- Called Despite Our Fears - BY HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS - Open Mind, Faithful Heart - 

                                                 -  Reflection on Following Jesus  -

YOU WERE CALLED, and now you are preparing to receive the ministry. You may be thinking, "At last we've arrived!" You may experience this preparation from the perspective of the "big moment". This can be harmful for us because without our being aware of it, it can lead us to relativize the ministry we are going to receive. To avoid doing that, our perspective should be that of the chairos, that is, of "God's time," which transcends all the "moments" of our existence. here, then, our question should be: Where do I stand? What is the foundation of my vocation?

IT WILL HELP US to recall the words of Jesus: "On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' Then I will declare to them, 'I have never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.' Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell - and great was it fall!" - Matthew 7:22:27 -

"AND HIS RUIN WAS GREAT." Those words remind me of the Lord's warning about the devil who, after being expelled from a possessed person, attempts to return with seven others so that "the last state of that person was worse than the first" - Luke 11:26 - So again we as the question: What is the foundation of my being?

FOR AN INITIAL MEDITATION, I propose that you consider the ministerial mission you will receive. Having been formally commissioned, you will be confronted yet again with this reality: you are created and saved by the same Jesus who now calls you to serve as ministers, and you will therefore need to exercise the discerning generosity required for greater service in this specific mission.

MUCH TO OUR CONSOLATION, sacred scripture has preserved for us the special relation that was established between the Lord and those he sent on mission: Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, Joseph and so many others. All of them felt deeply on their inadequacy, in the face of the Lord's request: "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt" - Exodus 3:11 - "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips" - Isaiah 6:5 - "Almighty God! Behold, I do not know how to speak for I am only a youth." - Jeremiah 1:6 - "I need to be baptized by you and do you come to me?" - Matthew 3:14 - even Joseph, who made plans "to dismiss Mary quietly". - Matthew 1:19 - There is a initial resistance, the inability to comprehend the magnitude of the call, the fear of the mission. This sign is from the good spirit, especially if it does not stop there but allows the Lord's strength to express itself through human weakness and to infuse that weakness with consistency and solidity. "I will be with you, and this shall be the sign that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain" - Exodus 3:12 - "He touched my mouth and said: 'Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin forgiven" - Isaiah 6:7 - "Do not say, 'I am only a youth'; for to all whom I send you, you shall go, and whenever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you" - Jeremiah 1:7-8 -; Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness" - Matthew 3:15 - "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit." - Matthew 1:20 -

IN GIVING US A MISSION, the Lord grounds us; he gives us a solid foundation. And he does not do so with the perfunctory attitude of someone giving us an ordinary task to perform, but with the empowering might of his Spirit, so that our identity is sealed by the very way in which we are made to belong to that mission. Identity is tied up with belonging, and for us belonging means participating in what Jesus grounds - and Jesus grounds us in the Church, in the holy and faithful people, for the glory of the Father. Perhaps, our fears and insecurities arise from the same feelings that moved Moses, Isaiah, John, and the other great figures to fight shy of their mission when it was first proposed to them. If so, then all we have to do is allow the Lord to speak to us and to help us place our fear, our pusillanimity, and our self-regard in their true perspective.

JESUS ESTABLISHED the kingdom of God. By his words and by his life he founded it once and for all. Belonging to that kingdom is for a value we cannot refuse. Jesus establishes us as pastors of his people and that is what he wants us to be. In speaking of our own foundations, we cannot prescind from this pastoral dimension of our lives. I think that for this meditation we may be helped by reviewing a pastoral document that summons us to allow ourselves to be established anew as pastors by Christ our Lord. I therefor propose that you read some passages from Evangelii Nuntiandi. Let us reflect on ourselves in the light of that teaching in order to draw some profit from it. 

