First Sunday of Lent

Lectionary: 22

The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” Satan, in today’s gospel, doesn’t know what to make of Jesus. He seems uncertain of who Jesus is or his relationship with God. And so he twice challenges the Lord, “If you are the Son of God….” Jesus stands before Satan as an ordinary human being who has inexplicably placed himself in an intolerably helpless position. He is famished after fasting for forty days and forty nights. As Saint Matthew tells the story, Jesus was not proving to himself how strong he might be. He would not be the master of his fate or the captain of his soul. Rather, the Spirit led him into the desert to be tempted by the devil. This would be their first meeting, an encounter of hell and heaven. The contest between Jesus and Satan concerned power, but it was not a mighty struggle between two powerful parties. Rather, it was an apocalyptic contest between power and no power; or power and authority. The mysterious word of God had come to the wilderness to meet the chaotic, lawless, undisciplined power of this world. Satan could not quite imagine what was happening. He apparently thought this was the moment to challenge the Son of God – if he was the Son of God – for governance of this world and everything that happens within it. It might be the same contest Satan had won when he found a gullible, young couple in the Garden of Eden; and the same for every human being who must make a moral choice. Will Jesus trust God, and wait upon God as Adam and Eve had not; or will he allow unanswered questions and a leering face rush him into an unwise, premature decision? But Jesus, almost prostrate with hunger, like a child answering catechism questions, answered Satan with nothing more than memorized Bible verses:

"The Lord, your God, shall you worship

and him alone shall you serve.”

Satan offered Jesus economic power if he would turn rocks into bread. Jesus refused. He offered him religious authority if he would leap off the parapet of the temple and be lowered gently to earth by angels. People would see his astonishing descent and believe in him. Despite what secular authorities say, religion does have very real power in this world. Again, Jesus refused. Finally, Satan offered him royal power — all the kingdoms of the earth – if he would only worship Satan. Jesus refused. Jesus seemed to want nothing; he had no apparent purpose or goal. What did he want? Why was he fasting for forty days and forty nights? Saint Matthew says, “Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him.” That was just the beginning, their first encounter. And we’re left to wonder what comes next. How will this story end? Remember that the contest is about our salvation; it’s about the Earth and its ownership. Does the World belong to Satan as he claims, or does it belong to God, who seems to be so quiet, and distant, and removed from our anxious concerns? Nations governed by democracies want more power; as do those nations governed by autocrats, dictators, and kings. They believe they cannot survive without the power to defend themselves against other nations, and that means the power to threaten other nations – or at least to make their presence felt. They develop conventional weapons and nuclear weapons, biological and chemical weapons, cyber weapons and militarized drones, espionage, conspiracies, covert operations, PSYOPs, and assassinations. Only when they run out of every other option do they talk about compromise, and then they must negotiate from strength. There in the desert Jesus had nothing but his hunger and a few Bible verses. We might have hoped he'd be stronger when they met again, but that doesn’t appear to be what happened. He was even weaker after his trial before the Sanhedrin, Pontius Pilate, Herod, the mob, and the Roman scourge. But there he was again reciting Bible verses, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” He had nothing more than his faith in God. Ever since 1945 people have wondered if you might stop a hurricane with an atomic bomb. Is it possible you might find just the right moment and just the right place, where you could detonate an atomic or hydrogen device and frustrate the enormous energy of a hurricane? Can you stop overwhelming power with the clever use of less power? But people who study these things have replied, “You might as well throw a firecracker at the hurricane. It will have the same effect.” Other than his hunger and a few bible verses, Jesus had there in the desert one thing more powerful than power. He had obedience. The Spirit had led an obedient son of Adam and Eve into the desert. He knew he could not worship Satan, and so he obediently waited for God his Father who would not to lead him into temptation and would deliver him from evil, Saint Matthew finished his Gospel with Jesus' quiet words to his disciples, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Saint Paul would add to “heaven and earth,” that Satan in hell, would worship him:

Because of (his obedience), God greatly exalted him

and bestowed on him the name

that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue confess that

Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father.

At Easter Christians celebrate the victory Jesus won for us over the powers of this world. His victory is the hurricane; Satan’s power and all the world’s resistance are nothing more than firecrackers.

Saturday of the First Week of Lent

 Lectionary: 229

"You have heard that it was said,
You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
But I say to you, love your enemies,
and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father,
for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.

