Memorial of the First Holy Martyrs of the Holy Roman Church

 Lectionary: 380

Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam,
king of Israel:
“Amos has conspired against you here within Israel; the country cannot endure all his words.For this is what Amos says: Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be exiled from its land.”

The prophetic spirit, as described in the Bible, gives us the ability to receive the truth, and even to welcome it. The Jews recalled that willingness even in the gentile prophet Balaam who was hired to lay a curse on the Egyptian escapees but could not do it because he could say only,

"The oracle of one who hears what God says, and knows what the Most High knows, Of one who sees what the Almighty sees, in rapture and with eyes unveiled..."

Amos, unlike Balaam, was not a professional prophet. He was "a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores." Nor was he from Israel, and that made him doubly unwelcome. He came from Judah to warn the Israelites of doom if they failed to keep to the covenant with the Lord. 

Because all Christians are anointed with the prophetic spirit of Jesus, we are sent to the nations to announce the Gospel. Our announcement must include both the invitation to know the Lord and warnings about the sins we encounter. We despise the idolatry of pagan nations, the violence of warlike nations, the racism of segregated societies, and the vanity of excessive wealth. 

Because our values are shaped by the gospel and our perception of what is truly valuable, we can be obnoxious to the societies that receive us. We just don't get some things. We might enjoy the food, the music, the dance, and the arts; but we're not amused by greed, lust, and avarice. Nor do we fear what our neighbors fear. In fact, given to trusting God, we don't fear much. And we are often willing to trust and admire pariahs despised by our host societies. 

When we engage in politics, as we must, we're liable to hear an echo of "Off with you, visionary, flee to the land of Judah!" In the 1960's, the rebuke was to keep religion out of politics and politics out of religion. And the Church out of the bedroom! Today it's "spiritual but not religious." and "I'm not a religious person." 

No human society conforms completely to the Gospel, neither the United States, nor Italy, nor a monastery of Catholic monks. The best efforts of Utopian societies fall short. No political party can pretend to follow the Gospel since it must win the support of a significant minority to be effective. Always the Gospel challenges our sinful tendencies and invites us to “Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough."

When we meet opposition we're especially likely to cease striving. It doesn't feel like the right way. Apparently good and reasonable people argue against the truth that we must live. We become confused and uncertain and wish to fall back into pleasant, anonymous conformity with folks around us. Very often, we realize they're right about some things. (How long has it taken the Church to recognize the changing climate and the human causes of that change? And why did it take so long?) 

So we learn to listen both as God speaks to us in the Scriptures, Tradition, the Magisterium, and personal prayer; and to wiser heads around us in the world. Taught by the Holy Spirit, we develop a taste for the truth. We know when it feels right. Prophets like Amos, Elijah, Jesus, Mary, and Saint Paul inspire us to hear the truth that sets us free.

Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles

 Lectionary: 591

Simon Peter said in reply,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.

I have been reading a fascinating book, How Catholic Art Saved the Faith, by Elizabeth Lev. It concerns the response of the Roman Catholic Church following the Protestant Reformation and the Council of Trent. During the Post-Reformation, the City which was still dominated by moldering old ruins of a glorious past set out to win back the faithful. Following the rush of enthusiasm for new ideas, millions of people returned to the Church of their birth, especially after their pilgrimage to restored Rome. 

There they saw powerful new paintings of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, paintings which depicted both their humanity and their willingness to repent of their sins. Michelangelo and Caravaggio, in very different styles, portrayed Saint Peter's upside down crucifixion because, he said, he was not worthy to be crucified as the Lord had been. Even years after the incident, he recalled his moment of cowardice. Saint Paul was also depicted in the moment of his conversion, after severely persecuting Christians.

The oil paintings were astonishing since images of the two apostles of Rome had always described their saintly holiness and majestic authority. The pilgrims saw these new images and felt reassured that their own foolish sins would be forgiven. They had only to keep the faith in the face of religious violence in northern Europe. 

In our own "post" era -- post-Covid, post-Vatican II, post-modern, post-Christian -- when practicing, churchgoing Christians are hypocritically assumed to be hypocrites, we again look to Rome and its founding apostles. We remember their frailty as men naturally inclined to cowardice, and the supernatural grace which made them champions. 

And yes, we're well aware of our sins. If God had not preferred to work with sinners, we might wonder why they're so common in the Church. It is good to recall Saint Peter's momentary weakness and his final triumph. It is blessed to remember Saint Paul's immature reaction to something new and suspicious within his Jewish tradition. We're all prey to our worst impulses, and we're all called by grace love like the Saints.. 

Memorial of Saint Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr

 Lectionary: 378

 You alone have I favored, more than all the families of the earth; 

Therefore I will punish you for all your crimes.

To their astonished dismay, the Prophet Amos lambasted the Israelites in the last of his pronouncements against the nations. In this third chapter, which we hear this morning, he continues the harangue because, "You alone have I favored, more than all the families of the earth."

 

The Letter to the Hebrews would echo that sentiment centuries later, 

"Endure your trials as discipline; God treats you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are without discipline, in which all have shared, you are not sons but bastards."

"Too many bastards!" A shopkeeper told me as he watched his neighborhood disintegrate. Their parents were not married, their fathers were nowhere in sight. 

And yet we often prefer abandonment to discipline. And then we deny the fatherhood of God as we insist our God is a good God who will not punish. The plagues of violence -- abortion, suicide, mass shootings -- we regard as most unfortunate occurrences but not the consequences of sin. God neither causes them nor wants them to happen to us. 

