Feast of Saint Andrew, Apostle

 Lectionary: 684

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.
The Scripture says, No one who believes in him will be put to shame.

In this passage from Romans, Saint Paul invokes Isaiah's "foundation stone," which Christians read as a prophecy of Jesus. 

See, I am laying a stone in Zion,
a stone that has been tested,
A precious cornerstone as a sure foundation;
whoever puts faith in it will not waver.

The testing, of course, is his crucifixion; and the test result, the proof of his reliability, is his resurrection. 

Isaiah continues: 

I will make judgment a measuring line,
and justice a level.
Hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies,
and waters shall flood the hiding place.

The scriptures attest that lying and hiding places for deception have been around a long time . But justice requires openness; everyone must see and agree that the Ruler governs with transparency. We needn't take it on faith for we can see their governance is reasonable; and their judgments, though sometimes harsh, are fair. 

Bertrand Russell, in his History of Western Philosophy, describes how a post-Christian, corrupt populace tolerates an unjust government. Weary of responsibility for self-governance with all its complexity and uncertainty, they cede to their ruler and his party their own freedom. He can do as he pleases and they trust and obey him implicitly. If they seem, in the eyes of other nations, to suffer the loss of personal freedom and an invasive authoritarianism, they point to their well-ordered, predictable systems: "The trains run on time." 

Russell wrote his history during the Second World War as he pondered the rise of Nazism, Communism, and fascism; but the impulse to authoritarian, one-party rule has never gone away. He remarks also about the loss of faith in God. Without that religious confidence and the freedom it offers, people place their faith in a human bureaucratic system, and loyally defend it against all critics. When challenged they declare that a Church which stoutly defends ineffable doctrines is equally oppressive. 

Finally, when tyrants fall in shamefaced defeat, as they must, we hear again the words of Saint Paul:

For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. The Scripture says, "No one who believes in him will be put to shame."

Tuesday of the First Week of Advent

 Lectionary: 176

Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
The calf and the young lion shall browse together,
with a little child to guide them.
The cow and the bear shall be neighbors,
together their young shall rest....

Advent is nothing if not expectation. The future feels immanent and our preparation is driven by urgency. There is hardly enough time, even when Advent is four full weeks. 

Christmas is often a letdown. The sun rises and sets on the children who are quarrelsome, the parents who are tired, and the guests who stay too long. The gifts are distributed and the thanks are thanked, and where do we go from here? 

But what if the Day of the Lord is satisfying without completeness? What if there is still more joy to come, more work to be done, more atonement to be made, more forgiveness, and more healing? 

What if Advent is the season when we learn how to expect, wait, and hope so that when the Lord comes we have become adept at expecting, waiting, and hoping? And find no disappointment in the practice, but only the wonder-filled assurance of something wonderful? 

Then at last we might know the meaning of both Advent and Christmas. 

Monday of the First Week of Advent

 Lectionary: 175

When the LORD washes away
the filth of the daughters of Zion,
And purges Jerusalem's blood from her midst
with a blast of searing judgment,
Then will the LORD create,
over the whole site of Mount Zion
and over her place of assembly,
A smoking cloud by day
and a light of flaming fire by night.

The Centurion and his warriors were in Capernaum on business, which was the occupation of Israel. Their armor, weapons and visible presence reminded the city of the blood that might be shed, and the blast of shearing judgment that Rome could execute at any sign of trouble. 

Isaiah's recalling in the first reading the smoking cloud by day and light of flaming fire by night also spoke of violence. The rape of a city required fires that burned day and night, and towering columns of smoke like that which mushroomed over Sodom and Gomorrah. 

However, both readings, despite the ominous symbols, promise peace to God's people. The Lord will wash away the filth and purge Jerusalem's blood from her midst. The cloud by day and fire by night are God's presence, powerful, commanding, and reassuring. The LORD does not abandon his people. 

The Gospel will always remind us of our unworthiness. There is no light without shadow and the Light of Christ shines brilliantly, illuminating in stark contrast the dark unwillingness of our attitudes, habits, and customs. The Good News of the Gospels is news after all, and news continually reminds us our sins. Stories of mass murder, drug abuse, suicide, and collapsing infrastructure shout reminders that our way of life is seriously flawed. This cannot continue! 