Simone Weil, an intense young teacher, writer, and philosopher, was once known by her fellow philosophical students in the academy as "Mademoiselle Categorical Imperative."

The expression, Categorical Imperative, was coined by Emmanuel Kant. He had proposed that, if something is the right thing to do then it absolutely must be done. And if it's wrong, it must never occur. If a piece of scrap paper should be picked up off the street, it's a sin not to. 

Mlle Weil lived her last days in England during World War II but she knew that millions of people in France and Germany were suffering starvation, and so she died of malnutrition after months of fasting in sympathy with the hungry, despite the urging of the English family that had taken her in. 

She also delayed Baptism and entrance into the Catholic Church because she had issues with some of the Church's policies and much of the Church's history, although she believed that the Blessed Sacrament is the Body and Blood of Christ, attended Mass, and worshiped often in a Catholic Church. 

Lent offers us the opportunity to recognize our sins, including the systemic sins of the world we have created and to which we contribute continually. It will also remind us of how helpless we are in our sins, because forty days is a long time to keep most of our resolutions intact. 

Like Mlle Categorical Imperative, we're appalled by stories of sin in the Church and among our ancestors; but our descendants will probably look aghast at things we take for granted. How can a society breed its children in test tubes and implant them in unknown women, as if the human child is a commodity or a pet? How can a society abort children and spend billions on custom-designed pets?  How can they smoke carcinogenic tobacco and drive fossil fuel vehicles? What were they thinking? 

We'll have no answer for them, as we helplessly observe their misdoings from eternity. But the grace of God will speak to them as it does to us, because our. 

"... heavenly Father makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust."

Friday after Ash Wednesday

 Lectionary: 221

Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast.”

Boomers remember the Byrds' song, Turn, Turn, Turn; it brings back bittersweet memories of hope and disappointment. Most of us knew they were citing a scripture passage, though we might not have known Ecclesiastes 3 or "David’s son, Qoheleth, king in Jerusalem." 

Given our youth, we could not understand the scale, weight or significance of "There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens." That comes only with time, with more to come. 

Lent is a time to remember the scale, weight, and significance of our sins. Most of us flinch at that, and attempt to escape or excuse ourselves from responsibility for what has happened, like Adam when he blamed both God and Eve for what he had done. "I didn't vote for that party!" we might insist; or, "That wasn't what I intended. It wasn't my fault!"

The scriptures, recording as they do the history of Israel from Adam to the present day, put it more simply. 

"We have sinned like our ancestors; we have done wrong and are guilty. Ps 106:6

The accusation might be too heavy to bear if the Lord himself had not taken up the burden for us, and carried it to Calvary. Lent insists that we take up our own crosses and walk with him. Everyone must walk that lonesome valley, although we don't have to do it alone. "Nobody else can walk it for you." 

Americans enjoy the myth of rugged individualism, a foolishly unrealistic story that bears little relationship to our everyday experience. I couldn't drive across town without thousands of people obeying traffic laws, paying their taxes, and watching out for their neighbor. We're in this together, and together we bear responsibility for everything that happens. 

When the Lord joins us only fools would stand apart from us, thinking they don't need his company and ours. And so we fast, give alms, and pray to the Lord for forgiveness of our sins and deliverance from the evil we have brought upon ourselves. 

With him, we'll do Lent right; we'll be grateful; and we'll enjoy it. 

Thursday after Ash Wednesday

Lectionary: 220

What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?

Today's gospel ends with a severe warning in the form of a rhetorical question. The Questioner assumes his hearers believe in some form of eternal life; or at least that human life has more depth and meaning than many of our modern contemporaries recognize. 

In His day, in a world without X-rays, MRIs, CT-scans, blood test, or blood pressure anyone might suddenly disappear into the maw of death. When the imaginary was populated with demons, angels, and spirits, people knew the human soul is destined for eternity -- even if eternity offered nothing more than endless lethargy following a bath in the River Lethe. 

Today's haves, however, often dismiss the deeper dimensions of human life as unknowable and unreal. They have what they want, and understand only power. It's palpable and real; and if they're not satisfied with their share of power, they do not suppose there is an infinitely powerful God who would surrender his power to a man in first century Judea. Everyone knows that power wants more power, shares little, and freely  surrenders nothing. 

But the Lord's question can force the wise to reconsider their own foolish impulses. 

"What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit oneself?"

