1 Pt. 4:7-13; Mk 11: 11-26
“Each one has received a gift, use it…use it with an intensity of love…love covers a multitude of sins.” From the gospel we can add, “Pray with an intensity of love and it will be done for you.”
The fig tree is a symbol of God’s temple. Jesus our Lord “comes to judge the earth” and protect his temple. Before the fig tree incident Jesus goes into Bethany to the temple and “looks around at everything” checking it out; after the incident he goes to the Jerusalem temple to check it out and finds it “a den of thieves”. After Jerusalem he returns to the fig tree and it has withered away, the judgment of the Lord.
In the gospel we see a hungry Jesus by the fig tree and an angry Jesus at the temple. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit where is our fruit of the spirit? Jesus is hungry today awaiting the fruit from the gift we have received. Let us feed him with the intensity of our love bearing fruit. Our church of St. Francis Xavier is the temple of the Eucharist and Jesus is hungry for our communion with him. Let us feed him with the intensity of our prayer in adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, and supplication. Jesus is in search of his “house of prayer for all peoples”. Are we a welcoming temple in our hearts and as church community or do we live for ourselves and forget the other?
Jesus is in search of disciples with a pure heart. The purity of love is sacrificial love; it is what Dietrich Bonhoffer called “the cost of discipleship”. Sacrificial love purifies the soul and spirit. The self is always in search of a good for itself. Recall how James and John expressed this human desire to be at the right and at the left of Jesus without considering the path of love on the cross. Recall also the rich young man seeking a good for himself—heaven. It is a worthy desire but the path Jesus offered was to sacrifice his riches and he went away sad. Do not be surprised that the path of discipleship is a “trial by fire” says the Lord, a “share in the sufferings of Christ.
Consider three principles to arrive at purity of heart. The first principle is seen in the story of the rich young man. It is a detachment from worldly riches. I saw a short clip in the news this week of an evangelist who had four private planes and was asking his followers for millions to buy another luxury plane. When is “enough” enough and less is better? Simple detachment is the first principle of discipleship.
The second principle is Jesus’ call to “follow me”. Let go and let God be the center of our search for happiness and he will fulfill the good of self, better than we could ever imagine. Follow Jesus through the trail by fire and rejoice in the gift of sacrificial love, it purifies the soul and spirit. Let go of self through surrender to God and fulfill the second principle of discipleship.
The third principle of discipleship is “transformation”. Be transformed to share in the sufferings of Christ. Be transformed in the likeness of Christ by the use of our gifts for his glory. Be transformed in our hospitality in our words, and in our service so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. Do not be surprised by the trials of this day. They are transformative.
The angry Jesus disrupts the temple status quo, an attack on those in control and so they seek “a way to put him to death”. The intensity of prayer leads to action in defense of love itself. God is love who we are called to defend as a militant church on earth. In Pope Francis, his words, writings and his actions are disrupting the status quo. The movie on Pope Francis titled “Pope Francis a Man of his Word” is a documentary not of his life but of his faith, hope, and love. I hope you make or made time to see it. It is a love story of his relationship with Christ by responding to his call to be a Holy Father to others and to the world. It is a man in search of purity of love and love covers a multitude of sins. There are those who support his positions and those who oppose them with the same intensity of belief. He is not a perfect man, Jesus is. He is a man seeking perfection in Jesus. Let us all follow the path, the Jesus way.
Finally, the documentary ends with his prayer from St. Thomas Moore, “Lord give me a good digestion today and something good to digest.” Food for the soul is the best meal we receive today, Jesus in the Eucharist. Jesus came to tear down the walls of the heart in his temple and build up the body of Christ. He did not come to establish a new world order in the political economy among nations as some seek to create. We are not a people in search of an earthly king as the Jewish people hoped for. We are a liberated people of the heart with a king in Jesus Christ. Amen, Amen, be transformed.
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