Jesus reminds that the routines of ordinary life -- of eating, drinking, buying, selling -- might be suddenly, irrevocably destroyed by war, disease, or natural catastrophe. And yet our Christmas routines are often nothing more than eating, drinking, buying, and selling. If anything the commemoration of Jesus seems to add a note of desperation to these traditions.  We're no more prepared for judgement than "the day when Lot left Sodom." 

Advent is extra long this year, a full twenty-nine days. There is time to pay lip service to our society's demands and obeisance to the One who will visit our unworthy homes. There is time to welcome a visit by the Poor Child and his Holy Mother. 

First Sunday of Advent

 Lectionary: 1 

You know the time;
it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep.
For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed;
the night is advanced, the day is at hand.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God..."

 So begins the Gospel of Saint John.

Advent begins with a similar voice of command -- "Now!" 

• And now we have set foot
  within your gates, O Jerusalem.
• it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep.
• For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

Whatever we may have put off, we must do now.

For whatever we've prepared, now is the moment. 

There is no tomorrow in now. 

There is a season for everything, as the Book of Ecclesiastes says; and now that season has arrived when the Son of Man must come. 

Does it seem sudden to you? Were you not warned?

Two men will be out in the field;

one will be taken, and one will be left.

Two women will be grinding at the mill;

one will be taken, and one will be left.

We've seen this kind of thing happen to others. A tornado struck the neighbor's house, yours was left unharmed. Fire swept through a forest burning homes and businesses; yours was left untouched. An armed man invaded someone's home and killed the family; yours was spared. 

It could have happened to you. It didn't. 

In those days before the flood,

they were eating and drinking,

marrying and giving in marriage,

up to the day that Noah entered the ark.

They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. 

Disasters remind us of this. But so do blessings. We call them news. "Have you heard the news?" An entire industry is built on startling, unexpected news. We tune in the radio; we keep the TV on twenty-four-seven; we check our Facebook and Twitter accounts continually. We dread not knowing the news. 

Sometimes it's happening now. Turn on your radio! Turn on your TV. Oh my God! You'll remember this moment, the day you heard, where you were, what you were wearing, who you were with -- the rest of your life. 

Therefore, stay awake!

For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.

The Mass takes us back to that day long ago, a day which began at sundown as Jesus gathered his disciples in the Upper Room to celebrate his Last Supper; that same day which ended at sundown as he died on the cross. 

The Mass also takes us forward to that Day when the Lord will come. 

The Mass, finally, takes us to this moment -- Now! -- as wait. 

Saturday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

 

Lectionary: 508

Nothing accursed will be found anymore.
The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.
They will look upon his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
Night will be no more, nor will they need light from lamp or sun,
for the Lord God shall give them light,
and they shall reign forever and ever.

On this last day of the liturgical year, we hear a promise about the future city, our destiny. 

C.S.Lewis, in The Great Divorce, describes Hell as a rural place where solitary souls live in splendid mansions, each isolated from the other by enormous distance. Since the damned are not inclined to visit one another, their isolation is no problem. Heaven, in Lewis's conception, is intense togetherness. There may be a million souls in a drop of water. But since they're of one voice, mind, and heart they enjoy their companionship as they sing God's praises. 

When a busload of tourists arrives from Hell to see the great City of God, only a few are willing to get off the bus, and those few find the ethereal grass under their bare feet unbearably sharp. Reality is more than they can handle, and they much prefer the familiarity of a world of their own creation. They immediately return to the bus and their "comfort space" in Hell. 

When Lewis wrote there were some who worried that the beauty of the natural world might be destroyed by the human city. Some, like President Theodore Roosevelt, promoted reservations and parks where urban denizens could visit an alternate reality. But few could imagine an anthropocentric world of human ingenuity, plunder, and waste. 

I've not visited impoverished cities but I've seen the images of shallow streams in the middle of narrow streets. These rills are severely polluted by human and animal waste, and purified only by occasional gully-washing downpours. The inhabitants might be used to the stench but they would surely appreciate Saint John's river of life-giving water, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God. How lovely that must be!

