Cliffs and Being Flung

Day's Saints
Blessed Catherine of Racconigi, Dominican & Stigmatic
Blessed Peter of St. James, Mercedarian

Gospel Lk 4:16-30
Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up,
and went according to his custom
into the synagogue on the sabbath day.
He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
Rolling up the scroll,
he handed it back to the attendant and sat down,
and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.
He said to them,
"Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."
And all spoke highly of him
and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
They also asked, "Is this not the son of Joseph?"
He said to them, "Surely you will quote me this proverb,
'Physician, cure yourself,' and say, 'Do here in your native place
the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.'"
And he said,
"Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Indeed, I tell you,
there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah
when the sky was closed for three and a half years
and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Again, there were many lepers in Israel
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."
When the people in the synagogue heard this,
they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill
on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong.
But he passed through the midst of them and went away.

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Neither will the impious lay hands on the just to fling them off a cliff to die. It may be we need to change our reaction to other people, though, so that the holy ones sent us to convert our hearts and our behavior can be understood . Often they are difficult people, and understanding them will be difficult for anyone who does not know the Lord.

It is ironic that they should be misunderstood since we all pray for union, perhaps not realizing just how radical a change in thinking must take place. What happens when we are made one in Christ? Our thinking and understanding become like God's, and depart from the ways most people think because of the world they live in, which is corrupt.

If our prayers are answered and the Lord sends us someone to meet His needs in us, it is possible they will not fare well amongst us because they are not like us, and some may even be hostile because of the challenge inherent in their existence, that we must become like Christ which firstly requires a repudiation of all the comforts and pleasure that people treasure so. When we have begun to change ourselves, we find that things which were important to us before, hardly affect us at all, now.

St. Francis at first lost his taste for drink and carousing and womanizing, and that may have put off some of his friends who marked a change in him which separated him from other men. 

Some might be frightened of a man who can embrace the cross so fully as to truly desire to endure its tortures purely out of love for God and His children.

Many have endured what did not show outwardly, and who wept for the fact that the sharing was not more complete. But the Lord tells us in the Gospels not to do things for show, but for the love of God who has so personally involved Himself in our lives. It might be a dreary thing, to read the chronicles of blessed who became martyrs of His love, crucified and bleeding and embracing the pain which was likewise the occasion of the bliss that inhabits suffering.

If we accept His request to suffer as a victim (martyr) of His love, we might be a spectacle of the spectacle of Calvary, and a demonstration that God exists and insists on changing thoughts and behaviors.

If His Will cannot be enacted one way, it certainly may be enacted in another, and so our life may change accordingly. If we have surpassed human existence to live as Christ, we may become lost in Him and of little use to this world. Then  men should take note, and be aware of the Lord yearning for our attention and waiting to see our behavior change. Where we worried only about ourselves and our next meal, we may be overcome that a man has nothing to eat or to wear, and even his humanity fails to clothe him. The very specific moment of His crucifixion and passion is but one moment of His life. He may live as the beggar who has nothing, starving and dying for sleep and a full stomach at the end of the day. Surely they have atoned for their sins by what they suffer, so that they have paid more than we know, for each breath they take. God bless those who can listen and spend their time on others. God bless those whose love of God is real.

Who put themselves second after the Lord, and are glad they can suffer for Him, even entering into His own unique suffering which constrains us in love.

No man can be crucified except he consents; the victim of His love is asked to give their all, and they give until there is no substance of themselves left to give, and they pass away like a little spider's web.

Give thanks to God for what you enjoy, and the peace and love that is in your life, for that is His life in you. If He is in you, and you do not share in the suffering of His passion and cross, be glad and do for others what will gladden them as well. Bring happiness into life, from the treasury of His Heart, the divine love which powers everything and exalts the powerless.

When He crucified me, He did not make the wounds visible, but rather, He made me powerless and crushed me so I may learn to be glad to be made anew by Him to enjoy His bliss as much as His agony. We must make room in our hearts and lives for God so that He fills our sky more and more as we forget to live this mortal life, for all the bliss He gives us drawing us in to Him where we may get lost. Find yourself in Him, then He will be all.