Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905- 1987)
Faith is a movement of the entire person away from himself,
through the gift of grace; thereby he lays hold of the mercy of
God given to him in Christ-in the form of the forgiveness of
sins, justification and sanctification. In this movement away
from himself man has done all that he, through grace, can do; he
has done all that God requires of him. Since his intention is to
leave himself, without reservation, and hand himself over entirely,
this movement implicitly' contains all the "works" he will
eventually do. They are not some second entity beside faith; if
they are performed in a Christian spirit, they are only forms in
which faith expresses itself. .
As an •act 'of the whole person, faith travels in a direction away
from itself and toward God. That is why reflection on itself and
any attempt to make itself secure are foreign to it. The gospel
may promise a "reward in Heaven" to a faith that is rightly lived
out, but faith itself is very far from calculating any "merit" that
may bring about such a reward. "
The word "merit" insofar as it concerns some value conferring
a right to something, is theologically an unhappy term that would
be better dropped. (In tradition it very often has a quite different
sense, namely, "being found worthy" by God: tu quae meruisti
portare ... >.We need have no qualms about dropping the word,
for there is a biblical word ready to replace it: fruitfulness. God
responds. to Abraham's faith in this way: "I will make. you
exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you" (Gen 17:6).
The Lord is always using the word in his parables. In John it is
the grain of wheat, which dies in the earth, that brings forth much
fruit. The metaphor of the vine is even clearer. Apart from Jesus
a man can do "nothing", but if he abides in-him he brings forth
"much" fruit. If he fails to do this, he is removed; if he succeeds,
he is "cleansed", cut back in order to produce even more fruit.
Clearly, this does not mean externally quantifiable results. As far
as the Kingdom of God is concerned, Mary, sitting at the feet of
Jesus, is more fruitful than the busy Martha. When Mary anoints
the Lord's feet at the meal in Bethany and Judas protests at this
"waste" and thinks how much money the ointment would have
yielded, he is rebuked: the fruitfulness of this prodigal gesture
that takes no account of "merit" is far more important to Jesus
than some work of charity. .
In the Fullness of Faith
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
OSCAR ROMERO
Even when they call us mad, when they call us subversives and communists and all the epithets they put on us, we know we only preach the subversive witness of the Beatitudes, which have turned everything upside down.
- Archbishop Oscar Romero, an advocate for the poor and marginalized, was assassinated thirty years ago today while giving Mass in El Salvador.
- Archbishop Oscar Romero, an advocate for the poor and marginalized, was assassinated thirty years ago today while giving Mass in El Salvador.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
We Shall Overcome
People cannot contribute to the nation if they are never taught to read or write, if their bodies are stunted from hunger, if their sickness goes untended, if their life is spent in hopeless poverty just drawing a welfare check. So we want to open the gates to opportunity. But we're also going to give all our people, black and white, the help that they need to walk through those gates.
- Lyndon B. Johnson, from his speech, "We Shall Overcome," given to Congress on March 15, 1965, after racial violence broke out in Selma, Alabama
- Lyndon B. Johnson, from his speech, "We Shall Overcome," given to Congress on March 15, 1965, after racial violence broke out in Selma, Alabama
Monday, March 15, 2010
The Prayer of Saint Patrick
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.
I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.
I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In preachings of the apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.
I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.
I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me;
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's hosts to save me
From snares of the devil,
From temptations of vices,
From every one who desires me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a multitude.
I summon today all these powers between me and evil,
Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.
Christ shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that reward may come to me in abundance.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.
I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.
I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In preachings of the apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.
I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.
I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me;
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's hosts to save me
From snares of the devil,
From temptations of vices,
From every one who desires me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a multitude.
I summon today all these powers between me and evil,
Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.
Christ shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that reward may come to me in abundance.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
ISAIAH 55:1-13
1 Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty; though you have no money, come! Buy and eat; come, buy wine and milk without money, free!
2 Why spend money on what cannot nourish and your wages on what fails to satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and you will have good things to eat and rich food to enjoy.
3 Pay attention, come to me; listen, and you will live. I shall make an everlasting covenant with you in fulfilment of the favours promised to David.
4 Look, I have made him a witness to peoples, a leader and lawgiver to peoples.
5 Look, you will summon a nation unknown to you, a nation unknown to you will hurry to you for the sake of Yahweh your God, because the Holy One of Israel has glorified you.
6 Seek out Yahweh while he is still to be found, call to him while he is still near.
7 Let the wicked abandon his way and the evil one his thoughts. Let him turn back to Yahweh who will take pity on him, to our God, for he is rich in forgiveness;
8 for my thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not my ways, declares Yahweh.