As the twenty-first century begins we are seeing the cosmic consequences of our sin in inexorable climate change. The good news is that the Earth will wait for us to change our ways. She really doesn't care what we do; so long as our exploitation continues, conditions will get worse and human suffering will increase. A century or more after we change our policies and practices, the environment will reflect some healing.  That's the bad news. No reformer will notice the improvement without highly sensitive scientific instruments. 

The saints have always been willing to wait and make sacrifice without expecting results. They do so with the assurance of God's promise. That too is inexorable. We have heard it in God's word; we see it clearly in Saint John's vision. And we believe it.  

Saint Catherine of Alexandria, virgin and martyr

 Lectionary: 507 

I saw the dead, the great and the lowly, standing before the throne,
and scrolls were opened.
Then another scroll was opened, the book of life.
The dead were judged according to their deeds, by what was written in the scrolls.
The sea gave up its dead; then Death and Hades gave up their dead.
All the dead were judged according to their deeds.
Then Death and Hades were thrown into the pool of fire. (This pool of fire is the second death.)
Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the pool of fire.

Martin Luther and many like him were sickened by the appalling demands of the Church for money, and by the fund raisers of the time who, like the tax collector's of Jesus's day, unscrupulously scalped the poor for money. They exploited especially the anxiety about God's judgment, that the poor sinner would be cast into the pool of fire and suffer extreme pain for all eternity. They worried about their loved ones who had already died and might desperately need deliverance from the apparently temporary torments of Purgatory. 

Luther, in a remarkable moment of grace, had found a willingness to trust in God's mercy. As he read the gospels and studied the works of the famously reformed sinners -- Saints Paul and Augustine -- he chose to believe that God doesn't require anyone to accumulate graces by good deeds or by purchasing indulgences. One could be saved by trusting our good, benevolent God; that is, by faith alone. 

With his gaze upon Jesus, Luther could metaphorically walk upon the waters of his dread, happy and free. 

He was so persuaded of his belief in "faith alone" that he dismissed the entire idea of salvation through generous works. He held to that principle despite the passage above from Revelation, and Matthew 25, the parable about the Second Coming and the Final Judgment. In that famous narrative, the resuscitated dead do not even recognize the Lord, much less recall when they did, or should have, shown kindness to Him. But because of their good deeds the merciful are delivered into Bliss, while the merciless are cast into Hell. 

Luther's insight was brilliant but it lacked depth. It needed the foil of the entire scriptures through which we learn to live and practice our faith. It was like looking through a pinhole; there might be a valuable and surprising perspective in that experiment, but it must be integrated into the greater vision. 

The faithful trust in God through good times and bad, through difficult times and peaceful spells. Because humans build reliable infrastructures and systems and faithfully make them work, we can enjoy peace and prosperity for long stretches of time. Life is not always difficult. 

But we must always remain faithful to one another and to our God; we should never forget the fragility and contingency of human life. The entire universe, including the human creature, was created out of nothing, and might fall back into nothingness. The planet Earth might never have seen human beings and could have been quite content without them. Those who habitually assume that others will always take care of them, put up with their nonsense, and forgive their abusive behavior may find themselves in the outer darkness. They had that faith alone but were, in fact, expendable parasites. 

Reasonable Lutherans know that, as do sensible Catholics. 

As Advent approaches, we set to work on the house of our lives to welcome our Savior. We hope he finds a place in our hearts warmer and  more appropriate than a manger. 

Memorial of Saint Andrew Dũng-Lạc, Priest, and Companions, Martyrs

 Lectionary: 506

Then the angel said to me,
“Write this:
'Blessed are those who have been called
to the wedding feast of the Lamb.'”

That's a rather simple conclusion to an astonishing revelation about the future. As the Prophet Amos had many centuries before,  John of Patmos predicted the fall of the Roman Empire, which he compared to the Babylonian Empire. The world had already seen more than a few cities rule enormous territories with their military, economic, religious, and social power. The Jews remembered Babylon in particular for destroying their holy city Jerusalem and sending its citizens to all parts of the world.