We might enjoy financial success, but family and community are more satisfying. We might enjoy winning games but the camaraderie of sportsmanship is more important. We might enjoy those occasions when our opinions prevail over those of others, but our being right should humiliate no one. Every married person understands that, or must soon learn it. We might enjoy owning property, but the burden of ownership is heavy as our possessions take possession of us. It is better to let it go sooner than later. It is better to surrender power than to do harm with it. 

The Lord's question puts things in perspective as we begin preparing for Holy Week and Easter. We want to walk with the Lord from the Cenacle to Gethsemane, and from Gethsemane to Calvary, and from there into the Light of Easter. It will not be an easy journey. We'd better travel lightly. 

"What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?"

Ash Wednesday 2026

Lectionary: 219

"Take care not to perform righteous deeds
in order that people may see them;
otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.

Moments before the Lord ascended into heaven, he commissioned them with a great responsibility: 

...you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

But, rather than scattering from the Mount of Olives to tell everyone what they had seen and heard, they retired immediately to Jerusalem and the Upper Room, where they continued in prayer for nine days. They had to do that. There was much inner work to be done among those few who remained with the Lord. 

First, they had to get organized. In the Cenacle they recognized Peter's authority. He had been only the spokesman for the Lord before; but now he spoke with the authority of the Lord. And they had to appoint one of their own to replace Judas Iscariot, the traitor. 

Then they had to pray and wait upon the Holy Spirit. That is, they had much work to do in their hearts and minds. The sobriety program of Alcoholics Anonymous has an adage for new members, "No two-stepping!" Meaning, don't skip from the First Step -- "we admitted we were alcoholics and our lives had become unmanageable" -- to the Twelfth Step  -- "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs."

Many new members, in their relief and joy of their new freedom immediately rush out and tell everyone that they too should join AA. They can be so taken up in that enthusiasm that they're immediately discouraged when their families and friends are neither persuaded of their newfound sobriety, not inclined to join them in attending a meeting. 

People in recovery have much inner work to do, as do the Lord's disciples. Before you go "...throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” go to your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in heaven. 

That's what Lent is all about. We can make a show of the ashes on our foreheads. That's kind of fun and everyone knows we're Catholic, but we're not saved by the show we make. Appearances are nothing more than appearances. Often, the more ostentatious our religion, the shallower its roots. Oddly, Catholic Churches are often packed on Ash Wednesday, more so than any other day of the year. I don't why that is, but it seems to mean nothing. 

"Wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden; and your Father, who sees what is hidden, will repay you."

Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 336

Rather, each person is tempted when lured and enticed by his desire.
Then desire conceives and brings forth sin,
and when sin reaches maturity it gives birth to death.

Satan is no fool; he doesn't tempt good people with bad things. They readily brush off notions that are neither interesting nor appealing. Rather, Satan tempts good people with good things. 

Faced with several options, we study each one, gauging their merits against the risks and costs, and decide about them. Our preferences and desires, of course, play their own part. Everyone has predilections for certain ideas, themes, colors, places; and we're easily persuaded to do something we've often enjoyed, or something we've always wanted to do. Satan has a lot to work with in this field.  

The practice of prayer would urge us to consider what God wants, and which choices God prefers. But many "good people" may be inclined to make our choices before they've consulted with the Lord. Or their desires might say the choice isn't that important. Everyone makes hundreds, if not thousands, of choices every day. We can hardly be expected to think long and hard about which route to take on a familiar trip across town when several choices amount to the same distance. "Just do it!" we say.

And sometimes, we're led on by what everyone is saying, that "This is a good thing!" The relief of pain, for instance; or cost effectiveness. Such matters hardly merit an hour in prayer. 

But one choice leads to another, and we may be heading directly toward an unhappy conclusion even before we realize we chose this way. "Then desire conceives and brings forth sin...." Saint James says. We intended good but wrong came of it. 

"Never stop praying!" Saint Paul said. Prayer asks the question, "What does God want?" and remains available for an answer. It may not come immediately. And, perhaps, it really doesn't matter which one we choose. Continual prayer reminds us that God is always with us, and is a party to every decision. 

If we make a habit of not consulting our own preferences for every little thing, we're more open to the zephyrs of the Holy Spirit. He can shape our preferences in the smallest matters. 

We want with all our hearts to know the mind of God, and nothing pleases us more than pleasing God. That is what we desire with all our hearts. 