9 For the heavens are as high above earth as my ways are above your ways, my thoughts above your thoughts.
10 For, as the rain and the snow come down from the sky and do not return before having watered the earth, fertilising it and making it germinate to provide seed for the sower and food to eat,
11 so it is with the word that goes from my mouth: it will not return to me unfulfilled or before having carried out my good pleasure and having achieved what it was sent to do.
12 Yes, you will go out with joy and be led away in safety. Mountains and hills will break into joyful cries before you and all the trees of the countryside clap their hands.
13 Cypress will grow instead of thorns, myrtle instead of nettles. And this will be fame for Yahweh, an eternal monument never to be effaced.
2 Why spend money on what cannot nourish and your wages on what fails to satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and you will have good things to eat and rich food to enjoy.
3 Pay attention, come to me; listen, and you will live. I shall make an everlasting covenant with you in fulfilment of the favours promised to David.
4 Look, I have made him a witness to peoples, a leader and lawgiver to peoples.
5 Look, you will summon a nation unknown to you, a nation unknown to you will hurry to you for the sake of Yahweh your God, because the Holy One of Israel has glorified you.
6 Seek out Yahweh while he is still to be found, call to him while he is still near.
7 Let the wicked abandon his way and the evil one his thoughts. Let him turn back to Yahweh who will take pity on him, to our God, for he is rich in forgiveness;
8 for my thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not my ways, declares Yahweh.
9 For the heavens are as high above earth as my ways are above your ways, my thoughts above your thoughts.
10 For, as the rain and the snow come down from the sky and do not return before having watered the earth, fertilising it and making it germinate to provide seed for the sower and food to eat,
11 so it is with the word that goes from my mouth: it will not return to me unfulfilled or before having carried out my good pleasure and having achieved what it was sent to do.
12 Yes, you will go out with joy and be led away in safety. Mountains and hills will break into joyful cries before you and all the trees of the countryside clap their hands.
13 Cypress will grow instead of thorns, myrtle instead of nettles. And this will be fame for Yahweh, an eternal monument never to be effaced.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
ISAIAH 2:1-5
1 The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 It will happen in the final days that the mountain of Yahweh's house will rise higher than the mountains and tower above the heights. Then all the nations will stream to it,
3 many peoples will come to it and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob that he may teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths.' For the Law will issue from Zion and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.
4 Then he will judge between the nations and arbitrate between many peoples. They will hammer their swords into ploughshares and their spears into sickles. Nation will not lift sword against nation, no longer will they learn how to make war.
5 House of Jacob, come, let us walk in Yahweh's light.
2 It will happen in the final days that the mountain of Yahweh's house will rise higher than the mountains and tower above the heights. Then all the nations will stream to it,
3 many peoples will come to it and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob that he may teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths.' For the Law will issue from Zion and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.
4 Then he will judge between the nations and arbitrate between many peoples. They will hammer their swords into ploughshares and their spears into sickles. Nation will not lift sword against nation, no longer will they learn how to make war.
5 House of Jacob, come, let us walk in Yahweh's light.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
MEANING WHAT YOU SING
Caesarius of ArIes (470 - 542)
Above all, strive by holy thoughts, as well as by prayers, to fulfill
in daily life what you profess orally; and may the Holy Spirit
who speaks to you upon your lips also deign to dwell in your
hearts. It is truly good and pleasing enough to God when the
tongue devoutly chants the Psalms, but it will be better still if
your life is in harmony with the words on your tongue. Our words
and our lives should be in agreement. Let not our words bear
testimony against our evil habits, and let not our tongue refute
our lives. If one thing is uttered with our mouth, and something
else appears in our actions, what the tongue seems to build up
our evil life immediately destroys. For your part, dear Christians,
may the sense of a Scripture passage hold your attention as well
as the pleasantness of the sound. If, when a person chants the
Psalms, he only pays attention to the sweetness of the sounds and
the arrangement of the words, but does not heed what should be
understood in them, his ears receive passing nourishment, but
the Word of God does not reach his heart. In a certain sense, such
a one chews on pure wax, but does not taste the sweetness of the
honey at all.
Sermon 75
Above all, strive by holy thoughts, as well as by prayers, to fulfill
in daily life what you profess orally; and may the Holy Spirit
who speaks to you upon your lips also deign to dwell in your
hearts. It is truly good and pleasing enough to God when the
tongue devoutly chants the Psalms, but it will be better still if
your life is in harmony with the words on your tongue. Our words
and our lives should be in agreement. Let not our words bear
testimony against our evil habits, and let not our tongue refute
our lives. If one thing is uttered with our mouth, and something
else appears in our actions, what the tongue seems to build up
our evil life immediately destroys. For your part, dear Christians,
may the sense of a Scripture passage hold your attention as well
as the pleasantness of the sound. If, when a person chants the
Psalms, he only pays attention to the sweetness of the sounds and
the arrangement of the words, but does not heed what should be
understood in them, his ears receive passing nourishment, but
the Word of God does not reach his heart. In a certain sense, such
a one chews on pure wax, but does not taste the sweetness of the
honey at all.