And so John recalls the fall of Babylon and predicts the fall of Rome. This passage might have been used to forecast the eclipse of the later Byzantine, Holy Roman, French, English, and Spanish empires. And today's American empire. (Every age produces its own type of empire with different technological and economic realities. They might not look the same to a distant observer.) 

John said of Rome:

No melodies of harpists and musicians,

flutists and trumpeters,  (the arts)

will ever be heard in you again.

No craftsmen in any trade 

will ever be found in you again.

No sound of the millstone (food chain)

will ever be heard in you again.

No light from a lamp (power grid)

will ever be seen in you again.

No voices of bride and groom (family and social life)

will ever be heard in you again.

Because your merchants were the great ones of the world,

all nations were led astray by your magic potion.” 

 

And yet he concludes, 

After this I heard what sounded like
the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying:
“Alleluia!
Salvation, glory, and might belong to our God,
for true and just are his judgments.

Freedom is frightening and the promise of freedom often sounds like a threat. On our way to peace, solidarity, and security we will experience the collapse of all that is familiar, predictable, and apparently safe. God's kingdom will certainly demand more than we are willing to pay, but we will pay it. Having made our vows as Christians, we must find ourselves swept along through terrors more real than the thrills of a roller coaster. 

But, as we heard yesterday, 
         "...not a hair on your head will be destroyed.
         By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

Oh! By the way, Happy Thanksgiving! 

Optional Memorial of Saint Columban, abbot

Lectionary: 123

Then I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire.
On the sea of glass were standing those who had won the victory over the beast and its image and the number that signified its name.
They were holding God’s harps, and they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb:

Because he played the accordion, when Father Howard asked me to prepare a songbook to accompany our evening of music, I could not resist putting a cartoon on the cover. It was a split image of souls entering heaven and hell. Those entering heaven were given harps; and those entering hell received accordions.

Like yesterday's image of the Grim Reaper, the heavenly image of harps comes from this passage in Revelation (and its neighbor, Ireland). 

The passage describes the bliss of the Holy Ones who sing God's praises with two songs, that of Moses and that of the Lamb. There can be no division in heaven between Jews and Christians as we echo the prophet Moses and our redeemer Jesus:

Great and wonderful are your works,
Lord God almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
O king of the nations.
Who will not fear you, Lord,
or glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
All the nations will come
and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

As one who enjoys singing alone and with others, and also listening to fine singing of any kind, I can imagine no greater bliss than singing with the heavenly choirs of every nation. How many songs of innumerable languages there are to learn! And instruments to play! Freed of egotism, and drawn by divine inspiration to commune with others, we shall learn the world's folk songs, customs, cultures, and histories. If a story is personal, a song belongs to everyone, and unites everyone as we sing with one voice, one mind, and one heart. 

When I went to Louisiana as the pastor of an African-American church I learned James Weldon Johnson's Lift Every Voice and Sing. And when I was asked to create a ceremony at the Louisville VA hospital to ease racial tensions during the difficult summer of 2020, I invited everyone to sing that anthem. "If you don't know the first verse, you'll know the third!" I assured them. 

I have to believe the blissful communion of heaven will begin with choral singing, interspersed with deep, long, luxurious conversations, shared work and play, and all the pleasures of food and drink. And then more praise of God with the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb.

Memorial of Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr

 Lectionary: 504

“Use your sickle and reap the harvest, for the time to reap has come, because the earth’s harvest is fully ripe.”
So the one who was sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

The above verse, I suppose, is the biblical source of the Grim Reaper, that angel of death who comes with his scythe (pronounced sith with a long i and no k) especially to carry away the wicked and unworthy.

But the passage itself sounds of happiness at the abundant harvest. It must also remind us of the Mass when we offer the wheat bread and the grape wine, to represent the perfect love of Our Lord for the Father, and God's love for us. 

It could be all about joy. But as we read and hear this passage, there is also that uncomfortable reminder of God's fury -- the final word of this reading. The sickle resembles a weapon, and beleaguered farmers sometimes used them against invading armies. The stomping of grapes in the wine press with its gushing red juice flowing from the spigot might also creep into one's nightmare imagination as blood. Some people have seen blood running in the streets from bodies piled high. 

