Christ as Master, Servant and Judge

 Feast Day of Anthony of Padua (d. 1231) 

June 13 2012 

Fr. Dale Matson

“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?” And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more. “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! (Luke 12:35-50, ESV)

Taken as a whole, our Gospel passage for the Feast Day of St. Anthony of Padua describes both the changing roles that Christ adopts and our need for continual preparedness and vigilance. Additionally, I believe this passage is for the leaders of His church. Not only are they to be in a state of readiness, they are held accountable for their position, their gifts and how they treat those under their care.

Just as Christ is prepared to serve His servants who keep watch and await His return, He cautions us that He will come when He is least expected, like a thief. Peter asked the following question, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?” Up until that point Jesus was referring to His desciples. His response does not directly address Peter’s question but is mainly focused once again on the church leaders. “And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time?” This is a reference to His disciples feeding His sheep. When Peter betrayed Jesus, Jesus asked Peter after His resurrection, if Peter loved Him. When Peter said, “Yes”, Jesus said, “Then feed My sheep”.

I am no longer surprised and too frequently disappointed by the false shepherds among us. Christ told us in the Gospel lesson that they will be held accountable both for their talents that were improperly employed and for not doing our Lord’s will when they knew better. In short, the church leaders will be held to a higher standard of accountability and punished more severely than those they lead.

Personally, I know that every careless word I speak, every ego serving gesture I make, robs Christ’s sheep of the bread of life, Jesus Christ. I pray that I will not fall prey to my own ego’s continual need for applause.  It is a disgrace how many church leaders have abused their power, destroyed the trust given them, used their position for selfish desires and manipulated the sheep for their own benifit. No wonder Christ warns so often about accountability.

      

The Gospel passage is particularly suited to St. Anthony who was critical of those clergy who were not dedicated and the rich who oppressed the peasants. When unexpectedly called upon, St. Anthony was able to preach with “grace and power” his first sermon. He was known as "The Hammer of the Heretics" and spent the remaining years of his short life preaching. His preaching was an exemplary example of feeding the sheep and loving Christ.    

Evelyn Underhill: Mystic

Fr. Dale Matson
06-14-2011

“For he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6b, NASB).

June 15th is the Anglican Feast Day of Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941). Perhaps the most salient comment about her in “Lesser Feasts and Fasts” is, “Evelyn Underhill’s most valuable contribution to spiritual literature must surely be her conviction that the mystical life is not only open to a saintly few, but to anyone who cares to nurture it…”

Mysticism is an important ingredient in the "Prescription Strength" Church. I find it extraordinary that a woman from the lay order of the church would instruct clergy in the Church of England in her day. By what authority did she speak? We know. She, like other mystics had an insatiable hunger for God and understood sanctification as a developmental process. Like the Kingdom of God however, it is an upside down developmental process. We don’t “Self Actualize” (Maslow) or “Individualize” (Jung).

“Underhill’s research indicates that there are two distinct thrusts or directions to the full mystic consciousness. One is the increasing consciousness or vision of God; the other is the inner transmutation of the personality, the rebuilding or the restructuring of the self on an inward and deeply all pervasive level. Neither thrust can be accomplished without the complete transcendence of the small ego centric self” ("Ordinary People as Monks and Mystics", Marsha Sinetar, 1986).

Spiritual development requires an ongoing surrender and submission to God. For the mystic there is a restlessness that cannot find rest until they find rest in God. The mystic divests himself of his own identity through ongoing conversion to Christ who is his new and authentic identity. This is different than the psychotic who cannot give up an identity that he never had to begin with.

She saw mysticism as a normal part of the Christian Church. Mysticism is not ethereal; it is the meat and potatoes of intentional spiritual development. Her lifelong attraction to the Roman Catholic Church as a repository of mystery and mysticism opposed a more rationalist and enlightened Anglican heritage that diminished the miraculous and iconography. The sensual avenues of God’s presence had become sidewalks.

Benedict Groeschel has an excellent description of Spiritual Development toward the mystical life in his book “Spiritual Passages: The Psychology of Spiritual Development” (1993) that is in basic agreement with Underhill’s spiritual developmental stages. His stages are Purgative, Illuminative, and Unitive. In the Unitive stage there is a loss of all defenses (again this is different than the psychotic who also is undefended). This final stage is quite different for the Christian than the Nirvana of a Buddhist where with the Buddhist; there is detachment from the world. “Where Underhill struck new ground was in her insistence that this state of union produced a glorious and fruitful creativeness, so that the mystic who attains this final perfectness is the most active doer - not the reclusive dreaming lover of God.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Underhill).

Our reading for this day from the book of Wisdom includes the following. “Though she is but one, she can do all things, and while remaining in herself, she renews all things; in every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God, and prophets” (7:27).

Evelyn Underhill is one of those souls. She is an infusion of mysticism and with it, genuine feminism into His church. True feminism is meek and wise. True feminism asks for the water of life from the bridegroom Jesus Christ.

“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” (Luke 11:13, NASB).