{"id":511,"date":"2014-02-27T11:15:07","date_gmt":"2014-02-27T16:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=511"},"modified":"2014-03-27T11:28:34","modified_gmt":"2014-03-27T16:28:34","slug":"on-being-salted-by-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=511","title":{"rendered":"On Being Salted by Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time<\/span><\/h2>\n

James 5: 1-6; Mark 9: 41-50<\/span><\/h2>\n

Dc. Larry Brockman<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The message is pretty strong today, isn\u2019t it? First, James comes down pretty hard on those who are preoccupied with themselves. Then, Jesus comes down hard on those who lead others astray. Both of these readings should give us pause.<\/span><\/p>\n

Are we preoccupied with ourselves, and are we leading others astray?<\/span><\/p>\n

Then Jesus ends today\u2019s Gospel with some interesting statements: First, he says \u201cEveryone will be salted with fire\u201d, and then he says: \u201cKeep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another\u201d. Just what does all of that mean?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>First, consider that fire is a method of purification.\u00a0 So perhaps he is saying that all of us will be purified from our tendency to sin. \u00a0We can wait for God to purify us with fire or we can purify ourselves.\u00a0 And certainly, we have been given tools for such self-purification. \u00a0We will be entering the season of Lent in less than a week.\u00a0 Lent involves three classical devices for purification- Prayer, Almsgiving, and Fasting.\u00a0 Much can be said about each of them; but the emphasis in Fasting is on self-mortification, meaning discipline of self to avoid preoccupation with self-absorption. \u00a0Almsgiving means going out of our way to do something for others, and it isn\u2019t just money either, but other forms of self-sacrifice for the sake of others. These devices sound very much like an anecdote for the preoccupation with self that James talks about. And Prayer is a way for us to reflect on our lives and talk to God about what we should change to avoid sin in the future.\u00a0 Such a change completes the purification process.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>A self-imposed 40 day period of Lenten purification involving Prayer, Almsgiving, and Fasting seems so much more desirable than the literal purification by fire implied in the Gospel.\u00a0 But that literal \u201csalting by fire\u201d is something Jesus says will happen to all of us.\u00a0 And indeed, suffering is a part of life for all of us- none of us is exempt.\u00a0 But some of the suffering is consequences of our actions.\u00a0 And so, if we have an opportunity to avoid adverse consequences by repenting and changing our lives as we do during Lent, why not take advantage of it?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>That brings us to the second interesting statement.\u00a0 \u201cKeep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another\u201d.\u00a0 Salt has classically been considered a preservative.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, we should purify ourselves first, and then do what is required to preserve our newfound state of Grace, and so, this means maintaining our purified state is important.\u00a0 We can do that by availing ourselves of the Sacraments- Confession and Communion, and by living up to the changes we commit to in our lives. <\/span><\/p>\n

Let us all make a commitment to purify and salt ourselves this Lent.\u00a0 Then we will live in peace with one another.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time James 5: 1-6; Mark 9: 41-50 Dc. Larry Brockman \u00a0 The message is pretty strong today, isn\u2019t it? First, James comes down pretty hard on those who are preoccupied with themselves. Then, Jesus comes down hard on those who lead others astray. Both of these readings should […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[273,272],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=511"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":512,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions\/512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}