Friday Coffin Break #8 Lowe’s How a Rose E’er Blooming

The original idea of the coffin break was to offer up the usual cup of coffee on Fridays and spend a moment meditating on the upcoming Sunday Gospel reading with a spirit of sacrifice, looking toward and preparing for the ultimate sacrifice that will be required of each of us at the end of our lives; creating thus a little Triduum of each weekend in the hope that we might be more prepared for our own deaths by recognizing the ongoing need to die to ourselves to receive the Ultimate Life. So, when I was picking up a little lumber at Lowes this morning for a side project, and their free coffee caught my eye, my first thought was “no coffee this morning.” But then J remembered that I never drink Lowes free coffee. Never, that is, but one time in Seattle in 1999 where I was landscaping one dark winter’s day.

That coffee was terrible.

Which, thus remembering, led me to reason that perhaps a cup of penitential coffee would be even more spiritually effective than no coffee for this Little Triduum kickoff…  So, I bought my wood and pumped out half a cup. The coffee turned out to be surprisingly good.

Open to bigger surprises let’s look at Sunday’s Gospel in the light of the grave:

This Sunday's Gospel is Matthew 1: 18-24 (from the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible)

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to send her away quietly.

But as he considered this, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet;

“Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel”

(which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife, but he knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus.

My wise wife Kelly commented that Joseph’s righteousness was made manifest in mercy. The mercy God shows to us and longs to show us even more, if we but repent and ask for it, is the most wonderful surprise we could ever hope for. The more we receive it now, the more we will surprise others with it as well as we become agents of His mercy; and, the more we give it away the more we will receive it. We know this. We pray the Our Father, the prayer Jesus gave us, repeatedly.  So let us wake from sleep and do as the angel of the Lord commands us.

Have a great Christmas, everybody.

Friday Coffin Break #7 Soft Robes Don't Break the Wind

Wishing everyone a happy Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, as we begin the little triduum of this second Friday of Advent in preparation for Gaudate Sunday. We commence these three days by offering something in gratitude for the coming of the Lord, and for the great favor bestowed on this continent with the miracle of Mary’s visitation to Juan Diego in 1531. Let us willfully enter into this time of preparation for Sunday’s Joy by considering the upcoming Gospel reading in the light of the grave:

This Sunday's Gospel is Matthew 11: 2-11 (from the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible)

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him “Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is he who takes no offense at me.”

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind? Why then did you go out? To see a man dressed in soft robes? Behold, those who wear soft robes are in kings’ houses. Why then did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written,

‘Behold I send my messenger before your face,

Who shall prepare your way before you.’

Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

Some time later, when the soft-robed Herod, shaken by the wind of his wife’s daughter’s request, anxiously ordered the axe to remove Saint John’s head, the prophet himself had little to lose and everything to gain. He knew his treasure awaited him in Heaven. Though few, if any, of us will renounce this world as vigorously as Jesus’ cousin, that is not a reason to dismiss him as a role model in our comfortable modern lives.  Even starting with a small weekly investment in Eternity has substance and, with a loving God as The Great Compounder of Interest, we can, with sincere and infectious hope, anticipate that day when our accounts will be settled. Rejoice!

“Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

Friday Coffin Break #6 Starve the Viper, Grow the Fruit

Happy First Friday of Advent! Welcome to this weekend’s Little Triduum and the opportunity to contemplate whether we would rather be timidly zig-zagging through a viper-infested, rock-strewn desert, or straightforwardly strolling a lush, fruit-laden, orchard.

Let us consider Sunday’s upcoming readings in the Light of the Grave:

This Sunday's Gospel is Matthew 3: 1-12 (from the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible)

In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said:

            “The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

            Prepare the way of the Lord,

            Make his paths straight.”

Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair, and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sad’ducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “you brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit that befits repentance, and do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Jarred by the stern words of Saint John the Baptist, we must ponder the possibility that we not only have the power to transform that danger-filled desert into a teeming garden but we are, essentially, going to be an eternal component of one or the other. Each moment of our lives we are either mostly viper or mostly fruit tree.

Do people seek us out as a source for nourishment and greater life, or avoid us in fear of little injections of poison?

There are better days and worse days. Today can be a better day; a day of sacrifice and good work, a repentant self-pruning of sorts to make way for the healthy new growth from which might hang life-giving nourishment for the people God brings to our orchard – the people and the encounters which become more and more vivid as earthly life dims and Eternity comes increasingly into focus.

“May the God of endurance and encouragement
grant you to think in harmony with one another,
in keeping with Christ Jesus”

Blessed Second Sunday of Advent, Everybody!