Author: Fr. John

Love is…

When my grandma got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toe nails anymore. So my grandpa does it for her now all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love. – Rebecca – age 8

Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other. – Kari – age 5

Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it every day. – Noelle – age 7

Love is… I remember when my grandparents were older. My granny was wearing a shirt and a yellow sweater over it. She got hot while cooking, so without a word, my granddaddy got up and helped her get the sweater off so that in doing so she wouldn’t mess up her hair. That may sound silly to some, but for what ever reason I still remember it to this day. I remember being almost embarrassed in seeing it, because it seemed so intimate.

In Love’s Labour’s Lost, Shakespeare wrote, “When Love speaks, the voice of all the gods make heaven drowsy with harmony.” Maybe that’s what I saw with my grandparents. Harmony. Unity. After sixty some years of marriage, the two had truly become one.

But with us, love doesn’t always last. There was a group of women at a seminar on how to live in a loving relationship with your husband. The women were asked, ‘How many of you love your husbands?’ All women raised their hands. Then they were asked, ‘When was the last time you told your husband you loved him?’ Some women answered today, some yesterday, some didn’t remember. The women were then told to take their phones and send the following text: ‘I love you, sweetheart.’ Then the women were told to exchange phones and read the responding text messages. For the record, the roles could have been switched, the husband could have been the ones sending the messages and the replies may have been different, but the sentiment would have been the same. In response to, “I love you, sweetheart,” some husbands wrote back, “I love you, too.” Others wrote back with:

– Who is this?
– Eh, mother of my children, are you sick?
– I don’t understand what you mean?
– What did you do now? I won’t forgive you this time.
– Don’t beat about the bush, just tell me how much you need?
– Am I dreaming?
– If you don’t tell me who this message is actually for, someone will die.
– I asked you not to drink anymore. I’ll leave if you are tired of me.

Now that’s enough to put a damper on your Sunday morning. What we think about love when we are children is different than how we view it as adults. As children, we’ll crawl up into the lap of a perfect stranger and tell them all about our day. By the time we are adults, we often don’t even share our feelings with those we hold most dear.

There are of course exceptions, but for you and I, love and our understanding of it is fluid, ever moving and changing. It is determined by everything from past experiences and the movies we watch to whether or not the sun is shining and are we having a good hair day. I’m not sure why, but when I get overly hungry, I get angry. Janie has labeled it “hangry.” When I’m hangry, I don’t loves nobody!

Now don’t go thinking I’m a cynic when it comes to love. I’m not at all, but my point – Yes, Fr. John, the point please – my point is that love for us is inconsistent. It may last, it may not. It may burn like the noonday sun and end in a whimper or age like fine wine.

So, why all this talk about love? Today is Trinity Sunday, the day we celebrate the three persons of the Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I call this day Heresy Sunday, because it is the day that more heresies are spouted from the pulpit than on any other Sunday. If you add anything to the sentence that begins, “The Holy Trinity is like…,” then there is a 99.999% chance you will commit heresy. Was that heresy intentional? Most likely not, but even St. Patrick’s explanation of the Trinity as a three-leaf clover can be viewed as heretical. That, however, hasn’t stopped folks from trying. From St. Augustine and his great work De Trinitate to William Young who in his novel The Shack attempts to define the Holy Trinity, portraying Jesus as a carpenter, the Holy Spirit as an Asian woman named Sarayu, and God the Father as a large black woman named “Papa,” all are an attempt by mortal sinful man to explain that which is immortal and unexplainable.

So, how do we explain the Holy Trinity? The only safe bet is to read the Creed of St. Athanasius, which can be found in the historical documents in the back of The Book of Common Prayer: “The Catholic Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity,  and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing  the Substance.” It goes on from there, but the bottom line is that if you don’t believe it, you burn in hell. There you have it. End of sermon. Let’s go home. Maybe not.

The Holy Trinity is truly a Divine Mystery. Your salvation is not dependent upon knowing how it works. That 14th century monk and my good friend, Thomas à Kempis, states: “What good does it do to speak learnedly about the Trinity if, lacking humility, you displease the Trinity? Indeed it is not learning that makes a man holy and just, but a virtuous life makes him pleasing to God. I would rather feel contrition than know how to define it. For what would it profit us to know the whole Bible by heart and the principles of all the philosophers if we live without grace and the love of God? Vanity of vanities and all is vanity, except to love God and serve Him alone.”

