Sunday Meditation: Blind Bartimaeus

Jesus and his followers are almost to Jerusalem, and Jesus going through Jericho performs the last miracle in the Gospel of Mark before entering the Holy Week in Jerusalem.  We come to the miracle of healing Bartimaeus’ blindness.  There is so much that can be said from this one little passage.  How Jericho is the city of Joshua’s conquest, how Bartimaeus calls out to the Messiah (Son of David), how he was rebuked but still persistent, how Jesus cures him and he follows the Way, casting off his only possession, his cloak, and how this is the second healing of blindness in the Mark sandwiched containing the apostles’ metaphorical blindness.

 

As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus,

sat by the roadside begging.

On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth,

he began to cry out and say,

"Jesus, son of David, have pity on me."

And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.

But he kept calling out all the more,

"Son of David, have pity on me."

Jesus stopped and said, "Call him."

So they called the blind man, saying to him,

"Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you."

He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.

Jesus said to him in reply, "What do you want me to do for you?"

The blind man replied to him, "Master, I want to see."

Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith has saved you."

Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.

~Mk 10:46-52

Here is someone new to my Sunday Meditations to explain it, Professor Curtis Mitch from the St. Paul Center, the same institute Dr. Scott Hahn started and runs.

For a more pastoral understanding to apply it to your life, Jeff Cavins has a short talk. 

Sunday Meditation: "Jesus, son of David, have pity on me."

 

John Michael Talbot’s “Surrender to Jesus” is just so beautiful.

 

Notable Quote: Let Us Die by Pinpricks by Thérèse of Lisieux

I came across this little quote by the Little Flower herself, Thérèse of Lisieux.  I came across it in one of Magnificat’s meditations in October 2024 edition.  The meditation coordinated with the day of Thérèse’s Memorial, October 1^st.  The quote comes from a letter Thérèse wrote to her sister, Céline where Thérèse implores Céline to become the shadow of Jesus, and so step by step, service by service, sacrifice by sacrifice she will reach the same martyrdom as Christ.  Here is the quote.

 

“Before dying by the sword, let us die by pinpricks."

- Thérèse of Lisieux

 

I thought that so cute and perfect for Thérèse.  The “Little Way” of Thérèse’s spirituality also included a little way of little sacrifices, to die by little pinpricks! 

This is a nice introduction to her life by Bishop Barron.

Sunday Meditation: The Servant of All

On the ongoing journey to Jerusalem, Jesus teaches the apostles many lessons.  In today’s Gospel passage, He teaches them the lesson of true leadership. 

 

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him,

"Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you."

He replied, "What do you wish me to do for you?"

They answered him, "Grant that in your glory

we may sit one at your right and the other at your left."

Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking.

Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"

They said to him, "We can."

Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared."

When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John.

Jesus summoned them and said to them,

"You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt.

But it shall not be so among you.

Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant;

whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.

For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."

~Mk 10:35-45

It is interesting that the Gospel reading skips over the few lines before the passage.  There Jesus tells the apostles for the third time that He will be handed over to be abused, scourged, and crucified.  And James and John, oblivious to what He truly is referring to, jump up and want to be exalted.  The apostles in the Gospel of Mark are regularly portrayed as dimwitted. 

This is just a perfect homily for this passage, from Fr. Peter Hahn from Saint Leo the Great Roman Catholic Church in Lancaster, PA.

 

Now, if you want an even deeper insight into this passage, Fr. Cajetan Cuddy, O.P. provides one through the Encyclopedia of Catholic Theology, “an online, open access resource providing readers with a contemporary presentation of the teaching of the Catholic Church.”  

Fr. Cajetan, I believe, is also with the Dominican House of Studies.  Jesus is not just telling the disciples, don’t be like the typical rulers.  He is saying they have to go beyond even that.  You have to be a suffering servant ruler, because a suffering servant ruler reaches people from the inside, from their conscience.  That is pretty profound.  How many of today’s presidential candidates would be a suffering servant ruler?  None. 

 

Sunday Meditation: “For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."

 

This week, let’s listen to John Michael Talbot’s “See My Servant.”

 

 

Just so beautiful. 

Personal Note: My 2024 Presidential Vote

So when I wrote a post in memory of my old friend and co-blogger of political topics, Jeanette Lucey, I mentioned I set up this blog, Ashes From Burnt Roses, to especially write on topics that were not political.  I found the immersion into politics to be caustic to my soul, and so I set up this blog as a sort of virtual monastery to get away from political issues.  I have been pretty much true to that for the almost the twelve years this blog has been in existence.  In honor of Jeanette, though, I said I would violate that rule for just once and provide my intentions for the 2024 presidential election.