JESUS HIMSELF has a mission: "Going from town to town, preaching to the poorest - frequently the most receptive - the joyful news of the fulfillment of the promises and of the Covenant offered by God is the mission for which Jesus declares that he is sent by the Father. And all the aspects of his mystery - the Incarnation itself, his miracles, his teaching, the gathering together of the disciples, the sending out of the Twelve, the cross and the resurrection, the permanence of his presence in the midst of his own - were components of his evangelizing activity" (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 6). Through this evangelizing activity Christ "proclaims a kingdom, the kingdom of God; and this is so important that by comparison everything else becomes 'the rest' that which is 'given' in addition - cf. Matthew 6:31-33 -. Only the kingdom therefore is absolute and it makes everything else relative" (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 8). It is the Lord who establishes the kingdom.

Therefore do not worry, saying, "What will we eat?" or "What will we drink?" "What will we wear?" For it is the Gentiles strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. - Matthew 6:31-33 -

We may continue this mediation by contemplating the different ways in which Jesus describes "the happiness of belonging to this kingdom............. - P A G E  O N E - 

   

                                                     -   HUMAN  BEING  FREEDOM   -  

God created man/woman a rational being, conferring on him/her the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his/her own actions. "God willed that man/woman should be 'left in the hand of his/her own counsel,' so that he/she might of his/her own accord seek his/her Creator and freely attain his/her full and blessed perfection by cleaving to God." - CCC 1730, CCC 30 - GS 17; Sirach 15:14 - 

Man/Woman is rational and therefore like God; he/she is created with free will and is master over his/her acts. - St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres, 4, 4, 3,: PG 7/1, 983 -

Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so perform deliberate actions on one's own responsibility. By free will one shapes one's own life. Human freedom is a force for growth and maturity in truth and goodness; it attains its perfection when directed toward God, our beatitude. - CCC 1731, CCC 1721 - 

As long as freedom has not bound itself definitively to its ultimate good which is God, there is the possibility of choosing between good and evil, and thus of growing in perfection or of failing and sinning. This freedom characterizes properly human acts. It is the basis of praise or blame, merit or reproach. - CCC 1732, CCC 396, CCC 1849, CCC 2006 - 

The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. There is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just. The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to "the slavery of sin." - Cf. Romans 6:17 - CCC 1733, 1803 - 

Freedom makes man/woman responsible for his/her acts to the extent that they are voluntary. progress in virtue, knowledge of the good, and ascesis enhance the mastery of the will over its act. - CCC 1734, 1036, 1804 -

Imputability  and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, inordinate attachments and other psychological or social factors. - CCC 1735, CCC 597 -

Every act directly willed is imputable to its author: - CCC 1736, CCC 2568 - Thus the Lord asked Eve after the sin in the garden: "What is this that you have done?" - Genesis 3:13 - God asked Cain the same question. - Cf. Genesis 4:10 - The prophet Nathan questioned David in the same way after he committed adultery with the wife of Uriah and had him murdered. - Cf. 2 Samuel 12:7-15 -

An action can be indirectly voluntary when it results from negligence regarding something one should have known or done: for example, an accident arising from ignorance of traffic laws.

An effect can be tolerated without being willed by its agent, for instance, a mother's exhaustion from tending her sick child. A bad effect is not imputable if it was not willed either as an end or as a means of an action, for example, a death a person incurs in aiding someone in danger. For a bad effect to be imputable it must be foreseeable and the agent must have the possibility of avoiding it, as in the case of manslaughter caused by a drunken driver. - CCC 1737, 2263 -

Freedom is exercised in relationships between human beings. Every human person, created in the image of God, has the natural right to be recognised as a free and responsible being. All owe to each other this duty of respect. The right to exercise of freedom, especially in moral and religious matters, is an inalienable requirement of the dignity of the human person. This right must be recognized and protected by civil authority within the limits of the common good and public order. - CCC 1738, 2106 - Cf. DH 2&7 -