Amos has heard that nonsense and argues against it with seven rhetorical questions: "Do two walk together unless they have agreed? Does a lion roar in the forest when it has no prey?...." When the President of the United States incites a mob and on that very day they trash the Capitol, kill police, and threaten legislators, is there no connection between his speech and the violence? 

But some will argue the punishments are out of proportion to the sin. No school, shopping center, church, or town should suffer mass shootings. Cling to that reasoning if you like, the universe is full of opinions.

Or accept Jesus's insistence: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

Abortions were supposed to eliminate unwanted children. Do you remember that? After Roe v Wade, children would be wanted, favored, coddled, and given the best opportunities for nurturing, formation, and education. So why are children killing themselves? The punishment for committing the forbidden sin of abortion fell upon the nation. Even the beloved, like the firstborn of Egypt, are destroyed. 

Unlike today's patron saint, Amos was the least irenic of prophets. There is little softness in his message; and little sweetness to fit the taste of modern readers. He cannot back down; in today's reading he insists, 

Indeed, the Lord GOD does nothing

                        without revealing his plan

                        to his servants, the prophets.

            The lion roars—

                        who will not be afraid!

            The Lord GOD speaks—

                        who will not prophesy!

After hearing God roar, "You alone have I favored, more than all the families of the earth!" we should be afraid of not fearing the Lord

Optional Memorial of Saint Cyril of Alexandria, bishop and doctor of the Church

 

Lectionary: 377

Beware, I will crush you into the ground as a wagon crushes when laden with sheaves.
Flight shall perish from the swift,
and the strong man shall not retain his strength;
The warrior shall not save his life,
nor the bowman stand his ground;
The swift of foot shall not escape,
nor the horseman save his life.
And the most stouthearted of warriors shall flee naked on that day, says the LORD.

The Word of God, which Christians believe is true, must always afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. Saint John Henry Newman warned the Church, when you pick and choose the truths you want to hear, you're not listening to God. There is no reason the truth should conform to anyone's expectation or desire.  It opposes easy preferences, selective hearing, and undisciplined thinking. It will always stand apart from us, inviting and challenging.  

Occasionally, as I drove the rural roads of Louisiana, I saw trucks laden with sugar cane. The sheaves often fell on the road. Though valuable in bulk, no single stalk was worth the bother of stopping to collect it. They didn't even secure the pile before shipping it. The abandoned cane was crushed on the road; and the sugar returned to the soil. The prophet Amos used that metaphor to describe the indiscriminate killing of war. 

Or perhaps the slaughter of children in America. A swift and strong nation cannot defend its young against its own impulses. Many blame God for his failure to create a just world where children are safe and old people live out their years in security. But they do not repent. In my experience as a VA chaplain, the more they indulge in reckless consumption of alcohol, drugs, tobacco, sex, and violence the more they hypocritically complain against God's justice. They argue with Father Abraham that God's ways are not fair. 

Today we take up readings from Amos, the bleakest of Hebrew prophets. He was a farmer from Judah sent to the northern kingdom of Israel to warn them of their sins. Following Jeroboam, their self-appointed king, the nation had separated from Jerusalem, the Temple, and its Davidic king to follow its own version of God. The king had erected golden calves in his own shrines and these were supposed to represent the God who had delivered them from Egypt. Like millions of Americans, they had forgotten the story of Moses' destruction of the idols as he descended Mount Sinai. 

In Amos's day, people liked religion. They often regarded the prophets as talented entertainers and they loved nothing more than hearing them predict the destruction of their enemies. Amos catered to that predilection in his "Oracle against the Nations" as he named all the enemies of Israel: Elam, Philistia, Tyre, and so forth. But they didn't expect his last and fiercest harangue against themselves. 

In our time, many people prefer not to read the Hebrew Prophets. They say the "Old Testament God" is arbitrary, demanding, and cruel; they prefer their "New Testament Jesus" who only says nice things. Obviously they have heard neither testament, and completely ignored Jesus the Prophet. They do not heed Moses' plea to "choose life;" they know nothing of his warnings in the Book of Deuteronomy. 

We can only hope and pray that the truth owns and governs us; and that we stand ready to hear, be challenged, and made uncomfortable by the truth. We should expect our gorge to rise when we're forced to swallow the truth. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt! It is a daily fact of life until we beg God to speak to us. 

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 99 

(The Samaritans) would not welcome him because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they journeyed to another village.

In my 47 years as a priest, I've witnessed more than a few quarrels among priests. But I remember one particular incident when several fellows were going at it until the bishop (retired military) spoke, "Knock it off!" They settled down immediately. I hear Jesus doing the same thing in today's gospel, and I see the quarrelsome disciples suddenly silenced. 

Given that today's first reading about Elisha's immediate obedience to Elijah sets the pattern for Jesus's disciples, our theme today is not settling disputes but the freedom of the Gospel. It entails that ready willingness to follow the Lord wherever he might lead us, to follow our shepherd like sheep, and be still when he says, "Knock it off!" 

Our obedience, of course, begins with the Lord's. Like any competent leader, he will not ask anything of us which he has not demanded of himself. Hearing an eager volunteer's declaration -- "I am ready but first...." -- he replies with scorn, "Let the dead bury their dead!" 