The Holy Trinity is Divine Mystery, but there are things we can know about its nature, and the characteristic that is perhaps the most significant and the one we can know with all certainty: “God is love.” The trouble with hearing this is that we take our understanding of love with all its inconsistencies, variables, memories, moods, and whatever else, and apply it to how we view God as love. I get hangry, so God must get hangry, too. However, unlike our human love with all of its inconsistencies, God’s love is unchanging and unchangeable. God “is the same yesterday and today and forever.” God does not have bad hair days. God may get angry and, as we learned last week, send his people into exile, but God does not ever stop loving his people. “God is love.” That cannot change.

So, God is love and that love is perfect. “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” The love of God is perfect. Where this love is present there is life. Where it is absent, only death. Nothing can exist outside of it. This perfect love of God exists in the Holy Trinity. Richard of St. Victor wrote that it was this perfect love that bound the Trinity together – probably a heresy – but here is the part that should pickle your brain and bring you to your knees: the perfect love of God that exists in the Holy Trinity is directed at you. You are the object of God’s perfect love.

“For God so loved the world….” That is not a cliché or some catchy snippet you’ll find on a Valentine’s Day card. That is the love song of the One who spoke all of creation into being, and it is sung for you.

This love of God is relentless in its pursuit of you. Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden and when they heard God walking in the garden, they hid, and God called to them, “Where are you?” From that point on, God’s love has pursued His people so that they might return to Him and have eternal life.

George Herbert is one of the greatest Anglican poets. He wrote a poem with a very simple title: Love.

LOVE bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack’d anything.

‘A guest,’ I answer’d, ‘worthy to be here:’
Love said, ‘You shall be he.’
‘I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,
I cannot look on Thee.’
Love took my hand and smiling did reply,
‘Who made the eyes but I?’

‘Truth, Lord; but I have marr’d them: let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.’
‘And know you not,’ says Love, ‘Who bore the blame?’
‘My dear, then I will serve.
‘You must sit down,’ says Love, ‘and taste my meat.’
So I did sit and eat.

You don’t have to understand the workings of the Holy Trinity. Your salvation is not dependent upon it. You must only understand that Love has bade you welcome. From there you must decide whether or not you will accept the invitation. By accepting, by coming to the table, sitting, and eating, you become a child of God and an heir to the very Kingdom of Heaven with Christ Jesus.

Sit.

Eat.

Taste and see that the Lord is good!

The Western Wall or Wailing Wall is a part of the wall that surrounded the Temple in Jerusalem. It is the holiest site in Judaism and this portion of the wall is of particular significance because it was nearest the Temple itself. You can even go on the Internet and get a live video feed of what is going on there. (http://english.thekotel.org/cameras.asp)

A young woman journalist assigned to the Jerusalem bureau has an apartment overlooking the Wailing Wall. At certain times every day when she looks out her window she sees an old bearded Jewish man praying solemnly, his lips moving and his eyes closed. Certainly, he would be a good interview subject, so the journalist walks down to the Wall and introduces herself to the old man after his prayers.

She asks, “You come every day to the Wall; how long have you done that, and what are you praying for?”

The old man replies, “I have come here to pray every day for 25 years. In the morning I pray for world peace and for the brotherhood of man. I go home have lunch, and in the afternoon I come back and pray for the eradication of illness and disease from the earth, that children will someday not go hungry, and I pray for wisdom for our leaders as they guide us in this fearful world. And, very important, I pray for peace and understanding between the Israelis and Palestinians.”

The journalist is moved to silence, so humbled is she by the sincerity of this old man. Then she remembers her training and asks her second question.

“So,” she asks, “how does it feel to come here every day for 25 years and pray for these wonderful things? What’s it like?”

The old man shrugs his shoulders and replies, “Like talking to a wall.”

