Author: Fr. John

I am an Episcopal priest serving at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in downtown Enid, Oklahoma.
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Sermon: Boniface

The podcast is available here.

Photo by Bethany Laird on Unsplash

Boniface was born in the year 675 and served as a missionary to Frisia (Netherlands) and later, Germany, where he would rise to the position of Archbishop.  He was held in high esteem by the German princes and came often to give counsel, leading to one of his crowning achievements (no pun intended here) when he anointed Pippin as King of the Franks.  Pippinโ€™s son was Charlemagne, whoโ€™s efforts brought Christianity back to western Europe.  Later, when Boniface retired as Archbishop, he returned to Frisia as a missionary.  The following year, as he was waiting on a large group of converts to arrive for baptism and confirmations, he and his party were attacked by pagans and Boniface was martyred.

St. Willibald, Bishop in Germany, is the one who recorded much of Bonifaceโ€™s life in a short book, The Life of St. Boniface.  It is a fascinating read (you can find it online).  In it, Willibald points to one of the primary reasons behind Bonifaceโ€™s successes: the study of Holy Scripture.  Willibald writes:

To such a degree was [Boniface] inflamed with a love of the Scriptures that he applied all his energies to learning and practicing their counsels, and those matters that were written for the instruction of the people he paraphrased and explained to them with striking eloquence, shrewdly spicing it with parables. His discretion was such that his rebukes, though sharp, were never lacking in gentleness, while his teaching, though mild, was never lacking in force. Zeal and vigor made him forceful, but gentleness and love made him mild. Accordingly he exhorted and reproved with equal impartiality the rich and powerful, the freedmen and the slaves, neither flattering and fawning upon the rich nor oppressing and browbeating the freedmen and slaves but, in the words of the apostle, he had “become all things to all men that [he] might by all means save some.โ€ (Source)

Through his love and study of Scripture, Boniface learned that the most effective way to speak to people was through the language of God that he read in the Bible and the same can be true for us, but in order for this to happen, we need to pick up the Good Book.  A recent โ€œstudy found only 45 percent of those who regularly attend church read the Bible more than once a week. Over 40 percent of the people attending read their Bible occasionally, maybe once or twice a month. Almost 1 in 5 churchgoers say they never read the Bibleโ€”essentially the same number who read it every day.โ€ (Source)

Even if it is only a short devotional, we all need to be in the Word daily.ย  You donโ€™t have to become a Bible scholar and you donโ€™t have to memorize every verse.ย  You only have to take the time and allow God to speak to you in his own words.ย  What you will discover in the process is what Boniface discovered: the wisdom and grace you find within the Sacred Text will begin to find its way into your life and into your communication and relationships.ย  You will become a greater reflection of God.

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The Imitation of Christ Project: Bk. 3, Ch. 14

Image by Photo byย Quino Alย onย Unsplash

CONSIDER THE HIDDEN JUDGMENTS OF GOD LEST YOU BECOME PROUD OF YOUR OWN GOOD DEEDS 

THE DISCIPLE

YOU thunder forth Your judgments over me, Lord. You shake all my bones with fear and trembling, and my soul is very much afraid. I stand in awe as I consider that the heavens are not pure in Your sight. If You found wickedness in the angels and did not spare them, what will become of me? Stars have fallen from heaven, and I — I who am but dust — how can I be presumptuous? They whose deeds seemed worthy of praise have fallen into the depths, and I have seen those who ate the bread of angels delighting themselves with the husks of swine.

There is no holiness, then, if You withdraw Your hand, Lord. There is no wisdom if You cease to guide, no courage if You cease to defend. No chastity is secure if You do not guard it. Our vigilance avails nothing if Your holy watchfulness does not protect us. Left to ourselves we sink and perish, but visited by You we are lifted up and live. We are truly unstable, but You make us strong. We grow lukewarm, but You inflame us. Oh, how humbly and lowly should I consider myself! How very little should I esteem anything that seems good in me! How profoundly should I submit to Your unfathomable judgments, Lord, where I find myself to be but nothing!

