Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 126

Lectionary 126

My child, conduct your affairs with humility,
 and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.
 Humble yourself the more, the greater you are,
 and you will find favor with God.

When Bill Murray's character, in the film Ghostbusters, predicted a "disaster of biblical proportions” he described a comical, outlandish catastrophe. But tragic and comic drama has always described heroic characters living and deciding upon matters of world-shattering dimension. Despite the private nature of Oedipus' suspicion, Orestes' obsession, and Hamlet's anxiety, their actions disturbed kingdoms and altered subsequent history. There'd be no drama, neither tragedy nor comedy, without disasters of biblical proportions. 

But most of the time most of us live our lives on a small scale. We get up; we make and eat breakfast, say our prayers, go to work or whatever chores we have to attend, and do our best to avoid catastrophes great and small, biblical and otherwise. And we ask God daily and many times a day to give us this day our daily bread, and lead us not into temptation, because we're none too sure how we'd handle catastrophes. If we listen to the news, which is invariably depressing although they try to make it interesting and exciting, we hear about the disasters that have fallen somewhere else. We like it that way and hope it stays that way. 

But even without catastrophes and disasters and cataclysm, we need advice from the Almighty and all-wise God as to how to live our lives. Though we stand tall, we cannot see beyond the horizon; the God who travels with us sees far ahead and far behind, and if we pay attention he guides us through the present land, whether it be mountainous or level, open desert or jungle forest. The Bible, amid all of its stories of war, disease, floods and fires, salted with betrayals and treachery, also gives advice on how to live quietly:

"When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet,

do not recline at table in the place of honor…

Rather, when you are invited,

go and take the lowest place. 

The Lord's logic is impeccable: if you take the place of honor without being invited to it, someone might ask you to step down while another takes that place. Rather than embarrassing yourself, your hosts, and everyone in the room, modestly take the lower place and see what happens. 

Despite a lot of criticism and harassment, the Church has always said our faith is reasonable, and our religion is practical. It should be obvious to anyone with common sense that the arrogant will often be humiliated and laughed at behind their backs, while the modest are often deeply respected. Does anyone suppose that many of President Trump's greatest supporters don't privately regard him as a conceited fool? 

The Lord's advice also fits more deeply into everything that he taught. We call it "servant leadership;" because he insisted that he had not come to be served but to serve; and even to give his life for many. Although he was almost always the center of everyone's attention, he sometimes pointed to others and openly admired them; as when he saw an old woman quietly put two copper coins into the temple coffers. 

"Did you see that?" he said, "She gave more than all those fat cats put together because they gave a pittance of their wealth and she gave all she had!" 

In the novel, The Life of Pi, the author Yann Martel remarked about the miracles in the Bible. They seemed very small compared to the fantastic, fabulous, incredible works of power displayed by the Hindu gods. A man walks on water; no big deal. He raises the dead; they do it all the time. He is crucified for the salvation of the human race; pagan gods cannot be bothered with such trivialities. 

I read the Iliad recently, for the umpteenth time, and I was struck by the adolescent behavior of the Greek gods. The tragic ten-year war with the killing of men, women, and children is only a spectator sport for the gods who can never leave well enough alone. They continually meddle in human affairs, unneeded and unwelcome, as one god pits her favorite pet against another god’s favorite human; but these pets are men fighting desperately for their lives. Their divine combat is like the cockfights and dogfights that have been suppressed throughout Europe and the United States. But the animals are husbands, fathers, brothers, uncles and sons. Homer’s contempt for the Greek gods is hidden behind his mask of irony, but few readers would love any of these self-centered gods. 

Unlike the gods of all other nations, and the tyrants of many nations, the Father of Jesus and the Lord of all creation, is both free and powerful. He is so powerful that he can disown his own power. Power has no power over God! The father of Jesus surrenders everything to his Son, who surrenders everything to his Father; and they in turn pour the fullness of their Holy Spirit upon us. And rather than run with that supreme power, we turn and care for one another, seeking only to love God with all our hearts, soul, mind, and strength; even as we care for one another and serve the needy, helpless, and vulnerable. Do you see President Putin surrendering his power to anyone, or Prime Minister Netanyahu, or President Trump? Expect catastrophes of biblical proportions when it happens! 

Anyone who aspires to power for no other reason than their vain aspirations is despised by the God who lifts up the lowly and casts down the mighty. They will be destroyed along with everyone who believed in them. 