Sermon 75
Monday, March 1, 2010
PSALM 22
[For the choirmaster To 'the Doe of the Dawn' Psalm Of David]
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The words of my groaning do nothing to save me.
2 My God, I call by day but you do not answer, at night, but I find no respite.
3 Yet
4 in you our ancestors put their trust, they trusted and you set them free.
5 To you they called for help and were delivered; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm, less than human, scorn of mankind, contempt of the people;
7 all who see me jeer at me, they sneer and wag their heads,
8 'He trusted himself to Yahweh, let Yahweh set him free! Let him deliver him, as he took such delight in him.'
9 It was you who drew me from the womb and soothed me on my mother's breast.
10 On you was I cast from my birth, from the womb I have belonged to you.
11 Do not hold aloof, for trouble is upon me, and no one to help me!
12 Many bulls are encircling me, wild bulls of Bashan closing in on me.
13 Lions ravening and roaring open their jaws at me.
14 My strength is trickling away, my bones are all disjointed, my heart has turned to wax, melting inside me.
15 My mouth is dry as earthenware, my tongue sticks to my jaw. You lay me down in the dust of death.
16 A pack of dogs surrounds me, a gang of villains closing in on me as if to hack off my hands and my feet.
17 I can count every one of my bones, while they look on and gloat;
18 they divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.
19 Yahweh, do not hold aloof! My strength, come quickly to my help,
20 rescue my soul from the sword, the one life I have from the grasp of the dog!
21 Save me from the lion's mouth, my poor life from the wild bulls' horns!
22 I shall proclaim your name to my brothers, praise you in full assembly:
23 'You who fear Yahweh, praise him! All the race of Jacob, honour him! Revere him, all the race of Israel!'
24 For he has not despised nor disregarded the poverty of the poor, has not turned away his face, but has listened to the cry for help.
25 Of you is my praise in the thronged assembly, I will perform my vows before all who fear him.
26 The poor will eat and be filled, those who seek Yahweh will praise him, 'May your heart live for ever.'
27 The whole wide world will remember and return to Yahweh, all the families of nations bow down before him.
28 For to Yahweh, ruler of the nations, belongs kingly power!
29 All who prosper on earth will bow before him, all who go down to the dust will do reverence before him. And those who are dead,
30 their descendants will serve him, will proclaim his name to generations
31 still to come; and these will tell of his saving justice to a people yet unborn: he has fulfilled it.
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The words of my groaning do nothing to save me.
2 My God, I call by day but you do not answer, at night, but I find no respite.
3 Yet
4 in you our ancestors put their trust, they trusted and you set them free.
5 To you they called for help and were delivered; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm, less than human, scorn of mankind, contempt of the people;
7 all who see me jeer at me, they sneer and wag their heads,
8 'He trusted himself to Yahweh, let Yahweh set him free! Let him deliver him, as he took such delight in him.'
9 It was you who drew me from the womb and soothed me on my mother's breast.
10 On you was I cast from my birth, from the womb I have belonged to you.
11 Do not hold aloof, for trouble is upon me, and no one to help me!
12 Many bulls are encircling me, wild bulls of Bashan closing in on me.
13 Lions ravening and roaring open their jaws at me.
14 My strength is trickling away, my bones are all disjointed, my heart has turned to wax, melting inside me.
15 My mouth is dry as earthenware, my tongue sticks to my jaw. You lay me down in the dust of death.
16 A pack of dogs surrounds me, a gang of villains closing in on me as if to hack off my hands and my feet.
17 I can count every one of my bones, while they look on and gloat;
18 they divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.
19 Yahweh, do not hold aloof! My strength, come quickly to my help,
20 rescue my soul from the sword, the one life I have from the grasp of the dog!
21 Save me from the lion's mouth, my poor life from the wild bulls' horns!
22 I shall proclaim your name to my brothers, praise you in full assembly:
23 'You who fear Yahweh, praise him! All the race of Jacob, honour him! Revere him, all the race of Israel!'
24 For he has not despised nor disregarded the poverty of the poor, has not turned away his face, but has listened to the cry for help.
25 Of you is my praise in the thronged assembly, I will perform my vows before all who fear him.
26 The poor will eat and be filled, those who seek Yahweh will praise him, 'May your heart live for ever.'
27 The whole wide world will remember and return to Yahweh, all the families of nations bow down before him.
28 For to Yahweh, ruler of the nations, belongs kingly power!
29 All who prosper on earth will bow before him, all who go down to the dust will do reverence before him. And those who are dead,
30 their descendants will serve him, will proclaim his name to generations
31 still to come; and these will tell of his saving justice to a people yet unborn: he has fulfilled it.
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