Have you ever said your prayers day after day and come away thinking the same thing? God’s not listening. God doesn’t care what I think. God doesn’t love me. I’m talking to a wall! Of course you have. We all have. But, did you ever stop to consider that maybe God looks down on us and thinks the same thing? They’re not listening. They don’t care what I think. They do not love me. “Oy vey! It’s like talking to a wall with these people!” I don’t believe that God is whiny like we can be, but he has said these things in the past and he eventually gets fed up.

During the reign of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, the Israelites rebelled against God. They worshipped the false gods, they intermarried with the other tribes, they did not honor the Sabbath, and through this disobedience, they desecrated the Temple of God. He called to them time and time again, but they failed to listen and paid the price for their disobedience. The Prophet Ezekiel, one who had warned them, writes:

The word of the Lord came to me:  You, O mortal, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel:
An end! The end has come
upon the four corners of the land.

Now the end is upon you,
I will let loose my anger upon you;
I will judge you according to your ways,
I will punish you for all your abominations.

My eye will not spare you, I will have no pity.
I will punish you for your ways,
while your abominations are among you.

The Lord said, “It’s like talking to a wall with these people.” So, the Lord allowed Nebuchadnezzar to attack and destroy the city of Jerusalem and the Temple – this was in the year 586 B.C. In the process 10,000 Israelites were sent into exile in Babylon, hence the name Babylonian Captivity. Among those 10,000 was Ezekiel.

Ezekiel prophesied against the people, but toward the end he began to offer hope. We read a part of it today: “The Lord set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones… Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: ‘I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.’ … and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude…. ‘I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act,’ says the Lord.”

And He did. Seventy years after the fall of Jerusalem, the people were allowed to return. He breathed life into a people who were dead and returned them to the Promised Land. Did it last? No. The cycle repeated itself and again the Lord moved against his people. He is, after all, a jealous God.

The Lord made a covenant with his people, but they were unable to keep it. They tried, but they always failed. Yet this cycle of beginnings and failures served a greater purpose. It allowed the people to understand that they were not able to accomplish God’s commanded holiness on their own and that a permanent solution was needed.

The Eucharistic Prayer we’ve been using during this Season of Easter so beautifully sums it up: “When our disobedience took us far from you, you did not abandon us to the power of death. In your mercy you came to our help, so that in seeking you we might find you. Again and again you called us into covenant with you, and through the prophets you taught us to hope for salvation. Father, you loved the world so much that in the fullness of time you sent your only Son to be our Savior.… To fulfill your purpose he gave himself up to death; and, rising from the grave, destroyed death, and made the whole creation new.”

And, once again, God gives His Holy Spirit “his own first gift to those who believe, to complete his work in the world, and to bring to fulfillment the sanctification of all.”

“To bring to fulfillment the sanctification of all.” To finally bring about the holiness that we could never accomplish on our own. To breath life into these dead dry bones of ours. “For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.” You have been made holy.

“Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.”

Jesus said, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” and it is through Jesus and the giving of God’s Holy Spirit that you are indeed made perfect.

The Holy Spirit has many names: The Spirit of Christ, Advocate, Paraclete, Counselor. The Spirit is the Wind, the very Breath of God. The opening verses of Genesis declare, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” It is the same Spirit of God that hovered over the waters that is breathed into us. That same Spirit allows us to become one with God – He in us and we in Him.

When we speak to God, it is not speaking to a wall. When God speaks to us, he is not speaking to a wall. As Paul said to us, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

Today, Pentecost, we celebrate the giving of God’s Holy Spirit. In sending the Spirit, Jesus fulfilled his promise. He did not leave us alone, but is with us always. Therefore, as Jesus said to his disciples, I say to you, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  Receive the Breath of God and live.

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Pentecost is also considered the birthday of the Church, so on this day it is appropriate that we receive new members into Christ’s One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church through the sacrament of Baptism. Therefore, continuing on page 301 of the BCP, “The Candidates for Holy Baptism will now be presented.”

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson go on a camping trip, set up their tent, and fall asleep. Some hours later, Holmes wakes his faithful friend.

“Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see.”

Watson replies, “I see millions of stars.”

“What does that tell you?”