Jesus urges his disciples to play it safe and prefer the lower place. Saint Francis taught the leaders of his community; they should be like corpses. You can take a corpse out of his coffin, sit him on a throne, dress him in fine robes, put a ring on his finger, a scepter in his hand, and a crown on his head. You can sing songs to him and tell him what a fine fellow he is, and he’ll be no happier with all that glory than when he was laying quietly in his coffin. He has died to all that nonsense. 

Let it be; let it go. Thank you Lord for the blessings which you have given us and which we need; but please don’t give us too much as we’re liable to misuse it. And help us to share with others as generously as you have shared with us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, now and forever. Amen

Saturday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 430

His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant.
Since you were faithful in small matters,
I will give you great responsibilities.
Come, share your master's joy.'

Today's parable is familiar to anyone who has watched people invest their time, energy, and resources well; and watched others who preferred waste, indolence, and parasitic reliance on others. Some people are just stupid in money matters. 

I knew one fellow who, following September 9, 2001, hid in utter terror in his basement beneath a remote farmhouse. After several days his sister persuaded him the danger had passed, Recognizing he was not the brightest flower on the family tree, his parents created a trust fund for their son; and found an honest lawyer to handle it when they died. My friend resented the lawyer intensely, but everyone knew he was a fool with money.  

Jesus uses this parable to remind us of the extraordinary graces we have been given, including the freedom of the children of God. That is an opportunity not to be wasted! It's more than money, time, privilege, or power; it is God's guiding spirit. And it comes with courage, authority, wisdom, meaning, and purpose. It is not impulsive, senseless, silly, or foolish. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit the Church has announced the Gospel to all nations, building churches, schools, universities, hospital, orphanages, soup kitchens, and innumerable other agencies to guide the sheep of his flock and lead the world to Christ. 

We have witnessed the punishment that fell on the fool who fearfully buried his opportunity in the dirt. God's people require no second warning. 

Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist

 Lectionary: 429/634

This is the will of God: your holiness;
that you refrain from immorality;
that each of you know how to acquire a wife for himself
in holiness and honor, not in lustful passion
as do the Gentiles who do not know God....

Saints Matthew and Mark, who tell us the story of Saint John's death, do not tell us why Herod married his brother's wife. It might have been economics, politics, or lust. But it was unseemly and, by Jewish standards, illicit and scandalous. Herodias apparently gained more by the union, and feared any threat to it. She sought to kill the prophet while the tetrarch was willing to let him molder in prison. But any of the vices, including lustful passion, will drive people to use insanely barbaric methods.

It should not be so among God's holy people. One time, before visiting two religious women, friends of my own age, I had some time to kill before we'd agreed to meet; and I stopped in a Catholic cemetery. The dead reminded me of who I am and who they are, and how I should visit them. It should not be lust. I should see them with the eyes of God, with that respect and self-sacrificing regard that belongs to everyone consecrated to God. 

As I have met with couples approaching the Sacrament of Marriage, I certainly would not ask them about their motives, but I don't recall anyone who seemed driven by lust. They had met one another's families, spoke of children and financial security, and were eager to practice their religious faith. 

Saint Augustine uses the word lust for any kind of curiosity that wants knowledge for no particular reason. Wanderlust is the affliction of one  who travels for no other reason than to see something new. Surfing social media and watching an endless series of short videos is a form of lust. I have never learned anything useful from that wasted time. Carnal lust wants knowledge which violates boundaries for no particular reason. It's a consuming desire, encouraged and justified by an aimless, perverted generation. It should not be so among God's holy people. 

Google AI lists several recognized saints who died as witnesses to the Sacrament of Marriage, including,

• Saint John the Baptist: He publicly criticized King Herod's unlawful marriage, leading to his imprisonment and eventual execution.
• Saint Thomas More and Saint John Fisher: Both were martyred in England for refusing to acknowledge King Henry VIII's annulment and remarriage.
• Saints Timothy and Maura: This married couple endured gruesome tortures, including crucifixion, rather than deny their faith and their commitment to Christian marriage during Roman persecutions.
• The Georgia Martyrs: (Blessed) Fathers Pedro de Corpa, Blas Rodriguez, Miguel de Anon, Francisco de Verascola, and Brother Antonio de Badajoz): These Franciscan friars were martyred in 16th-century Georgia for their steadfast refusal to allow a baptized individual to take multiple spouses among the Guale Indians.