Monday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 335

He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said,
"Why does this generation seek a sign?
Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation."
Then he left them, got into the boat again,
and went off to the other shore.

You know you're in trouble when your friend or loved one stops talking to you. And you should know you're in very deep trouble when your God gets into a boat and sails off to another shore. End of conversation. No more warning will be issued. You're on your own. 

"This generation" sought a sign, but no sign would be given. It sounds familiar. Is there some reason why God should prove he exists before you will believe in him? And how will you prove to God that you exist? 

That's the real question in their minds. I have met people -- we all have -- who cannot remember where they have been, and cannot say where they're going. Do they really exist? How do they know it? As a VA chaplain conducting a group conversation among recovering addicts, I learned not to ask them to detail major events in their life to date. 

I thought that would be an easy task: 

"I was born in such and such a year; I went to these schools; I enlisted in this year; I served in these capacities. This is what I've done since I was discharged." 

But it proved too difficult for many addicts. It hurt too much to try; it's like a headache. 

"Can we put off this discussion till tomorrow, or next week, or next year? I don't want to think of the time and opportunities and money and friendships and people I've wasted. It's too much. I have no past. 

And where am I going. I don't know. What will I do with my freedom from drugs, if I ever get it? I don't know. I guess I'll just do what I want to do; but that's why I am here. I was doing what I wanted."

Many of the Veterans did well in the sobriety program, although the process is demanding and endless. But we know there are millions of hapless individuals in the United States and the world who are not given the help they need. 

Does a person who remembers no past and expects nothing of the future actually exist? They seem to have a body, but no connection to it. 

We know God exists because He speaks to us. We have seen Him acting in our history very deliberately and very obviously. There was Jesus who rose from the dead! There was Moses who, at the Lord's behest, opened the Red Sea and commanded the Hebrews to march through it ahead of the Egyptian army. 

We know we exist because God called us, named us, and gave us a mission. We are to live in the Kingdom of God; we must live in such a way as to demonstrate God's continual presence to others. They should see the wisdom, justice, and mercy of God in our decisions, deportment, and style; and hear it in our language and song.   

This generation wants a sign, but they want it on their own terms. That cannot happen because they keep changing the terms. They're moving the goal posts and no one can win their game. 

He sighed from the depth of his spirit....

Then he left them, got into the boat again,

and went off to the other shore.

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 76

Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter
will pass from the law,
until all things have taken place.

Moses gave his people the law and he also assured them that God’s law is not impossible. Unlike the expectations we place on ourselves and others, the Law of God is entirely practical and doable. 

Many social observers have remarked on the impossible expectations we impose on ourselves. Women are supposed to be excellent mothers, good housekeepers, great cooks, reliable employees, virtuous wives, and fascinating sexual partners. And if you have to live more than forty years, don't look like it! 

Men should be strong, clever, confident, self-assured, successful, prosperous, and reliable. They should never ask directions, and should never admit they don't know the answer. (They'll make something up.)   

Like the First Couple in the Garden of Eden, after trying and tasting the forbidden fruit, Adam’s sons and Eve’s daughters have knowledge of good and evil, but no clear understanding of either. We know what we like; we sometimes know what we want; and we think those things are good. We know what we fear and have strong opinions of things we don't like. Many children detest and absolutely refuse to eat certain foods because they have never tasted them. We hate those things and think they’re certainly evil. 

But we have some notions of Good and Evil, of what those words really mean. Some philosophers today suppose those principles don’t really exist; there is no substantial reality beyond what we think, feel, and perceive with our senses. They insist there is no God who can reveal the truth to us, because there is no truth. 

And so they readily dismiss the Church which would help the world make personal, social, economic, and political decisions. They know only power; and they teach their children that “might makes right.” If you have the strength, the ability, the freedom, and the money, you can do anything you want; and more than you can imagine. You can do the impossible! There are no limits to what you can do – with machines, with ideas, with people, or with your bodies. You can go to Mars! You might even live forever. We will figure out how to prolong life forever! When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are, your dreams come true! 

One of the friars here at Mount Saint Francis, when I was a seminarian, told of a friend who asked him, “How can you priests live and not have women?” He replied, “It’s just like you, Joe. You have only one woman; that’s your wife. We don’t have that one.” The friar said he knew Joe played around with more than a few women, despite his being married; but he reminded the fellow that human beings can and do live chastely. 