We take many of Jesus's teaching literally, but this one is not about how to conduct a funeral. It does add, however, to our appreciation of the Lord's human nature. He can be abrupt and impatient on occasion. That would-be disciple seemed to have no appreciation of the sacrifices Jesus had made, much less the one he would make. Nor was he ready to go with the Lord to Jerusalem. In fact his apparent obedience was nothing more than idle boasting. He was a resounding gong. a clashing cymbal. And the Lord knew a fool when he met one. 

I think of Thomas Merton's saying, "The Lord cannot save those who do not exist." When we pretend to be something we're not, we create imaginary persons and try to persuade others that this is who we are. We might wish we could be like that. But they're imaginary; they have no being, and they're not worth saving. 

But he does call you and me to follow him, and he will not tolerate our looking back. Children do not want to hear about the career their parents might have had had they not been born. They cannot imagine life without them, nor should a parent speculate about a life without children. They have put their hands to the plow. 

Today's stern words about burying the dead and distracted farmers remind us that the Gospel is deadly serious. There is no time for foolishness and no place for stupidity. Many Americans seems to believe that if they're sincerely wrong the Lord will forgive them for it. Somehow sincerity is supposed to make ignorance okay, and mistakes accurate. 

I don't find that implausible story in the Bible. Foolishness and wisdom are opposites; they correspond with evil and good. The wise follow the Lord; they are just and their lives are justified. The foolish are wicked; they choose the path of perdition. "The mouths of fools are their ruin, and their lips a snare to themselves. (Proverbs 18:7)

We have seen that tragically played out as many Americans refused to be inoculated against Covid 19 and died. The virus didn't care about their sincere reasons and persistent doubts. It didn't judge them; it simply killed them. We see the tragedy continue as millions arm themselves and their homes with firearms. They are dying of whiteness as they use the same guns to kill themselves and their loved one. This fatal foolishness condemns them to poverty, poor health care, and early death. Their sincerity cannot save them.

In the nineteenth century, Saint John Henry Newman reminded his contemporaries that those who pick and choose from God's revealed word what they want to believe do not listen to God. They prefer foolishness and place themselves beyond mercy. "Let the dead bury their dead!" Jesus says to them. If we are saved by faith in the truth, we are condemned for believing falsehood. 

Each day with our morning prayer, we must beg the Lord to give us wise and docile hearts. We want to hear his word, obey his Spirit, and silence our preferred beliefs and implausible opinions.

Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Our Lady of Mt. St. Francis

In the wake of yesterday's Supreme Court decision: 

Even a good decision badly made is a bad decision. When leaders impose their preferences on a body of people whose opinions are not yet formed, and the decision is still in process, they must meet the opposition of many. 

The Court's 1973 Roe v Wade was wrong in many ways; it had to be revisited. Tragically, the United States has suffered with legalized abortion, hoping it was the right choice, only to see a rise of violence and our solidarity demolished. Mass shootings and suicide are the most obvious consequence as the brutality of abortion fosters greater violence. Religious people might suppose these plagues are God's punishing wrath. 

It will take more than a half-century to repair the damage; and much can never be undone. 

I hope that this and all other nations will finally develop a deeper reverence for human life and a deeper respect for the difficult process of democracy. Both are narrow paths, available only to those courageous enough to be kind. 

Lectionary: 376/573

Cry out to the Lord;
moan, O daughter Zion!
Let your tears flow like a torrent
day and night;
Let there be no respite for you,
no repose for your eyes.

On this feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary the first reading follows the cycle of weekday readings we have been following through the Ordinary weekdays. And the gospel, selected for the feast, recounts Mary and Joseph's desperate search for Jesus in Jerusalem. The challenge for the preacher is to find the spiritual connection between these readings: 

The Book of Lamentations, recalling the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC, describes the city as "Daughter Zion." (Zion means "highest point;" it was the hill on which the city was built.) The Evangelists will refer to this daughter motif in their depiction of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Luke tells of her several visits to the City. As poor and inconspicuous as she might have been, she knew Jerusalem. When the magi searched for the new born king they found him in the arms of the New Jerusalem with her husband Joseph, a descendant of Zion's most famous citizen, King David.  

Neither the City nor the Woman is unfamiliar with cruel, indiscriminate punishment. Luke describes Simeon's prophecy -- "a sword shall pierce your heart" -- and John tells us she stood at the foot of the cross. The psalms and several accounts among the histories and prophetic writings describe Jerusalem's suffering; Lamentations is especially poignant and graphic. 

The Christian's Jerusalem is Mary, the Mother of God, and her suffering is ours. She will not allow an indifferent distance to come between us.  

"If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy." (1 Cor 12:26)

Mass shootings of defenseless bystanders pierce the Immaculate Heart of Mary as they pierce ours. The nation that lives by the gun is dying by the gun. She feels the same anguish of not knowing why or when the attack might come. She hopes with us that the fatal momentum of a demoralized nation might be reversed as we turn to her Son for mercy and direction. 

In prayer we abide with Mary as she adores her child in Bethlehem, nurses him in Egypt, teaches him in Nazareth, and blesses his mission to Jerusalem. She travels with us and, like her son, will never abandon us. 

Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

 Lectionary: 172

Thus says the Lord GOD:
I myself will look after and tend my sheep.
As a shepherd tends his flock
when he finds himself among his scattered sheep,
so will I tend my sheep.