During these barbaric times we can expect continuing challenges to the Sacrament of Marriage and the holiness of sexuality. The assault is coming from every direction, and many of the elect have been led astray. We ask Saint John the Baptist to pray with us for the courage to speak the truth and love one another with the affection of God's children, as brothers and sisters, husbands and wives.

Memorial of Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Lectionary: 428

What thanksgiving, then, can we render to God for you,
for all the joy we feel on your account before our God?
Night and day we pray beyond measure to see you in person
and to remedy the deficiencies of your faith.

Scripture scholars believe that the First Letter to the Thessalonians is the first of Saint Paul's Letters, and the oldest document of the New Testament. When we hear it we may hear the Word of God in all its fresh vitality; it still carries a virtue like that of a child recognizing his mother's face and voice via Zoom. Thessalonians, eager to hear more of God's voice, no doubt recognized their Beloved Apostle in the words and expressions that were typically his. 

Opening the Letter, we have to notice his intense, encouraging affection for them. He wrote with gratitude for their faith in God and fidelity to him. Thinking of them gave him joy and satisfaction, despite the anxiety of any dedicated evangelist. He knew his own human frailty and he worries about theirs. We are sheep, given to following our worst instincts and unreliable shepherds. 

But there is no suggestion of flattery as he tells them of, "all the joy we feel on your account before our God." He can do that because he knows the evanescent vitality of grace in his own heart, and because he knows his own concupiscence. He owns his vulnerability. Christians who do not know, recognize, and acknowledge their personal sins are forever trying to free their companions of sin. They are troubled and troublesome. 

The Sacrament of Penance and the practice of regular confession frees us from the urge to remember grievances against us. We don't need to keep  them fresh by gossiping, ruminating, or tabulating and storing them in files of hanging folders. Rather, we watch our persistent, habitual inclination to sin, and freely admit its presence. 

In some cases, the Sacrament frees us from the most obnoxious behaviors, but it often leaves us repeatedly confessing the same sins and faults. Spiritual direction, counseling, and consultation with friends can sometimes help us recognize the ancient patterns of sin; for instance, the passive aggression that became a permanent resistance to authority. 

But more important than changing the intractable habit is acknowledging one's sin. "Lord, this is what I do, and who I am. And even when I want to change, and decide to change, I do not. Have mercy on me, a sinner." 

Owning the sin, we may hope not to be a nuisance to our companions on the journey. 

Memorial of Saint Monica

Lectionary: 427

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You build the tombs of the prophets
and adorn the memorials of the righteous,
and you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our ancestors,
we would not have joined them in shedding the prophets' blood.'
Thus you bear witness against yourselves
that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets;
now fill up what your ancestors measured out!"

As we watch the monuments of traitors rebuilt and rededicated under the present administration, the words of today's gospel take on a peculiar resonance. Even as they deny the racism so deeply rooted in our standard operating procedures, cultural norms, and infrastructure, Mr. Trump and his minions lionize the ancestors who defended the most barbaric system of slavery in history. These current policies, and their violent actions against migrants -- who are arbitrarily stigmatized as illegal -- signal the end of American democracy and the hope it once represented. We can expect the Earth's hopeful expectancy to turn to other nations, perhaps China, for leadership. 

Catholics are necessarily confused. We have been betrayed by the Democratic party we practically built when it supported trade unions. But its identity politics supports only an inane parade of fictitious rights for people to think, act, and feel differently; and believe they are superior for their multiple identities. The promise of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion creates only a nation of isolated, lonely misanthropes. We can expect, in the near future, their support of incestuous marriage. 

The Republican party has also disappointed Catholics with its violent resistance to Catholic immigrants from Mexico, Central, and South America. That racist, anti-Catholic bias is flagrant. 

Under the leadership of an American Pope, Catholics are returning to our own religious practices, including devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and Mary, the Mother of God. We find in our teaching reverence for our human nature as it appears in every race. With our ancestors, we confess the sin of compromising with the hostile powers of this world. We have enjoyed the privileges which were arbitrarily given to us, especially education, homogenized neighborhoods, and European descent. We have taken care of our needs and desires first, and then noticed those of the "less fortunate." 

