Tuesday of the First Week of Lent

 Lectionary: 225

Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name....

Pied Beauty

Glory be to God for dappled things –
   For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
      For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
   Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;
      And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
   Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
      With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
                                Praise him.     (Gerard Manley Hopkins 1844–1889)

With the end of February and the first week of Lent we can begin to think about Spring, and "skies of couple-colour like a brinded cow," and the Father whom we praise. 

Often, in our distracted neediness, we forget our first calling: we should praise God. But even when we're not especially needy, when things are moving along pretty well and the skies are clear of trouble, we're distracted and forget to praise him. 

Praising God is the privilege of the wise. Well instructed in the truth, guided by impulses of the Holy Spirit, inspired by Jesus, Mary, the saints, and martyrs, exhilarated by revelations of the world around us -- all things counter, original, spare, strange -- how can we keep from singing? 

Our prayer begins with Our Father: his presence, perfection, beauty, goodness, and authority which is both reassuring and absolute. 

Saint Charles de Foucauld -- canonized by Pope Francis in 2022, feast day, December 1 --  recalling his journey from atheism to faith, said, "When I knew there is a God, I knew I must worship him."

God is more than a subject of skeptical speculation; he is not the One people speak of when they declare there is a god.  If they do not believe in God; that is, if they're not willing to love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, they are not speaking of our God. 

Our God is the One who exists necessarily, whereas we exist by the merciful will of God. We don't have to be. And it seems at times the planet might be better without us. But we are here by God's willing it, and Blessed be He! 

When we consider the wonder of our being -- with all our trades, their gear and tackle and trim -- and our being molded in the image and likeness of God with infinite capacity for love, generosity, courage, creativity, and forgiveness -- we must praise him again. 

What is man that you are mindful of him,
and a son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him little less than a god,
crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him rule over the works of your hands,
put all things at his feet:
All sheep and oxen,
even the beasts of the field,
The birds of the air, the fish of the sea,
and whatever swims the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Lord,
how awesome is your name through all the earth! (Psalm 8)

The Lord's prayer, among its many features, describes the wonder of my being, for we exist to praise God even as we ask forgiveness of our sins, a merciful heart, and daily bread. 

We know we live at God's behest, "When you hide your face, they panic. Take away their breath, they perish and return to the dust." (Psalm 104: 29) 

As the Spring renews the face of the earth, we return to the Lord's Prayer with gratitude and wonder, ready to follow him to Jerusalem, the Cenacle, Calvary, and Easter. 

Monday of the First Week of Lent

 Lectionary: 224

You shall not bear hatred for your brother in your heart.
Though you may have to reprove him,
do not incur sin because of him.
Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your fellow countrymen.
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
I am the LORD."

Levites were the tribe of landless priests; their mission was to serve the Lord in their poverty and rely on the generosity of those Israelite tribes who had received allotments of the Promised Land. Their code, the Book of Leviticus, insists that we are God's holy people, and that our manner of life, all our thoughts, words, and deeds, and our presence should manifest God's holiness. We should be just and merciful, as the LORD is just and merciful. 

As we read the scriptures there is never any doubt about God's authority to judge. He has delivered us from ignominy in Egypt; and, more recently, from the humiliation of our sins. But the LORD has every right to abandon us to abasement again if we fail to be holy as he is holy. 

We are no longer to think, act, or appear like our neighbors. Our manner and our presence should reflect God's merciful presence wherever we go, for there is no place where God is not present. Whether we are working, resting, or playing; whether we're alone or in company: we are God's holy people. 

If we fail, our non-elect neighbors who make no pretense of religion or faith, may remind us of our duties. "Aren't you supposed to be a Christian? A Catholic? A priest? Why do you act like that?" Often they will tell us how we should act. We might disagree about some particulars but the reminder remains: "Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy."

Our ancestors, the Jews, have been reminded of their holiness in the most horrific ways, even to the third and fourth generation. Many European Jews had intentionally disavowed their Jewish religion and heritage but the Nazis would not let them forget God's favor. His eternal election proves itself in the antisemitism that never goes away. 

Like the Jews, we are blessed nolens volens, whether we like it or not. We can no more dismiss God's choice than a tiger can change its stripes or an oldest son deny his seniority. Lent reminds us of that. 

