Examine our day, and follow the Lord

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/070119.cfm
Genesis 18:16-33
Psalm 103
Matthew 8:18-22

Today we start out with Abraham at the Terebinth of Mamre talking to the Lord.  Terebinth is loosely considered to be an oak tree under which Abraham had set up a tent.  Mamre is a town close to Hebron and along an ancient route from Hebron to Jerusalem.  There are two men walking with Abraham.  These men are angels the Lord has sent to investigate the gravity of sins being committed in Sodom and Gomorrah.  The reading says the Lord is reflecting on Abraham and the future of Abraham and his descendants.  The Lord begins by asking a rhetorical question as to whether He should reveal to Abraham what he is about to do to Sodom and Gomorrah.  After all He had singled out Abraham to direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just.  Now He is sending his angels to investigate whether the outcry He has heard about these towns is accurate.  Well, you and I know that he does not need to investigate anything.  He already knows.  I believe all of this is a lesson for Abraham to see what happens when people do not follow the way of the Lord.

At this point Abraham knows the punishment in store for Sodom and Gomorrah, so he asks the Lord if He will destroy the innocent along with the guilty. So begins the negotiations between the Lord and Abraham.  The fact that Abraham is negotiating with Lord says a lot about his relationship with the Lord.  I certainly would not question the Lord on His plans.  After all, He is the Lord and knows more than I would ever know.  So Abraham acknowledges that the Lord is all just and that he does not see the Lord punishing the innocent and the guilty in the same manner.  At this the Lord proposes that if He finds fifty innocent people He will spare the cities for the sake of the fifty.  Well, Abraham counter proposes forty five, then forty and finally gets down to ten innocent people.  Each time the Lord accepts the lower number saying that He would not destroy the town for the sake of ten innocent people.

The entire problem is that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah did not follow the way of the Lord.  As a matter of fact they did everything they could to go against the Lord.  This then leads us into Matthew’s gospel.  Jesus is healing many people in Capernaum.  A crowd begins to form so Jesus orders to cross to the other shore.  

When He gave the order a scribe approached Him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”  Jesus answered him saying, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”  We have no way to know if the scribe was sincere, was attracted to Jesus because of His powers to heal, or was hiding bad intentions.  Jesus’ answer does not mean that He does not have places to sleep and eat.  We know that He spent time living in Peter’s house.  What the intent of the phrase is that He is always on the move and has no place to call home.  It is a difficult life if you intend to follow Him everywhere he goes.  The scribe would have understood what Jesus was telling him.  Last time I spoke we discussed what difficulties the followers of Jesus would have to face.  This short sentence is simply expanding on that.  We do not know what the scribe decided to do, but we know that the disciples of Jesus had a tough road to follow.  If we want to follow the way of the Lord we also will have a tough road to follow.  Everything around us is selling us instant gratification.  Buy this for your wife, girlfriend, life partner, etc. and they will really love you.  If you feel like doing something, whatever it may be “Just Do It”.  Your life is incomplete unless you buy a Chia Pet, hair restoration cream, and on and on.

Following that exchange another disciple says to Jesus, “Lord, Let me go first to bury my father.”  Jesus answers this by saying “Follow me and let the dead bury the dead.”  To appreciate the answer we have to understand the Jewish tradition on burial.  When someone died in those days they would bury the deceased rather quickly.  This means that if the disciple’s father was already dead he would already have been buried so there would have been no point in going back.  If the father was still alive then the disciple intended to go home until his father finally died.  Then he would have buried his father.  There is one more possibility.  When someone died they would be buried.  A year later they would be dug up and the bones would be put into an ossuary and reburied.  This would have meant that the disciple intended to go back to re-bury his father.  In any event it was simply putting off following Jesus.  At times I have been like this disciple.  I really want to follow Jesus but there is something I have to do right now and then I will be ready to go.  Just exactly what is more important than following our God?  I sometimes create a justification but, really, is it simply putting off what I really have to do.  I tried putting off doing these talks for a couple of years.  I had plenty of excuses like, I am not good enough, I don’t have the time, I am doing the music, and I have a lot on my plate.  Oh, I used them all.  Finally, when I ran out of excuses I reluctantly gave in.  Now I am glad to do them.  Sure they take time, but I am learning a lot about scripture and learning how to read the relationship between scripture and my day to day life.

At times I am like the scribe and would say I will follow you wherever you go without thinking that I am a weak human being and will fail to follow Jesus everywhere He goes.  My goal is to look for the times I fail to follow Him and put my whole soul into finding my way back.  Look at the apostles during the crucifixion.  Except for John, they certainly did not follow Him to the cross.  Other times I am more like the disciple.  I will follow Jesus right after I am too old to do anything else.  Hopefully it will be sometime before I die.

In closing, we need to always be examining our lives to make sure we are on the right path.  One way to do that is to read the lives of the saints and do whatever they did.  For example, St. Ignatius recommended doing what he called the daily "Examen," an examination of our day.  He recommend doing it at lunch and/or before going to sleep.  It is really simple and does not take a lot of time, but it does make you more aware of your life, your priorities, your strengths and your weaknesses.   Following is a brief summary of the daily Examen.

1. Become aware of God’s presence.
Relax and be aware that you are truly in the presence of God.  He loves you more than you can ever imagine and wants to hear from you and to guide you in your life.  Ask him to help you make sense of your day.

2. Review the day with gratitude. 
Think of everything that went right during the day.  Special moments you shared with family members.  Something that you asked God to help you with and miraculously the problem disappeared.  Possibly a moment where you suddenly felt God’s presence.  This list could go on and on.  You just need to find your own special moments of the day.  Even the little things such as the food you ate, or something you saw, heard or felt add to your recollection and gratitude. 

3. Pay attention to your emotions.
Think about how you felt about things that happened during the day.  Were you angry, sad, happy, confused, etc.  Are you still angry about something somebody did to you?  Do you still smile when you think of something your grandchild said?  Our emotions frequently reveal how we really felt about events during our day.  What is God telling us through these feelings?

4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it.
If someone has made you angry pray him and pray that God will help you will forgive him as He forgave us from the cross.  Pray that you will be more attentive to your family.  Pray for anything that you think will make you more Christ like and that you do better each day of your life.  Let the prayer arise spontaneously from your heart, whether intercession, praise, repentance or gratitude.

5. Look toward tomorrow.
Each day is a gift from God so treat it that way.  I had a friend in college that would say the same thing every morning when he woke up., “Oh S__T!”  That is not the way to start the day.  Before you go to sleep, thank God that you have another day to look forward to.