                 -  HUMAN  BEING  FREEDOM  IN  THE  ECONOMY  OF  SALVATION  -

Freedom and sin. Human being freedom is limited and fallible. In fact, man/woman failed. He/She freely sinned. By refusing God's plan of love, he/she deceived himself/herself and became a slave to sin. This first alienation engendered a multitude of others. From its outset, human history attests the wretchedness and oppression born of the human heart in consequence of the abuse of freedom. - CCC 1739, 387, 401 -

Threats to freedom. The exercise of freedom does not imply a right to say or do everything. It is false to maintain that man/woman, "the subject of this freedom," is "an individual who is fully self-sufficient and whose finality is the satisfaction of his own interest in the enjoyment of earthly goods." - CDF, Instr. Libertatis conscientia 13 - Moreover, the economic, social, political and cultural conditions that are needed for a just exercise of freedom are too often disregarded or violated. Such situations of blindness and injustice injure the moral life and involve the strong as well as the weak in the temptation to sin against charity. By deviating from the moral law man/woman violates his/her own freedom, becomes imprisoned within himself/herself, disrupts neighborly fellowship, and rebels against divine truth. - CCC 1740, 2108, 1887 -

Liberation and salvation. By his glorious Cross Christ has won salvation for all men/women. He redeemed them from the sin that held them in bondage. "For freedom Christ has set us free." - Galatians 5:1 - In him we have communion with the "truth that makes us free." - Cf. John 8:32 - The Holy Spirit has been given to us and, as the Apostle teaches, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." - 2 Corinthians 3:17 - Already we glory in the "liberty of the children of God." - Romans 8:21 - CCC 1741, 782 -

Freedom and grace. The grace of Christ is not in the slightest way a rival of our freedom when this freedom accords with the sense of the true and the good that God has put in the human heart. On the contrary, as Christian experience attests especially in prayer, the more docile we are to the promptings of grace, the more we grow in inner freedom and confidence during trails, such as those we face in the pressures and constraints of the outer world. By the working of grace the Holy Spirit educates us in spiritual freedom in order to make us free collaborators in his work in the Church and in the world:  - CCC 1742, 2002, 1784 - 

Almighty and merciful God, in your goodness take away from us all that is harmful, so that, made ready both in mind and body, we may freely accomplish your will. - Missale Romanum, 32nd Sunday, Opening Prayer: Omnipotens et misericors Deus, universa nobis adversantia propitiatus exclude, ut, mente et corpore pariter expediti, quae tua sunt liberis mentibus exsequamur.  

IN BRIEF

CCC 1743 - "God willed that man/woman should be left in the hand of his own counsel (cf. Sirach 15:14), so that he/she might of his/her own accord seek his/her creator and freely attain his/her full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him." (GS 17&1)

CCC 1744 - Freedom is the power to act or not to act, and so to perform deliberate acts of one's own. Freedom attains perfection in its acts when directed toward God, the sovereign Good.

CCC 1745 - Freedom characterizes properly human acts. It makes the human being responsible for acts of which he/she is the voluntary agent. His/Her deliberate acts properly  belong to him/her. 

CCC 1746 - The imputability or responsibility for an action can be diminished or nullified by ignorance, duress, fear and other psychological or social factors.

CCC 1747 - The right to the exercise of freedom, especially in religious and moral matters, is an inalienable requirement of the dignity of man/woman. But the exercise of freedom does not entail the putative right to say or do anything.

CCC 1748 - "For freedom Christ has set us free" (Galatians 5:1). 

-     WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY     - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -

An Old Testament prophetic book that portrays the coming glory of the MESSIAH. Prophet Zechariah describe as "the most Messianic of all the Old Testament books" describe by many scholars, academic, intellectual person as "the most Messianic of all the Old Testament books" because it contains many specific references to the Messiah in its brief 14 chapters. The 14 chapters of Zechariah fall naturally into two important chapters, that is, the prophet's encouragement to the people to finish the work of rebuilding the Temple, and in chapters 9 to 14, Zechariah's picture of Israel's glorious future and the coming of the Messiah.