I think it was a stock brokerage firm, dedicated to making money off someone else's hard work, that first used the slogan, "...one investor at a time." They offered a warm, cozy assurance that you personally are dear to them. 

I used to have an old Catholic book of traditional prayers -- printed when traditional was the only kind -- which offered a Litany of the Sacred Heart. The Litany echoed that one at a time sentiment as the supplicant snuggled closer to the Heart of Jesus. 

Pope Saint John Paul II was not the first pope to urge Catholics to cultivate a personal relationship with Jesus but I remember the singular way he promoted that devotion:

"Conversion means accepting, by a personal decision, the saving sovereignty of Christ and becoming his disciple.”

When the secular world atomizes society into separate monads, that is individuals who should navigate the world alone, fending only for themselves without regard to the needs or desires of others -- the Church invites us one by one to return to the fold of our Good Shepherd. We enter through the narrow gate of his Sacred Heart. 

No one should prefer to be lost and unnoticed amid an indiscriminate herd of churched people, as if God can be satisfied with a reasonable percentage of good enough persons and let pass into eternal life that element which doesn't measure up. God's love is more searching and more persistent than that. It is the Hound of Heaven which sniffs out every lost soul, nudging and nosing them into wholeness. 

Many Christians, suffering abuse in their original homes, remembering a violence which seemed to hunt for them one by one, invading their privacy, sometimes physically violating their sexuality. Understandably, they dread personal attention. If they must be saved, let it be done without personal attention. I'd rather not be seen! 

But the Lord sees in our darkness. 

I say, “Surely darkness shall hide me,

and night shall be my light”—

Darkness is not dark for you,

and night shines as the day.

Darkness and light are but one. Psalm 139

   

The Sacred Heart teaches us to surrender in prayer like the poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins: 

DEUS, EGO AMO TE

O God, I love thee, I love thee---
Not out of hope of heaven for me
Nor fearing not to love and be
In the everlasting burning.
Thou, thou, my Jesus, after me
Didst reach thine arms out dying,
For my sake sufferedst nails and lance,
Mocked and marred countenance,
Sorrows passing number,
Sweat, and care and cumber,
Yea, and death, and this for me.
And thou couldst see me sinning:
Then I, why should I not love thee,
Jesu, so much in love with me ?
Not for heaven's sake; not to be
Out of hell by loving thee;
Not for any gains I see;
But just the way that thou didst me
I do love and will love thee:
What must I love thee, Lord, for then?
For being my King and God. Amen. 

 

Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

 Lectionary: 587

John heralded his coming by proclaiming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel; and as John was completing his course, he would say, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. Behold, one is coming after me; I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.’

I have wondered lately, and sometimes in this blog, about the meaning of Jesus's statement to the Samaritan woman, "Salvation is from the Jews." Among all the billboards and bumper stickers I have seen which proclaim the Lord as Savior and ask whether I have been saved, I have never seen that expression. I think it might disappoint many people who rush to the Lord, although it was not such a problem to the gentiles of Jesus's day. The Acts of the Apostles describes their eager desire to learn more about the Jewish Messiah. 

The approach to Jesus via the Jewish people (and through Mary) is also our approach to him through John the Baptist. Saint Luke describes an important transition moment in Salvation History with his story of the meeting of Elizabeth and Mary. He has arranged these two narratives -- that of John the Baptist and that of Jesus -- with five stories. Two concern the annunciation and birth of John; and two concern the annunciation and birth of Jesus. The story lines converge in the middle when Mary visits Elizabeth. Their meeting anticipates the mission of the Baptist who will go before the Lord and prepare his way. 

No one can know the Lord who does not hear John's demand to repent of your sins. Can anyone know the Messiah who is not willing to unfasten the sandals of his Jewish feet? 

Saint Paul warns his gentile converts about their presumption of superiority to the Jews, 

Indeed you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is so. They were broken off because of unbelief, but you are there because of faith. So do not become haughty, but stand in awe. For if God did not spare the natural branches, [perhaps] he will not spare you either. See, then, the kindness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell, but God’s kindness to you, provided you remain in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off.

As we are grateful to the Jewish people for the gift of Jesus and his salvation, we accept their practice of penance. We must daily and continually repent, atone, and make reparation for our sins. Which is to say, we must know the regret, shame, and remorse of our guilt. 

The Bible is, among other things, a detailed account of the guilt of God's people. Where other nations boast of their achievements, Jews remember their sins against their faithful God. They kept the scalding memory of the ancient prophets Elijah and Elisha, and the searing writings of the later prophets. All of the prophets denounce the sins of their contemporaries, and the writing prophets often paid the penalty for it. Jerusalem saw to that: 

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her young under her wings, but you were unwilling! Behold, your house will be abandoned, desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Some Christians and Muslims believe in the replacement theory of supersessionism, that God has cancelled the covenant with his people and given it over to gentiles. Despite the overall gist of the Old and New Testaments, they cite certain passages to prove their theory. They believe this because they are unwilling to repent of their own sins. They become haughty and do not stand in awe of God's mysterious ways.

As we celebrate the birth of John the Baptist we welcome his refreshing challenge to turn away from smug, smothering attitudes of self-righteousness. I feel this especially as a white guy in America, a member of the dominant culture and given to many of their assumptions. We have sinned like our ancestors and are unworthy of God's mercy. We must take our place in that long, painful story of sin and redemption, and beg God once again to spare us the punishment that must fall upon a sinful nation.  