When Jesus teaches us in today’s Gospel, “You have heard it said…, but I say to you…” he is reminding his disciples about the Good and Evil which God reveals through his Holy Word. That word comes to us as a command which cannot, and must not, be compromised. You have heard compromises about killing, divorce, adultery, and swearing; but I am telling you you can live in purity of heart without compromise. You can please God as Adam and Eve never did. 

whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments

and teaches others to do so

will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments

will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

The Lord also insisted, “I have come not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill.” The enemies of God, who have great authority in our government, our schools, our entertainment, and social media, tell us that no one can live that way. It’s impossible and we should not expect it of ourselves or anyone else. Today’s child should expect to be married at least three times before they die, that’s just the way things are! We should commit adultery; we should lie, and lie under oath, like everyone else. 

But Jesus, who is compelled by the Holy Spirit, and passionately in love with God his Father, assures us, “...in the Holy Spirit all things are possible.” In obedience to God, with the humble confession that we are sinners like our sacred parents Adam and Eve, we can live in purity of heart. When we say yes, we mean yes; when we say no we mean no. When we say, “I will do it, it is done. Count on it.”

“My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” When we place our confidence in the Spirit God gives us, and not in our fears and ignorance, all things are possible. 

…whoever obeys and teaches these commandments

will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses

that of the scribes and Pharisees,

you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Memorial of Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop

 Lectionary: 334

Jeroboam did not give up his evil ways after this,
but again made priests for the high places
from among the common people.
Whoever desired it was consecrated
and became a priest of the high places.
This was a sin on the part of the house of Jeroboam
for which it was to be cut off and destroyed from the earth.

Historians of the 19th and 20th centuries seemed to take delight in challenging Biblical history with its earth-covering flood, rain of fire and brimstone, and a Red Sea that mysteriously split apart to allow passage of escaping slaves and then slapped shut again on their pursuers. "It never happened!" they claimed. "It could never happen!"

But there was something that certainly happened repeatedly in David's Israel, and happens repeatedly in every nation's history, and that is sin. We know it; we recognize it; but only God's faithful people acknowledge, confess, and try to atone for it. Secular historians hypocritically say they make no judgments about people or their decisions; but judgments are made nonetheless. The winners are the good guys who write the history books; the losers are the bad people who remember what happened.

The Bible faithfully records the sins of God's people, of winners and losers, as in today's story of Jeroboam's leading the northern kingdom of Israel out of David's kingdom. But the Word of God also remembers the nations who insulted the authority of God and suffered dreadful consequences. As we approach Ash Wednesday we thank God that He gives us the courage and honesty to recognize, own, confess, and atone for our sins. 

And we thank God who helps us to live in purity of heart even among idolatrous nations. Today, as millions of people celebrate Valentines Day without even a passing reference to a gentle bishop who preferred torture and death to betrayal of God's love, the Church turns our attention to other names and other saints who practiced heroic virtue. There is no shortage. 

We remember Saints Cyril and Methodius, for bringing the Catholic faith to the people of eastern Europe. Their story is complicated by the sin of the German bishops who opposed the Greek brothers for their work among the despised Slavs. The brothers translated the Gospels, the psalter, Paul’s letters and the liturgical books into Slavonic, and composed a Slavonic liturgy. Despite the Bavarian bishops' opposition, Pope Adrian II approved their liturgical work. 

Cyril created the Cyrillic alphabet which is used in Eastern Europe and Northern/Central Asia. It serves as the official script for over 50 languages spoken by approximately 250 million people. Major nations using it include Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, Serbia, North Macedonia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Mongolia.  

In 1974-75, I saw an effect of their great work as I witnessed eastern European priests celebrating Mass and hearing confessions for Americans citizens and migrants in many Slavonic languages at our shrine in Carey, Ohio. 

Sometimes, it seems, if the Church cannot find someone to persecute our saints, we'll do it ourselves. As Cardinal Dolan said, "Don't tell me about sin in the Church; I am a Church historian!" But God gathers sinners to praise his Name, and in the process purifies us and makes us worthy to join the company of martyrs like Valentine and courageous souls like Cyril and Methodius. 

Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 333

He put his finger into the man's ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
"Ephphatha!" (that is, "Be opened!")
And immediately the man's ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly. 