 

First off, I want to declare up front in no way will I be voting for Kamala Harris.  Democrats have become all Liberals, and extreme Liberals at that.  There are very few moderate Democrats left.  Current Democrats are on the wrong side of all the social issues: abortion, transgenderism, gay marriage, unrestricted legal or illegal immigration, euthanasia, legalized drugs, soft on crime, and so on.  They don’t have an ounce of common sense.  There isn’t a domestic issue they support that is not repulsive to me.  They have all become mindless Liberals, and Kamala Harris is the most mindless Liberal of them all.  She can’t even articulate a complete and knowledgeable opinion.  All she articulates are clichés and banal platitudes.  There is nothing there in that skull of hers.  So no, I am not voting for Harris, and I hope she loses miserably.

 

But that does not mean I am voting for Donald Trump.  I reluctantly voted for Donald Trump twice, in 2016 and 2020.  His views overlap with probably 75% of mine.  While he is soft on some of the moral issues (he supports gay marriage) he is very good on the immigration issues and on crime.  He was surprisingly pro-life in his previous two runs, but he has backtracked substantially on that now.  (For the record, I am not holding that against him.  He was instrumental in overturning Roe v. Wade, and some stepping back is understandable given where the country is on abortion.)  On the country’s economics he’s got good and bad.  He certainly didn’t cut the budget when he was president, and his heart is for protectionism.  I support free trade; in the long run protectionism reduces the standard of living.  But he did cut taxes, reduce regulations, and supported American energy production.  On foreign policy he does support a strong military and negotiated some interesting alliances and kept the US from entering new conflicts.  However, he is a constant critic of NATO, our key military alliance, who is doing all it can to counter an aggressive Russia.  Russia is trying to reconstitute its Soviet empire (Crimea, Georgia, and Ukraine more than once), and absolutely Ukraine requires our support.  Putin needs to be stopped, and frankly Trump is vague if not opposed.  So all in all, Trump is in line with a good deal of my issues, and given it’s a choice between Trump and Harris you would suspect a definite vote for Trump.

 

But I refuse to vote for Donald Trump a third time.  Donald Trump has (1) I think has psychological problems, (2) is a disgusting example of human character, and (3) has proven to have placed his egocentric desires above the good of the country.  Though he may have supported Christian issues—there is no evidence that in his non-political life he believed in any of it—the man does not have a Christian bone in his body.  He has been a negative force to the culture.

 

First of all, let’s see what JD Vance, his current Vice Presidential pick, once said of him.  From a CNN article, but you can find these quotes in most major news outlets.  

 

“I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical asshole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler,” Vance wrote in a message to a friend in 2016. “How’s that for discouraging?”

In 2016 and 2017, Vance, then best-known for penning the best-selling book “Hillbilly Elegy” said Trump was “cultural heroin” and “just another opioid” for Middle America. He told CNN ahead of the 2016 election that he was “definitely not” voting for Trump and he also contemplated voting for Hillary Clinton (he ultimately said he planned to vote for independent candidate Evan McMullin.)” 

Hmm, Vance voted third party in 2016—keep that in mind.  Vance obviously has “evolved” on Trump by now accepting the VP offer.  I haven’t evolved.  Yes, Donald Trump is “cultural heroin.”  He has lowered the debate to vulgarism.  He has a crass persona that has degraded the public tone of civil discourse and civil society.  From Gerald Ford to Ronald Reagan to the Bushes to most of their Senatorial candidates, the Republican Party exuded decency.  I was proud to belong to the honorable Party. It astonishes me how conservatives have ignored the crass elements of Trump’s public persona.  What is it they ignore?

 

Well they ignore the disgraceful way he belittles people, ignore the flaunting of his wealth, the imposing if his ego upon people, the expression of his exorbitant pride, the infidelities across his life with all three wives, including within the first year of marrying Melania, the infidelities with prostitutes and porn stars, including a borderline assault that we know of, and ignore his gutter talk. And how about that phrase he used on forcing himself on women: “Grab them by the …”  I won’t actually spell it out because it has no place on this blog.  But that conversation was actually captured, and here is the full context.  From The Independent, who printed the entire transcript: 

As he travelled on a bus with Billy Bush of Access Hollywood to meet Days of our Lives actress Arianna Zucker, Mr Trump bragged about his attempts to have sexual intercourse with a married woman who rejected his advances.

He insisted he had the right to do "whatever he wanted" with women, as he was a "star".

The nominee, who was 59 years old at the time, had just married his third wife, Melania Trump.

 

Notice he had just married Melania.  If you check the dates of his paid ”intercourse” with porn star Stormy Daniels, you will find it also happened within a year of marrying Melania, probably around the time she was pregnant with her son Baron.  Some husband!  I guess his newlywed passion for his young bride wasn’t so loving.  Continuing from The Independent:

 

 Trump: I moved on her [Arianna Zucker] and I failed. I’ll admit it. I did try and f*** her. She was married.

Unknown: That’s huge news.

Trump. No, no, Nancy. This was— And I moved on her very heavily in fact. I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said I’ll show you where they have some nice furniture. I took her out furniture. I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn’t get there, and she was married.

Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big, phony tits and everything. She’s totally changed her look.

[The men spot Arianne Zucker waiting for them outside the bus]

Bush: Sheesh, your girl’s hot as shit. In the purple.

Trump: Whoa! Yes! Whoa!

Unknown: Yes! The Donald has scored. Whoa, my man!

Trump: Look at you. You are a p****.

[crosstalk as the bus doors open and close - Trump is still on the bus]

Trump: Maybe it’s a different one.

Bush: It better not be the publicist. No, it’s her. It’s —

Trump: Yeah, that’s her. With the gold. I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful - I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.

And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything.

Bush: Whatever you want.

Trump: Grab them by the p****. You can do anything.

So if any of you people who think that the E. Jean Carrol abuse lawsuit was all made up for political reasons, you either don’t know the history of this man or you don’t care.  PBS has provided a long list of all the sexual allegations against Trump, here.  So that banter on Access Hollywood has been corroborated with a pattern of sexual affairs and abuse.  Frankly the man is a pig, a degenerate.  And I’ll say it again, Donald Trump doesn’t have a Christian bone in his body.

 

And if you don’t think he has a screw loose, just ask the people who worked for him.  It is astonishing how many of the very people he put in his administration quit and refuse to endorse him.  Here’s a few: Attorney General Bill Barr, Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, National Security Adviser HR McMaster, National Security Adviser John Bolton, Chief of Staff John Kelly, Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, Communications Director Stephanie Grisham, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, and last of all Vice President Mike Pence.  There are plenty more. 

 

Most of these are good conservatives.  These are the very people he hired and worked for him.    Look up what they had to say about him.  It’s not pretty.  The man is ignorant, subject to conspiracy theories, and possibly unstable.  Bill Barr said Trump is “a consummate narcissist.” Does anyone doubt the man is a narcissist? 

 

Which leads to the final point.  I ignored most this and still voted for him twice. I cannot do it a third time because worst of all after the last election instead of accepting defeat with humility like a good Christian, he brought the country to a constitutional crises strictly because for his self-gain and ego. Sure the election was close, and legal challenges to the really close states were warranted.  But every single court he brought a challenge ultimately rejected his claims.  His record is 0 for 62.  Then he goes off on a riff that the legal system was corrupt.  This is what he wants people to believe: that the Democrats cheated and the legal system was corrupt, 62 times.  Trump brought 62 lawsuits and he lost every one.  Are you telling me that 62 courts in the country were corrupt?  He lost and could not accept it. 

 

There was a point where you had to give up.  But he pursued it against the good of the country.  He tried to force—he seems to like to force people to do lots of things—VP Mike Pence to illegally overturn the validation of the election.  Nobly Mike Pence refused.  Pence said there was a time to give up, but Donald Trump’s ego refused.  Yes, there is something twisted in his brain.  He’s like a spoiled child that cannot accept defeat, cannot lose like a decent man.  This led to what is now commonly referred to as January 6.  He may not have instigated the break in of the Capital, but he was going to use the power of the protestors to force Pence and Congress into illegally overturning the election.  This was truly a constitutional crises, all for his own ego.

 

He has no concept of sacrificial Christianity. Even if he was right about the election irregularities, he needed to bring the country together, not bring it to a constitutional crises.  If he had accepted defeat, whether it was right or wrong, with Christian humility, I would be voting for him in November. He doesn’t understand humility.  He is the very opposite of St. Francis of Assisi. Putting one’s ego ahead of the country is a lack of patriotism.  Putting one’s ego ahead of the country is a lack of Christian values.  Putting one’s ego ahead of the country makes you unfit for office.  By bringing the country to a constitutional crises, he has proven to be unfit for office.  Even before the crises, Robert P. George, the conservative Catholic political philosopher, has said from 2016 on that Donald Trump is unfit for office.  He has not changed his mind and he is not wrong.

 

So I’ve heard the objections.  “You have a moral obligation to vote.”  Who said I’m not voting?  I’ve decided to put in a protest vote, and I will vote for Peter Sonski of the American Solidarity Party.  The American Solidarity Party is a Christian values party.  Its platform agrees with all my social issues, though I probably disagree with a good deal of their economic policies. But they are a solid choice which clears my conscience of voting for a degenerate on the right and an anti Christian on the left.  You can see if the Sonski ticket is on the ballot in your state or whether he is a registered write-in here.  

 

Another argument I get thrown at me is that a vote for a third party is a vote for Kamala.  Don’t blame me.  I’m following my conscience, and frankly a Trump loss would put the Republican Party back on track.  Blame the Republican Party for nominating a man unfit for office.

 

Another argument I get is that a third party vote is a wasted vote.  No it’s not.  A protest vote counts in the assessment of the election.  It factors into how future policy is going to be negotiated, how other politicians run on the issues in the future, how much support the winner actually gets from Congress, and how future lobbying groups will get heard.  A strong Christian protest vote will have an impact.  Your one vote for either of the main stream candidates will be dissolved into about 80 million other votes.  My one protest vote will have more meaning in the one million or so protest votes. 

 

Besides, I’ve learned the dust never settles in politics.  As soon as an election is over, the political fights continue.  The system has checks and balances, and the winner doesn’t get much of what he wants and the loser doesn’t lose much of what he has.  Fear and manipulation is what brings on these illusions.

 

Finally don’t be afraid to lose.  The major parties manipulate you into voting for them because they get you to believe the other party will destroy the country.  Every election they tell you—and people always seem to believe it—that this election if decided wrongly will bring the end of the country as we know it or even bring the end of times.  Well, I’ve been going through this for forty years and it has never been the end.  You’re being manipulated.  The new term for this is gas lighting.  Sometimes you have to lose a battle to win a war.  There is no dishonor to losing for the right reasons.  In fact it’s very honorable.  Jesus Christ lost the only election He was ever in.  The crowd chose Barabbas.  I believe God will bring a greater good whichever of the two horrible outcomes pan out.  That is faith.

Sunday Meditation: What Must I Do To Inherit Eternal Life?

Last week as Jesus was on a journey, He was stopped and asked a question by the Pharisees.  This week, again continuing His journey he is asked a question, this time by a rich, young man.  Last week the question was set as a trap.  This week the question is sincere, and I think is the most important question we could ever ask.  Now this event is told in all three synoptic Gospels, and what is interesting is that all three describe the man subtly different.  Mark identifies him as rich, Matthew as young, and Luke as a ruler.  So we combine all three and get the “rich, young ruler,” but only in the Gospel of Mark are we told that Jesus looked at him with love.

 

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up,

knelt down before him, and asked him,

"Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

Jesus answered him, "Why do you call me good?

No one is good but God alone.

You know the commandments: You shall not kill;

you shall not commit adultery;

you shall not steal;

you shall not bear false witness;

you shall not defraud;

honor your father and your mother."

He replied and said to him,

"Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth."

Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him,

"You are lacking in one thing.

Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor

and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."

At that statement his face fell,

and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

 

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples,

"How hard it is for those who have wealth

to enter the kingdom of God!"

The disciples were amazed at his words.

So Jesus again said to them in reply,

"Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!

It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle

than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."

They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves,

"Then who can be saved?"

Jesus looked at them and said,

"For human beings it is impossible, but not for God.

All things are possible for God."

Peter began to say to him,

"We have given up everything and followed you."

Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you,

there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters

or mother or father or children or lands

for my sake and for the sake of the gospel

who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters

and mothers and children and lands,

with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come."

~Mk 10:17-30

 

First to explain the Biblical context of the passage, let’s let Dr. Brant Pitre explain it.

And so Jesus gives us the “eleventh commandment.”  If this is a commandment, then the implications of are great.  I’m going to let Bishop James Golka from the Diocese of Colorado Springs explain the moral implications of the passage.

 

We are never told what happens to the rich, young man.  I would like to think that the penetrating love of Christ worked in the man’s soul, and, though he may have missed the opportunity to follow Christ that day, he subsequently became a Christian and worked to bring about the Kingdom of God.

 

Sunday Meditation: “Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, "You are lacking in one thing.  Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."

John Michael Talbot’s “Walk And Follow Jesus” is most appropriate for today.

