Today's Gospel

React or Respond?

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant where we are exploring the genius of the Gospel, the genius of Jesus, the genius of Catholicism, and looking for a word, a phrase, or an idea each day to anchor them deep into our lives. Jesus, his teachings were radical, and they are as relevant today as ever before. That's why we call these reflections radical and relevant. They're radical. They turn people's lives upside down back then, and they want to turn your life upside down. Jesus wants to turn your life upside down, which, as it turns out, will be right side up. Today's reading is from the Gospel of John 8:51-59. Truly, truly, I say to you, "If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death." And the Jews said to him, "Now, we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets. And you say if anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died, and the prophets died? Who do you claim to be?" And Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, on whom you say that He is your God. But you have not known Him. I know Him. If I said I do not know Him, I should be a liar to you and like you, but I do know Him, and I have kept His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day. He saw it and was glad." The Jews then said to him, "You are not yet 50 years old and have seen Abraham?" And Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, 'Before Abraham was, I am.'" So they took up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

It's another fantastic reading. What's the word or the phrase or the idea that the Holy Spirit attaches you to or attracts you to today? There's so many here. One of the things I love about Catholicism is we have history, and we have mystery. I mean, you go down to the local newest Christian church in town. They don't have any history, and they don't have any mystery. And it's astounding how ignorant non-Catholic Christians are of Christian history. Anything before the Reformation, all they have is sort of cultural cliches that have come through, like the Crusades is bad, the church was bad in the Crusades. This is very often the limits of their understanding of history. And we as Catholics should be increasing our understanding of history. We have a book at Dynamic Catholic called-- I think it's called a short history or a compact history of the Catholic Church. It's a fantastic book. I read it over and over because it's good to see the whole journey sometimes. So Jesus is talking about mystery today. He's like, "Before Abraham was, I am." And they're like, "What?" because it doesn't make sense to the logical mind, right? It's radical, and it's mysterious. And God's ways are not man's ways. And so what do they do? They want to stone him. They want to kill him. He says something that they disagree with. He says something they don't understand. So they want to kill him.

So I think the question to ask today is, when someone says something to you that you disagree with or don't understand, what is your reaction to that? And do you react or do you respond? Because those two things are very different. Usually our reactions are miscalculated or poorly calculated or not calculated at all and driven almost entirely on emotion. Better to step back, to take a moment, to reflect, and then to respond.

The other thing that strikes me in today's reading, Jesus says, "I say to you, if anyone keeps my word--" And it makes me think of a story I've shared with you before, but it's a constant meditation in my life. I saw this movie when I was a little kid. It was black and white and subtitles. I'd had a nightmare. And my dad brought me down and laid me on the couch, and \ my mom and dad were watching this movie, and it was around Easter. And this little kid was sent to the church to bring home the light to the candle. And I think it was in Greece, and the custom was that each family brought a candle home at Easter, and they kept that candle going in their home. And a little kid, he's probably seven or eight years old, and he's trying to protect this candle. And there's like a storm outside or a storm coming. It's very, very windy, and he's trying to protect this candle. And he gets almost all the way home, and the candle blows out. And he has to go in and tell his family, he didn't bring the candle home or the light home, and they're angry and they're devastated. But to keep God's word, to live in his presence, to walk in a state of grace, is like trying to protect that candle. And there's a storm coming out there. And it is windy in our culture. And the gusts of winds are massive. And so trying to protect that candle, that light of Christ, requires real intentionality, massive intentionality. And so, that's what the Spirit gave me today. What did the Spirit give you today? Whatever that word, phrase, or idea is, let it anchor your day in the gospel. Have an amazing day. Remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.