Optional Memorial of Saint John Fisher, bishop and martyr and Saint Thomas More, martyr

 Lectionary: 373

Standing by the column, the king made a covenant before the LORD that they would follow him and observe his ordinances, statutes and decrees with their whole hearts and souls, thus reviving the terms of the covenant which were written in this book. 
And all the people stood as participants in the covenant.

The Church has a long history of reforms, and historians tell us the Protestant Reformation, beginning in 1517, was neither the first nor the last. Reforms can come from the top but they're usually from the bottom. The Spirit selects a few people to generate a new idea, practice, or prayer; and their spontaneous initiative catches and spreads to other communities. It's an idea whose time has come; it responds to a need that has become apparent and demanding. Eventually, the small initiative may gather enough momentum to force the authorities to deal with it. Some, like first Friday (Sacred Heart) devotions and Mercy Sunday, will enjoy the sponsorship of the Pope for the universal church. 

The Second Vatican Council initiated a long overdue reform from the top; it resembled the Fourth Lateran Council and the Council of Trent in that respect. In top down reforms, the pope with the bishops may recognize a lack of uniformity in the universal church as national churches go their own way, each unaware of and indifferent to other nations. Their differences may be caused by the wealth gap, by ideological isolation, or by cultural developments. Or there may be a widespread malaise which is masked by superficial enthusiasms. Their zeal is little more than nationalism. A top down reform calls the Church together again; we must remember and recognize the Sacraments which belong to all nations. 

Pope Benedict, sharing the same discomfort of his predecessor Saint John Paul II, called for a top down "mini-reform" when he insisted that all the English speaking churches should read the same translation of the one Roman Missal, a Latin text. Seventeen different translations only confused the Church. If not everyone knows the meaning of consubstantial, they can learn it! He might have been remembering the Emperor Constantine's edict that all Christians must celebrate Easter as one congregation on the same day -- the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Anyone anywhere can figure that out, unless they're on Mars. 

Our first reading today recalls an Old Testament, top down reform when King Josiah (641-609 BCE) heard the words of the Law and recognized their authority. The history is complex and uncertain but the Bible indicates that David's descendants had promoted idolatry in Solomon's Temple. If these practices were a form of compromise to appease the pagan elements in Judah, they could neither please the Lord nor assure the city's long term security. When God's Holy City becomes a city like every other city, a salt without saltiness, it must be trampled underfoot. 

We hear this story as a warning to keep the faith and be renewed each day by our study of God's Word. We are a people peculiarly God's own. Josiah apparently heard the Book of Deuteronomy, or a text that would inspire Deuteronomy. It is rich with blessings for those who keep the faith, and rife with threats for those who fail. "Choose life!" the Book urges, and we choose to live by God's Incarnate Word and the Spirit he breathes into us. 

Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious

 Lectionary: 372

“Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not reach this city, nor shoot an arrow at it, nor come before it with a shield, nor cast up siege-works against it. He shall return by the same way he came, without entering the city, says the LORD. I will shield and save this city for my own sake, and for the sake of my servant David.’”

Sometimes preachers and others who speak of faith seem to describe a magical power to make things happen. Just believe and it will happen for you! “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” Jesus said to the synagogue official who pleaded for his daughter's life. If you say to this tree be uprooted and cast into the sea, it will happen for you! One can only imagine how many children have tried and been disappointed. Snake handlers in rural Appalachia, recalling Mark 16:18, are periodically bitten by their copperhead captives; they explain their apparent loss of faith as a momentary doubt that crossed their minds. Faith, for them, is mind control. (Fortunately, they had the antivenin close by, just in case.)

As beautiful as those teachings might be, they need an antivenin like verse 34 from today's scripture, 

"I will shield and save this city for my own sake and the sake of David my servant.”

Faith is never about me; faith is never given to prove my integrity, much less my ability to concentrate my psychic powers. The Lord saves his people for his own sake -- or the sake of his name -- and for the sake of David, my servant. (Or Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, etc.) 

When we put our faith in God, we trust the Lord will work out his own purposes, and that they will be good for everyone. 

Hopefully we bring that generous detachment to the prayers we offer for our preferred baseball team. We hope no one is injured and that good sportsmanship prevails. If the game was an even competition between skilled players at their best, and the fans were satisfied with the results, we might suppose the Lord's purposes were fulfilled. 

Realizing that God will shield and save this city for his own sake and the sake of David his servant allows us a kind of distance between ourselves and our preferences. I might desperately want my loved one to recover their health, but I also want God's name to be glorified. And I will glorify God in any case. 

At the same time, we should not hesitate to beg, implore, and entreat the Lord with all our longing for those things we ardently wish. We go before the Lord naked and vulnerable, impelled by our desperate needs without reluctance or shame, and confident of a hearing in the Awful Presence of God. 

We should pray like the Shunammite woman who grabbed hold of the Prophet Elisha, forced him into her house, and commanded him to go upstairs and heal her son! He owed her that much and he knew it. Or the Syro-phoenician woman who forced her way into Jesus's presence and demanded that he heal her daughter. The mothers' lack of self-restraint demonstrated their surrender to a God whom they know is Good. They believed and their prayers were heard. 

Perhaps we pray best as we approach the Lord in Gethsemane. We might urge him to flee the city while he can! "Please, save yourself!" we say to our Beloved. But we also beg him to stay and wait for his tormentors to arrive, because that is the way of our salvation. Indeed it was for this that he came. 