Do we anticipate the Judgment Day with fear or hope, with dread or joy? Will our devotion and fidelity be vindicated in the sight of those who mocked us? Or will their mockery be vindicated as our superficial piety is exposed as fraud? 

These verses from Revelation evoke a grim passage from Isaiah 63, 

Who is this that comes from Edom,

in crimsoned garments, from Bozrah?

Who is this, glorious in his apparel,

striding in the greatness of his strength?

“It is I, I who announce vindication,

mighty to save.”

Why is your apparel red,

and your garments like one who treads the wine press?

“The wine press I have trodden alone,

and from the peoples no one was with me.

I trod them in my anger,

and trampled them down in my wrath;

Their blood spurted on my garments,

all my apparel I stained.

For a day of vindication was in my heart,

my year for redeeming had come.

This grim reaper is Israel's avenger against Israel's enemies, especially Edom. The Prophet Isaiah knew better than most that when the LORD moves against Israel's enemies he is acting as much to glorify his Name among the nations as to avenge the crimes against his chosen people. They should not suppose God will overlook their sins for they also offend God's holiness. 

Throughout our lives and throughout our long history we struggle to get this right. We should feel assured of God's love and mercy toward us, but we must never take either for granted. We should be eager to please the Lord as newly married men and women are eager to please one another. Our openness to the Lord should never take offense when we're disappointed with an unanswered prayer, or an apparent entitlement is our foolish presumption. We praise the Lord anyway! 

And we hope the Lord is never (terribly) disappointed with our shortcomings. 

We should look forward with confidence to the Judgement Day knowing that, whether we pass the test or not, God's glory will be manifest and God's kingdom will be revealed. What a great day that will be!

Memorial of The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

 Lectionary: 503

When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins.
He said, “I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.”

Planet gazing

Enormous Jupiter, or so I’m told,

Observed from deep, deep space, orbits
Our father Sun in solitude, a sole
companion with – perhaps – some smaller bits
of space debris. Its core, a diamond sphere
of earth-sized crystal carbon sheathed in dense
and swirling liquid gas, approaches near
to thermonuclear might. It might ascend
to stardom. So the Blessed Mary soars
in orbit round her son, and those who see
the woman and the God whom she adores
devoutly pray to join her company.
They glory in the radiance of her light,
astonished by the mercy of a widow’s mite.

                        Fr Ken Bartsch, OFM Conv.

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

 Lectionary: 162

In those days, all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said:
"Here we are, your bone and your flesh.
In days past, when Saul was our king,
it was you who led the Israelites out and brought them back.
And the LORD said to you,
'You shall shepherd my people Israel
and shall be commander of Israel.'"

Today's first reading recalls the day the shepherd David and ancestor of Jesus became the ruler of the twelve tribes of Israel. Not long after that his small army captured Jerusalem and made it his capital city. 

This Old Testament reading is offered on the feast of Christ the King because of the appeal the Israelites made to the young hero, "Here we are, your bone and your flesh." They wanted a kinsman to rule them, hold their loyalty, and fashion them into an organized kingdom. David was the right man for the job. 

We can say with equal confidence to the Hero who has conquered sin and death, "Here we are, your bone and your flesh." He is fully God and fully human. The Son of Mary is the Son of God, born like any one of us, and yet raised to the highest heaven. 

Born with all the limitations of our human flesh. Jesus is a man; he cannot be a woman. He is a Jew, circumcised like his male ancestors, inheriting the blessing of Abraham and the guilt of Jerusalem. He is strong but his strength is not that of a comic book superhero. He may be brilliant but he knows no more than the arts and sciences of his time. 

His freedom is that of obedience to his Heavenly Father. His family, wealth, and social influence offers no earthly privilege or entitlement. His freedom to speak, move, and act comes from the same source as yours and mine, his faith. Because he believes in God he does not fear pain, hunger, thirst, or death. He cannot change stones to bread, he has no such power; but that lack is no restriction. 

Inevitably, we who believe in the Lord must ask then, "Where does his freedom come. Why does he have the liberty of a king? And no less than the king of the universe?" 