If Jesus is God and God can do anything he wants in any way he wants, and without much effort, then why did Jesus make such a show of restoring this man's hearing? Did he have to push his finger into the man's ears, spit, and touch his tongue? And groan? It seems pretty unsanitary! Is he using magical gestures to distract people from his actual identity? 

And why did Saint Mark retain that original Aramaic word in his Greek text, and then tell us what it meant? How many millions of gallons of ink might have been saved in all those Bibles in all those languages if ephphatha had not been included? 

Let's go back to the beginning, which is actually where we're sent when we finish reading the original text of Saint Mark's gospel with its appendices. That is, the text which ended with 16:8 -- the women...

"...went out and fled from the tomb, seized with trembling and bewilderment. They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid." 

 Surely, every reader asks, "And then what happened?" And the reply: "If you have to ask, go back and read it again." 

He groaned when he healed the deaf man and he groaned as he died: 

"Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last." (Mark 15:37)

Like his groaning over the deaf man, the manner of Jesus death was shocking. First of all, a crucified man hardly has strength to whimper, much less cry out. Secondly, many interpret his last words as from one who has lost all hope. 

"Why have you abandoned me?" echoes Psalm 22, which ends in quiet confidence. But the expression nonetheless sounds like one who has failed because he has been betrayed. Nor has he any reason to expect anything but endless emptiness. Like many preceding generations of Jews, he has been removed from the land -- crucified and lifted above it -- to die in exile, far from the home, the temple, and the God who resided there. And, as Saint Mark adds, "The veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom." meaning God has departed. 

Too often, thinking of Jesus as God, we forget what our salvation costs. But every teaching, every parable, and every gesture of human compassion cost Jesus his life. Everything about the man led him to Calvary. He was born to die and to atone for our sins. 

If we've not heard that message, we should ask the Lord to stab his finger into our ears. 

Thursday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 332

He said to her, “Let the children be fed first.
For it is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs.”
She replied and said to him,
“Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.”

The Lord's initial response to the persistent pagan woman reflects a principle deep in our scriptures. It was well known to Saint Paul and the nascent Church as they set out to announce the Good News to Jews first, and then to gentiles.

Salvation History began when "the LORD said to Abram: 'Go forth from your land, your relatives, and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you."

 

Idealists -- that is, those who are devoted to the way things should be rather than they way things are -- think that God should not prefer anyone first. Everyone should be loved equally and simultaneously, just as the sun shines on the good and the bad, and the rain falls on the wicked and virtuous. (Although any farmer who owns more than a few acres can tell you how scattered showers fall differently on different fields.)

If we read the Book of Genesis literally we can see how the idealists' vision failed. God's universal love for all the children of Adam and Eve was universally ignored until He was thoroughly disgusted with the entire experiment of breathing divine life into mud. 

And so he began with Abram, and then Abram's wife Sarai, as he renamed them Abraham and Sarah. He promised that all nations to come would call them blessed: 

I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing."

The Church continues to operate in this way as we invite everyone:

“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the holy Spirit. 

Repentance, the sacraments, and solidarity with the Church are entwined like the fibers of a rope and are all the same thing. We are the people of God, the elect, heirs of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Salvation begins as we turn away from sin, set out on the Gospel Road, and invite everyone to join us. 

So the Lord's response to the pagan woman should come as no surprise. His mission was to the Jews; and though he healed people in gentile territory, he did not preach to them. Not knowing the traditions and culture of the Jews -- that is their laws, statutes, and ordinances -- his message would have been Greek to them. 

It only became clear to the disciples of Jesus after Pentecost and their missionary experience that gentiles -- and the entire world -- would want to hear the Good News of Salvation; and that his sacrificial death would redeem all nations and the Earth itself. 

Who would believe what we have heard? It is a grace and a glory beyond human comprehension, and revealed to our small brains only in digestible parts. 

Optional Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes

 Lectionary: 330

Thus he declared all foods clean.
“But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him.
From within the man, from his heart,
come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile.”

It is easy to suppose that living an ostentatiously good life keeps one's heart pure. Food does not contaminate the soul; nor should we suppose that detoxifying foods will purify the heart. Obviously the paid influencers who promote that banality care not a whiff for the consumer's heart or soul.

"God sees the heart!" Samuel told Jesse as they looked among Jesse's sons for God's choice of an anointed ruler of Israel. 

I, the LORD, explore the mind

and test the heart,

Giving to all according to their ways,

according to the fruit of their deeds.