To pray with faith is to pray without pretense or hesitation. We're not trying to prove anything as we bear our needs before the Lord. We bare our hearts to his scrutiny, and our unworthiness. And we pray, "for the sake of your name, and for the sake of your servant Jesus." 

Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 371

And though the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and seer, “Give up your evil ways and keep my commandments and statutes, in accordance with the entire law which I enjoined on your fathers and which I sent you by my servants the prophets,” they did not listen, but were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who had not believed in the LORD, their God.

Saint Francis, asked to name his disciples, said, "We are penitents from Assisi." In the thirteenth century, Italians still took penance seriously. Those who had sinned but wanted to return to the practice of the faith were assigned a remote place in the church where they could observe the Mass. They dressed in penitential garb, fasted, and waited to be readmitted to the sacraments. After a period of years, their petition might be accepted, provided the priests and church were convinced of their repentance. 

Francis's "penitents from Assisi" were a joyful lot; they felt assured of God's mercy despite their public acknowledgement of guilt. People were astonished at the greeting, "Pace bene!" (Peace and Good!) Hearing their cry and realizing who they were and what they represented, millions of people in Italy and Europe returned to the practice of their Catholic faith. 

To be Christian and to belong to God in the biblical sense is to admit that we have sinned. That admission is more than a vague yeah, sure. Penitents can name their sins clearly and particularly. Members of Alcoholics Anonymous, though they might not use the word sin in their enthusiastic outreach, can tell you the time, place, and circumstances of their last drink. Although their drinking was senseless and irresponsible; it was precious to them and, ironically, they treasure the memory. That dark moment is enlightened by God's mercy.

We remember our sins because we want to remember everything including the disgrace and the shame, plus the blessing and the Great Work of God. We have seen wonderful things happen within our own hearts. And we know the work is not done! 

We all have a ways to go before we have surrendered our evil ways and submitted to the commandments and statutes of God's way. I think of the attitudes of superiority which perpetuates our microaggressions. They are borne of our ethnicity, caste, or age. Baby Boomers, once humiliated because we had no memory of World War II with its sacrifices and suffering, now remind our juniors that they know nothing of the great music of the sixties, of Woodstock, and the summer of 68. 

But those ridiculous attitudes pale before our assumptions that it's better to be American; that our freedom is granted to us by the muzzle of a gun and the strength of our military. Many like me deny any responsibility for the genocide of Native Americans, the waste of the Earth's environment, and the continuing exploitation that accompanies whiteness. The list goes on and on. We take pride in American exceptionalism even as it turns rancid in the nostrils of the world. 

To be true American Christians, we must practice penance intentionally and intensely. The designation otherwise, is covered with shame. It is like the king with no clothes, stupidly obtuse and widely mocked. 

We practice penance with gratitude; it is a great privilege. God in his mercy has shown us our sins; and we, blessed by many unearned gifts of the Holy Spirit, have wisely taken up the narrow way that opens before us. We forget nothing; we anticipate great blessings and increasing joy as we follow the Lord to Calvary. 

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Lectionary: 169 

n those days, Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine, and being a priest of God Most High, he blessed Abram with these words:
"Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
the creator of heaven and earth;
and blessed be God Most High,
who delivered your foes into your hand."
Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Several years ago, a devout Catholic was driving along a remote country road in southern Louisiana during the closing days of winter. She noticed a stand of trees between rice fields, and a strange configuration of leafless branches and twigs that somehow reminded her of the Blessed Virgin Mary. When she remarked to friends about it, they saw it too. When others drove out to the same spot, they saw it, and soon dozens, and then hundreds of people were heading out to trample the Protestant farmer's levees to honor the Virgin. Busloads came from nearby Texas! 

I drove out to the site with my mother one day and found the exact spot. There was a handful of people there on a weekday morning, reciting the Rosary. But we saw only a row of trees. Some time later a reporter from the Lake Charles American Press asked me about it. I assured her the Mother of God could appear anywhere she wants, at any time she chooses, and doesn't need the Church's approval to do so. But this particular phenomenon had not  been endorsed by any diocese, much less the entire Church. When the spring came the leaves flourished and the apparition went away, never to reappear. 

When the Church celebrated Corpus Christi several weeks later, I reminded my congregation of the event and that we have a far greater sign here. And that is the Body and the Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. 

People of every religion and every age look for relics and tactile signs of God's presence and there's no harm in that. But we should be reminded often that these peculiar reminders of the Lord pale before the Church's continual worship of God's presence in our world, a presence which is found in hundreds of thousands of churches throughout the world. 

If another relic of Jesus or the Blessed Mother exists -- like the Shroud of Turin or Veronica's Veil -- its pedigree is suspicious. Where did it come from? How was it not known for all those silent centuries? Who discovered it and why should anyone suppose it's what they claim it is. Invariably, the science disproves it. 

But, in the meanwhile, we the Church gather daily and weekly to honor the Blessed Sacrament. We have never missed a Sunday since the Lord appeared to his disciples in the Upper Room in Jerusalem. Although the Church has been continually disturbed and distressed by dissent and divisions, it never disappeared into some mystical never-never land to reappear in a later centuries, as the druids claim of their cult in the British Isles. Our lineage is straightforward and unchallenged. It first appeared in Jerusalem though its historical roots include the priest and king Melchizedek, nearly two millennia before. It was revealed by the Lord himself on the night before he died.  