In the first section, Zechariah introduces himself as God's prophet and calls the people to repent and turn from their wicked and evil ways. Part of their sin was their failure to finish the work of rebuilding the Temple after returning from the Captivity in Babylon. In a series of eight symbolic night visions that came to the prophet. Zechariah encourages the people to finish this important task. These visions are followed by a coronation scene. In which a high priest named Joshua is crowned as priest and king, symbolizing the Messiah who is to come. This is considered one of the classic Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament.

- A summons to conversion - In the second year of Darius, in the eighth month, the word of Yahweh was addressed to the prophet Zechariah (son of Berechiah), son of Iddo, as follows, Cry out to the remnant of this people and say to them, "Yahweh Sabaoth says this: Return to me, and I will return to you, says Yahweh Sabaoth. Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the prophets in the past cried: Yahweh Sabaoth says this: Turn back from your wicked and evil ways and deeds. But - it is Yahweh who speaks - they would not listen and pay attention to me. Where are your ancestors now? Are those prophets still alive? Did not my words and my orders, with which I charged my servants the prophets, overtake your ancestors? Yahweh was stirred to anger against your ancestors." This reduced them to such confusion that they said, 'Yahweh Sabaoth has treated us as he resolved to do, and as our ways and deeds deserved.' - Zechariah 1:1-6b -    

In Chapters 7 and 8 also continue another important element of the Messianic hope: the One to come will reign in justice from Zion, the city of Jerusalem. - Zechariah 8:3; 15-16 -

The second major section of Zechariah's book: chapters 9 to 14, contains God's promises for the new age to come. Chapter 9 has a remarkable description of the manner in which the ruling Messiah will enter the city of Jerusalem: "Behold, your King is coming to you: He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. - Zechariah 9:9 - These were the words used by Saint Matthew to describe Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem about 400 years after Zechariah, made this startling prediction - Matthew 21:5; Mark 11:-7-10 - 

Other promises for the future in this section of the book include the restoration of the nation of Israel (Chapter 10) and Jerusalem's deliverance from her enemies (Chapter 12) as well as her purification as the holy city (Chapter 13). Like the Book of Revelation, Zechariah closes on the theme of the universal reign of God. All nations will come to worship Him as He extends His rule throughout the world (Chapter 14).

Most conservative scholars agree that the entire Book of Zechariah was written by the prophet of that name, who identifies himself in the book's introduction as "the son of Berechiah" - (1:1) But some scholars insist the second major section of the book, Chapter 9 to 14, was written by an unknown author. These scholars believe this section was added to the book about 30 or 40 years after Zechariah the prophet wrote Chapters 1 to 8. 

It is true that these two sections of the Book have their own unique characteristics. In the first section Zechariah encourages the people to finish the Temple, while in the second section he is more concerned about the glorious age of the future. The language and style of these two sections of Zechariah are also quite different. And the prophecies in these two sections seem to be in different times. 

Chapter 1 to 8, Zechariah tells us, were delivered as prophecies "in the eighth months of the second years of Darius" - 1:11 - and "in the fourth year of king Darius" - 7:1 - These references to Darius I of Persia (ruled 521-486 B. C.) But chapters 9-14 contain a reference to Greece (9:13), probably indicating it was written after 480 B.C., when the balance of world power was shifting from the Persians to the Greeks. How can these major differences between these two sections of the book explained unless we accept the theory that they were written by two different people?

One possible explanation is that Zechariah was a young man when he delivered his prophecies in the first section of the book. The book itself contains a clue that this may have been the case. In one of his visions, two angels speak to one another about the prophet, referring to him as "this young man" (2:4). Thus it is quite possible that Zechariah could have encouraged the Jewish captives in Jerusalem in the early part of his ministry and could have delivered the messages about the future, contained in the second section of the book, during his final years as a prophet.