And so we turn to the scriptures again to understand our blessings and the duties that come with them. "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." This is a command and a truism, for by loving the neighbor we respect ourselves. And bearing resentments, hostility, or contempt toward a neighbor demeans us. 

Being holy is being human as Jesus has shown us. And now that we have taken up our crosses and followed him, it's not so difficult. 

First Sunday of Lent

Lectionary: 22

In conclusion, just as through one transgression
condemnation came upon all,
so, through one righteous act,
acquittal and life came to all.
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners,
so, through the obedience of the one,
the many will be made righteous.

Forty days of Lent prepare a people who have knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins. It is time for personal prayer and sacrifice as together we remember our unworthiness, and each person admits their particular sins. Adam and Eve sinned together when they ate the forbidden fruit, but Adam's sin was not that of Eve. Where she distorted the truth of God's law, he blamed God and his wife for what he'd done. Each one's sin is specifically theirs. It split them apart. But we stand together in penance before God.

God's mercy begins with his question and accusation, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat?" 

No one told them they were naked; they discovered that on their own. Our news media daily discover waste, greed, and corruption, both public and private, religious and secular. No industry is pure; no institution is holy. Writers and pundits howl with helpless outrage at these sins; they insist none of this is necessary and there is still time to undo the damage. But they know as we all know the crimes will continue. Every reform is tainted before it's applied. 

“Man is conceived in sin and born in corruption and he passeth from the stink of the didie to the stench of the shroud. There is always something."   
(Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men)

God's mercy discovers our sins and Lent invites us to see, own, and confess them. For without penance there is neither purpose nor meaning nor salvation. 

King David, the adulterous murderer, ancestor of Jesus, and author of Psalm 51 teaches us what to say: 

For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight. (Psalm 51)

The Son of David also shows the way as he rebukes Satan, "The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve."

Philosophers, poets, and theologians of every age and religion have recognized, If there is a God we must worship him. We owe the LORD love, devotion, and worship because of who he is and because of what we are. Refusal to worship is sin against our own nature and must destroy us. It is irrational, violent, and fatal. 

Most of all, man is in need of a sense of the unconditional. Otherwise, he will perish. "Without relating himself to the unconditional," Kierkegaard says, "man cannot in the deepest sense be said to live... that is it may be said he continues to live, but spiritlessly." 

Kierkegaard... felt that man's gravest danger lurked in the loss of his sense of the unconditional, the absolute. We conduct our lives according to conditionals, compromises, and concessions, all relatives.

In faith an individual commits everything to the Absoluteness of God. But the Absolute is cruel; it demands all. Abraham Joshua Heschel, A Passion for Truth, Jewish Lights Publishing, 1995, page 112

Lent insists that we come to our senses like the Prodigal Son. There is still time. But there is only forty days.

Saturday after Ash Wednesday

 Lectionary: 222

Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners."

Vessels of clay! Saint Paul described himself and his colleagues as they raced through the Roman empire announcing the Gospel. After all the setbacks he'd faced and overcome, he recognized the power of God which drove his aging human body from synagogue to market to jail cell to seaport, and back again. He was the Lord's energizer bunny, an unstoppable force that just kept speaking, teaching, and preaching about Jesus. 

He saw the desperate need for the Gospel everywhere, first among his own Jewish people and then among the gentiles with all their strange beliefs. Their need and their eager welcome drove him. He had only to control his own sinful desire to exploit their vulnerability. He might have cashed in on their joy as they responded with admiration and generosity. He felt the temptation but, in the brilliant light of Jesus's cross and resurrection, he had better things to do. He had no time for the encumbrances and security of wealth. 

He was surely put off by unanswerable questions from skeptics, and embarrassed by the scandalous lives of some of his colleagues -- whom he mocked as "super apostles." He felt his weariness, especially when he'd been beaten or scourged. If today's critics point out his irritability and impatience, he knew his faults. He was a sinner, no better than anyone else. All that reminded him of clay vessels. "You are dirt!" the LORD had said, and to dirt he would return. And still, to his own amazement, he persisted. 

He was called as a sinner and that credential gave him the authority to speak to the nations about Jesus. He met many righteous people who could not be bothered, and he let them go. The Spirit of God was gathering a harvest of sinners into the Kingdom of God. The harvest of the righteous would come later.