When I think of Corpus Christi I recall the annual processions in Louisville's Churchill Downs, when I was a boy. Each year every parish sent men from the Holy Name Societies and Knights of Columbus with their wives and children to keep the feast. We marched from the paddocks, under the track, into the infield, across the track, and into the stands, reciting the rosary as we went. After a fulsome sermon on the Mystery, and Benediction, a monsignor would pronounce with sonorous resonance, 

"...and remember I am with you always, even unto the end of time." 

It's good to hear those words during troubled times, especially when millions prefer even more bizarre signs like conspiracies and Q-Anon.  

Saturday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 370

So punishment was meted out to Joash. After the Arameans had departed from him, leaving him in grievous suffering, his servants conspired against him because of the murder of the son of Jehoiada the priest. He was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

King Joash, the only legitimate heir of King David, surviving many murderous conspiracies against him, inherited the throne as a seven-year-old child. Guided by the wise and faithful Jehoiada he did well and was favored by God. Unfortunately, after Jehoida died, Joash fell under the influence of less worthy friends. Not only did he condone the killing of his only critic, Jehoida's son, he supported the worship of idols in Jerusalem and elsewhere. It was good for business but unworthy of a holy nation; and Joash was not even accorded a burial place with the rest of David's line. 

His story doesn't rate an entry in Wikipedia or the online Catholic Encyclopedia. It has no heroes; the politics is complicated; the accounts in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles differ; the whole affair is not inspiring. God appears only as a punishing God but he doesn't set things right by his punishment. History will march on at its weary pace from day to day; and Joash's son Amaziah will not fare much better. If we don't know exactly what happened or why, we can say nonetheless, that King Joash lived and died  and took his place in the history of God's people. 

Adults would rather know history for what happened than seek heroes in every chapter. Our inspiration comes from God, sometimes despite the truths we unearth. If we cannot detect the hand of God in our present political dilemma we can nonetheless ask for Inspired Guidance as we discover a possible trajectory from the past into the future. 

Almost fifty years ago, the Supreme Court of the United States committed a horrible blunder in the case of Roe v Wade. The Court's disregard for the sanctity of innate human life cleared the way for today's epidemics of drug abuse, suicide, and mass killings. There is no undoing what happened since that fatal day but we can hope to move forward toward a national consensus that all human life is sacred, whether born or unborn, healthy or sick, wealthy or poor, handsome or hideous. 

We can pray for mercy for our misguided opponents and practice mercy in dealing with them. They are not the enemy; but they may be in the grip of an enemy spirit. And we pray that we do not become the enemy, as happens when adversaries agree to make war with one another. Those who fail to love their enemies become diabolical. 

We still believe in Emmanuel, the LORD who remains to guide us out of our pact with death. 

Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 369

“The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light; but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness. And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be.”

This verse about the lamp of the body from Saint Matthew is echoed in Saint Luke's gospel. The editors of the Catholic NABRE offer no explanation for it, nor do I recall a traditional one. 

As a child I supposed that I could see by the eye beams that went out like laser rays. Didn't Superman's x-ray vision work like that? It was not a great theory but I lacked the critical abilities at the time to see its shortcomings. They would come later, along with better information. 

Perhaps the thinking of Jesus's prescientific age imagined the same eye beams mechanism. But the important question is, "What is he saying here?"

In our time I have heard the expression, lens, to describe our ways of seeing things. We are always looking through lenses. Some people see the world -- or would prefer to see the world -- through a positivist, scientific, secular lens that cannot see religious meaning in anything that happens. Not only does the theory of gravity explain the orbit of the planets, but economics describes the flow of money; and psychology, human interaction. Positivism, if it had the tools, would name the causes of every incident and predict all future events. 

That's called determinism and I have heard, on the radio, bona fide scientists insist there is nothing to see beyond that world view. If we cannot predict the future yet, it's theoretically possible, like time travel. (Hello?) Even human behavior will finally be predictable when we have devised the computer large enough to handle all the data we could feed it. 

But positivism is only one kind of lens. More familiar sorts are resentment, greed, lust, and so forth. Many men, flipping the channels, discover a women's basketball game and wonder why would anyone watch that sport. The women are not dressed to look sexy! What's there to see? Others watch women playing beach volleyball and see something sexy about that sport, despite the women's intense focus on winning the game. Their lens is lust and they look for its satisfaction everywhere. 

If your eye beams see nothing but lust, they don't see much. Likewise, people who are possessed by greed, fear, resentment, or racism squint at the world and can't figure out what's going on. 

The metaphor may apply also in non-judgmental situations; as, for instance, a police officer reads a situation differently than a soldier, lawyer, medic, or clergy. 

We can use it nonetheless in prayer, asking the Lord to give us clear eyes that see truly. God sees us with kindness, mercy, and benevolence. There is no rancor in God. The Incarnate Son of God, knowing the challenges and complexity of human life, appreciates our courage, creativity, and willingness. It is the Spirit of Jesus that sees these virtues. 

In our daily examen we ask God to help us see the lenses that we wore throughout the day; and to ask if they were gifts of the Holy Spirit or deceptions of Satan. If we are willing, it's not that hard to recognize their differences. If I cannot see my own eye, I can see how I am seeing. 

