2039AFC092322 – Following the M.A.P.
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Blessed is He who keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
1 Timothy 6:9-11 – 9 But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. 11 But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.
Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Not long ago I mentioned the M.A.P. I’m hoping you wondered – at least for a quick moment – what that meant. Today we will explore that term. I invite you to visit the newest page on the Moon Beam Network called Your M.A.P. – your Measure of Actual Progress. ↓FIND IT HERE. ↓
First I’ll ask you, “How do we measure our progress in faith and our service to God and neighbor? We could simplify that by asking, “How do we know we’ve done something wrong? How do we recognize our own sins?” Recognizing our own sinfulness is fairly easy. We know we do things that are not righteous, or not even right at all. Is there something inside us that alerts us to these events in our lives? Everyone has a Gift from God called Free Will. When Eve and Adam learned the difference between good and evil, they also became more aware of their consciences. Every earthling coming into the World after that had a conscience[1] to guide their use of Free Will. For many generations of earthlings, that guide became largely ineffective – so ineffective in fact that God chose to wipe out all earthlings but eight who escaped that punishment by riding out the Flood in the Ark.
God chose a specific group of people, the descendants of Abraham, to show the World his Justice, Power, and Love. They didn’t do very well with that, so God gave them a Law to follow. Contrary to what many people think it is not 10 Laws; it is One Law, and breaking any part of it is breaking the One Law. That One Law is the legend to the M.A.P. for each and every conscience in every living soul. When we diligently consult that M.A.P., we can get a better idea of where we are in relation to that One Law. The M.A.P. gives us mileposts.
“Oh, but I don’t need to know the Ten Commandments to live a good life” I agree, but if we do know them, or better still how to use them, then understanding the twinges (or thunderbolts) of our consciences is not only easier, but also more revitalizing. If you’ve looked at the new page in the blog – see where it says (← Check it out!)? – then you’ll see that it holds links to three forms of “An Examination of Conscience.” Some among us might state, “I don’t need that! I’m not a Catholic. I don’t need to go to confession. I confess directly to God.” NEWSFLASH: THE ONE LAW IS NOT JUST FOR CATHOLICS, THEREFORE NEITHER IS AN EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE JUST FOR CATHOLICS. The One Law is for all of humanity – I prefer the term “every living soul” because the One Law applies of all who have the Breath of Life. Insisting that the One Law is only “a Catholic thing” is as bad as saying the Novus Ordo Missae is “too Protestant.” Another NEWSFLASH: The reformation is over. ANYONE CAN BENEFIT FROM AN EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE – Christian and Jew, atheist and agnostic, sinner and saint – because it’s the One Law for every living soul. Why is that? Because that is the One Law by which we can navigate through life in a way that honors God and neighbor. Let’s look at some Scripture that helps inform us.
Let’s begin with our Key Verses. The first four lines are from the Responsorial Psalm for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time. God is always faithful, always just, always generous, always liberating, always trustworthy. We have to think about, get engaged in, commit to, and rely on the trust we have in God. If I only-sort-of-kinda-nearly think I might trust Him – I don’t trust him. I put God in a box if I say, “I trust him for this, but I’m not sure about that.” This is a reliable truth: God is trustworthy in everything all the time. This is why we say
GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME.
ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD.
God is trustworthy because God is good, because God is Love, because God is perfectly integral to all of creation in which you and I and every living soul are included. If I do not fully trust Him, it is really only because I do not fully trust myself and measure God’s trustworthiness by my inadequate capacity. BACKWARDS! WORLDLY! IT’S A LIE! Using the World’s measuring devices is always a trick from Old Scratch himself, the father of lies. God is trustworthy because God is God and that is that. When I fail to keep that in mind, when I fail be Fully Aware I Trust Him, then I don’t trust Him. Period. If I can’t trust Love, of what use is Love to me? I choose to love his Love. I choose Christ. I know I trust him with my life because my life is his. I gave it to him at a campfire circle when I was 10. Although I have failed to honor my side of the agreement many, many times, he has remained faithful to his side; therefore I trust him to wait until I am fully aware of trusting him to be there trusting me. I explained that in an early post about Welcome Home (← Check it out!).
There is only One God: Ephesians 4:6 – 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. There is only One Law and it is fulfilled completely in Christ Jesus. We’re a long way from Home and slowly trekking our way to that Home. That 
straight and narrow way is really, really hard to find and follow. That is why having a M.A.P. is such a beautiful Gift from God. God is the author and operator of the Absolutely Perfect Plan: Jeremiah 29:11 – 11 For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. God wants to guide us to that Home to live with him. If we listen carefully enough – patiently, quietly, reverently – we will hear him speak in the Voice of our Conscience: Isaiah 30:21 – 21 And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
Here’s another thing to think about: the M.A.P. is 100% Bible Based! That is important to many of us, but not important to way many more. Something that is a little concerning to me is that there are many who claim the moniker “Christian,” but do not give much heed to the One Law. For all of us who claim to follow Christ, we can certainly agree that the two most important parts of the One Law are 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (See Mark 12:30-31) A good examination of conscience makes living in that fashion easier and rewarding. “Why is that?” we ask. Because if we know God as Our Father, Jesus as our Brother, and the Holy Spirit as our Companion, then we know we can trust God and be fully aware of that trust – Fully Aware I Trust Him. God our Father gave us that M.A.P. It is the ONLY proper map for the Road Home. Don’t believe me? Now, suppose I told you I was going to Chicago but was worried about how to get around once I got there without a map of the city. What if someone said, “I have a map you can use.” I tuck the map into my flight bag and head off for the mainland. About 16 hours later, I pull out my map, and discover it is a map of Portland Maine. That’s not going to help me get around Chicago one little bit. The iterations of the M.A.P. that are posted at Your M.A.P. are true and accurate, detailed, and – yes indeed – thoroughly Catholic. It was my decision not to edit them so as to take out the Catholic parts. They stand as they are because – no matter how they are approached – they can give anyone a useful M.A.P. to Home. It is not my intent to offend anyone with these documents. Just to know something like this exists is better than having a M.A.P. to the wrong destination. I hear the weather there is horribly hot!
We have said that God is the author and operator of the M.A.P. If Home is where we want to go, then we must trust the maker of the M.A.P. to guide us:
Psalm 121:5-8 – 5 The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time on and forevermore.
You can trust the M.A.P. because you can trust the Lord. You can trust the Lord because you trust the M.A.P. That’s the way the APP works: But as for you, [child] of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. (See the Key Verse above) There are many who cannot or will not do so for the Love of God, but rather because God inspires them to act. Such people are described by The Apostle Paul here: Romans 2:14-17 – 14 When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves. 15 They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness; and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them 16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all. (emphasis added) Better is this approach found in Romans 13:8-9 – 8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The M.A.P. and the APP can help you immensely in that endeavor. Start with the easiest one called “A Simpler Examination of Conscience.” Dare we measure our actual progress? God willing (and he does), we shall.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.
The Lord sets captives free. Blesséd be the Name of the Lord.
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
[1] The word in Greek is Suneidésis – to know two things together, i.e., a moral and spiritual consciousness innate in all earthlings as a God-given faculty to distinguish right from wrong and good from evil because each earthling possesses her/his own natural Free Will having been created in the image of God. An examination of conscience helps us perceive those inclinations and acts which are truly right and just and to avoid all that is contrary to the Gospel.