During Lent, we turn back to our religious practices and we gather more often for prayer. Our Catholic churches offer penance services, Stations of the Cross, bible classes, and days of prayer as we turn our backs to the world and our faces toward Holy Week. Earthen vessels, unworthy but elect, we come to God to repent, atone, make reparation, and ask forgiveness once again. It is good that we are here. 

Friday after Ash Wednesday

 Lectionary: 221

Would that today you might fast
so as to make your voice heard on high!
Is this the manner of fasting I wish,
of keeping a day of penance:
That a man bow his head like a reed
and lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?

During the 1960s, in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, when Harvey Cox's The Secular City set the standard for much reflection, it was popular to explain religious practices with secular theories. Jews abstained from pork because, without scientific knowledge, they nonetheless suspected trichinosis. They observed kosher laws to avoid contamination with soiled pots and pans. Food shortages during winter, and especially in early spring before the harvest, required everyone to fast until plenty returned. The fishing lobby in Rome promoted Friday abstinence from meat. And so forth. 

In that same secular spirit today we might encourage a healthier lifestyle as a religious practice. Eating a reasonable diet, moderate use of alcohol, ample sleep, regular exercise, proper hygiene, periodic medical checkups, total abstention from cigarettes and recreational drugs: we should do these things anyway. Religion adds only a patina of holiness to common sense, and enlightened people don't need it. They'll do the sensible thing without the mumbo jumbo.  

But where the Secular City would dismiss the religious dimension of "prayer, fasting, and almsgiving," the Holy City eagerly embraces them. And the only reason offered is perfectly acceptable: "Because God said so!" 

As he pondered the disease and disrepute of prostitution, Saint Paul urged his Corinthians:

Avoid immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the immoral person sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body. (1 Cor 6:18-19)

Lent reminds us that our bodies are churches, "temples of the Holy Spirit." Just as we observe a certain decorum within the Lord's house, we should live always within the Presence of Almighty God. Our Lord's oversight is neither harsh nor unfairly critical. 

Our fasting should lead us to a deeper awareness of the blessings we are given, with the assurance that our Father has a sense of humor. We struggle and often fail to curb our appetites. As C.S. Lewis said, "God is easy to please but hard to satisfy." 

Essentially our fasting, in whatever form, is a continual awareness of God's benevolence, and especially of the Cross of Jesus Christ. We keep our eyes fixed on him for life means nothing without him. 

Thursday after Ash Wednesday

 Lectionary: 220

Then he said to all,
"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?"

The following of Christ begins with sacrifice. If the word originally means to make holy, in English it means to discipline one's use of time or resources for a higher cause. 

Certainly, our willingness to be Christian begins with a significant change of life style. Jesus calls disciples to leave hearth, home, and everything familiar in the opening chapters of all four gospels. They will not even hear the Good News, much less understand it, until they have set out on the road with him. 

Lent demands that we do an inventory of our religious practices. Are my "prayer, fasting, and almsgiving" effective? 

• Our prayers should be both personal and communal. 
• By fasting we mean the maintenance of our minds and bodies with appropriate personal discipline. 
• They include study of worthy subjects, 
• restricted use of (fasting from) entertainment, and 
• all the disciplines of good physical health.  And finally, 
• "Almsgiving" includes tithing for the church, charitable giving, and volunteerism. 

A sacrificial lifestyle also demonstrates Saint Paul's willingness to lean in to our responsibilities: 

Slaves, obey your human masters in everything, not only when being watched, as currying favor, but in simplicity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do from the heart, as for the Lord and not for others, knowing that you will receive from the Lord the due payment of the inheritance; be slaves of the Lord Christ. (Colossians 3:22-24)

Lent understands that our disciplines grow slack and that we must periodically straighten the mess, retie the knots and tighten the screws to make our lives worthy of the name of Christian. As we shine like a lamp in a dark room and a city on a hill, our sacrifices announce God's blessed presence to a sorry world.

Ash Wednesday 2023

 Lectionary: 219

Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the LORD, your God.
For gracious and merciful is he....

As our study group here at Mount Saint Francis has discussed the Book of Deuteronomy we have gleaned a better understanding of the doctrine of sin. It came together for me around two scripture passages: 

For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, bringing punishment for their parents’ wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation, but showing love down to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. Deuteronomy 5:9-10

and 

This saying is trustworthy: If we have died with him

we shall also live with him; if we persevere

we shall also reign with him.