O immeasurable weight! O impassable sea, where I find myself to be nothing but bare nothingness! Where, then, is glory’s hiding place? Where can there be any trust in my own virtue? All vainglory is swallowed up in the depths of Your judgments upon me.

What is all flesh in Your sight? Shall the clay glory against Him that formed it? How can he whose heart is truly subject to God be lifted up by vainglory? The whole world will not make him proud whom truth has subjected to itself. Nor shall he who has placed all his hope in God be moved by the tongues of flatterers. For behold, even they who speak are nothing; they will pass away with the sound of their words, but the truth of the Lord remains forever.

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The Imitation of Christ Project: Bk. 3, Ch. 13

Image by Photo byย Jurica Koletiฤ‡ย onย Unsplash

THE OBEDIENCE OF ONE HUMBLY SUBJECT TO THE EXAMPLE OF JESUS CHRIST 

THE VOICE OF CHRIST

MY CHILD, he who attempts to escape obeying withdraws himself from grace. Likewise he who seeks private benefits for himself loses those which are common to all. He who does not submit himself freely and willingly to his superior, shows that his flesh is not yet perfectly obedient but that it often rebels and murmurs against him.

Learn quickly, then, to submit yourself to your superior if you wish to conquer your own flesh. For the exterior enemy is more quickly overcome if the inner man is not laid waste. There is no more troublesome, no worse enemy of the soul than you yourself, if you are not in harmony with the spirit. It is absolutely necessary that you conceive a true contempt for yourself if you wish to be victorious over flesh and blood.

Because you still love yourself too inordinately, you are afraid to resign yourself wholly to the will of others. Is it such a great matter if you, who are but dust and nothingness, subject yourself to man for the sake of God, when I, the All-Powerful, the Most High, Who created all things out of nothing, humbly subjected Myself to man for your sake? I became the most humble and the lowest of all men that you might overcome your pride with My humility.

Learn to obey, you who are but dust! Learn to humble yourself, you who are but earth and clay, and bow down under the foot of every man! Learn to break your own will, to submit to all subjection! Be zealous against yourself! Allow no pride to dwell in you, but prove yourself so humble and lowly that all may walk over you and trample upon you as dust in the streets!

What have you, vain man, to complain of? What answer can you make, vile sinner, to those who accuse you, you who have so often offended God and so many times deserved hell? But My eye has spared you because your soul was precious in My sight, so that you might know My love and always be thankful for My benefits, so that you might give yourself continually to true subjection and humility, and might patiently endure contempt.

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The Imitation of Christ Project: Bk. 3, Ch. 12

ACQUIRING PATIENCE IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CONCUPISCENCE

THE DISCIPLE

PATIENCE, O Lord God, is very necessary for me, I see, because there are many adversities in this life. No matter what plans I make for my own peace, my life cannot be free from struggle and sorrow.

THE VOICE OF CHRIST

My child, you are right, yet My wish is not that you seek that peace which is free from temptations or meets with no opposition, but rather that you consider yourself as having found peace when you have been tormented with many tribulations and tried with many adversities.

If you say that you cannot suffer much, how will you endure the fire of purgatory? Of two evils, the lesser is always to be chosen. Therefore, in order that you may escape the everlasting punishments to come, try to bear present evils patiently for the sake of God.

Do you think that men of the world have no suffering, or perhaps but little? Ask even those who enjoy the most delights and you will learn otherwise. “But,” you will say, “they enjoy many pleasures and follow their own wishes; therefore they do not feel their troubles very much.” Granted that they do have whatever they wish, how long do you think it will last? Behold, they who prosper in the world shall perish as smoke, and there shall be no memory of their past joys. Even in this life they do not find rest in these pleasures without bitterness, weariness, and fear. For they often receive the penalty of sorrow from the very thing whence they believe their happiness comes. And it is just. Since they seek and follow after pleasures without reason, they should not enjoy them without shame and bitterness.