And, since the Second Vatican Council, which never intended the Reformation which followed, we have resolutely turned away from the practices of penance, especially the Sacrament known as Confession. We might be willing to discuss our problems with a priest, but we are not eager to name the sins we have actually committed, even those we knew were wrong at the time. And we have preferred the confessors who assured us our sins were not really sins; and we were the real victims of others' sins. Feeling that we were more sinned against than sinning, we were willing to forgive others; but not so eager to admit we had sinned.  

The Bible, written almost entirely by Jews, teaches us to recognize and do penance. Our fathers, despite the monuments we built and the tombs we adorned, sinned grievously. And we are their true children. We ask God to save us from the doomed world our fathers, our mothers, and their children built. 

Tuesday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time

  Lectionary: 426

...after we had suffered and been insolently treated,
as you know, in Philippi,
we drew courage
through our God to speak to you the Gospel of God with much struggle.
Our exhortation was not from delusion or impure motives, nor did it work through deception.
But as we were judged worthy by God to be entrusted with the Gospel, that is how we speak...

In today's first reading Saint Paul recalls an unfortunate incident at Philippi when he and his companions were stripped, beaten with rods, and imprisoned because they had healed a slave girl of her madness. We can suppose the Apostle lay there for some time, perhaps a few hours, after the ordeal. And then, finding that the worst was over and that he was still alive, and that he still believed Jesus Christ is Lord, resumed his mission.

He "drew courage through our God" and kept doing what he was born to do. He could have quit, and betrayed himself and his mission. Given what he'd suffered, no one would blame him for it. Better, more blessed people have surrendered and walked away from the Lord. He would not. The Holy Spirit comforted his sadness, soothed his anger, dismissed his resentments, cheered him with the Divine Presence, and stood him on his feet again. He probably said, "Okay, that's done. Now, where are we? Where were we? Oh yes. As I was saying..."

We've got better things to do than feel sorry for ourselves or resentment against others. Let's get on with it. 

Memorial of Saint Louis of France, patron of Secular Franciscan Order

Lectionary: 425

We give thanks to God always for all of you,
remembering you in our prayers,
unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love
and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ,
before our God and Father....

The best teachers of children demonstrate an affectionate appreciation for their students, even when they must address foolishness and misbehavior. They have no need to prove their own superior power, authority, wisdom, or intelligence to their inferiors. 

Similarly, Saint Paul brought no extra baggage as he approached a new congregation. The itinerant preacher could not demonstrate to gullible people his superior wealth or power; he had none. He could speak to them only of the Gospel and allow them to respond to the persuasion of the Holy Spirit, which appeared in their hospitable welcome to him. Wherever he went, the Spirit prepared openings in advance, and connections he could use to promote the Gospel. Grateful new disciples readily provided food, shelter, and protection. 

Nor did his baggage include an inordinate need for emotional support. Living by faith, he was sure of himself and his Gospel. Like the apostles who had been personally trained by the Lord before his death and resurrection, Paul had been trained by the best teachers of the Jewish tradition. The Gospel fit his learning like a key to a lock; it opened vistas of insight and wisdom his teachers had never imagined. With his native genius and the Gospel, he thought thoughts that no one had thought before, and they too belonged to the Message of Salvation. 

Hearing heavy pronouncements like today's gospel -- passages like:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.

You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men.

You do not enter yourselves,

nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter.

Paul would not lord it over them by insinuating threats or promises of retribution. They came from the Master and were very real, but he did not make himself the wrath of God to persuade his disciples to take the threats seriously. Rather, like the Lord Jesus, he led them in the practices of penance. 

That is how the Church must address the crises of our time. Blaming and shaming are silly and ridiculous. Honest ownership of the sorry state we have made of things should begin with the Church, rather than a scolding press or social media. "We have sinned; we and our ancestors have sinned...." 

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 123

And you will say,
'We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.'
Then he will say to you,
'I do not know where you are from.
Depart from me, all you evildoers!'
And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth
when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
and all the prophets in the kingdom of God
and you yourselves cast out.

Although Jesus' warning in today’s Gospel is clearly addressed to the crowds, we cannot suppose that "the crowds" of his time were any more disturbed by his teachings or his warnings than the crowds today. The world regards prophets like Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and John the Baptists as more entertaining than troubling. You remember that Herod liked to hear John the Baptist preach despite his complaints about the governor’s incestuous marriage. Back in the seventies we sang along with Credence Clearwater Revival, Bad Moon Rising, but we never worried about it. 

The Lord warns those who read and hear the Gospel. We should pay attention and imagine Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob -- and all the prophets -- gathered into the Kingdom of God; and we should understand that we might not be admitted. God gives us everything but owes us nothing. 

The warning is "to you who hear..." If you hear this, consider yourself forewarned. If you hear and ignore it, don't think you've not been forewarned, because you were. And you're responsible for what you heard, even if you didn't want to hear it, or thought it was nonsense, or didn't believe in the messenger, or thought there is no God. It doesn't matter. The Word of God was spoken; you were forewarned; and by ignoring the message and not taking it to heart, you chose the consequences. They too were announced well in advance; and when disaster strikes you can blame no one but yourself. 

After his warnings to those who will not listen, Jesus tells us, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate...." The scriptures use the words strive and try differently. They certainly have close to the same meaning, and may substitute one another, but in the Bible striving is not quite the same as trying. 

Saint Paul issued a severe warning to those who tried:

"You are separated from Christ, you who are trying to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace." 

As a recovering Pharisee he knew the futility and vanity of trying. It was lonely, unsatisfying work with little hope of success. It offered only bragging rights to the self-righteous, even as it presumed upon the patience of a long-suffering God. 

We've all had the experience of trying too hard. With creative work like baking, painting, writing, or singing, the harder we try the worse it gets. Some people try to quit smoking; and they never do because they don’t actually quit. They only try to quit. In sports, losers try to win, winners win gracefully. They work hard but they make it look easy. 

Simone Weil, philosopher and teacher of children, wrote: “If you say to your students: “Now you must pay attention!” you’ll see them contracting their brows, holding their breath, stiffening their muscles. If after two minutes you ask what they have been paying attention to, they cannot reply. They have been concentrating on nothing. They have not been paying attention. They have been contracting their muscles….” 

“Willpower” she wrote, “has practically no place in study. Learning can only be led by desire. For there to be desire, there must be pleasure and joy in the work. Intelligence only grows and bears fruit in joy. The joy of learning is as indispensable in study as breathing is in running. Where it is lacking, there are no real students. But only poor caricatures of apprentices who, at the end of their apprenticeship, would not even have a trade.”

We can say the same thing of prayer and of serving the Lord. When Jesus says, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate.” he is speaking of that desire, joy. and eagerness to follow him in the path of penance and sacrifice. There is no trying involved; trying only gets in the way. 

The spiritual masters tell us, if you’re trying to pray, you’re not praying. If you think you are praying, you are not. You’re thinking about yourself and what you're doing. Prayer is much simpler than that. As King Claudius said in the play Hamlet, “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: Words without thoughts never to heaven go.”

Because we love the Lord, we learn to serve the Lord as infants learn to walk; and toddlers, to run. The effort is immediately satisfied with the pleasure of doing these things. 

Our walking with the Lord, our paying attention to his presence and his word, are gratifying. And our walking with the Lord is our answer to his call. We have heard the warning; we have heard his invitation; and we go with him. 

The sacrifice is simply in letting go of everything in which God has no interest. And because he has no interest in it, we forget about it too. We call it sacrifice because it pleases God, but that sacrifice is not as hard as trying to please God. God is already pleased with us. He is happy, and deeply satisfied with what Jesus has done for us. He is not the unhappy, implacable parent many of us knew as children. 

That is why Saint Paul was so happy with his Thessalonian disciples. He knew the sins in his own heart and recognized theirs. He knew how grace had saved him from his obsessive trying; and he knew how grace had worked miracles in Thessaloniki.

  

Like him, we have watched the faith grow, flourish, and bear fruit in our courage, generosity, and fidelity. We make sacrifices for God, for one another, and for the Gospel. We hear the prophetic warnings and take them to heart. Attending Church and Mass, singing, responding, being silent: these are not entertainment for us; and they don’t have to make us feel good about ourselves. 

But we believe in the Gospel, the Word of God. That is good, and nothing but satisfying. We are a fortunate and most blessed people. 

Saturday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 424

Boaz answered her:
"I have had a complete account of what you have done for your mother-in-law after your husband's death;
you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know previously."

Ruth gives the Bible a spirit of obedient, ready trust in the Goodness of God. She accepts and seems to live on small kindnesses given to her; and when she is given the worldly advice of leaving to begin elsewhere, she stays with what she knows. Why risk the loss of a small good for the sake of something that might be better? Her heart has found blessing in the presence of her grieving mother-in-law; in loyalty and love she must remain with her even as Naomi returns to her husband's family. 

The childless women cannot know if that family might accept or despise their son's and grandson's widows. Fortunately, they return to a devout Jewish family. Boaz, a wealthy farmer, apparently treats his workers fairly, for he salutes them with a liturgical greeting, "The Lord be with you." And they respond with an equally generous, "The Lord bless you." 

Boaz soon learns of the lovely young woman's fidelity to her mother-in-law and assures her of a rightful place among his workers. And he makes an extra provision for her when he warns the local young men to leave her unmolested. We can suppose he said something like, "Mess with her, you mess with me!" 

Christians must find in Ruth the story of Mary, the Mother of God. She will follow her husband from Galilee to Bethlehem to Egypt, and back to Galilee. But Joseph is not following his family to another place, or a job opportunity. He moves, and takes his family with him, in response to dreams; that is, to premonitions in the night which he recognizes as warnings about things to come. 

Mary, whom we deem the holier of the two, is not given those dreams. Rather, she is given the preeminent spirit of obedience. Anyone, it seems, can be a prophet, only some obey the word of God. As the Lord said, "Many are called; few are chosen." 

It is that spirit which holds us firmly within the bosom of the Church, where we encounter the Lord's Sacred Heart and Mary's Immaculate Heart. 

Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Lectionary: 423

The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."

In his inaugural address, known as the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus assured his disciples, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill." By his works, teaching, spirit, and presence we saw what he meant. When he taught on the Sabbath -- which seemed like work to his opponents and is still regarded as work by many ministers -- he fulfilled the Law by loving his neighbor and his God. 

While this doctrine makes perfect sense to everyone who hears it, we're often conflicted with its practice. "How should I use the next few hours, by loving my neighbor or my God?" "When I neglected prayer to spend time with my neighbor, was I loving God and being faithful to the Lord's principles?" "When I chose to attend Mass while I might have been mowing the old widow's lawn, was that where I was supposed to be?" 

The two principles of love for God and love for neighbor might obviously and intuitively  belong together, but it took the most extraordinary religious genius in history to notice it. And its practice is still challenging. And it's backed by innumerable Scripture passages. This link to Bible Hub gives an extensive list of a few.

Saint Luke, who wrote 27% of the New Testament, shows us Jesus practiced what he preached, and how the disciples obeyed his commandments. His two part series, which might be called The Acts of Jesus and the Acts of the Apostles. shows them praying intensely to the Holy Spirit, going where he directed them, speaking as he spoke through them, and doing as he commanded. And when the Spirit was silent, they waited in silence. 

When they had accomplished whatever they should do, they said, "We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do." (Luke 17:10)

Impossible tasks are made easy by love; without love, even the simplest works are impossible. 

Memorial of Saint Pius X, Pope

 Lectionary: 422

Then the king said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come.
Go out, therefore, into the main roads
and invite to the feast whomever you find.’

Universalism -- the idea that God loves and saves every human being, regardless of their actions or worth -- finds little support in the scriptures. It's based on vague ideas of what a good God should do, rather than the God who reveals himself to us through the Old and New Testaments. That God makes no effort to fit anyone's philosophical notions. Those who would know such a God must be prepared to leave their ideas at the cathedral door as they step into the silence. 

The parable reflects both the eager welcome and the savage treatment the Lord met in Jerusalem, and the mixed reception his disciples were given as they departed the Holy City to tell the world what they had seen and heard. Many people were delighted with the Gospel, and readily embraced this new approach to the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Others could not be bothered. 

Those who were rightfully expected to recognize and welcome the Lord's Anointed were often the least receptive. When the Christian message became too attractive to too many people, they reacted with violence. Saint Luke's sequel, the  Acts of the Apostle, recalls that baptism of fire in more detail. Patristic documents picked up where the New Testament left off, and tell us of the violent persecution which continued sporadically during "the Age of Martyrs." 

That "age" lasted about three centuries, but if the persecutions ever stopped, they have resumed in this and the last century. Ideologues hate the truth. It is too mysterious and demands too much humble honesty. 

In my time, since the opening of the Second Vatican Council, I have seen the rise and fall of liberalism. I asked a historian one time, Father Camillus Gott, if there had ever been a liberal reform of the Church. "Never." he replied. 

A reformation must return to the sources and historical traditions of the Church. While it incorporates and adapts to new ways of thinking, it intends to restore discipline, asceticism, piety, and focused intensity among God's people. It does not abide half-measures. It must especially restore the memory of who we are and have always been. We and our fathers have sinned. But a reform also opens doors of intimacy with the saints and martyrs who have kept the faith in every age and every country. Liberalism is too enamored with itself, its ideas, and its presumptive future to pay close attention to the past. It listens only to those skewed stories that reflect its preset beliefs; and admires only those saints who have a passing similarity to their heroic ideals. But, when it must retreat, it can be vicious. I have seen that too. 

As we hear the invitation to come to the Lord's wedding banquet, we prepare with acts of penance, reparation, generosity, and prayer. We consider ourselves worthy only because the Lord has decreed it; but we are, without hesitation, grateful. 

Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church

Lectionary: 421

He said to one of them in reply,
'My friend, I am not cheating you.
Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?
Take what is yours and go.
What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?
Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?
Are you envious because I am generous?'
Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last."

This is one of my favorite passages about the generosity and mercy of God. The Lord's parable flies in the face of the American sense of justice and fairness; but, in the same few sentences, also validates our sense of entitlement to what we own: "Am I not free to do as I wish with my money?" Who can argue with that? 

I also notice that, in the face of an angry mob, the landowner explains his reasoning to only one of them. That is clearly Saint Luke's literary device to explain the parable. But it also reminds me that God owes me nothing. And certainly not an explanation for the ways of God. Who knows the mind of God? Who can advise him?

Saint Paul said it well: 

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!

“For who has known the mind of the Lord

or who has been his counselor?”

“Or who has given him anything

that he may be repaid?”

For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:33-36)

The teaching also reinforces Saint Paul's insistence on faith. Because no one can challenge God's right to do as he wills, and go where he pleases, and bless whom he chooses, when and where he wants to. It follows that we are left waiting on God's mercy. As the poet of Paradise Lost said of his blindness, "They also serve who only stand and wait." 

We have no more right to God's mercy than the birds of the air or the flowers in the field. But, as the same poet said, we owe Him praise nonetheless, for his Goodness, his Mercy, and his sovereign majesty: 

                                                       God doth not need

   Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best

   Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state

Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed

   And post o’er Land and Ocean without rest...

Saint Francis, having abandoned the luxury and security of his wealthy family, having renounced every effort to provide for his own physical and personal needs, after walking away from 20,000 years of accumulated human infrastructure, lived among the wild animals. For food he did manual labor but would accept no money. He stored nothing for tomorrow. When he was desperate, he found shelter in caves and abandoned barns. 

When Francis looked at the birds, (as the Lord commanded us to do) he saw how the Lord provided for them. God gave him not only sufficient food, warmth, clothing, and shelter; he also provided cold in the winter, heat in the summer, and bug bites. Not to mention hunger, illness, and abandonment. He accepted everything in the Spirit of Jesus who also had no home or visible means of support. His willingness to suffer with Jesus all the trials, discomfort, and disappointment of any human being, gave him an intense understanding and sympathy for Jesus. He could say with Job, "We accept good things from the Lord; and should we not accept bad?" 

The challenge of the wealthy landowner refreshes our sense of God's infinite goodness, our reliance on God, and our faith in Him. 

Tuesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

 Lectionary: 420

“My Lord, if the LORD is with us,
why has all this happened to us?
Where are his wondrous deeds of which our fathers
told us when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’
For now the LORD has abandoned us
and has delivered us into the power of Midian.”
The LORD turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have
and save Israel from the power of Midian."

Gideon, a lad of a small family with few connections, was given a tall order. With little more than his courage he should call unarmed farmers to stand up against the warriors who frequently invaded their homes, stole their livestock and produce, burned their barns and fields, and kidnapped their women and children. God's people had foolishly adopted the Canaanite manner of life despite the stories which they'd heard from their ancestors. But if they expected to fit in and be accepted by the Canaanites, they were despised and exploited. 

Perhaps they told tales of Abraham, Moses, and Joshua to entertain their children, but they worshiped the bovine "spiritual princes of the air" -- i.e. pagan gods -- who were said to govern the Levant.  