But if we deny him he will deny us.

If we are unfaithful he remains faithful,

for he cannot deny himself. 2 Timothy 2:11-13

The Love of God, like life itself, is persistent and severe. Thoughtful kindness blesses many generations but thoughtless sins persist through several. I have known more than a few families plagued by one alcoholic parent who became the grandparent and great-grandparent of afflicted generations. Some of the children, choosing to follow the unfortunate traditions of their ancestors, became alcoholic and passed the along to their heirs. Others shun drinking altogether but are nonetheless distressed with severe, implacable anxiety. 

The more fortunate turn to persistent prayer and deep counseling and find an uneasy relief in this world. They urge their children to understand and forgive their forebears and reenter the stream of a thousand blessed generations. 

American philosophers of individualism, espousing Invictus, cannot believe in a God whose love is  passionate, tender, and implacably jealous. They ignore the Lord who has given his life for them, preferring to believe their lives are justified and redeemed by a romantic, arrogant isolation. If they have friends or family, it's strictly on their own terms. Ready to consume the gifts of a benevolent Providence, they refuse to recognize the God who provides so abundantly. 

Ash Wednesday and Lent calls us to our senses. Like the Prodigal Son up to his hips in pig slop, we remember the abundant generosity of our Father's house. We hear again God's promise of grace upon grace even as we admit we have ignored his warnings. 

The penitential season insists it's not too late, even yet, even now. Scientists have been sounding the alarm for a half century about global warming. Pope Francis has pointed to the ever-increasing migrations and war as symptoms of the same wasting exploitation. Climate change will not go away if we ignore it.  

Lent also sounds the alarm. The most embittered relations in families, between races, and among nations can be healed by returning to the Lord:

Come now, let us set things right,
says the LORD:
Though your sins be like scarlet,
they may become white as snow;
Though they be red like crimson,
they may become white as wool.
If you are willing, and obey,
you shall eat the good things of the land;
But if you refuse and resist,
you shall be eaten by the sword:
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken!  (Isaiah 1:18-20)

Every blessing in the Bible comes with a threat, and Mary's Son would not change a single letter, or even part of a letter, of that book. 

Tuesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 342

You who fear the LORD, wait for his mercy, turn not away lest you fall. 

You who fear the LORD, trust him, and your reward will not be lost.

You who fear the LORD, hope for good things, for lasting joy and mercy.

You who fear the LORD, love him, and your hearts will be enlightened.

Tomorrow, we enter the season of Lent. We will assume the right posture of standing in justice and prepared for trials. These trials will consist less of appropriate penitential exercises than of the revelations the Lord might give us. With great mercy, the LORD reveals our sins to us. 

Passing through phases of remorse, regret, shame, or humiliation we may anticipate relief and greater freedom to walk in the way of Jesus. Like Bartimaeus, upon hearing the Lord's invitation, we will toss off the old cloak and follow in his footsteps with eyes newly opened. 

In the practice of the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, I discovered the joy of penance, especially as the group gathered week after week to discuss "How I work the Program and how the Program works for me." Newbies might weep through their stories of shame and regret but they soon shake off their remorse to laugh at themselves and their insane behaviors. They find an astonishing new strength and willingness to let go of resentments. Enlightened and taking themselves lightly, they walk with a lighter step. 

Like today's passage from Ecclesiasticus, the Scriptures consistently speak of walking in the Fear of the Lord. We enter the Church and approach the altar with reverence, remembering who is present for us. He is so very glad to see our coming. 

Many devout people celebrate Mardi Gras today with an eager willingness to enter Lent tomorrow. They will wake up without a hangover, refreshed and ready to stand before the Lord in justice and fear, prepared for trials.

Monday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 341

All wisdom comes from the LORD and with him it remains forever, and is before all time.
The sand of the seashore, the drops of rain,
the days of eternity: who can number these?

In today's gospel, we find the Lord descending with his disciples from the Mount of Transfiguration. He has experienced an exaltation beyond human words or comprehension; now he returns to our everyday distress and incomprehension. 