Watson ponders a minute. “Astronomically speaking, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Time wise, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three. Theologically, it s evident the Lord is all-powerful and we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you?”

Holmes is silent for a moment, then speaks. “Watson, you idiot, someone has stolen our tent.”

David wrote in the Psalms, ”The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” A quick look around the night sky will only confirm this. When I think on the vastness of the universe I can become overwhelmed.

In 1991 the movie Grand Canyon came out and during a scene one of the main characters talks about his trip to the Grand Canyon. In trying to explain its immensity he said, “Hey, you know what I felt like? I felt like a gnat that lands on the rear of a cow that’s chewing its cud next to the road that you ride by on at 70 miles an hour.” If that’s what the Grand Canyon can make a person feel like, then, when we consider all of creation, we should all just blink out of existence.

Even so, we are here. We are a part of the created, molded by the hand of God from the dust of the earth. That fact is enough to trip up many, but what can make us even more to shake our heads in disbelief is that not only did God create you, He chose you. He chose you even before the firmament hovered over the darkness of the deep. The Psalmist declares, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.”

Today, our Gospel reading tells us plainly, Jesus said, “You did not choose me but I chose you.”

This is rather extraordinary. That statement eliminates any idea that we are random, simple blips in the cosmos, and points to the fact that we, individually, are intentional in the mind of God. He did not create humankind in general, but instead, He created you specifically. In His infinite mind and creativity, He formed you just as you are and chose you to serve His purposes. Some of you may be saying, “Well, He could have made me a bit more Brad Pitt-ish or Scarlett Johannson-ish”, but our God is not concerned with human standards of beauty. He is concerned only with the beauty of your soul.

Many of you probably already know this, but St. Julian of Norwich, the Saint whom our chapel is named after wrote of a vision she had concerning all that is created: “God showed me something small, no bigger than a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand… I was amazed that it could last, for I thought that because of its littleness it would suddenly have fallen into nothing. And I was answered in my understanding: It lasts and always will, because God loves it; and thus everything has being through the love of God. In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it, the second is that God loves it, the third is that God preserves it.”

Julian saw all of creation placed in the palm of her hand and she understood that it is all made by God, is loved by God, and is preserved by God; and you were chosen for it and are a part of it.

To be chosen is to be one who is supported by the right hand of God.

To be chosen is to be one under the new covenant, sealed with the blood of Christ.

To be chosen is to be the abode of God, for as Jesus says, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”

To be chosen is to have your joy made complete in the person of Jesus.

What does this chosen-ness give you? Freedom.

Freedom from the hands of your enemies and the enemies of God. Freedom to serve Him all the days of your life in holiness and righteousness. Freedom to be the person He created you to be.

You are not a gnat on the backside of some cow. In the words of Peter, you are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people.” In that capacity, St. Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei tells us, “Don’t let your life be barren. Be useful. Make yourself felt. Shine forth with the torch of your faith and your love…. And set aflame all the ways of the earth with the fire of Christ that you bear in your heart.”

That’s who you are as God’s chosen people, that is your mission, so what is stopping you from owning that life for yourself?

The first time I heard the following quote was in the movie Coach Carter. It has been wrongly attributed to Nelson Mandela, perhaps because it is also included in the movie Invictus. However, it is rightly attributed to Marianne Williamson. She writes, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

“Fr. John is just giving us a pep talk this morning. He obviously wants someone to shout, ‘Amen!,” and then he’ll pat us on the head and send us on our way home, back to our lives in the real world. It’s nice to think about being chosen and setting the world on fire while I’m sitting in church, but he doesn’t honestly believe that’s how the world works, does he? If he does, then he’s out of touch with reality.”

The story of David, the one who slew Goliath, may seem like a child’s bedtime story, but it has many lessons for us. The Lord was looking for someone to replace Saul, the first king of Israel. He sent his prophet Samuel to Bethlehem where he would meet Jesse. Jesse had eight sons, and the Lord told Samuel that one of these would be chosen as the next king.

Jesse’s sons were big, strong, and good looking. As the first son passed before Samuel, he thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.” But the Lord responded, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” With each of the next six, Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one.”