How brief, how false, how unreasonable and shameful all these pleasures are! Yet in their drunken blindness men do not understand this, but like brute beasts incur death of soul for the miserly enjoyment of a corruptible life.

Therefore, My child, do not pursue your lusts, but turn away from your own will. “Seek thy pleasure in the Lord and He will give thee thy heart’s desires.” ย If you wish to be truly delighted and more abundantly comforted by Me, behold, in contempt of all worldly things and in the cutting off of all base pleasures shall your blessing be, and great consolation shall be given you. Further, the more you withdraw yourself from any solace of creatures, the sweeter and stronger comfort will you find in Me.

At first you will not gain these blessings without sadness and toil and conflict. Habit already formed will resist you, but it shall be overcome by a better habit. The flesh will murmur against you, but it will be bridled by fervor of spirit. The old serpent will sting and trouble you, but prayer will put him to flight and by steadfast, useful toil the way will be closed to him.

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The Imitation of Christ Project: Bk. 3, Ch. 11

It has been several years since I’ve worked on this project, but…

THE LONGINGS OF OUR HEARTS MUST BE EXAMINED AND MODERATED

THE VOICE OF CHRIST

MY CHILD, it is necessary for you to learn many things which you have not yet learned well.

THE DISCIPLE

What are they, Lord?

THE VOICE OF CHRIST

That you conform your desires entirely according to My good pleasure, and be not a lover of self but an earnest doer of My will. Desires very often inflame you and drive you madly on, but consider whether you act for My honor, or for your own advantage. If I am the cause, you will be well content with whatever I ordain. If, on the other hand, any self-seeking lurk in you, it troubles you and weighs you down. Take care, then, that you do not rely too much on preconceived desire that has no reference to Me, lest you repent later on and be displeased with what at first pleased you and which you desired as being for the best. Not every desire which seems good should be followed immediately, nor, on the other hand, should every contrary affection be at once rejected.

It is sometimes well to use a little restraint even in good desires and inclinations, lest through too much eagerness you bring upon yourself distraction of mind; lest through your lack of discipline you create scandal for others; or lest you be suddenly upset and fall because of resistance from others. Sometimes, however, you must use violence and resist your sensual appetite bravely. You must pay no attention to what the flesh does or does not desire, taking pains that it be subjected, even by force, to the spirit. And it should be chastised and forced to remain in subjection until it is prepared for anything and is taught to be satisfied with little, to take pleasure in simple things, and not to murmur against inconveniences.

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Sermon: Easter 6 RCL C – “Into the Unknown”

The podcast is available here.

Photo by: Marco Bianchetti and here

I am passing this on to you because it has definitely worked for me. By following the simple advice I read in an article, I have finally found inner peace.

The article read: “The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you’ve started.” Such simple advice. So, I looked around to see all the things I started and hadn’t finished.

Today I finished one bottle of red wine, a bottle of Jack Daniel’s, my Prozac, a box of chocolates and a half gallon of rocky road ice-cream.

You have no idea how good I feel.

The words we hear from Jesus in our Gospel reading today take place at the very end of the Last Supper, on the night before he was crucified, and the first question that came to my mind: didnโ€™t we just cover this? Didnโ€™t we already hear this about six weeks ago? The answer is, Yes, but come this Thursday we have the Ascension and in two weeks we have Pentecost, so our lectionary readings have switched the focus from Easter and the Resurrection to Pentecost, which means we have to go backwards in the story. Therefore, leading up to our reading today is the discussion that took place around the table of the Last Supper following the foot washing and Passover meal.

Even though we are only hours away from Jesusโ€™ arrest and his crucifixion we know that the disciples still do not understand what is about to take place. For example, a few minutes before, Jesus said, โ€œI go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.  And you know the way to where I am going.โ€ And Thomas asked, โ€œHow can we know the way?โ€ And then Philip says, โ€œLord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.โ€ They donโ€™t get it and Jesus is very much aware of their confusion and lack of understanding, and he knows that it is only through showing themโ€”through his death and resurrectionโ€”that theyโ€™ll finally see. But he also knows that when the events unfold over the next several hours, they will be lost and afraid, so Jesus tells them, โ€œThe Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.โ€ In saying these things, he is trying to reassure them that he is not leaving them alone and they should not be afraid.

