← Petersboat
Petersboat
The Monday After | Where is His Victory?
00:07:59
Sometimes we walk too far behind Christ, weighed down by regret. And sometimes we walk too far ahead, worried about the future. But the person in front of us, in the present, is offering us an encounter with God. The victory of Christ moves us beyond our fear, enabling us to love that person.
Loading summary
Transcript19 lines
- [00:03]
A
You know, one of the things I love about the podcast format is that I can be with you right now in your present moment. By speaking to you here, I can help you to be aware, hopefully, of how God is with you right now. And in that spirit, I wanted to remember what we spoke about in the church this past weekend. Because when God calls us to be aware of the poor, he's really inviting us to be aware of the person in front of us right now in our life who's asking us to love them in some way. So he's not speaking only about the materially poor or the financially poor, but someone who may look for our attention or for our affection or for us to listen to them or to provide for them. Of course, perhaps more dramatically or outwardly to clothe them, but even just to visit them, if not to feed them. And Jesus spoke to us clearly about how he's present to us in that person in need. He said, whatever you do for one of these, least of my brethren, you do it for me.
- [01:14]
B
And we'll say, when did we see you? And he said, I will say to you, I was in the poor, the least of my brethren.
- [01:22]
A
And he no doubt meant the materially poor. But again, anyone who is asking us to perhaps work with them, cooperate with them, anyone who needs us to serve them in any way, and for the families, it's just being attentive to my spouse, looking at her when she speaks to me, asking him how his day was, sitting with the children, holding them, inviting them to put the phone down for a minute, just to be with them. All these opportunities to be with each other, our opportunities to be with Christ. Then we said this past weekend, not only is Jesus present to us in that person in need, but we need him also to be present to us in our heart, to accomplish the victory that can move us beyond perhaps our pride to associate with people in need and then to be victorious in us, to move us beyond our fear.
- [02:23]
B
Jesus, come to me and move me beyond my fear, to help me to love the person in front of me.
- [02:30]
A
The fear of our own inadequacies, the fear of our own not being holy enough or not knowing the right thing to say, the fear of our being a hypocrite by trying to help someone when we ourselves need so much help. So he said, I can sometimes be so consumed by my past, consumed by regret or shame. I really have to commend my past to God's mercy. I can also be so worried about the future, full of anxiety about its uncertainties and its unknown that I get distracted from the present moment and the person in front of me. So I really need to entrust my future to God also.
- [03:09]
B
And you will, he says, be laying hold of eternal life.
- [03:13]
A
I did mention this image at some of the masses this weekend of my walking through the city with my parents when I was younger, and my sister and I, we would try to keep up with my parents, but if we'd fall too far behind, you know, we'd get a little scared, so we'd have to catch up. And if we walked too far ahead, you know, we also. We'd experience some worry or some fear, and we had to come back a little bit to where my parents were. Whenever we were walking with them, though, through the city, we felt peace and that we were able to really take in the city. You know, as soon as you're too far behind, you get scared and you can't even see what's happening around you. So you have to catch up. And then if you walk too far ahead, the same thing can happen. So that's what we wanted to say this past weekend. I know we think about victory over enemies or victory over someone who thinks differently than we do, or victory over failure. So we're always successful in everything we do. But that's not primarily the victory that Christ comes to accomplish in our lives. He comes to be victorious over this tendency in us to shrink or to cower before the demands of love.
- [04:25]
B
The victory which enables us to live in the present, which. Where we meet God.
- [04:35]
A
So, of course, as we heard in the Gospel, we do tend to get so worried about the future that we make our life about the accumulation of riches. And in this way we can secure our future for ourselves. But that distracts us from the poor man who's right there in front of us all the time. As we heard in the Gospel, he.
- [04:51]
B
Was unable to see the man who was always right right in front of him.
- [04:59]
A
And then we mentioned also St Francis of Assisi in particular, and St Paul, because the two of them are very interesting. They show us that the victory of Christ moves us beyond the world's definitions of victory, which are always about, like, fighting or overcoming your enemy in this world. Saint Francis of Assisi was a wealthy man who threw off the trappings that he would have inherited from his father and all that wealth, and put on the clothing of the poor and entrusted his past to God and his future to God and was present to the person in front of him. This is the Franciscan charism to commend My past to God's mercy and trust my future to his providence, and pay attention to the person in need in front of me.
- [05:45]
B
This is the victory that he accomplishes. It's in us.
- [05:49]
A
And this is why we say Saint Francis of Assisi, who was a soldier, who was a knight in shining armor, quite literally fighting other Italian city states.
- [05:59]
B
And he realized that God wasn't so much asking him to fight for him as much as God was saying, francis, when will you allow me to fight for you, to move you beyond your tendency to violence, Your definition of a hero being the knight in shining armor who destroys his enemy. When will you allow me to accomplish true victory in you, to make you someone who seeks peace?
- [06:22]
A
He showed us that true victory is allowing Christ to move us beyond our pride and beyond our fear, to love the person in need in front of us. That's the victory that Christ comes to accomplish. This is why we also mention St Paul. St Paul, remember before he was St Paul was named Saul and he was a Pharisee. And he, as St. Francis, also thought God needed us to defend him and fight for him. But God knocks him to the ground, humbles him when Jesus appears to him and changes his heart. And then Christ is victorious in Saul and turns him into St. Paul.
- [07:01]
B
And this is how St. Paul built up the early church.
- [07:04]
A
Saul.
- [07:05]
B
Now St. Paul would go into a place and say this. I used to be a murderer.
- [07:14]
A
That's what he would say to them. And if someone would say, well, what happened to you? He would say, I'm glad you asked. Let me tell you about Jesus of Nazareth. It's about commending our past to him so we don't walk too far behind him, and then also entrusting our future to him so we're not walking too far ahead of him. It's scary to be too far behind him, and it's frightening to be too far ahead. But when we're with him, walking with him, and we're at peace, and then we can take in and experience all that the city is trying to offer us, that life in this world is offering us.