We search our kinship with the Lord for the answer. Subject to him, inspired by the same Holy Spirit, we are empowered by him. And then we understand Nathaniel's astonished exclamation, "You are the king!"  

Saturday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 502

Then they heard a loud voice from heaven say to them, “Come up here.”
So they went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies looked on.

Today's first reading from the Book of Revelation is as difficult and cryptic as a passage can be. It was surely understood by its intended readers. We can only try to grasp what they already knew, and read it with those understandings. 

First, we know that Revelation was intended for Christians and nor for strangers or enemies. It is a word of reassurance for Christians; they will survive the oppression of enemies and the indifference of strangers. Their persevering faith will be recognized, appreciated, and rewarded. It is pointless and silly to warn non-Christians with these messages which are intended for our eyes only. 

"Who are the two prophets?" Why are they like two olive trees and two lamp stands. I suppose there were olive trees -- which live for centuries -- planted in front of the Jerusalem temple. They were clearly visible by day, and the lamps burned brightly by night. The trees and flames, like the sanctuary lamp in the Catholic church's sanctuary, represent the permanent presence of God in our world. These trees, lamps, and witnesses represent the Word of the Lord which abides forever.

I was reminded recently that Greek philosophy understood the sublunary world as the place of chronos, linear time as we understand it. They imagined the universe as concentric spheres with the globe of our Earth in the core of these heavenly spheres. The moon was attached to its crystal clear lunary sphere, and everything within it was sublunary. This is the place governed by chronological time, chronos. 

The stars are fixed to their outermost spheres, while wandering stars (planets) are fixed to inner spheres. These outer spheres are governed by kairos, an immeasurable, infinite time of the ever-present Now; that is, God's time. Nothing changes there.  

Anyone who wants to know what's really going on ponders eternity and its governance of our limited, sequential, secular world, where nothing abides forever except the eternal Word of God. 

These witnesses, sent from the Truth which is unchanging and reliable, have certain biblical powers to prove their authenticity. Like Elijah, they can "close up the sky so that no rain can fall during the time of their prophesying." They're also like Moses who had the "power to turn water into blood and to afflict the earth with any plague as often as they wish." 

The beast who destroys the witness rules this world. Didn't he tell Jesus, "“All these nations I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me?” Satan supposes he governs this world, and Jesus doesn't contradict him. Revelation, in chapter 12, recalls Saint Michael's purifying the heavens -- the outer spheres -- when he hurled Satan and his minions down to the earth, where they would harass the Virgin Mother and her children for a limited time. They're still here, even as we pray that God's will "be done on earth as it is in heaven."

The denizens of this world, governed by Satan, celebrate the death of the two witnesses with great festivity. They're not at all saddened by the loss of the Truth or the reminders of eternity, judgment, and the Kingdom of God. Their festivities suggest an alternate eternity, a timeless earth where no one ages, sickens, or dies; where the poor are never restless, and the wealthy are free do whatever tickles their fancy. There are no consequences for evil in that fantasy world, nor rewards for virtue. 

However, these earthen people are appalled when the corpses of the witness are reanimated and ascend into heaven -- "Great fear fell on those who saw them." The resurrection and ascension of the witnesses re  call the triumphant resurrection and ascension of Jesus; and the peoples of earth are again reminded of eternity and its truth. 

Finally, the devout might ask, "Is that really the way it is? Does Satan govern this world, and are all the people who do not listen to Christian witnesses doomed?" 

Our religion is more than a set of rules about doing good and avoiding evil. Is anyone so clever as to know always what is good and what is evil? The Book of Revelation reminds us that we cannot ignore or dismiss Apocalypse; it pervades the four Gospels and much of the New Testament. 

On this day before the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, we do well to ponder the apocalyptic passages of the scriptures, and to remember that the kingdom, the power, and the glory, though delayed, will come. 

Friday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 501

He said to me, “Take and swallow it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.”
I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and swallowed it. In my mouth it was like sweet honey, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.

I grew up on pancakes slathered with syrup every Saturday morning. It still tastes sweet in my mouth but it now sours in my stomach as the "sugar high" plunges very low. Everyone knows the Seer's experience of sweet food and sour stomach; and so we understand the story of his relishing the Word of God. It went well until it didn't. 