Following this, he says, โ€œAnd now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.  I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me; but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.โ€ And then, he says, โ€œRise, let us be on our way.โ€ The Last Supper is over and they leave and make their way to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus will pray and ultimately be arrested.

When they make this final journey together, it is night, which is very symbolic of what is ahead for them all. Jesus to face his cross and the disciples to face the unknown world without Jesus. I think we can say with certainty that all experienced fear of what was coming. Remember Aristotleโ€™s definition of fear: “Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil.โ€ They are headed off into the darkness to face the fear and the evil.

We know how the story ends, we just walked this road with Jesus. Yet, for us, each day and with many of the choices we make, we are stepping out into the dark and traveling unknown roads, and each of those roads can produce a wide variety of outcomes. We may have our hopes and dreams as to where they may lead, but in truth, it is all unknown. This very moment is all that is known, and at times, that unknown can lead us to fear. Not a Stephen King kind of fear, but a fear that raises our anxieties and our blood pressure. A fear that brings on excessive worry and a disquietness in our souls. It is into this darkness and the fears that follow that Jesus speaks to us as he did the apostles: โ€œPeace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.โ€ Jesus says, through the giving of the Holy Spirit, I am with you always, to the very end of the age. What does this kind of peace look like?

My friend St. Josemarรญa Escrivรก: we read his biography, 40 Years with a Saint, Blessed Alvaro Del Portillo who wrote it, tells of an incident when Josemarรญa was not feeling well, turned ashen yellow, and passed out (related to his diabetes), so they called the doctor, who came, checked over the Saint and told them what needed to be done. When the doctor was finished, the Saint asked the doctor if he had had any lunch. The doctor said, No, so Josemarรญa insisted that he eat before he left. The doctor did so and they had a leisurely conversation. After the doctor left, the Saint said to Blessed Alvaro, โ€œMy son, I have gone blind; I canโ€™t see a thing.โ€ Alvaro asked him, โ€œFather, why didnโ€™t you tell the doctor?โ€ The Saint responded, โ€œI didnโ€™t want to cause him any unnecessary worry; this might be just something temporary.โ€ It was several hours before he began to recover his sight, all the while, looking very rough. When he could finally see a little, he looked into a mirror and said, โ€œNow I know what I will look like when Iโ€™m dead.โ€ In fact, that incident nearly was his death, yet in the midst of it all there was this peaceโ€ฆ peace that said, โ€œI would rather you have a nice lunch and a friendly conversation than worry about me going blind or dying.โ€ All shall be well.

We can take the advice of the fella who downed all his Jack Daniels, Prozac and everything else in the house in order to feel peace (although what he felt was numb, not peace) or we can try something a bit less risky and much more sustainable: the Peace of Christ.

Like Josemarรญa, you have the knowledge of the Gospel, which has informed you of salvation and eternal life. You have also been filled with the Holy Spirit, which gives you access to the Holy Trinity of Godโ€”the throne room of God itself. And finally, you have been given choice, the opportunity to choose to accept this gift of peace. Pray on these things. Some of our anxieties and fears are real, but many are simply the devilโ€™s way of robbing us. Set aside those unnecessary anxieties and fears and allow God to speak His peace into the others. โ€œDo not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.โ€ All shall be well.

Remember the words of that old hymn:

When peace like a river attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
“It is well, it is well with my soul.”
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
let this blest assurance control:
that Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
and has shed his own blood for my soul.
It is well with my soul;
it is well, it is well with my soul. (Horatio Gates Spafford / 1828-1888)

Claim that peace for yourself and let there be peace in your soul.

Let us pray: Gracious Father, fortify us with the grace of Your Holy Spirit and give Your peace to our souls that we may be free from all needless anxiety, solicitude and worry. Help us to desire always that which is pleasing and acceptable to You so that Your will may be our will. Amen.

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