A partridge that broods but does not hatch

are those who acquire wealth unjustly:

In midlife it will desert them;

in the end they are only fools. Jeremiah 17:10

With all vigilance guard your heart,

for in it are the sources of life. Proverbs 4:23 

The Pharisees, who loved money, heard (Jesus' teaching) all these things and sneered at him. And he said to them, “You justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts; for what is of human esteem is an abomination in the sight of God. Luke 16:14-15 

Sneering comes easily to God's enemies, today as then; it will not come so readily to their lips when they see the Day of His Judgment. 

The faithful know and love the truth. We have seen saints live for it, and martyrs die for it, and we hope to follow where they have gone. We pray that the truth finds us worthy of their company. Meaning that we can do fine without the company of those who sneer at virtue, honesty, sacrifice, piety, devotion, or prayer. We shake the dust of their streets off our feet and go with the Lord. 

Memorial of Saint Scholastica, Virgin

Lectionary: 330

"Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders
but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?" 
He responded,
"Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites,

as it is written:

This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
In vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.

The Gospels and Saint Paul often describe the devotion of the Pharisees as hypocritical lip service. They are roundly condemned for making the appearance of piety while their hearts, hidden to themselves but transparent to everyone else, are like whitened sepulchers.

The faithful of our time don't have to search very far to recognize the same hypocrisy today. It seems the entire world has lost its senses and ardently believes that appearances are the only reality; and there is nothing behind the fakery. As Archibald MacLeish suggested in his famous poem:

The End Of The World

Quite unexpectedly, as Vasserot

The armless ambidextrian was lighting

A match between his great and second toe,

And Ralph the lion was engaged in biting

The neck of Madame Sossman while the drum

Pointed, and Teeny was about to cough

In waltz-time swinging Jocko by the thumb

Quite unexpectedly the top blew off:

And there, there overhead, there, there hung over

Those thousands of white faces, those dazed eyes,

There in the starless dark, the poise, the hover,

There with vast wings across the cancelled skies,

There in the sudden blackness the black pall

Of nothing, nothing, nothing — nothing at all. 

MacLeish described the world as a circus of vulgar entertainment with its dazzled audience. When a real catastrophe happens and The End falls upon the show, there is nothing. No judgment. No appearance of God, or His Kingdom; of justice, mercy, or compassion. 

In fact, many people believe they live in such a world. They expect nothing and hope for nothing. If they want anything, it's power. But only a few have power, and those few see no reason to apply justice or mercy in their pursuit of more power. Power is its only purpose and aim, and desire its only motive. 

Living in such a world where, it seems, everyone believes in nothing, it's easy to suppose that every demonstration of kindness, mercy, or devotion is hypocritical. Even those who profess a creed suspect everyone else of hypocrisy. 

For instance. I went with Catholic friends to a rather sober Protestant service one Sunday. Familiar as I was with Black Catholic celebrations in my Louisiana congregation, I was not surprised by the formalism of this staid white church. But my friends, hearing a different style of singing and preaching, thought the entire program was phony. I had to remind them that we live in a multicultural world where people can express themselves quite differently. 

We must allow the Lord to judge, and withhold our own critical impulses. There are many good people doing much good in a world where appearances only seem to matter. What does matter is the Kingdom of God. His Mighty Works are appearing all around us for those with eyes to see. 

Monday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 329

Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered,
they laid the sick in the marketplaces
and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak;
and as many as touched it were healed.

The Gospels have no antiseptic scruples about the Lord's contact with people; nor did his first disciples. Saint Luke records people rushing to touch even the clothing of his missionaries: 

So extraordinary were the mighty deeds God accomplished at the hands of Paul that when face cloths or aprons that touched his skin were applied to the sick, their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. Acts 19:11

As a hospital chaplain I took all the usual precautions of hand washing and latex, nitrile, or vinyl gloves, and didn't hesitate to lay hands on the heads of patients, and then anoint their foreheads and hands with the sacred oil. Once, in Louisiana, a fellow dying of AIDS asked if I would give him a hug. "And why not?" I said. I worry more about the contamination of sin than the spread of disease. 

The Gospels reveal the reverse power of the Lord's touching. Instead of being made impure by his contact with leprosy and skin diseases, he renders the sick pure, and frees them from sin. Even the tassels on his cloak communicated healing grace. 