Finally, there was only one remaining, the youngest, the one they didn’t even bother to call, because he was still a weak child only fit for tending the sheep. Yet, when this one was presented, the Lord said to Samuel, “Rise and anoint him; he is the one.”

This chosen one, who was initially considered unworthy, with his harp and voice went on to soothe the evil spirits that tormented Saul, he destroyed Goliath with a simple sling and stone, and rose in power to become the greatest king Israel has ever known.

Long after the death of David, a blind man was sitting on the side of a road when the crowd began stirring and shouting around him. He asked what is going on, “They told him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.’  Then he shouted, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’”

At the end of John’s revelation, John saw and heard Jesus say to him, “I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

Chosen. A scrawny little kid, only good for tending sheep, yet even at the end of days, he – David – is remembered and named by the Savior of us all.

All of our excuses for not living into the life that God has created and chosen us for are rejected.

This isn’t just a Sunday morning pep talk and “No,” I haven’t lost touch with reality. I am as serious as I can be when I say to you: You are the chosen of God, and should you opt to live out that chosen-ness – should you choose to accept this mission – you will reveal the fullness and the beauty of God’s creation and His glory throughout this dark world, you will inspire others to do the same, and you will be called friend of Jesus – child of God Most High.

Set aside your excuses, your fears, and whatever else is holding you back, and live as the chosen of God; and on the last day the Lord will say to you, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

A very young management consultant had an interview with the president of large corporation. The young woman had been recommended to him by one of his employees who had seen the consultants work and thought she had something to offer. The young woman was nervous. At that stage in her career, it wasn’t very often that she got to talk to the president of a company. The appointment was at 10:00 a.m., for one hour. She arrived early. Promptly at 10, she was ushered into a large and airy room, with furniture upholstered in bright yellow. The president had his shirtsleeves rolled up and a mean look on his face, ”You’ve only got 20 minutes,” he barked. The young woman sat there, not saying a word. “I said, you’ve only got 20 minutes.” Again, not a word. “Your time’s ticking away. Why aren’t you saying anything?” “They’re my 20 minutes,” the young woman replied, “I can do whatever I want with them.”

A few months ago I saw the movie “Lucy.” I enjoyed it enough that recently I went out and bought the BluRay. Aside from the fact that it has Scarlett Johansson in it (can I just say, “Huba huba!”) it is a really great film. The premise is based on the fact that humans only use about 10% of their brains. It then asked the question, “What if we use more?” This of course is played out in the life of Lucy, Scarlett Johansson.

In the movie, the groundwork for establishing the premise is laid out by Professor Norman, played by Morgan Freeman. One of the conclusions he draws as to why we humans use only 10% of our brains caught my attention. He stated, “We humans are more concerned with having than with being.”

This life that God has gifted you with is your 20 minutes. You are free to do with them whatever you like. So what are you going to use them for? Having or being?

From a Christian perspective, one who is concerned with “having” is primarily one who is concerned with self. They are solely motivated with improving their own situation and have little or no concern for the greater good.

One who is concerned with “being” is looking to be a disciple, one who is like Jesus, doing the things that he did. Sacrificing themselves.

Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing…. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

In the time of Jesus and in Palestine, wine was the number one export, so grapes were one of the most important crops for sustaining the economy. Therefore, those that cared for the vineyards held important jobs, and the pruning of the vines was a very specialized skill. Its not like pruning a tree that we might have in our yard.

The plant is made of the trunk or vine. From the vine grow the branches and growing from the branches are what are known as canes, the long spindly parts of the plant. It is from the canes that the grapes grow. There is also new growth called renewal spurs, which will be the one year old canes next year. So why is pruning a grapevine so specialized?

A grape will only grow on a cane that is one year old. If the cane is two years or older, no grapes. If the cane is new, one of the renewal spurs, no grapes. If you prune out all the renewal spurs, no grapes next year. If you leave too many one-year-old canes to produce this years fruit, then you have too much growth for the plant to support and no grapes. The one who prunes has to know exactly what they are doing.

Jesus says that he is the “true vine,” he is the trunk of the plant from where everything else grows and gets its life. God the Father is the vine grower, the one who prunes the plant. You and I are the branches. From us grow the canes that produce the fruit.