But neither do we see through rose-colored glasses, like Pollyanna. Our vision is always realistic for it is tempered by the cross in its joyful, luminous, sorrowful, and glorious meanings. 

Seeing as God sees, our eye beams are bright; they bathe the world in the sunshine which falls on the just and the unjust, the wicked and the righteous. 

Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 368

You were taken aloft in a whirlwind of fire, in a chariot with fiery horses. You were destined, it is written, in time to come to put an end to wrath before the day of the LORD, To turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons, and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob.

Today's first reading from the writing of the wise man Sirach, recalls the terrifying Elijah and the mysterious belief that he must return one day. He had not exactly died as everyone must. Was his work not finished? Would he come back to put an end to wrath immediately before the Day of the LORD? 

The questions and speculation are rather secondary to the wonder of Elijah's spectacular disappearance; and seem to miss the point. But it's our nature to ask questions even about the most overwhelming mysteries. We're not long stunned by shock and awe before we're asking what we should make of this. How do the heavenly horses and flaming chariot and the prophet's disappearance into the wild blue yonder fit into the overall scheme of things? 

Nor was Elijah the only one whose "passing" aroused some questions. He found a distant companion in Enoch: "Enoch walked with God, and he was no longer here, for God took him." That cryptic verse in the early pages of Genesis has stirred much speculation throughout our long history. We find in the New Testament Letter to the Hebrews (11:5): 

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and “he was found no more because God had taken him.” Before he was taken up, he was attested to have pleased God.

And finally, Catholics have always believe that Mary the Mother of God, like Enoch and Elijah, was assumed into heaven at the end of her life. Whether she died or not is moot since we assume it was a painless and immediate transfer into the highest heaven and the company of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Given the stories of Enoch and Elijah and appearance in the sky of a woman clothed with the sun (Revelation 12), one can hardly argue that Mary's Assumption is not biblical.  

But where is the Gospel in all this delightful speculation? What difference does Elijah's fiery chariot make to me? 

Hamlet provides an answer in his conversation with Horatio about the ghost of his father, the dead king, “There are more things on heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

Because we do not know everything, and cannot answer every question, and have no particular right to an explanation in the first place, we should maintain a childlike willingness to be amazed, grateful, and delighted at the unexpected, inexplicable mysteries of God. 

"Does this amaze you?" Jesus asked when he spoke of Nathaniel's sleeping under the fig tree, 

"You will see greater things than this.” And he said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

We should not always be stupefied with anguish in this Vale of Tears. We can be elated at many signs and wonders, including the Lord's teaching us to dare to say, "Our Father, who art in heaven...." He has given us "power to be come children of God."

We should often exclaim with Elizabeth, "Who am I that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?" And we should often feel the fearful reaction of Peter, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am sinful!" 

He will not go away; he will abide with us. We are completely astounded and overjoyed. 

Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 367

When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask for whatever I may do for you, before I am taken from you.”
Elisha answered, “May I receive a double portion of your spirit.”
“You have asked something that is not easy,” Elijah replied.
“Still, if you see me taken up from you, your wish will be granted; otherwise not.”

"The Spirit," said Jesus, "blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 

Nicodemus was surprised by that and asked could anyone be born again. We might ask the same of ourselves as we wearily return to a post-pandemic normal which is familiar in the worst ways. The murder of innocent bystanders continue; suicide and drug abuse are everywhere; leaders follow the polls which reflect the propaganda of wealthy financiers because an illiterate electorate cannot think for itself. And the economy falters. The list continues endlessly. 

Can the Church pick ourselves up, be born again, inhale a new spirit, and rejoice in the Pentecost we so recently celebrated? 

In today's first reading a weary Elijah is tailed by an eager disciple, Elisha. Despite his forbidding manner, he is pleased that God has given him this promise of an heir; he appreciates the young man's enthusiasm. But he cannot forget the hardship he has suffered. When Elisha asks for a "double portion of your spirit," the old man shudders, "You have asked for something that is not easy." 

In effect: you have no idea what God will demand of you, and the opposition you will face. 

People still get married. Not as many as used to, and they're still spending extravagantly on destination weddings. But they believe in marriage and hope this one lasts a while. Women still give birth to babies and eagerly care for them despite the financial hardships of parenting. Many young men remain faithful to their women; and some prove it by publicly getting married, and fathering their children. 

And Catholic churches continue to celebrate the Eucharist - the Body and Blood of Jesus -- weekly and daily. 

The Bishops of the United States urge Catholics to take up again the practice of public worship in the formal setting of the Mass. They are planning to gather devout Catholics from across the nation in 2024 in Indianapolis for a Eucharistic Congress.  Thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, will come. We must not hide our religious practices for they demonstrate our faith, and faith without demonstrations is dead. 

We must believe that Emmanuel is truly present in the Bread and Wine of our Eucharist. The Spirit of Elijah did indeed fall on Elisha just as the Spirit of Jesus fell on his apostles and disciples. And their Spirit remains with us. 

Relentless hardships and deep frustration only prove the futility of our human efforts. We will always try and fail. We will try to prove our own worth and virtue and willingness, and we will fail. But the Spirit of God will not abandon us anymore than God abandoned Jesus as he died on Calvary. We're still here because God is still with us. For God will not abandon his people.

Can a mother forget her infant,
be without tenderness for the child of her womb?
Even should she forget,
I will never forget you.
See, upon the palms of my hands I have engraved you. Isaiah 49:15