It takes only one generation of neglect to lose one's heritage. Some people in the United States hope that South American immigrants -- who are mostly Catholic -- might bring their faith and "family values," and reverse current trends and population decline. But the evidence shows otherwise. Like every other generation of immigrants, their young, American-born women adopt the American lifestyle, delay marriage and bear few children. The young men work hard, build bank accounts, purchase homes, and entertain themselves with the manosphere, rather than marry and have children. 

The Scriptures assure us that God does not forget his chosen people. They will survive when every other religion, philosophy, language, tribe, and nation disappear. He watches over those who are born Jewish and those who are baptized into Christ. The Spirit remains in their families, calling them to fidelity and prayer. Failing that, there will be consequences: 

The Lord chastises those who are close to him in order to admonish them.” Judith 8:27

“My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord

or lose heart when reproved by him;

for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines;

he scourges every son he acknowledges.” Hebrews 12:6

Those whom I love, I reprove and chastise. Be earnest, therefore, and repent. Revelation 3:19

If they fail to observe my statutes,

do not keep my commandments,

I will punish their crime with a rod

and their guilt with blows.

But I will not take my mercy from him,

nor will I betray my bond of faithfulness.

I will not violate my covenant;

the promise of my lips I will not alter.

By my holiness I swore once for all:

I will never be false to David. Psalm 89:32-36

We forestall the wrath that is to come with the virtue and practice of Penance. This "Old Testament" virtue is Judaism's great gift to Christians. (No other nation recalls and records its own sins, which is why they have endured for more than thirty centuries.) 

The Spirit of Penance with its Sacrament has been given in particular to Catholics. It reminds us of who we are, God's beloved sinners and penitent saints. As we recount our sins we recalls the favor God has shown us. In effect, we remember the unfinished, unwritten gospel of our lives. Most of us are on our way to Jerusalem with the Lord, though some may be undergoing their crucifixion already. We are bound for glory and, as the song says, this train don't carry no gamblers, midnight ramblers, jokers, and cigar smokers. 

Catholics thank God for the gift of Penance, and we especially thank God for the leadership of Jesus, for he is the First Penitent. Although he committed no sin, He carried his cross, and still reminds us to take up the cross of penance and walk in his Way. 

Monday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 419

Abandoning the LORD, the God of their fathers, who led them out of the land of Egypt, they followed the other gods of the various nations around them, and by their worship of these gods provoked the LORD.

Retiring from chaplaincy at the Louisville VA Hospital, I found a bosom of the Church at Mount Saint Francis. Here I have tried to relearn the disciplines of prayer and study without the stresses of the hospital meetings, expectations, and standard operating procedures. But the idols of American indolence have followed me: the TV, Internet, solitaire, etc. It's easy to be lazy. 

Today's first reading and the whole Book of Judges recalls the indolence of a people who had been given the land of Canaan by a gracious God.  They soon forgot that perilous adventure and the oath their fathers made before Joshua at Shechem. Nor did they remember what God had done for them: 

"I sent the hornets ahead of you which drove them—the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites—out of your way; it was not your sword or your bow.

"I gave you a land you did not till and cities you did not build, to dwell in; you ate of vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.

“Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve him completely and sincerely. Cast out the gods your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:12-14)

Because our spiritual ancestors, under the ordinary stresses of life in Palestine forgot their God, mixed with the local residents, and paid homage to less demanding idols, they suffered both the contempt of their new neighbors and the abandonment of their God. Their fathers had been warned that he is a jealous God who will not permit them to forget the Covenant that had so readily embraced. If married persons do not permit their partners to dally with former lovers, we should not expect our God to wait forever for a distracted people to return his love. 

The Law of Moses, which they had also enthusiastically embraced, insisted that the Love of God is more than avoiding trouble. It is active and sincere worship of God accompanied by acts of mercy and justice, especially to the poor. Fidelity allows neither neglect of prayer nor selfish lifestyles. 

Because our God has sacrificed everything to save us, we too must sacrifice everything to be worthy of his love. We find the fulfillment of his promises only by living worthily in deliberate fidelity, daring hope, and vigorous love.

We cannot expect our atheistic neighbors and secular society to admire religious fidelity and practical virtue. Their values are different and their goals are elsewhere. But we can expect the assurance of God's love and the enjoyment of his presence.