A father, battling his son's madness and fearful of losing the child forever, desperately challenges the Lord, "...if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

The man's plea feels rude and seems to startle Jesus. The Lord has abruptly returned from his rapture to find his bumbling disciples wrestling with a powerful demon. Their plight would be comical if it were not so tragic. The Keystone Cops might have had better luck. 

With a word of power, Jesus's command slices through their fog of ignorance and heals the child. And then, with his composure returned, he speaks kindly to his disciples, "This kind can only come out through prayer.”

The day would come when the disciples were ready to cast out demons, but it had not come yet. Saint Luke records happier memories of Satan falling from the sky as they healed the crippled, blind, and possessed. The Acts of the Apostles records their conquering campaign from Jerusalem to Rome. By that time they knew they were dealing with mysteries beyond their ken. And they had learned to both to trust and to wield the authority they'd been given from above. 

We are still addressing mountains and commanding them to be uprooted and tossed into the sea. We cannot see the end of the struggle against abortion and the culture of death but we expect God's victory. On that day, the diabolical powers of this world... 

...will see and will be put to shame,
in spite of all their strength;
They will put their hands over their mouths;
their ears will become deaf.
They will lick the dust like a snake,
like crawling things on the ground;
They will come quaking from their strongholds;
they will tremble in fear of you, the LORD, our God. (Micah 7:16-17)

 

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 79

The LORD said to Moses,
"Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy....
"You shall not bear hatred for your brother or sister in your heart.
Though you may have to reprove your fellow citizen,
do not incur sin because of him.
Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against any of your people.
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
I am the LORD."

The Church today wisely juxtaposes a difficult passage from Saint Matthew -- " Be perfect!" -- with its referent passage from the Book of Leviticus -- "Be holy!" We do well to receive them as invitations rather than impossible challenges, and to study what they might mean. 

Only the youngest and most foolish would suppose they should try to be holy or perfect. A pitcher might try to throw a perfect, no-hit game; and sometimes succeed. Many proficient bowlers have scored a perfect three hundred, and even duffers can hit a hole-in-one on a par three when the wind is right and all their bad habits balance one another for once in their life. But there are no perfect pitchers, bowlers, or golfers. 

Nor does Jesus say we should try to be perfect. His command is not that complicated. Rather than trying, we should simply be perfect -- meaning holy -- as your heavenly father is perfect. 

When someone says they'll try to quit smoking you know they won't quit. They never said they would. People who quit trying to quit smoking, quit smoking. As the Buddhists say, "Quit trying. Quit trying not to try. Quit quitting." When you understand that, you're ready to get started. 

The Lord knows the commands he gives from the mountaintop cannot be obeyed without the Holy Spirit. As a man with no lungs cannot breathe, a Christian without the Holy Spirit can neither pray nor do works of charity, much less be perfect. Some might think they're doing it, or have done it; but they don’t know what it means. 

The way of perfection is a road leading into the infinity of God's goodness. There may be resting points but there is no end, nor do pilgrims on that road expect one. They are happy to walk in it. It is often difficult, usually challenging, and sometimes overwhelming. And yet we stagger on. Pilgrims have only the support of God and the Church. And the supportive system of saints and angels. We walk by faith and not by sight. 

Nor do we measure our progress. Only God is the judge. It helps to acknowledge our sinful past but there is little profit in dwelling upon it. We repent, atone, and move on. 

A recent essay about the 1619 Project in the Washington Post by Brian Broome offered excellent advice for those willing to receive the Holy Spirit and follow in the footsteps of Jesus. As Mr. Broome learned of slavery in the United States, he marveled at the men and women, his ancestors, who survived the brutal past. He felt great pride in being their descendant. The Project was not about white shame; it's about American courage! 

We can take pride in the stories as we honor our African-American ancestors. Everyone can celebrate Black History Month and everyone can sing, "Lift every voice and sing!" 

Likewise, when the Lord commands us to "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" he is not shaming us. We're not supposed to grovel and mumble and make excuses and apologize for our sinful past. This command is not about us. It's about the good God who is perfectly generous, compassionate, understanding, forgiving, and merciful. It’s about the Father who has never deserted us, and never will, who invites us to be holy like our brother Jesus, his mother Mary, and all the saints.

Saturday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Our fierce Virgin Mother
whacks a demon with a stick.

