Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

 Lectionary: 439

If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above,
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ your life appears,
then you too will appear with him in glory.

Beginning each day with a prayer that is just as routine as washing one's face and breakfast, we can at least say we "began on the right foot." Things might go awry from there but tomorrow's another day and we'll start that one right too. 

We start each day by seeking "what is above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God." This awareness, renewed daily, shapes our imagination, our planning, and our sense of who we are. I have a dozen other identities -- American, white, Catholic, Franciscan, male, etc -- and they certainly influence my thinking;  but this knowledge of the Lord's sovereign place in the heavens, on earth, and in my being must determine who I am and what I do. 

At the end of the day, when I prayerfully reexamine its passage, I can thank God for how much of that awareness remained dominant, and repent of those moments when something dark and ominous came between myself and heaven. 

The Christian never forgets the Lord's promises and threats. Today's gospel passage clearly spells them out, a balanced number of each:

• Blessed are you who are poor...; but woe to you who are rich;
• Blessed are you who are now hungry...; but woe to you who are filled;
• Blessed are you who are now weeping...; but woe to you who laugh now; and
• Blessed are you when people hate you,...; but woe to you when all speak well of you...

The higher things of God are clearly the lower things so far as our world is concerned. We keep our eyes on the heavens by attending to the lowest things of earth. To those who are under the radar, who are routinely ignored, shunned, and despised. We must care for those who are not even seen by the world.

From the day he was elected pope, our Holy Father Francis has been raising our eyes to see the lowest. He urges us -- the Church, Christians, religious people, and all people -- to see and respond to those who are desperately fleeing war, violence, poverty, and the withering effects of climate change. He wonders how did we become so indifferent.

Human beings have always migrated, as any Bible reader can tell you. And the scriptures have always urged us to care for the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the alien. This is how we seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

What I do on any given day might not make a huge difference, but a billion Catholics heeding the Pope's message, and twelve billion people hearing the Lord's promises and threats daily, can hurl mountains into the sea, and move continents about like sailboats in a harbor.