When God the Father prunes us, He is literally cutting out the old canes that produce no fruit and he is thinning out the excess, so that we will not be overburdened. In other words, God the Father is perfectly forming us to produce good fruit. But understand, when he prunes he is cutting out the canes, he is not lopping off the entire branch, unless it produces no canes that produce the fruit. If the branch does not produce fruit, then it is cut off and is “thrown into the fire, and burned.”

Back to the question: This life that God has gifted you with is your 20 minutes. You are free to do with them whatever you like. So what are you going to use them for? Having or being?

Having, self-serving, produces no fruit. Being, sacrificing ones self, living as a disciple of Jesus, produces much fruit.

Sitting in church on a Sunday morning, we all want to shout, “Being! I will be a disciple of Jesus.”

The visiting preacher was really getting the congregation moving. Near the end of his sermon he said this church has really got to walk to which someone in the back yelled, “let her walk preacher” The preacher then said if this church is going to go it’s got to get up and run to which someone again yelled with gusto, “let her run preacher.” Feeling the surge of the church, the preacher then said with even louder gusto, “if this church is going to go it’s got to really fly” and once again with ever greater gusto, someone yelled, “let her fly preacher, let her fly.” The preacher then seized the moment and stated with even greater gusto, “if this church is really going to fly it’s going to need money” to which someone in the back yelled, “let her walk preacher, let her walk.”

We all want to be a disciple of Jesus. We understand that this will require sacrifice on our part and we are prepared to do it, but then we hit something of a spiritual wall when the sacrifice becomes too great. Instead of freely giving of ourselves, we begin to quantify that giving. “I went to church this week. Twice! I’ve prayed every day. I’m tithing. I’ve helped those in need. Etc. I’ve produced some good fruit. Surely it’s enough.”

A young man found a beautiful pearl for sale in a shop. He says to the clerk, “I want this pearl. How much is it?”

“Well,” the seller says, “it’s very expensive.”

“But, how much?”

“Well, a very large amount.”

“Do you think I could buy it?”

“Oh, of course, everyone can buy it.”

“But, didn’t you say it was very expensive?”

“Yes.”

“Well, how much is it?”

“Everything you have,” says the seller.

He makes up his minds, “All right, I’ll buy it,” we say.

“Well, what do you have?” the seller wants to know. “Let’s write it down.”

“Well, I have ten thousand dollars in the bank.”

“Good- -ten thousand dollars. What else?”

“That’s all.. That’s all I have. Well, I have a few dollars here in my pocket.”

“How much?”

He starts digging. “Well, let’s see–thirty, forty, sixty, eighty, a hundred, a hundred twenty dollars.”

“That’s fine. What else do you have?”

“Well, nothing. That’s all.”

“Where do you live?” He’s still probing.

“In my house. Yes, I have a house.”

“The house, too, then.” He writes that down.

“You mean I have to live in my camper?”

“You have a camper? That, too. What else?”

“I’ll have to sleep in my car!”

“You have a car?”

“Two of them.”

“Both become mine, both cars. What else?”

“Well, you already have my money, my house, my camper, my cars. What more do you want?”

“Are you alone in this world?”

“No I have a wife and two children…..”

“Oh, yes, your wife and children, too. What else?”

“I have nothing left! I am left alone now.”

Suddenly the seller exclaims, “Oh, I almost forgot! You yourself, too! Everything becomes mine–wife, children, house, money, cars–and you too.”

Are you more interested in having or being a disciple? Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches.” You are nothing without Jesus. You don’t even exist without him. Be the disciple he is calling you to be, sacrificing everything including your very life in order for Him to produce good fruit through you.

Believe it or not, I know what you’re thinking, “Fr. John, if I say ‘Yes,’ I’ll end up naked and alone in the world?”

At the end of the transaction, the seller of the pearl said to the young man who purchased it, “Now listen–I will allow you to use all these things for the time being. But don’t forget that they are mine, just as you are. And whenever I need any of them you must give them up, because now I am the owner.”

You’ll end up naked and alone? No. Jesus said, “Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”