After all the evidence is examined, there is no convincing reason to dispute the traditional view that Zechariah the prophet wrote the entire book that bears his name. These prophecies were first delivered and then reduced to writing over a period of about 45 years - from 520 to 475 B.C.

As for the prophet himself, very little is known about him beyond the few facts he reveals in his book. He was a descendant, perhaps the grandson of Iddo the priest (1:1) - one of the family leaders who returned from the Captivity in Babylon - Nehemiah 12:16 - This means that Zechariah probably was a priest as well as a prophet - an unusual circumstance because most of the prophets of Israel spoke out against the priestly class. Since he was a young man when he began to prophesy in 520 B. C., Zechariah was probably born in Babylon while the Jewish people were in captivity. He probably returned with his family with the first wave of captives who reached Jerusalem under Zerubbabel, that is, about 536 B.C. 

The setting at the beginning of the Book is the same as the setting of the Book of Haggai. The prophet Haggai spoke directly to the issue of the rebuilding of the Temple, encouraging those whose returned from captivity in Babylon to finish the task. Zechariah spoke to that issue as well, according to the Book of Ezra 5:1. But Zechariah wished to bring about a complete spiritual renewal through faith, hope and love in God. He spoke about the nature of God love and of the hope which God promised to those who were faithful to Him. 

The second portion of Zechariah was written in the period between the times of the prophets Haggai (520 B.C.) and Malachi (450 B.C.) The Persian empire was ruled by two great kings during these years, Darius 1 (552-486 B.C.) and Xerxes 1 (585-465 B.C.) This was a period when the Jewish people in Jerusalem were settled in their new land with a walled city and their beloved Temple. But they were unhappy and dissatisfied. Some of the people had expected that Zerubbabel, governor of Jerusalem, might be the Messiah, but this had proven to be false. The people needed a new word concerning God's future for them. This message from God was given in a most dramatic fashion by the great prophet Zechariah.

One of the greatest contribution of the Book of Zechariah is the merger of the best from the priestly and prophetic elements in Israel's history. Zechariah realized the need for both these elements in an authentic faith. He called the people to repent and turn from their sins. He also realized that the Temple and religious ritual played an important role in keeping the people close to God. He brought these elements together in his own ministry, Zechariah helped prepare the way for the Christian community's understanding of Christ as both priest and prophet.

Zechariah is also noted for his development of an apocalyptic-prophetic style - highly symbolized and visionary language concerning the events of the end-time. In this, his writing resembles the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation. The vision of lampstands and olive trees, horsemen and chariots, measuring lines and horns place him and these other two books in a class by themselves. Zechariah also has a great deal to say about the concept of God as warrior. While this was a well-established image among scriptural/biblical writers, Zechariah ties this idea to the concept of the Day of the Lord (cf. Joel chapter 2) His description of the return of Christ to earth as the great Warrior in the Day of the Lord - 14:1-9 - is one of the most stirring prophecies of the Old Testament.

On that day, according to Zechariah, Christ Jesus will place His feet on the Mount of Olives, causing violent changes and throughout the land (14:3-4). The day will be changed to darkness and the darkness to light (14:5-8). The entire world will worship Him as the Lord spreads His rule as King "over all the earth" - 14:9 - 

Zechariah 12:10 is a remarkable verse that speaks of the response of the nation of Israel to Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. It describes a day in the future when the Jewish people (the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem) will recognise the significance of the death of Jesus. This recognition will lead to mourning, repentance and salvation (cf. Romans 11:25-27) 

But the most startling thing about this verse is the phrase: "Then they will look on Me whom they have pierced." In speaking through the prophet Zechariah, the Lord Jesus identifies Himself as the one who will be pierced. Along with Psalms 22 and Isaiah 53: these words are a wonder of inspiration as they describe the result of Jesus' death as well as the manner in which He died to deliver us from our sins. Amen! Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ! Thank be to God! Alleluia!          

-     WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY     - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -