* https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/11780885/john-boyega-speech-black-lives-matter/ 

** Deuteronomy 6:5; Deuteronomy 10:12; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27 

*** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14 

Give The Government What It Deserves

There is an appointed time for everything.*  There is a time to be silent, and there is a time to speak.  When injustice occurs, it is not a time to remain silent.  It is a time to speak.  

When George Floyd, a black man, is pinned to the ground by a police officer who is kneeling on his back despite a protest that he cannot breathe, injustice is occurring.  That injustice is heinously worsened when he dies because he could not breathe under that pressure.**  

Protesters are protesting for Mr. Floyd, because the force that was lawfully given to the police officer was unlawfully used.  When government starts abusing the powers given to it by its citizens, the citizens put the government in check.  

In today's Gospel, Jesus teaches, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”***  We give to the government what is due to it when we check its abuses one way or another.  Indeed, at the same time we also give to God what is due to God, since we are working for justice, for the respect of all persons, for the recognition of the dignity of all persons, which God expects of us in all we say and do.  

Government leaders have the power that they have only because it was given to them from above.****  Thus those in power fall short when they fail to acknowledge that moral authority which gave them the power they wield.  Those in power do even worse when they imply that they follow that moral authority but then act in exactly the opposite manner.  

Yesterday, using either tear gas or smoke canisters, law enforcement cleared a park, Lafayette Square, near the White House of protesters who, news agencies are typically saying, were peacefully protesting.*****, ******, *******  It has been suggested that the park was cleared because of violence in the area the night before.*****  Regardless of why the park was rid of protesters, what one actually does matters, not what one says or one insinuates.  Last night the President walked to an Episcopal church near the White House and a photo was taken as he held up a Bible there.  Presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden expressed that he hoped that the President "opened it once in a while instead of brandishing it."******  May the President follow the teachings of Jesus, as may we all.  May he truly lead, not rely merely on bluster and vague gestures which do not make any clear statement.  May he not only claim to value freedom, but so act as to truly value freedom.  

Today the President visited the John Paul II Shrine.  Then he went back to the White House to sign an executive order on international religious freedom.  Archbishop Wilton Gregory pointed to the rich irony of Saint Pope John Paul II’s defense of human rights as he condemned “the use of tear gas and other deterrents to silence, scatter or intimidate" protesters "for a photo opportunity in front of a place of worship and peace.”******  

Indeed, I put far more stock in what is going on right under someone's own nose, and how that person responds to those events, as an indication of that person's beliefs, of what that person holds dear, and what I can expect from that person.  In short, if the President will not protect the rights of people peacefully protesting right outside the White House, I hardly expect the President to be a champion of human rights elsewhere in the country or around the world.  

Indeed, for that very reason, that injustice was occurring right in front of him, I echo House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who said, "I am horrified he attempted to put down peaceful protests with military force," Hoyer said, calling it "the act of an authoritarian, unempathetic leader."*****

It has been suggested that police dispersed protesters who were attacking them.*****  However, no specific source was given to substantiate this claim.  Therefore, there is no way to check it, to question the supposed source of information.  I am more than a little suspicious of such a mysterious, unattributed claim.  Indeed, I call into question the acceptability, the propriety, of making such unsubstantiated claims, as they seriously endanger the search for the truth, potentially confusing and misleading citizens.  

On the other hand, I have been relieved to see a distinction made between peaceful protesters and those who inject violence into protests.  As the U.S. Attorney General, William Barr, noted, "Unfortunately, with the rioting that is occurring in many of our cities around the country, the voices of peaceful protests are being hijacked by violent radical elements."********  The truth is that many protesters are peaceful.  To label all protesters as radicals is to distort the truth.  Indeed, as I have maintained elsewhere based on a depiction of Pope Paul VI, protesters seek the truth; those who protest demand recognition of the truth that all human beings deserve to be treated with dignity.  Those who infuse violence into protests violate the dignity of others.  To protect citizens' dignity, law enforcement rightly pursues those who introduce violence into protests.  

The U.S. Attorney General asserted, "There will be even greater law enforcement resources and support in the region tonight."*****  I am grateful that the government will be quelling violence.  However, we need to address the very violence done in the first place, done against Mr. Floyd.  If those applying to be law enforcement officers were more rigorously tested, including psychologically, and denied places in law enforcement agencies when they show sufficient warning signs, then perhaps such heinous crimes by law enforcement officials, the very individuals tasked to prevent crime, more often could be prevented.  

Yet at the same time, if those in power continue ever more to fail to lead, there will be even greater momentum to vote them out of office.  If we want to uphold the truth, the truth that all human beings should be accorded the dignity we all deserve, then we will vote for security, not for leaders who make inflammatory statements which drive insecurity.  

The U.S. Attorney General continued, "The most basic function of government is to provide security for people to live their lives and exercise their rights, and we will meet that responsibility here in the nation's capital."*****  Indeed, the most basic function of the citizens of a state is to remove leaders who fail to serve, and as citizens of this nation, we will meet that responsibility as we exercise our right to vote.  

* Ecclesiastes 3:1 

** https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/06/01/george-floyd-independent-autopsy-findings-released-monday/5307185002/ 

*** Mark 12:17 

**** John 19:11

***** https://www.foxnews.com/politics/barr-lafayette-square-trump-protest-remarks 

****** https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2020/06/02/washington-archbishop-wilton-gregory-calls-trumps-visit-john-paul-ii

******* https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-the-push-to-tear-gas-protesters-ahead-of-a-trump-photo-op/2020/06/01/4b0f7b50-a46c-11ea-bb20-ebf0921f3bbd_story.html 

******** https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/30/william-barr-george-floyd-protests-290792 

Truly Becoming Ourselves: Making Simple Vows

Today I became who I am.  Today I declared my true self.  

I couldn't have done this on my own.  Grace has gotten me safely this far.  
I've kept asking for grace.  When we ask for what we need to do God's will, God gives it to us, so grace has kept coming.  

How do we get grace?  I can tell you that Jesus listens to His mother Mary: she asks for the grace people need to do the will of God, and so people receive the grace of God.  

At the wedding feast of Cana, Mary told her Son Jesus that they had run out of wine.  He performed a miracle, turning water into wine.*  

Jesus can turn water into wine in us, since through Him we are transformed according to the will of God.  He is The Way, The Truth and The Life.**  Mary has kept leading me back to her Son Jesus, who Is The Way to The Father.  

One of the many ways Our Blessed Mother Mary has tried to lead us back to her Son Jesus was when she appeared in Fatima, Portugal, beginning on May 13, 1917, exhorting us to pray the rosary for peace, to repent of our wrongdoing, and to make sacrifices so as to bring people to God who don't know Him.  Each year on May 13, the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast Day of Our Lady of Fatima.  

Today, on the Feast Day of Our Lady of Fatima, here at the hermitage the Mass began at 11:00 a.m.  When the Mass began, the other monks and I processed from the back of the church, past the icon of Mary and Jesus, 

to the front of the church.  

In the first reading of Scripture today here, we heard that 

When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption.  As proof that you are children, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!"  So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child, then also an heir, through God.***

In today's Gospel reading, we heard that 

While Jesus was speaking, 
a woman from the crowd called out and said to him, 
'Blessed is the womb that carried you 
and the breasts at which you nursed.' 
He replied, 
'Rather, blessed are those 
who hear the word of God and observe it.'****  

Right after the Gospel reading, I walked from my seat to stand before Father Cyprian. There, in recognition of, and in gratitude for, the grace that Mary has obtained from her Son for me to do the will of Our Father, I took the middle name "Maria" as I addressed Father Cyprian, "With the help of God, I, Martin Maria Herbek, have studied your rule and lived among you as your brother for the time of probation.  Father, I now ask that I be allowed to dedicate myself to God and to His Kingdom by making monastic profession in this community."  

During Father Cyprian's homily, commenting on today's Gospel reading, focusing on Our Blessed Mother Mary since today is the Feast Day of Our Lady of Fatima, Father Cyprian echoed Saint Augustine.  He noted that Saint Augustine had pointed out that Our Blessed Mother Mary was blessed moreso because she kept The Word of God so well than because she physically gave birth to Jesus.  

After the homily, we proceeded from the seats of the church, into the rotunda where the altar is.  

There Father Cyprian and I stopped at the entrance to the rotunda, where he asked and I affirmed my desire to live according to monastic profession of vows.  

Father Cyprian then extended his hands over my head.  He prayed that the good work that God has begun in me may bring God glory and further His plan for redemption of us.  

Then I proceeded to the altar, where was the book containing the simple vows, that is, the first vows, of every monk who has ever made profession of simple vows here at New Camaldoli Hermitage.  Out of that book, I read my vows of stability, reformation of life, poverty, chastity and obedience, which are to last for three years.  

I signed my name, Martin Maria Herbek, to the vows.  

Then another monk, a dear mentor, Father Isaiah, who had just witnessed my pronouncement of the vows and my signature, signed the book as one witness.  

Next another of my fellow monks, another model for whom I am grateful, Father Raniero, who had also just witnessed my profession of the vows and my signature, also signed as a second witness.  

I then picked up the book, open to the page we had just signed, and I slowly turned until I made a complete circle and had shown it to everyone present in the rotunda.  

Then I proceeded back to Father Cyprian at the entrance of the rotunda.  Up until that point in the Mass, I had been dressed in the robe, belt, scapular and hood I had received when I became a novice monk one year ago, but which I have been wearing for the past year with the belt tied around the robe, with the scapular on the outside; then, at that point in this Mass, Father Cyprian untied the belt around my waist and retied it outside the scapular.  

Then he placed a cowl over my head, and I put my arms through its sleeves.  

I was presented with a copy of the Rule of Saint Benedict as well as a copy of the Camaldolese Constitutions.  

Mass proceeded.  My offering of myself in my vows, remained on the altar with the offering of the bread and the wine, as we did this in memory of Jesus, as we prayed that Our Father's will be done on earth as it is in Heaven, 

as we received the fruits of Jesus' sacrifice of Himself for us, as we received in the Eucharist the Body and the Blood of Christ.  

And thus, in this monastic community, here at home, I became a simply professed monk.  

You see now.  I am him.  Who Are You?  

* John 2:1-11 
** John 14:6 
*** Galatians 4:4-7 
**** Luke 11:27-28