 Lectionary: 340

Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. Because of it the ancients were well attested.

Several other translations render that second verse, "For by it the elders obtained a good report." (KJV) and "...by faith our ancestors received approval." (NRSV) 

Like the Christians who welcomed Saint Paul's message, the ancients were "well attested" and saved by faith in the yet-to-come Jesus Christ. Although they could not imagine the Messiah as an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, the Son of God, or the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, Abraham and his descendants had the Word, the revelation from God, and their fidelity delivered them from much harm. 

Saint Peter, in his first letter, also cites the salvation of those who preceded the Christ: 

For this is why the gospel was preached even to the dead that, though condemned in the flesh in human estimation, they might live in the spirit in the estimation of God. (1 Peter 4:6)

Medieval scholars would call the Lord's descent into hell, "The Harrowing of Hell," and artists created marvelous images of that wonderful trip. A harrow is "an implement consisting of a heavy frame set with teeth or tines which is dragged over plowed land to break up clods, remove weeds, and cover seed." Without this harrowing trek, the Savior's work would not be consummated. 

To encourage persecuted Christians of the first century, the Letter to the Hebrews recalls the descendants of Abraham who observed and kept the faith throughout many prior generations. 

And to encourage us. So long as there are people, some will resist the Word of God and resent those who welcome it. Whether the trials are necessary or not is a moot question; they happen and we endure them. 

We keep the faith whether convenient or inconvenient. And we have the Lord's assurance that he will keep after us -- whether we like it or not -- for we are his people and he is our God. We can deny our faith but the Lord cannot deny us:

This saying is trustworthy:
If we have died with him
we shall also live with him;
if we persevere
we shall also reign with him.
But if we deny him
he will deny us.
If we are unfaithful
he remains faithful,
for he cannot deny himself. (2 Tim 2:11)

Indeed, like the Virgin in that image above, he will drive Satan away from us and then let us choose the way to freedom. 

Friday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 339

Then the LORD said [of the people of Babel]: "If now, while they are one people, all speaking the same language, they have started to do this, nothing will later stop them from doing whatever they presume to do. 
Let us then go down and there confuse their language, so that one will not understand what another says."

The Divine Author of Genesis 11 understands very well that a nation becomes strong when its values are shared and its language is uniform and coherent. Everyone is on the same page as they make and execute decisions. However, should their values become polarized by separate blocs with differing agendas, and their language become confused by different signals and dog whistles, their society will erode. If they cannot trust, compromise, or communicate with each other, the nation must collapse. It doesn't take many passages of scripture to show us that.

We have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of cities, nations, and empires, including the mythical Babel, Theed, and the Galactic Empire rise as they cohered around one set of values. But few survive more than a few hundred years. Values change from those of flourishing to maintenance to survival; their societies become stratified with increasing disparity of wealth and power; and their confused agendas become conflicts. They don't know what to want and finally want nothing but to destroy each other, which is easily done. Civil wars are the worst kind.  

Had they agreed upon the one universal and enduring language that is available to every nation in every age, they would have survived. But that promise remains unfulfilled to this day. 

The one language of all the Earth is Truth. So long as we agree to the truth, we stand together for it is a rock as solid as the earth itself. A house or city built on the foundation of truth will prevail against the gates of hell; a city founded on the sands of opinions and alternate facts cannot long endure. The greatest threat to a nation is its willingness to ignore reality in favor of their own convictions and beliefs. As Saint John Henry Newman said, if we pick and choose our own doctrines, the ones we like and understand, we're not listening to God. 

As Catholics we're given the truth through our scriptures, traditions, liturgy, and Magisterium. If we don't understand and think we might disagree with the Church's teachings, we have the duty to study and research them until we see their rock solid foundations. Disagreement is often fatal as people wander off in search of more palatable truth. Catholicism is not a religion for consumers.

Anyone who has listened to the Lord knows it is often difficult to accept the way things are. We're often called up short by the hard facts of life, or by trustworthy friends, or by reliable enemies. But even the demons know the truth and often tell us to our faces.

The Catholic Church endures because our language is the language of the Holy Spirit. We came out of the Cenacle in Jerusalem speaking to all the nations in all their languages and those who sought the truth understood what we said. We go to the farthest corners of the world and find both acceptance and rejection. We are glad of the former and saddened by the latter. But we can speak only this one universal language which is reliable in every place and every age. And so we endure, maintain, and flourish. 

Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 338 

God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fertile and multiply and fill the earth. Dread fear of you shall come upon all the animals of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon all the creatures that move about on the ground and all the fishes of the sea; into your power they are delivered.

The Covenant with Noah and his descendants is different than that made with Adam and Eve. This charter couple who set the pattern of marriage despite their original sin, enjoyed the trust and confidence of animals, and did not eat meat. Although their second son Abel was a shepherd and sacrificed sheep, they were farmers, not hunter. 

The rest of the Bible shows little interest in Adam's innocent governance of the animals and displays a religious enthusiasm for eating meat. Animals are chary of humans and some are hostile. Tobit's dog is the only pet animal to appear in the scriptures. (Wits throughout the centuries have enjoyed speculating about that dog.)

Some hostile critics, complaining about the ecological devastation that began with the Industrial Revolution, have blamed the Church and its Bible for the decrees in Genesis (1:26 and 9:2) that men should have dominion -- or dominate--the Earth. They suppose the Industrial Revolution might never have happened except for those unfortunate words. 

Alas! Would that the Bible with its ordinances and decrees were so influential! They blame religion also for warfare, unwanted babies, and the battle of the sexes. 

 

In the light of polluted land, air, and soil, rising sea levels, disappearing estuaries, shores, and islands, and mass extinctions, we would do well to seek a better appreciation for the Creator's command to have dominion over all forms of life. Whether it's divinely ordained or not, we clearly have the power and should govern the Earth with evangelical wisdom. 

In his encyclical Laudato Si, Pope Francis's has rightly reminded the world that wasting natural resources is precisely the same thing as wasting human beings and their potential. If billions of people suffer overwhelming poverty it's because we're also impoverishing our beloved home planet. The self-described "evangelicals" who hope to skip off to heaven while their atheist colleagues go in search of earth-like exoplanets risk eternal damnation in this world and the next. Our once and future Eden is here on Earth. 

The problem, of course,  is as enormous, deep, and ancient as Original Sin. A technological fix is no more realistic than pie in the sky. We must turn back to the Lord who's got the whole world in his hands.  We must find the way to righteousness in our revealed faith and our own hearts. 

What should we do on this Thursday morning? Pray, admit our sins both personal and collective, ask for guidance, and expect to be guided in our musings, thoughts, impulses, and decisions. 

The Lord will not surrender his people to sin nor will he abandon this world to a foreordained doom. Rather, he calls us:  

Come now, let us set things right,

says the LORD:

Though your sins be like scarlet,

they may become white as snow;

Though they be red like crimson,

they may become white as wool.

If you are willing, and obey,

you shall eat the good things of the land;

Isaiah 1:18

 

Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,

and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat;
The calf and the young lion shall browse together,
with a little child to guide them.
The cow and the bear shall graze,
together their young shall lie down;
the lion shall eat hay like the ox.
The baby shall play by the viper’s den,
and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair.
They shall not harm or destroy on all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD,
as water covers the sea. Isaiah 11:6-9

 

Wednesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 337

At the end of forty days Noah opened the hatch he had made in the ark,
and he sent out a raven,
to see if the waters had lessened on the earth.
It flew back and forth until the waters dried off from the earth.
Then he sent out a dove,
to see if the waters had lessened on the earth.

There's ancient ornithology in this story. It seems the raven, a larger version of a crow, is familiar throughout the world. A hardy survivor, it makes a home wherever it goes. Noah's raven might have glided like an albatross over limitless seas for many months, but it probably landed and fed upon debris. There were many floating carcasses, animal and human.   

The peaceful dove was not so hardy. It needed dry land to forage and trees to hold its nest. It returned to the ark and God's chosen survivors to wait a while longer. 

Christians also create and maintain peaceful places where we encounter the Lord and nurture our faith. We can survive and sometimes thrive with terrible challenges, but we'd rather not. Since our earliest days, especially as the Pax Romana was descending into barbaric chaos, Christians built monasteries, safe havens not only for the men or women who lived there but also for travelers and guests. Children and young people attended the monastic schools where they studied wisdom of past centuries. At one time European youth traveled great distances to study in Ireland. The isolated island had known little of the Roman Empire and was less affected by its collapse. 

As the flood waters of anarchy again attempt their doomed experiments with tyrants and dictators, preferring kleptocracy to democracy, we retreat to the "ark" of our peaceful homes and churches. We cannot suppose the Church will always be there because it's always been there. Rather, we study and practice our faith, renewing our dedication to the Lord and his ways. 

We can listen respectfully to challenging voices who point to our shortcomings, but they are angry because we're faithful and because we're not entirely faithful. When we try to create shortcuts in God's plan for us, they cry "foul!" They might not admit it but they want us to succeed; they demand that we be faithful. 

We're not ravens who can flourish on wreckage and floating debris. Peaceful doves, we plant and cultivate civility, learning, and civilization. We see the Kingdom of God from afar and build a world that resembles it. 

Memorial of Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop

 Lectionary: 336

"...when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?"
They answered him, "Twelve."
"When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?"
They answered him, "Seven."
He said to them, "Do you still not understand?"

With our Catholic fascination for the Eucharist, we might be forgiven for thinking Jesus is grilling his disciples for misunderstanding the Eucharist. Whenever bread appears in the Bible we go a little gaga. And we can certainly infer from this incident its proximity to that most beautiful doctrine. But it's really about the providence of God. 

The disciples have forgotten to bring bread with them as they boarded the boat and cast out for the deep of the Galilean Sea. Given that they've just seen the Lord multiply a few loaves of bread and several fish to feed four thousand people, and their bellies were full, we might forgive the oversight. But we're reminded of the ancient Hebrews who fled the slavery of Egypt only to face starvation in the desert. In Saint Mark's telling, the parallels are intentional. 

In that ancient wilderness the LORD had consistently and insistently provided for them. When they complained -- as they often did -- he scolded their truculence and reminded them of how they'd never gone hungry or thirsty; their clothes had not deteriorated, nor their shoes disintegrated. And when they entered the Promised Land this Warrior God of the desert proved himself as the God of fertility, abundance, and security. The LORD provides! 

"Do you still not understand?" 

From ancient tradition, the Church offers a small piece of bread in the Mass. It's very small and looks nothing like a loaf. It's crisp texture doesn't remind one of a gooey slice of white bread, nor does it taste like anything. A child might wonder if it's actually bread. And, in any case, it's certainly no feast. But we insist this is the Bread of Angels and more than sufficient for our spiritual needs. Our Providential God provides for us! 

Prosperous people live in dread of poverty. The more they have the more anxious they feel. Enough is never enough. And yet most of us grew up with considerably less. And, if the dietitians are right, we were healthier for it. Where many of today's young parents put off childbearing until they can afford all the expenses of children plus their familiar luxuries, and then carefully produce no more than two, my folks had ten children on one salary and no savings. And because we tithed, we flourished. 

"Do you still not understand?" 

The Lord calls us from the desert to "Come away to a deserted place," where resources are scarce. We follow him because, as Saint Paul said, 

"My God will fully supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19

Monday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 335 

R. Offer to God a sacrifice of praise.

Four times in today's prayers we offer a pleasant response to the grim stories of Genesis and Saint Mark. The first reading recalls the murder of Abel; the Gospel, the fatal opposition of the Pharisees. But our response is hopeful, "Offer to God a sacrifice of praise."

The Bible does not attempt to ignore sin. A day without shadows is called night because it's dark. Likewise, those without the knowledge of mercy know nothing of God. They live in darkness and sin. 

Sin is tiresome. Occasionally, even in today's world of lurid scandals and hyperbolic social media, people turn away from the bad news as Jesus did when he "left them, got into the boat again, and went off to the other shore." 

"Enough, all ready!" he might have said. 

Both stories suggest that Cain's and the Pharisees' sacrifices lacked substance. They were as thin as the pixels on a screen. Without a "sacrifice of praise" for the goodness and mercy of God, one's offer of turtle doves, sheep, or heifers weigh nothing in God' sight. 

We meet people like that often. They're eager to tell us how good they are, and how much they have contributed or accomplished. We can congratulate them only so many times before we get in the boat with Jesus. 

Life in the Lord begins as we take the time to surrender to awe. We ponder the gifts of being, redemption, and new life. And then we offer to God a sacrifice of praise. My life is not about me; it's about God.