Psalm 91 celebrates the assurance of those who walk in the Lord during difficult times: 

You shall not fear the terror of the night

nor the arrow that flies by day,c

Nor the pestilence that roams in darkness,

nor the plague that ravages at noon.

Though a thousand fall at your side,

ten thousand at your right hand,

near you it shall not come. (verses 5-7) 

When the Angel said to Mary, "Do not be afraid," she tossed aside her fears and gave herself totally to the Lord. She said, in effect, "Totus tuus" The blind beggar Bartimaeus did the same when he tossed his cloak aside and went to the Lord. They  set the example for every disciple of Jesus. We cannot be dissuaded by fears, threats, or danger when the Spirit of the Lord takes charge of our lives. 

 

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 73

"You are the salt of the earth.
But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?
It is no longer good for anything
but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
You are the light of the world.

Be Be all that you can be! Or so we're urged by ad agencies. They want us to be different than what we are – but not so much as to make a difference. 

Clearly God thinks differently about his people. Born of the Jewish heritage and descendants of Abraham Our Father in Faith, we are meant to be a blessing to the nations. Our being here can cheer up the depressed, console the sorrowing, heal the sick, forgive sins, and reconcile enemies. Wherever we go we carry the fresh, lively scent of the Garden of Eden because we have been in Bethlehem when Jesus was born, in Nazareth as he grew up, and on the road as he spoke to us. We were with him as he died on Calvary, and he appeared to us on Easter Sunday, and many times since then. We have dual citizenship; we belong here but we are destined for eternal bliss in heaven. We died with him in Baptism and were raised up again in the Eucharist. We are different and we make a difference. We are, as Jesus says, the salt of the earth. 

But, because our being the salt of the earth is so important, he must remind us that useless "salt" will be thrown out. Sometimes, in our eager desire to be accepted as God’s good, friendly, nice people, we mistake the sugar of friendliness for the salt of repentance. We forget the Lord’s first word to us, “Repent of your sins and believe the Good News.”” Unless they recognize and despise their sins no one can hear the Good News. And so the food we offer is insipid, that is, tasteless. 

In today's gospel the Lord tells us, "You are the light of the world." That message takes us back to Sunday, two weeks ago, 

“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,

the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan,

Galilee of the Gentiles,

the people who sit in darkness

have seen a great light,

on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death

light has arisen."

The regions of Zebulun and Naphthali were lost to the light of faith when the Neo-Assyrian Empire overran the northern kingdom of Israel in the eighth century before Christ. They forced most of the native Israelites off the land God had given them; and then forced aliens to occupy, intermarry with the survivors, and take possession of the homes the Israelites had built, the orchards they had planted, and the fields they had cultivated. Although they worshiped the God of Israel, the people of Judah and Jerusalem regarded them as worse than gentiles.  

However, the Prophet Isaiah prophesied that the Samaritans who dwelt in a land overshadowed by death would someday see a "great light." Matthew saw that prophecy fulfilled when Jesus announced the Kingdom of God, called people to repentance, and healed their sick. 

And so, when Jesus says, "You are the light of the world!" we recognize our calling and responsibility to be and bring the light of Christ to the world. That is, to wherever we live and to whomever we meet. 

Faith was never simply a matter of having correct opinions about God; it always entails the obligation of being different and making a difference. The Old and New Testaments tell us that. “We are a people peculiarly his own. (1 Peter 2:9 & Deuteronomy 7:6). And “We are strangers in a strange land.” (Genesis 15:13, Leviticus 19:33-34, Hebrews 11:9, and 1 Peter 2:11) 

Jesus did not rise from the dead to prove there is an afterlife, or even to promise us eternal life. Rather, he rose to send us on our way. As he said moments before he ascended into heaven,  

"...you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

We cannot fail; we must not fail. Failure to be salt and light, that is to live by our faith in Jesus, renders us somewhere between insipid and disgusting,

"good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot."

We do not pretend to know, love, and serve God. We must do those things in fact, without pretense or playacting or publicity. The Word of God is a seed which has spread its roots deep in our hearts and changed them. Just as the body of a pregnant woman is altered by the presence of a child within her womb, the Word of God changes, adapts, and conforms us to the will of God. If we ever thought we were our own people, and doing our own thing — which, of course, was never true because at that time we belonged to Satan – the word of God has taken possession of us. It molds and changes us into something as useful as salt, and as beautiful as light.