He was surely not surprised by that. The Prophet of Babylon had a similar experience, as he relates in Ezekiel 3 : 

[The Spirit] said to me: Son of man, eat what you find here: eat this scroll, then go, speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. "Son of man, he said to me, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving you. I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth." 

However, he tells us when he arrived among the exiles to announce the Lord's Word, "I stayed among them distraught for seven days."

The Catholic Church speaks prophetically to the world and it cannot pretend surprise when the Word is not welcome and its reception is hostile. If everyone should be concerned about nuclear weapons, climate change, unprecedented migrations of millions, staggering poverty and so forth, not many are. Most cannot be bothered. 

Sometimes the slightest gesture or meekest homily is greeted with a sound rebuke. When I preached Penance and alluded to Critical Race Theory on Ash Wednesday, remarking that not all sins are personal and some are social, I was scolded by one customer. He wanted the ashes but not a reminder of what they signify. 

Advent is about to begin. Let us remember the poverty of the Holy Family; and understand that consumerism consumes the world's scarce resources. We may not intend to deprive the world's poor of food, clothing, and shelter but it happens anyway. It may be too late to save the planet but it's not too late to change our Christmas customs. 

Memorial of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Religious

 Lectionary: 500

Then I saw a mighty angel who proclaimed in a loud voice,
“Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”
But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to examine it.
I shed many tears because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to examine it.
One of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed, enabling him to open the scroll with its seven seals.”

Can anyone be indifferent to their worth? 

I didn't really intend to "retire" last March, although everyone congratulated me on my retirement and two groups hosted parties for me, and I collected many warm wishes and some nice gifts. I expected only a new career, although I wasn't sure what it might be; and eventually to reenter the work force in some useful, demanding, and worthwhile capacity. 

It hasn't happened yet and, in the meanwhile, I have had to reconsider the meaning of worth. Namely, mine. 

Revelation 5:3-4 intends to startle those who hear its proclamation, and we should understand the Seer's distress: 

"But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to examine it. I shed many tears because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to examine it.

In all the wide Earth there was no one worthy. One might suppose every stratified society, and especially an empire, can produce several worthy persons to open a book and read it. An emperor, his consort, his oldest son, or ranking counselor: surely someone can do it. In our day we might expect the POTUS, or the Chief Justice of the SCOTUS to step forward. or the UN Secretarial General to step forward. But no one was found worthy. 

Nor was it because the nations could not agree on who is worthy. They weren't asked. Worth has its own signature, and only One can make that decision. 

Can anyone be indifferent to their worth? Can anyone abandon everything that makes them worthwhile? I think of my job with its responsibilities. I consider my standing among the friars, and the loyal love of my family and friends. I might consider my skills, abilities, and experience; or my reputation and financial worth. A profession is ranked higher than a career, and a career is better than a job. Some might say they're only doing their job when they've achieved something heroic, but we honor their courage and admire their worthiness. 

Many people seem to think their possessions make them worthy, or their appearance, vigorous good health, and self-reliant independence. They're a burden to no one! They might declare, "Because I need no one I am worthy!" 

An odd statement, at best. 

Our reading continues. Apparently out of nowhere, out of an abyss of worthlessness -- that is, of his ignominious death on a cross -- the one who did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 

"has triumphed, enabling him to open the scroll with its seven seals."

Retirement has given me the opportunity to consider my own worth in the surpassing glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

Wednesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 499 

The four living creatures, each of them with six wings,
were covered with eyes inside and out.
Day and night they do not stop exclaiming:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty,
who was, and who is, and who is to come.”
Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks
to the one who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever,
the twenty-four elders fall down
before the one who sits on the throne
and worship him, who lives forever and ever.

Our first reading today from the Book of Revelation treats us with a vision of God's triumphant glory as the human representatives of creation worship and praise him. We on earth daily echo their prayers with the doxology that ends each decade of the rosary:

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. 

Catholics thank God for our orthodox religion, a word meaning both right praise and right teaching.