 

 

Faith Filled Friday: Pope Pius X’s Prayer to Saint Joseph

In the devotional magazine Magnificat, Anthony Esolen has a monthly feature called Poetry of Praise where each month he analyzes a different prayer.  In the September 2024 issue he analyzed the prayer to St. Joseph composed by Pope Pius X.  Esolen selected this prayer in honor of Labor Day which occurs early in that month.  I’m not going to quote any of Esolen’s analysis—and it’s quite good and interesting—but I was so struck with the prayer that I wanted to present it to you. 

 

 O Glorious Saint Joseph, model of all those who are devoted to labor, obtain for me the grace to work in a spirit of penance for the expiation of my many sins; to work conscientiously, putting the call of duty above my natural inclinations; to work with thankfulness and joy, considering it an honor to employ and develop by means of labor the gifts received from God; to work with order, peace, moderation and patience, never shrinking from weariness and trials; to work above all with purity of intention and detachment from self, keeping unceasingly before my eyes death and the account that I must give of time lost, talents unused, good omitted, and vain complacency in success, so fatal to the work of God.

 

All for Jesus, all through Mary, all after thy example, O Patriarch, Saint Joseph. Such shall be my watch-word in life and in death. Amen.

 

It is also interesting the prayer calls to work with “order.”  When I was in college I had a part time job working in a supermarket in the produce department.  It was a blessing not only for the money I earned but because there were times I got to work with my Uncle Val, may he rest in peace, who also worked there.  He was a good mentor, and he taught me well.  I remember some of his principles.  One was to always to be organized.  Work like a gentleman he used to say.  This prayer captured my Uncle Val perfectly.  Thinking back, it felt like I was a child working under the tutelage of St. Joseph.  I built quite a relationship with my Uncle Val.  He became my favorite uncle.  The power of working together builds such bonds.  You might even call it a religious bond.  Uncle Valentino, I miss him so. 

I particular like the line in the prayer “to work above all with purity of intention and detachment from self.”  Besides applying that to the labor by which I earn my living, that also applies to the labor of this blog, which is sort of labor of love.  What I write here perhaps is putting into labor the “gifts received from God.”  May it be worthy of God’s trust. 

If you want it to hear prayer read, you can listen to it on this clip. 

 

Many people pray this prayer before starting work.  What a wonderful idea.

 

Sunday Meditation: The Sacrament of Marriage

As Jesus enters Judea, he is immediately challenged by the Pharisees.  As we will see, it is not just a challenge but a trap.  What is it they are trapping him with?  It is important to notice, that Jesus is not a literal interpreter of scripture.  The Torah had an incorrect balance of the nature of man and woman, and thereby distorted the understanding of humanity and of marriage. 

 

The Pharisees approached Jesus and asked,

"Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?"

They were testing him.

He said to them in reply, "What did Moses command you?"

They replied,

"Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce

and dismiss her."

But Jesus told them,

"Because of the hardness of your hearts

he wrote you this commandment.

But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother

and be joined to his wife,

and the two shall become one flesh.

So they are no longer two but one flesh.

Therefore what God has joined together,

no human being must separate."

In the house the disciples again questioned Jesus about this.

He said to them,

"Whoever divorces his wife and marries another

commits adultery against her;

and if she divorces her husband and marries another,

she commits adultery."

 

And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them.

When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them,

"Let the children come to me;

do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to

such as these.

Amen, I say to you,

whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child

will not enter it."

Then he embraced them and blessed them,

placing his hands on them.

~Mk 10:2-16

 

The absolute best and fullest of the explanations on this passage is from Fr. Geoffrey Plant again.  There are so many enlightening thoughts in this exegesis.

 

Fr. Geoffrey identifies the trap of the Pharisees to be of the beheading of John the Baptist.  It is over the divine rules of marriage and not rules created by human hardness of heart that leads to the Baptist’s execution.  Marriage we see is a sacrament, not a contract.

Jesus—perhaps the first truly great feminist in the proper sense of the word—elevates women here by making it a sin to divorce.  By allowing men to divorce their wives, the natural balance of man and woman are distorted.  Jesus ennobles women by returning her to man’s complement, not man’s servant.  Genesis is restored to proper order.

But what about the four verses at the end which deal with Jesus welcoming children?  Most homilies I bet are not going to touch on this.  It seems like it was tagged on at the end.  By Jesus restoring men and women to their proper order, it establishes the family as the building block of society.  It is only in this context that children can be raised to proper flourishing.  Proper order in marriage leads to those that are disposed to enter the kingdom of heaven. 

 

Sunday Meditation: “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother

and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

 

Our hymn today will be the beautiful “Ode to the Bride,” by John Michael Talbot