The Book of Revelation uses the tropes of this world to describe God's triumph. John the Seer of Patmos has probably never seen the emperor of Rome, nor has he frequented the halls of kings, governors, and procurators. But he has heard the songs and watched the festivities that accompany these mortal humans as they marched -- or were carried -- through the muddy, filthy streets of ancient cities. He has seen the armored, helmeted soldiers marching, causing a tremor with their stamping tread. He might have seen heavy equipment like battering rams and catapults paraded through major and minor cities . Like everyone else, he has been impressed by these displays of power. He got the emperor's message, "resistance is futile." 

But he has come to believe that Jesus rose from the dead and that Christ has been given greater authority by his dying than anyone can dream of or imagine. While the emperor threatens to destroy anyone who stands in his way, the Christ will raise from the dead everyone who believes in his name. Harrumphing displays of power in this world cannot hold a candle to his visions of heaven. After the government's charade/parade has passed through the city, and the usual street sounds of screaming children and shouting merchants have resumed, the Seer still hears the four living creatures crying out day and night, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty." 

Revelation reminds us of our purpose in this world and the next, to praise God's goodness, beauty, and truth. It is our pleasure and privilege to see with our mortal eyes -- and to be amazed -- at all God's creation even as we hope to see with immortal eyes the One who is seated on the throne. If we are delighted now by sunsets and waterfalls and laughing children, we shall be all the more ecstatic over visions of God's goodness and holiness in eternity. These rewards are promised to us. They are right and just. 

Optional Memorial of Saint Albert the Great, bishop and doctor of the Church

  Lectionary: 498 

The one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says this: “I know your works, that you have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Be watchful and strengthen what is left, which is going to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.

In his Salutation of the Virtues, Saint Francis of Assisi pronounced a solemn truth which should put the Holy Fear of the Lord in every Christian: 

There is absolutely no man in the whole world who can possess one [virtue] among you unless he first die. He who possesses one and does not offend the others, possesses all; and he who offends one, possesses none and offends all; and every one [of them] confounds vices and sins.

From there he goes on to list the virtues: wisdom, simplicity, poverty, humility, charity, and obedience. The Sayings of the Companions of Saint Francis describe a lecture by the Saint in which he names the virtues in greater detail, and recalls his first disciples: 

"Blessed Francis used to say that a good Lesser Brother is one who would possess the life and qualities of the following holy brothers: namely, 

• the faith and love of poverty which Brother Bernard most perfectly had; 
• the simplicity and purity of Brother Leo who was truly was the first soldier to enter the Order and was endowed with every a man of most holy purity; 
• the courtly bearing of Brother Angelo who courtesy and kindness; 
• the friendly manner and common sense of Brother Masseo, together with his attractive and gracious eloquence: 
• the mind raised in contemplation which Brother Giles had even to the highest perfection; 
• the virtuous and constant prayer of Brother Rufino who, whatever he was doing, even sleeping, always prayed without ceasing and whose mind was always intent on the Lord; 
• the patience of Brother Juniper who achieves the perfect state of patience because he always kept in mind the perfect truth of his low estate. And the ardent desired to imitate Christ through the way of the cross; 
• the bodily and spiritual strength of Brother. John of Lords. Who at that time in his robust body surpassed everyone;
• The charity of Brother Roger, whose life and conduct were spent in ardent love; 
• the solicitude of Brother Lucidus who had the greatest care and concern and did not want to remain any place for a month; and when he enjoyed staying someplace, would immediately leave, "We do not have a dwelling place here on earth, but in heaven."  Thanks be to God. Amen.   [Francis of Assisi, Early Document, volume III, , page 125]

Returning to "The Holy Fear of the Lord," which is where I began this reflection, we do well to meditate on the virtues and consider our shortcomings. Our familiar human society will always affirm some of our virtues, which inflates the ego. And society will always gossip about our faults, which we suppose are hidden. Flattering oneself is a poor reassurance of salvation. 

But, if we ask, our merciful God who wants only good for us reveals our faults to us. He speaks directly by way of honest reflection; or indirectly by the complaints of loved ones and accurate accusations of enemies. (Sometimes our enemies are the only ones who speak the truth to us.) 

And then, both mortified and relieved, we turn back to the Lord. 

Thanks be to God. Amen.